Selma City Schools holds back to school giveaway, promotes importance of attendance, photo gallery

Selma City Schools district held a back to school event on Monday called “Operation Help Our Scholars” at Selma High School.

The event included giveaways of school supplies, backpacks and uniforms to students and included uniforms and supplies donated by Selma City and the community. 

Male students were offered free haircuts by 14 volunteer barbers of local businesses from Selma and Montgomery, as well as food, face painting and games.

Principals and staff of all eight schools in the Selma district and the Dallas County Systems of Service attended the event that marked a new initiative to improve and change the Selma City School System by rethinking, reigniting, redesigning, and transforming the district with town hall and PTA meetings, as well as leadership seminars for principals and teachers. It also goes along with new attendance rules and regulations for the district made in collaboration with Dallas County Public Schools and District Judge Vernetta Perkins’ office.

Jaclyn Brown Wright, director of Teacher and Leader Development and Interim Director of Teaching and Learning, said the system will be sending a strong message about student attendance this school year.

“We cannot teach them if they are not here. They have to be here on time because if they don’t, then we’ve already partnered with Judge Perkins to make sure we hold our parents of our kindergarten to our fifth graders accountable for attendance and getting here on time,” Brown Wright said. “And for our secondary students, they will be held accountable if they are truant to school, and that includes excessive absence and tardiness.”

Monday’s event was organized by Cynthia Milledge, Community and Family engagement specialist of Selma City Schools, who said the giveaway helps families that are still displaced by the Jan. 12 tornado.

The district hopes providing needed school supplies, haircuts for the boys, and a strong head start, parents will be incentivized to bring children for their first day and on time. 

“You know having a fresh look, a new uniform, and school supplies, that’s bound to make every child feel amazing,” she said. 

A truancy officer spoke to the students at the event about the importance of attendance. 

“We just want our parents to be excited, you know. 2022-2023 was a little rough, especially after the tornado hit,” Milledge said. “We want to show our families that, hey, you could still make it even after that, something as catastrophic as that.” 

The event was a good way “to reignite our thoughts about the school year. Children are coming out of summer and we just want to give them extra drive and excitement about the school year and I think this is a perfect way to do that,” Milledge said.

Brown Wright said the event showed strong community support.

“Our superintendent really, really does want us to go back to the basics for a brighter future and that means connecting and supporting each other at the district level, communicating, respecting, building trust,” Brown Wright said. “This event is one of the first of many that (shows) central office leaders will collaborate to support family and community engagement. 

Superintendent Dr. Zickeyous Byrd said the event should help address some of the barriers and fears some students feel on the first day of school.

“We actually got together, assembled ourselves, so that we could actually figure out a way to address every barrier that they could have. To make sure we take those barriers away, so they could be at school on time the first day of school and every day after that.”

Byrd hopes to sponsor similar events to address other barriers to learning.

“We care about our communities. We care about our families. We care about our scholars,” he said.