BRIDGE CITY, La. — More than 50 people showed up to fight for Mildred Harris Elementary School Thursday night.
Currently 400 students attend this school, but at the end of this school year they may have to go somewhere else.
One Mildred Harris parent said she’s fighting for her daughter's education after pulling her child out of another school to go there.
“I relocated because I thought it was the best decision and best for my daughter,” the parent, who asked not to be identified, said. “Mildred Harris closing would be a big disappointment to me, because I brought my child there and she improved so much with her attitude, with her behavior, her grades. I can’t see her going nowhere else.”
Another parent and former Mildred Harris student, Amanda Smith, says many kids walk to school. Smith is asking what’s going to happen to the families who relied on the walkability of Mildred Harris.
“I feel like it's taking away the whole heart of the city, I feel like everybody is in this city is connected by this school," she said. “It's about the ones who don’t have cars, when their child gets sick how they going to get the baby… if they miss the bus, how are you going to get to and from?”
Former Mildred Harris teacher Paul Curry says the community element actually helps in the classroom.
"This is a very small and close knit community where it's basically a community school where the children are literally right down the street," he said. "It's very impactful to the kids knowing that they have the community behind them and that they’re all working together. I think that’s going to be a loss for this area.”
Former student Lydia Fasyette said this school provided her with all the tools needed in life.
“When I was in school, I was bullied a lot but the teachers here helped me get by and helped me ignore the bullies," she said. "They helped me learn who I was.”
"Mildred Harris is cultivating young minds educating our future leaders," student Isaac Madamoros said. “I just do not want to move, because when I move, like, I don’t know if I am going to see the same people as I am seeing right now.”
There will be a school board meeting next Wednesday, April 5, at 6 p.m., where board members will vote on whether Mildred Harris stays open or the doors will close forever.
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