Wingfield High closes doors for good as Jackson Public Schools begins consolidation plan

But for parents of Wingfield High School graduates, this graduation was both filled with joy and mourning. Wingfield is one of 11 schools JPS closed at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. The district cited years of declining enrollment and inadequate funding for the decision. Wingfield was the only high school on the list.

Shondria Stovall was one of those parents who waited for her daughter RaQuasya to walk across the stage. She said she was happy to attend the event, but emotions from the closure overshadowed it.

“I think it sucks because I actually enjoyed my children going to Wingfield,” Stovall said, her eyes clouded with tears. “My daughter didn’t want to go anywhere else.”

Stovall’s other two children graduated from Wingfield years before. She said she’s worried about the future of JPS and the scholars who pass through their school doors. 

“Kids are going to be looked over and not helped the way they should be. I just don’t see them being able to give them the assistance they need,” she said. 

JPS Superintendent Errick L. Greene unveiled his optimization plan last fall. The district held community meetings to present the plan and its updates and field questions from parents. Many parents and concerned community members at these meetings voiced strong beliefs that administrators should find ways to keep the schools open. 

Others were concerned about blight or neighborhood migration, as well as the dangers of putting students from rival schools in the same buildings. 

“We know that there’s conflict in our city, and there’s conflict in some of our neighborhoods, and in other cities and other neighborhoods outside of Jackson.” Greene said after one community meeting in October. “We’re not blind to that, but I’ve been very clear and consistent in my message that this assumption that our scholars cannot get along is false. It’s really damaging and it’s insulting to those scholars and their families.”

During tense board meetings, trustees also echoed concerns about the particular schools chosen in Greene’s plan. Many are located in South Jackson, which has struggled with poverty and crime. 

The district’s plan shows that JPS’ enrollment dropped 9,514 students since the 2015-2016 academic year. It also indicates that since then, the district has lost about $12 million per year due to low enrollment and funding being diverted to charter schools. In addition to inadequate funding, renovation costs for decaying buildings would cost upwards of $120 million.

“We’re funded based on the number of the scholars we have, across the district and in each school,” Greene said. “This would allow us to spend the funding we get more effectively.”

In December, the JPS Board of Trustees voted to approve the superintendent’s revised Optimization Plan, which closed the 11 schools. By April, three additional schools that previously closed — Baker Elementary, French Elementary and Woodville Heights Elementary — were slated for demolition.

Other schools — like Barr Elementary, Sykes Elementary and Siwell Middle School — are open for redevelopment. The deadline for proposals is July 17.

Obama IB Elementary and Wells APAC Elementary will consolidate with their respective middle schools — Northwest IB and Bailey Academic and Performing Arts Center — in 2025.

Here is the complete list of schools that have closed:

• Dawson Elementary 
• Lake Elementary 
• Lester Elementary
• Marshall Elementary 
• Raines Elementary 
• Sykes Elementary 
• Shirley Elementary 
• G.N. Smith Elementary 
• Chastain Middle 
• Whitten Middle 
• Wingfield High

This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.