Issues with Jackson schools

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t school boards supposed to be open to listening to the community? Ours apparently isn’t. They meet once per month and during that time they apparently don’t have the time to listen to the community.

I’ve tried for 20 years (since Columbine) to help Jackson schools be safer. I’ve attended board meetings, listening and tried to offer any help I could. For some reason, I have been met with resistance at each step.

It’s hard to understand why schools (specifically my hometown Jackson) won’t do more to fix school safety, yet they build a football field that looks like a professional field, Astroturf both the football and soccer fields at astronomical costs. I’m happy to see the kids have these resources, but I feel school safety should receive more importance than it has/does.

We have metal detectors in airports, federal buildings, athletic events, yet not in our schools and are told they would not install them even if grant funding was obtained.

I was also not allowed to speak before the board after an hour-long meeting with the superintendent and board president and three weeks of following procedure. They finally relented and put me on the agenda for July after the Southeast Missourian contacted them after my last request was denied.

I have two questions: Why no metal detectors even if they are free? Why aren’t citizens allowed to speak about pertinent topics for 3 minutes and when did our Constitutional rights get taken away?

DONNA TIDWELL, Jackson