3 posts from October 2009

Sean McClish
Community Assessment: Byhalia, Mississippi

1)With regards to overall trade potential, there seems to be very little. Byhalia itself is very limited in both population and jobs. It serves mainly as a small commercial center for the rural northern Marshall county area. Most people that consider themselves as Byhalia residents do not live in the city limits, rather living in unincorporated acreage a few miles from town. These citizens will do some of their shopping, dining, and banking in Byhalia, but may opt for more broad commercial opportunities in nearby Desoto county. Economically very few of Byhalia's businesses extend beyond the rural northern Marshall county area, with the exception of Holly Springs, a town 15 miles to the Southeast. Very few residents of Memphis or Desoto county(more populated regions) venture to Byhalia. Most of the teachers at Byhalia High School characterize this trend. A survey I conducted showed that only 3 of 27 teachers that did not live in Byhalia, stated that they "regularly dine, shop, or bank" in the area. I suspect most of these affirmations are intertwined with after school activity.
 Byhalia is not active in the global economy as everything is focused at a local level.

2)Byhalia is situated 8 miles south of the Tennessee border and only 20 miles southeast of Memphis. This gives members of the community easy access to shopping, dining, hospitals and other amenities that are not afforded to more remote rural communities. Collierville, an upper class suburb of Memphis, is a mere 15 offers nice parks and high end retail. Despite its' proximity to a bustling metropolitan area, Byhalia still has a very secluded, country feel. Farmland is common as you come within a few miles of the town and property values are low. This allows some middle class homeowners and retirees to own several acres of land, while purchasing a much more robust home than they could in nearby Desoto County.
One of the more negative aspects about being close to Memphis is that contemporaries of the Memphis gangs can surface. Crime in Byhalia is actually double the national crime rate and much of it can be attributed to these gangs.

3)The population of Byhalia is under 1,000(739 according to 2007 census) but the northern Marshall county population that is served by the town's business' is much larger. The racial breakdown of Byhalia proper is 60% white, 36 % black, and 4 % hispanic. The racial breakdown of Marshall County(which Byhalia serves) is 50% black, 48% white, and 2% hispanic. The median household income for the town was $ 32,119 in 2007(compared to $ 36,338 for Mississippi) and the per capita income in 2007 was $ 18,888(compared to $ 19,365 for Mississippi. So Byhalia is fairly poor and poverty is a factor, however the down is in no way a desolate place.
Education levels for adults is rather low in Byhalia with only 60% of the population having at least a high school education, and just 13% of the population having a college degree. Unemployment is quite high as well, sitting at 11%.

4)Byhalia is a tiny town with very few employers or sources of jobs. The biggest private employer in town is Northcentral Electric Power Association. The Byhalia facility is the headquarters for the association which provides electricity for Desoto and Marshall counties. The company provides employment for many northern Marshall county residents, and over 50 employees alone work in the Byhalia facility. The second major employer in town is in the public sector, within the public schools. Byhalia high, middle, and elementary schools combine to employ over 100 teachers, administrators, and support staff. However, most of the staff seem to be commuters. In a study of Byhalia high school teachers, it was found that 27 of the 33 teachers make their home outside of Byhalia and Marshall County. We can extrapolate this data out to infer that the schools in Byhalia probably don't provide as many jobs to northwest Marshall County residents than an employer like Northwest Electric Power.

5)Infrastructure in Byhalia is a mixed bag. It can best be described as old and outdated, but functional. Water and sewer facilities have worked fine in every building I've been in. Airports are easily accessible, with Memphis International airport within a 30 minute drive. There is a major highway(Highway 78) that runs roughly 1.5 miles south of downtown that connects Byhalia to Memphis as well as the county seat of Holly Springs. There has been very little growth in Byhalia in recent years and most of the buildings in town are very old(over 30 years), and in need of renovation. Roads in town are a mixture of ragged paved streets and gravel roads. Potholes abound in Byhalia, and you always know that your ride will be a bumpy one(except on Highway 309).

6)The love of the outdoors is a common theme for residents in Byhalia. Hunting and fishing in the area's creeks and woodlands are favorite pasttimes. Aside from these outdoor activities, there are very few organized cultural and recreational amenities. There are no festivals or parks, and people usually go to Desoto county or Memphis for recreation. One highlight for the town are the high school football games, which seem to draw the whole town out on a friday night(over 1,000 people per home game this season).

7)The most influential people in the community include school leaders, church leaders, business leaders, and elected officials. Many of the leaders in the community hold multiple leadership positions that are very diverse(examples include: M.H., who was a former Byhalia high school prinicipal and Superintendent candidate, is on the board of directors(city alderman), two pastors of churches are also in the chamber of commerce, and the branch manager of the largest employer in the town(Northcentral Electric Power Association) is also the head of the school board. Most of the other elected officials in the town(mayor, alderman, school board) hold other leadership positions in the businesses and churches in the community(deacons, ministers, etc...).
It is a very tiny town where everyone knows everybody and the same 20-30 individuals seem to hold all the leadership positions in town. This ranges from public service(schools, police, elected officials) to the private sector(businesses and churches). "If you are in the good graces of these individuals, then it's very easy to become a leader in the community," veteran teacher Steve Delony proclaims. They are the individuals with all the power, making all the decisions and are the gatekeepers to power in the community. If you are friends with these individuals and chose to participate in the political process, you would instantly have a lot of pull in the community(and would likely win whatever office you pursued).

8)County government plays a large role in the community. Marshall County provides ambulatory services to Byhalia as well as law enforcement. The Marshall County Sheriff's office serves rural areas outside of Byhalia proper as well as provides school resource officers for the schools. Local government decisions are made by the mayor and city Alderman(Board of Directors) which are elected locally. With a population of 700 people, local governance is not overtly complicated, and most decisions seem to be made swiftly and efficiently. Schools are run by Marshall County with the Superintendent elected in a county wide election. The state and federal governments are involved in the community through funding assistance for the public schools.

9)Byhalia is a very historic small town, and was actually the place of death for the famed southern author, William Faulkner. The town was founded in, but has never had a population of over 1,000 residents. Longtime Byhalia high school teacher Steve Delony explains the lack of growth this way, "Byhalia is a place you grow up, you live in, and you die; it's not a place that you move to." Byhalia is not without its' rough patches historically, especially involving race relations.
On June 29, 1974 Butler Young Jr., a 21-year-old black resident of Byhalia, was arrested by two white police officers for hit-and-run driving. Young was taken into custody and they headed to jail in a patrol car; Young didn't make it alive. Long story short, evidence pointed to the officers as having killed Young and the officers had lied about it. The story they had described to Physicians was proven false by the Marshall County coroner, and when confronted with this the officers sprinted from the hospital. A court acquitted the officers of any wrongdoing, which set off a racial firestorm in Byhalia. The blacks in town organized a boycott of all white owned businesses in Byhalia, which cut profits of these businesses by more than half. The boycott finally ended 9 months later.
Byhalia has moved past these rough patches and race relations are vastly improved. Being a town of such diminutive size. Very little significant historical events have occurred in the town over the past 30 years.

10)Poverty remains a problem in the community, and the public schools don't seem to be improving to the point where the chain of poverty will break any time soon. Too many people are content with the status quo in the community, quite comfortable in a quiet country life. This is fine with regards to a way of life, but the status quo seems to extend to the public schools, where a drive to improve doesn't seem to exist(at least in the community). "This is Byhalia," many students will say in justification for their lack of effort. This satisfaction with the way things are in the community is probably the biggest obstacle to progress. There is also a history of racial tension in the town/county with two very different cultures that collide every day. The racial tension is slight, but it still poses as an obstacle.

11)God, community, family, love of country, and the love of the outdoors are some of the most meaningful values in the community. This is manifested in a number of ways. First off, the love of the outdoors shows up in the recreational/weekend activities of Byhalia's residents. Hunting and fishing are wildly popular for the area.
Church attendance is high and the local congregations play a large role in the local community. They serve as a source of unity, strength, order, and consistency in the lives of people who desperately need those things. Love of country is a common theme in Byhalia and interest in joining the military is high among high school students. Families are very large and intertwined in northern Marshall County with women bearing children from multiple men being a far too common theme. At my school it is not uncommon to have students who are siblings, but have different fathers(and different last names). Regardless, family ties are powerful and gives the residents of the community strength.

12)The uniqueness of the community draws from the racial and cultural mix of the citizens. Marshall county has a racial breakdown of 50% black, 48% white, and 2% other. The racial mix creates a cultural divide in the community between an urban black culture and a country white culture. The students that I teach buy into this extensively, and it seems that they wish to pattern themselves after one of these two stereotypes. History would lead one to believe that racial tension would be high in northern Marshall County because of the cultural divisions, but this does not seem to be the case. There exists an understanding and acceptance of the two different cultures among the residents(students) that surprised me when I first arrived, especially considering what I had heard about race relations in Mississippi.
At school, black and white students are commonly friends, especially the high achieving students, and if they are not friends they are at least civil. There is very little racial animosity, and even more surprising there is very little conflict between the urban and country cultures which seem to be cultures that would collide.

13.The community is served by Marshall County school district which serves a very heterogeneous population. The district is underperforming and in the bottom 25% in state test scores. The resources are limited in the school district but compared to other districts in the area the funding is not that bad. In my opinion the district's test scores lower than they should be. After analyzing demographics, poverty levels and funding data, I concluded that Marshall County and Byhalia High School should both be in the top two-thirds of all Mississippi schools as far as test scores go.
As far as postsecondary education is concerned, the most common college that students in the area attend is Northwest Mississippi Community College. Rust college is a private, historically black college in Holly Springs(about 15 miles from Byhalia) and is another common college destination. Other colleges that Byhalia students commonly attend include Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Delony, Steve.(Interview)

Sean McClish.Byhalia Teacher Survey.

Time Magazine.Mississippi: Boycott in Byhalia. 10 Mar, 1975.

Northcentral Electric Power Association.

City Data. com. Byhalia, MS city data.

Homework is a great way to practice skills and review for students. High achieving schools implement homework because they know it works. Not only does it allow you to burn skills and knowledge into your academic repertoire, but it builds time management, work ethic, and independent study skills that are needed for college and the working world.
Unfortunately 90 % of the students at my school do very little or homework at all so I don't assign it. I think that the homework article is a bit naive. It essentially states that no homework should be given so kids can do the following: (1) play outdoors, (2) eat dinner with their families, (3)read recreationally, and (4) go to bed early so they can get 10-12 hours of sleep per night. This is a "pie in the sky" scenario and philisophically seems okay because these things are important and ideal. The problem(especially in school settings similar to my own) is that homework is not the reason why these things don't happen. Eating dinner with the family depends on the value of such an experience in that  particular family unit. Playing outdoors and reading recreationally are unfortunately becoming more and more rare in this electronic age. When given free time, kids would much rather text, watch tv, play the latest video game system, or talk on the phone. If there is little structure or value in education at home, then much of the magical "pie in the sky" activities will not happen and the kids will spend much of their day in front of a screen. The rationale mentioned in this article is not relevant for all school types and I'm unsure of how beneficial this would be for more affluent schools as well. 

"High expectations" is a phrase kicked around in education quite a bit, but I feel that it is a phrase that is far too often misconstrued to the detriment of students and teachers alike. Too often teachers are told that students will meet whatever expectations the teacher holds them accountable for. If they only have high expectations of their students, then their students(regardless of who they are) will rise to and meet those expectations. The problem with this is that if expectations are unreasonable, then failure and lack of confidence sets in and the student may shut down entirely. Unrealistic expectations plagues the education system from the classroom level(expecting students who can barely read to analyze complex non-fiction literature on their own) to the district level(endless examples of districts setting unrealistic goals and then failing to meet them) and ultimately sets the table for failure and losing your class or school.
For teachers it is extremely important  know their students and what their skills, abilities, and knowledge base are at a given point. Teachers can then scaffold on that previous knowledge in order to design appropriate lessons and assignments with the right amount of challenge. I typically try to aim for the upper average student in my class so the majority of my class "gets" the lesson, but still finds it stimulating and I can spend independent practice time roaming the room helping the stragglers.
My feeling is that the "high expectations" phrase as it's commonly used in education is meaningless hogwash and teachers need to focus on simply knowing their students and creating appropriate lessons that are broken down appropriately but provide enough stimulation for the upper echelon students