Anne Stricklin was appointed to the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees after a heated session featuring verbal rows between aldermen and the mayor’s frequent use of his gavel in an attempt to maintain decorum.
Stricklin was appointed after Mayor Parker Wiseman broke a 3-3 deadlock between board members. Aldermen Ben Carver, David Little and Scott Maynard supported the appointment. Aldermen Roy A. Perkins, Henry Vaughn and Lisa Wynn opposed it.
Wiseman’s vote was needed after Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker recused from the proceedings. Walker’s wife is employed by the district.
Prior to Stricklin’s appointment, the board voted on two other candidates: Debra Prince, a Mississippi State University associate professor, and former Alderman Sumner Davis, who leads MSU’s Center for Government and Community Development. Aldermen deadlocked on both and Wiseman voted against them.
Before the three votes were attempted, Wiseman told aldermen he felt Stricklin — the wife of Scott Stricklin, athletic director with Mississippi State University — was the right choice for the vacant school board seat.
Wynn first motioned for Prince’s appointment, saying the nominee’s “skin reflects the diverse population” of the school district. Wynn said she would not support Stricklin since the MSU Athletic Department gives free football tickets and parking passes to the city. Supporting Stricklin, Wynn said, would create an ethical conflict.
After Little motioned forward Stricklin’s nomination, Wynn said Little had no vested interest in the matter since none of his children are enrolled in the public school district.
“For me, this is personal,” Wynn said of the appointment. “It hurts me that someone would get involved … yet they don’t have a vested interest.”
Little rebuked the claim, noting his middle son is a standout athlete at Starkville High School.
“He has a 3.75 GPA and is doing very well. Patton Little — Google it,” Little said. “I’m disappointed in how this process has played out. I pay my property tax. I’m a property owner in the city of Starkville. I have this table here, and I have this voice. I will vote the way I choose.”
Continued bickering at the table led to Wiseman repeatedly gaveling down Wynn’s comments while the alderman maintained she had not yet yielded the floor.
“You may have the floor when you are recognized, Alderman Wynn,” Wiseman said while attempting to move discussions along to Carver.
Perkins said he has not seen decorum break down to “where it’s gotten in the last 10 minutes” in his two decades as alderman. He warned Wiseman that, in the future, he would call a point of order and appeal similar decisions.
“I did not take the floor,” Wiseman countered. “My ruling was she relinquished the floor when she paused. If that’s ever in dispute, you are certainly in line to make a motion to appeal.”
Stricklin’s supporters were vocal of her efforts championing Starkville School District and its state-mandated consolidation with Oktibbeha County School District.
Wiseman said she worked hard to convince residents that consolidation was the right thing to do even before many had come on board with the idea of a countywide school district.
Stricklin, a SHS graduate, has served as a member of SSD’s parent-teacher organizations in the last seven years. Specifically, she served as co-president of Sudduth and Overstreet schools’ PTOs and as president the districtwide PTO’s executive committee.
Public education, she told aldermen in her interview, is a “long-term commitment” to her and her family.
“The most important thing we can do as a school board is be good listeners and listen to our community,” she said after the appointment process concluded. “All of us have the kids’ best interest at heart, and that’s what we have to keep as the No. 1 priority. As long as we’re all keeping the kids first, we’re all going to win. I’m very excited about serving our community and all of the kids across the district.”
Stricklin assumes former school board member Juliette Weaver-Reese’s seat, which expires in 2019.
Weaver-Reese resigned last month.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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