Starkville High and MSU to partner together for new school...

[dawgstudent]

SOCSD, MSU agree to partner in planning new Starkville High

The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District board on Tuesday approved a memorandum of understanding with Mississippi State University, agreeing to partner in planning for the new Starkville High School.

cdispatch.com

 

[OopsICroomedmypants]

I knew Tony McGee a long time ago. I completely forgot he was the superintendent at Starkville.
ETA it will never be built in time. . . .

 

[dickiedawg]

Good things are happening for the District.
It was A rated last year. I don’t think the 24-25 grades have been released yet, but the rumor is it maintained that.

 

[TheBannerM]

What's the back story here? SHS is moving? Or is this a second high school?

 

[Choctaw Dawg]

What's the back story here? SHS is moving? Or is this a second high school?

Assume its moving, its a pretty cramped area where the high school is now. The campus has been way too small ever since the city and county consolidated

 

[615dawg]

Good move for Starkville and MSU.

 

[DerHntr]

This is great news. It’s difficult to attract university faculty and staff with kids to universities that don’t have strong school systems in the area. Most are obviously very focused on education for their children.

 

[The Peeper]

Lots of questions raised about it happening because nothing has been hammered out. One of the big questions is having a city/county facility on MSU property. Who will own it? Can city/county funds even be used to build it on state property? Who will delegate the curriculum, MSU or City/County admins? These was some of the questions being thrown around church coffee pot last week

 

[L4Dawg]

Lots of questions raised about it happening because nothing has been hammered out. One of the big questions is having a city/county facility on MSU property. Who will own it? Can city/county funds even be used to build it on state property? Who will delegate the curriculum, MSU or City/County admins? These was some of the questions being thrown around church coffee pot last week

Isn't the middle school already on MSU property?

 

[Maroon13]

I saw the story on social media. Of course all the comments are complaints about the location and traffic.

SHS needs a new building for sure. Where it should be, I can't say

 

[The Peeper]

Isn't the middle school already on MSU property?

Its 6th & 7th grade only and there are other schools in the area that are 6&7 as well. This new building would be the HS for all 9-12 kids though. They aren't saying it can't be done there are just lots of things that haven't been talked about yet that have to be ironed out was what I was hearing.

 

[Villagedawg]

Its 6th & 7th grade only and there are other schools in the area that are 6&7 as well. This new building would be the HS for all 9-12 kids though. They aren't saying it can't be done there are just lots of things that haven't been talked about yet that have to be ironed out was what I was hearing.

There are no other 6/7 schools in SOCSD other than the Partnership school on campus. It is the only school for grades 6/7 already. The question of curriculum is that it will have to be the same minimum under MDE. Same as every other high school in the state.

 

[WrightGuy821]

If that's the case, who moves into the SHS campus? Do they move all middle school (6-8th grade) there and redistribute partnership to some of the lower elementary schools that are bursting at the seams?
Or, while we're speaking theoretically, does MSMS move into the SHS campus and finally detach itself from The W?

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I am not seeing the point of this. Why can't they partner in their current building? And if they need a new building, why can't they just renovate the current one? Why does this need to be on campus?

 

[Perd Hapley]

I am not seeing the point of this. Why can't they partner in their current building? And if they need a new building, why can't they just renovate the current one? Why does this need to be on campus?

The current building is way too small, very old, and poorly located. A new SHS is something that has been badly needed for a long time in Starkville, regardless of whether its an MSU partnership or not. The only reason it wasn’t done 30+ years ago is that Starkville / OC SD doesn’t have Rankin / Madison County money. Partnering with MSU thus makes a lot of sense to help solve that problem.

Utilizing state resources for some of it is karma anyway, since it was the state (also with 17ing Mark Keenum himself leading the charge behind the scenes) that forced the whole city / county consolidation in the first place. That action created a whole lot of issues with overcrowding where previously none existed, and made the overcrowding issues that already were in place much, much worse. Specifically at SHS.

 

[Villagedawg]

I am not seeing the point of this. Why can't they partner in their current building? And if they need a new building, why can't they just renovate the current one? Why does this need to be on campus?

They desperately need a new building. That would be the least of my problem with this. The legal set up is, understandably, the thing I would want answers to.

 

[HotMop]

Lots of questions raised about it happening because nothing has been hammered out. One of the big questions is having a city/county facility on MSU property. Who will own it? Can city/county funds even be used to build it on state property? Who will delegate the curriculum, MSU or City/County admins? These was some of the questions being thrown around church coffee pot last week

Research The Partnership School, it's run by the SOSB and is located out by Chadwick Lake north of the Sanderson Center.

 

[HotMop]

Isn't the middle school already on MSU property?

Yes

 

[cristilmethod]

There isn’t just a ton of room near the partnership middle school on campus. Even if they buy up some of the houses on the west side of E Lee, I’ll be curious to see how they all make it fit.

Also curious to see how they handle ingress/egress. Middle school was isolated off of 182 rather than connected to George Perry, which is interesting.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

Will their grades count in our academic rankings?*

 

[bsquared24]

I have no inside knowledge but there are a ton of public/private partnerships now with universities, I assume this would be similar. Universities typically have a lot of land and can leverage that to partner with hotels, retail, and local government. I would be shocked if there was any academic crossover other than AP classes counting and that should have already been established wherever the HS is.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I wish they had been consolidated when we lived there. We would've saved a lot of money.

 

[johnson86-1]

Good things are happening for the District.
It was A rated last year. I don’t think the 24-25 grades have been released yet, but the rumor is it maintained that.

It's so absurd that that was ever not the case. Demographics were never bad enough to not have a good school with the help of a university presence.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

The current building is way too small, very old, and poorly located. A new SHS is something that has been badly needed for a long time in Starkville, regardless of whether its an MSU partnership or not. The only reason it wasn’t done 30+ years ago is that Starkville / OC SD doesn’t have Rankin / Madison County money. Partnering with MSU thus makes a lot of sense to help solve that problem.

Utilizing state resources for some of it is karma anyway, since it was the state (also with 17ing Mark Keenum himself leading the charge behind the scenes) that forced the whole city / county consolidation in the first place. That action created a whole lot of issues with overcrowding where previously none existed, and made the overcrowding issues that already were in place much, much worse. Specifically at SHS.

I never liked the consolidation either. I think it’s a flawed idea in general, and doesn’t save that much money.

I prefer smaller classrooms in a general sense.

 

[Perd Hapley]

It's so absurd that that was ever not the case. Demographics were never bad enough to not have a good school with the help of a university presence.

You might be underestimating the demographics. Oktibbeha County is bottom 15-20% in the poorest state in the country in per capita income….at around $42,000. The university has actually contributed to suppression of that by creating a vastly overpriced real estate market in Starkville due to 2nd homes for gameday trips, retirement homes, and so forth. Property taxes in the Starkville city limits are also astronomical.

The end result is that there has been a mass exodus out of Oktibbeha County and into neighboring counties for people who work in Starkville and on campus (Clay, Webster, Winston, etc.). Check out the map below. Even freaking Choctaw County now has a higher per capita income than Oktibbeha, and in Clay / Lowndes its over 20% higher. Low income, high property values, and high property taxes are a really bad combination for a public school system. A hell of a lot of money earned in Oktibbeha County isn’t staying there.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

It's so absurd that that was ever not the case. Demographics were never bad enough to not have a good school with the help of a university presence.

You’re underestimating it. Not that I agree with the Starkvillians. But SA keeps growing. And what @Perd Hapley said.

We are seeing what typically plays out in a big city happen right here in Starkville. Rich people go private, the rest go public. And the middle class moves out.

 

[99jc]

I saw the story on social media. Of course all the comments are complaints about the location and traffic.

SHS needs a new building for sure. Where it should be, I can't say

I HEARD THEY WANT IT ON HWY 25

 

[Choctaw Dawg]

You might be underestimating the demographics. Oktibbeha County is bottom 15-20% in the poorest state in the country in per capita income….at around $42,000. The university has actually contributed to suppression of that by creating a vastly overpriced real estate market in Starkville due to 2nd homes for gameday trips, retirement homes, and so forth. Property taxes in the Starkville city limits are also astronomical.

The end result is that there has been a mass exodus out of Oktibbeha County and into neighboring counties for people who work in Starkville and on campus (Clay, Webster, Winston, etc.). Check out the map below. Even freaking Choctaw County now has a higher per capita income than Oktibbeha, and in Clay / Lowndes its over 20% higher. Low income, high property values, and high property taxes are a really bad combination for a public school system. A hell of a lot of money earned in Oktibbeha County isn’t staying there.

View attachment 927939

Haterz gonna hate.

 

[johnson86-1]

You might be underestimating the demographics. Oktibbeha County is bottom 15-20% in the poorest state in the country in per capita income….at around $42,000. The university has actually contributed to suppression of that by creating a vastly overpriced real estate market in Starkville due to 2nd homes for gameday trips, retirement homes, and so forth. Property taxes in the Starkville city limits are also astronomical.

The end result is that there has been a mass exodus out of Oktibbeha County and into neighboring counties for people who work in Starkville and on campus (Clay, Webster, Winston, etc.). Check out the map below. Even freaking Choctaw County now has a higher per capita income than Oktibbeha, and in Clay / Lowndes its over 20% higher. Low income, high property values, and high property taxes are a really bad combination for a public school system. A hell of a lot of money earned in Oktibbeha County isn’t staying there.

View attachment 927939

I was really talking about Starkville itself prior to consolidation. Demographics never seemed like they shouldn’t have a good public school 25 years ago. And it was decent as far as I know then. Not sure when it ran off the rails.

 

[Perd Hapley]

I was really talking about Starkville itself prior to consolidation.

Starkville itself is representative of the county as a whole in term of per capita income. In 2025, Starkville’s per capita income was only $43,729, basically the same as the Oktibbeha County figure in 2023. There have always been demographic issues in Starkville.

Demographics never seemed like they shouldn’t have a good public school 25 years ago.

It was decent for a few years here and there, but not exceptional.

And it was decent as far as I know then. Not sure when it ran off the rails.

It ran completely off the rails from the consolidation, but there was also high turnover in principals and superintendents that negatively affected things before that.

 

[Dawgg]

Kind of wild the difference in facial expressions in this picture:

 

[TroyMcClure2025]

Starkville itself is representative of the county as a whole in term of per capita income. In 2025, Starkville’s per capita income was only $43,729, basically the same as the Oktibbeha County figure in 2023. There have always been demographic issues in Starkville.



It was decent for a few years here and there, but not exceptional.



It ran completely off the rails from the consolidation, but there was also high turnover in principals and superintendents that negatively affected things before that.

Careful with the use of data, facts, and logic here…

 

[leeinator]

Please build a unique campus with building architecture that is nothing like any other Mississippi school. Make it a large enough campus that the enrollment could easily double if needed without congestion. Would also like to see them build a new sports complex that is unique and all to its own. No more cookie cutter stuff. Make is so special that students and families from all over the state would want to move to Starkvegas just to be a part of it. Have an indoor high school swimming pool set up to have a swim team. Have separate gymnasiums for basketball only and volleyball only teams and fans. Think way outside the box and build something really cool. The football stadium should be at least 10K (preferably 20K) capacity or more to attract the attention of the state high school football playoffs as an annual location. I know this sounds ambitious, but if you're going to do it....do it right!
I think you'd find more and nicer hotels start to build out in that area and population would very likely increase if there were a high school that was downright amazing and different. It would attract good teachers as well. Start a GoFundMe type construction fund and I would even donate a little bit toward something special like that. I think many others would too.
Have some vision for once.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Kind of wild the difference in facial expressions in this picture:

View attachment 934255

Nah, that’s just Tony’s resting face. If you know him, he actually looks happy here.

 

[dickiedawg]

Please build a unique campus with building architecture that is nothing like any other Mississippi school. Make it a large enough campus that the enrollment could easily double if needed without congestion. Would also like to see them build a new sports complex that is unique and all to its own. No more cookie cutter stuff. Make is so special that students and families from all over the state would want to move to Starkvegas just to be a part of it. Have an indoor high school swimming pool set up to have a swim team. Have separate gymnasiums for basketball only and volleyball only teams and fans. Think way outside the box and build something really cool. The football stadium should be at least 10K (preferably 20K) capacity or more to attract the attention of the state high school football playoffs as an annual location. I know this sounds ambitious, but if you're going to do it....do it right!
I think you'd find more and nicer hotels start to build out in that area and population would very likely increase if there were a high school that was downright amazing and different. It would attract good teachers as well. Start a GoFundMe type construction fund and I would even donate a little bit toward something special like that. I think many others would too.
Have some vision for once.

I imagine the architecture will closely match the other newer buildings on campus, like Partnership Middle does.
I would also tend to think the teams will continue to use the existing athletics fields for a good while. They just spent a ton of money upgrading all of the field surfaces. Excepting the gym, I guess it’s important to have that as part of the school.
I do agree potential growth should be anticipated, and I’m sure it will be.