The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees will have at least two new members in 2017 after a November election decides a county-wide seat and aldermen appoint a new city representative to replace trustee Anne Stricklin, who is moving with her husband, Scott, to Florida as he takes over as the University of Florida’s athletic director this fall.
Although Scott Stricklin begins his new job Nov. 1, Anne Stricklin’s departure date from the school board is not yet set in stone. The outgoing school board member said she may remain in her position until the 2016-17 academic year concludes in May, as her family has two children enrolled in the district.
She joined the board in September 2015, just more than two months after the former Starkville and Oktibbeha County school districts officially merged. Her term concludes in 2019.
“It’s my hope to continue serving on the board as long as my children are enrolled in the district, and we are working on getting those questions answered,” Anne Stricklin said. “I feel very strongly about the commitment I made to the district and the city. It’s been a blessing to serve with the other four school board members and to work with the superintendent and assistant superintendents. We have a lot of quality people working in the school district.
“It was a gut-wrenching decision,” she added on her family’s decision to leave the community. “Starkville is my home, and MSU is the place that gave us our big chance. We’re very appreciative of our time here, and we’re both thankful for the blessings we’ve had here.”
Before joining the school board last year, Anne Stricklin, a SHS graduate, served as a member of the former city school district’s parent-teacher organizations, including stints as co-president of Sudduth and Overstreet schools’ PTOs and as president of the districtwide PTO’s executive committee.
During her school board tenure, she and fellow trustees worked toward establishing local revenue streams to fund the construction of a grades 6-7 partnership school with Mississippi State University.
That project, she said, is the most important task remaining to complete consolidation’s goal of providing quality educational opportunities to every Oktibbeha County child.
“With the growth our district has seen, that school is a major cog in the machine. All of our kids deserve a rich educational experience,” Anne Stricklin said. “Continuing to oversee that project is my main goal, along with continuing to improve the achievement gap. I think we, as a school board, have put a lot of measures in place to help do that, and we need to remain focused on giving our teachers and schools the resources they need to be successful.”
School board President Jenny Turner praised Anne Stricklin for her “dedication and commitment” to SOCSD students.
“(Her service has) been tremendous, both with her work on the board and … as a volunteer in the individual schools,” Turner said.
Turner’s seat could also become vacant when her term expires in March. Turner has a senior enrolled in SOCSD, and the board president said she has not yet decided whether to seek another term.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.