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Parents and teachers urge board to protect South Harrison and keep school schedules that support advanced courses
Summary
Parents from South Harrison and faculty from Bridgeport High School urged the board to avoid cuts that would strip electives, distance learning and essential staff; Bridgeport faculty warned that switching to a 7‑period day would reduce instructional minutes, harm AP and foreign‑language programs, and risk graduation outcomes.
Parents and teachers packed the March 17 meeting and urged the Harrison County Board of Education to protect classroom programs, elective offerings and scheduling models that support advanced courses.
Erica Reed, speaking for a group of South Harrison parents, described the school as rural with about 350 students, strong attendance and improving test results, and warned that proposed cuts — including reductions to distance learning and electives — would further restrict student opportunities. "We don't cut. We can't afford to cut," Reed said, asking the board to assess why enrollment has fallen and to prioritize student needs when considering staffing decisions.
Jennifer Paul, also speaking for South Harrison families, said distance learning is "mission critical" to South Harrison’s schedule and argued that removing it would eliminate language and elective options (Italian, French, driver's education, creative writing) and make scheduling even more restrictive.
Bridgeport High School faculty, led by faculty senate president Bridal Kimball, urged the board to retain the current block schedule at Bridgeport. Kimball said a county‑wide move to a 7‑period day would reduce instructional minutes and could force cuts to foreign language, AP courses and CTE completer pathways. "If it's not broke, don't fix it," Kimball said, arguing the block schedule provides more instructional minutes and recovery opportunities that help maintain high SAT, AP and attendance results.
Separately, community presenter Richard Aquino described difficulties using a weight/conditioning room and said equipment and access were disrupted during recent consolidations: "We can't get in. They changed the locks on it," he said. Board members asked facilities staff to assess whether existing campus garages or storage could be repurposed so students can safely use conditioning equipment.
Board members acknowledged the emotional testimony, thanked speakers for attending and emphasized that the ideas discussed by the board earlier in the evening were preliminary. Several members said they want to preserve classroom positions and student services and asked staff to return with more detailed analyses before any final staffing changes are approved.
Next steps: the board directed staff to prepare more detailed impact analyses and to engage school‑level leaders as they refine potential staffing and scheduling options.
