Consolidation

The southeast Oktibbeha Community Schools were initially consolidated into B.L. Moor in 1960 and became a constituent of the Oktibbeha County School District. As the chart illustrates, Pleasant Grove and the other community schools were part of a much larger trend throughout the middle of the 20th century, as the total number of public school district between 1931 and 1961 dropped by nearly 100,000 before plateauing; unfortunately, B.L. Moor and EOCHS still faced consolidation in 2002 and 2015.

In 1960, the various Oktibbeha County Community Schools consolidated into Moor, and they resided there for 42 years, until the discussion of a 2nd consolidation arose as early as 1993 when transportation and academic performance was subpar to the state’s standards.

In 2002, B.L. Moor became East Oktibbeha County High School (EOCHS) and their mascot became the Titans. The local government hoped this consolidation would enhance students’ academics and provide better overall resources for teachers and students alike. Once consolidation occurred, the Titans excelled athletically, winning the football Region 4 Championship, the 1A North State Championship, and the 1a State Championship in 2006-2007 under Coach Bush.

In 2015, EOCHS faced another consolidation after Mississippi House Bill 716 was filed by Rep. Toby Barker in 2013. Barker’s choice came after EOCHS earned a failing grade by the Department of Education’s school performance grading system for the third consecutive year. The Dispatch reported State Rep. Gay Chism, saying, “Nobody is jubilant about consolidation. If your real focus is on the 800 kids (who attend Oktibbeha County School District), this was really the only solution we could have.” The 2013 Bill stated the school would be under conservatorship until the consolidation was officially effective on July 1, 2015. This finally allowed the Oktibbeha County District, which was mainly Black, to merge with the predominately White Starkville Public School District; the district then became the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District - the name that remains today.

Although the consolidation had benefits for students, the transition from EOCHS to the Starkville-Oktibbeha School District(SOSD) had various shortcomings. For example, the Mississippi interim superintendent advised Oktibbeha County School District (OCSD) to merge its staff with SOSD, but the community leaders decided to close the former schools instead, producing major unemployment to EOCHS teachers, staff, and bus drivers; the school board also dismantled itself, releasing the county superintendent. Moreover, much of the school’s items, such as school trophies and class pictures, were poorly maintained and not preserved. EAEOCS requested to obtain school pictures and trophies, but were denied because they were school property. After numerous attempts to recover the historical pictures, they finally recovered them in 2023, but only 21 of the supposedly 29 pictures were present and many were damaged by the B.L. Moor fire from 2002 and the poor preservation taken by the SOSD.

Although 2015 marked the official end of B.L. Moor, the legacy forever lives through the hearts of the alumni. Moor High School was a place of a culture and family that was loved by its community. Whether it was the struggle for civil rights, consolidation, or the attempts to recover school pictures, B.L. Moor alumni found ways to overcome the immense challenges they were dealt. Dr. Joe Stevenson made an analogy of B.L. Moor’s legacy to Neil Armstrong’s Moon landing comment, “The Eagle has landed.” A fitting statement for the B.L. Moor Eagles, Stevenson said it illustrates how both the Moon landing and B.L. Moor’s consolidation was “the closing of an era of great curiosity, but the opening of a liftime of adventure,” as B.L. Moor was foundational for its alumni - educating and molding them in ways that remain with them today.