By Gabbie Burton
Contributing Writer

The Oxford Area School Board had a busy night on Jan. 14 with a work session and three committee meetings that covered nearly all the hot-button issues facing the board. 

A highlight of the meeting included a segment when the Facilities and Safety Committee heard public comments from Lincoln University students regarding the online backlash the university has received from the community about its basketball teams’ temporary use of the high school’s gymnasium. 

Their comments came on the heels of the Oxford School Board 6-3 vote on Nov. 26 to approve the HBCU’s basketball teams to use the high school gym while the university’s gymnasium undergoes renovations. The decision prompted negative feedback from community members on Facebook, some of whom have accused LU students of potentially “trashing” the facility and not trusting the college students to be “in with our underage kids.” 

“We come here to thank the majority of the school board for letting us use the gym,” said LU student Drake Smith during public open comment, “but we’re also here because we’re troubled by a silent majority of keyboard warriors.”

Facebook commentary on the measure can be found dating back to the time of the initial vote in various posts made on Oxford community message boards. 

In response to a community comment addressing concern for the measure, board President and Facilities and Safety Committee Co-Chair Mark Patterson, a nay vote on the measure, clarified that the university and high school students would not be using the gym at the same time. He also recognized the university for previously allowing Oxford swim teams to use LU pools for roughly 20 years, starting in the 1990s, for meets and practices. 

Patterson went on to state that a “review” by concerned board members took place and that any concerns they had, “have been mitigated.” The other two nay votes were board members Jennifer Kehs and Mike Blessington.

‘We should be treated as a neighbor’

While the board feels their concerns have been met, the negative feelings of certain community members remain, as do their Facebook activities. 

“Some people think that Lincoln is full of boogeymen, but that’s not the case. We’re here to show you otherwise,” Smith said. “We should not be treated as a nuisance. We should be treated as a neighbor.”

Smith was one of five LU students who spoke at the meeting, while several other students showed support from the audience. Sophomore Nathaniel Harris, vice president of internal affairs for Lincoln’s Student Government Association, also addressed the board, citing the perceived rift between the Oxford community and university. 

“The current relationship between my institution and the City of Oxford is not one that I’m proud of,” Harris said. “Let me be clear. The divide between our communities, I believe, is not one of true hatred or disdain, but a divide that stems from a lack of understanding and an unwillingness to inquire and learn about our vastly different cultures and upbringings.” 

After the meeting, Harris shared that he was not surprised there was backlash but was surprised it was over something he felt was not a “big deal.” 

“I wasn’t surprised at all by the sentiment behind the comments,” he said of the community’s online sentiment regarding the college’s use of Oxford’s gymnasium. “That is why we want to build that connection. We want to get rid of that narrative that Lincoln students are just not good [to the] community, because we can be.” 

In addition to discussion about LU’s gym usage, the committee also welcomed Alyssa Wingenfield of McClure Company and Jay Darkey of JPD Architects to discuss renovations planned at the schools.

Most of the proposed renovations are “red” projects that are considered more crucial, such as replacing outdated HVAC equipment and repairing roofing. However, the presentation also included “green” projects, such as replacing the stadium field with turf which has garnered attention on Facebook and in board meetings with community members, who have expressed both positive and negative feedback. 

“We’ve had several meetings outlining what those projects are in priority, and we had the Finance Committee inform us about what we could spend to repair those things and do these upgrades without having to do a tax increase,” Patterson said. “The board approved the first plan, which was to not approve tax increase to the folks in the community and all of our stakeholders, and that’s what these folks will be reviewing this evening.” 

The rehashing of the presentation was to highlight phase one of the suggested renovations which would total about $9.5 million as is and does not include the turf field yet. If the field is feasible and approved, its installation would take place in a later phase of the renovations. The groups are planning to begin phase one of renovations this summer. 

Heated exchanges

An additional meeting held included a fiery policy committee meeting that involved discussion about Policy 6300, Material Selections Policy - Libraries. 

Board Vice President Jenifer Warren had heated exchanges with both committee chair Blessington, and Kehs over edits to Policy 6300. Kehs suggested instead of continuing on the path of rounds of edits which has been occurring for roughly a year and a half, they return to the “original document” the district is operating under and start over from there. However, this was overlooked in favor of addressing edits Blessington made which were presented to the board in print the night of the meeting. 

Tenille Dewees, who joined the meeting virtually and thus did not receive the new edits, stated that it was “not appropriate for us to show up to a policy meeting and be blindsided by revisions.”  

The meeting moved 10 other policies in the review cycle forward with little discussion; however, the debate over the edits to Policy 6300 caused tensions to run high and contributed to the meeting running about 20 minutes over schedule. Ultimately, Blessington quickly ran through his edits and the committee will further go over edits at next month’s policy committee meeting. 

To contact Contributing Writer Gabbie Burton, email [email protected].