Getting a second chance paid off for more than two dozen Lamar County adults earlier this year. A statewide program that offers opportunities for parents of pre-K students made lifechanging differences for several local households.
For LaWanda Lowe, the opportunity was passing her High School Equivalency test and a chance for a better job or a college education.
For Jennifer Rogers, becoming a certified nurse’s assistant led her to a job at a nursing home, carrying that certification to any other health-related field.
For Ashley Odom, earning her ServSafe management certification sparked a call from a local hospital for a food services job. When her husband returns from military service in Kuwait, however, she hopes to open her own culinary business.
The program that gave these and other parents of pre-K students is Second Chance Mississippi, an organization started by former attorneys Dickie Scruggs and his son, Zach Scruggs, who both served federal prison sentences for bribing a judge. Second Chance partnered with Pearl River Community College and other community colleges around the state.
The Lamar County School District reaped the benefits of the program when PRCC offered the services to the local parents. Pre-kindergarten teacher Heather Lyons has been working closely with Second Chance Mississippi.
“In December (2017), we were contacted by PRCC and Second Chance Mississippi,” she said. (The Scruggses) went through all the issues they went through and while they were incarcerated, they were in separate places and they were both doing that work. When they came out, they started to pour themselves into adult education.
“They reached out to the community colleges and they wanted to be in a partnership with the collaboratives. They give money to our collaborative for our children, but they also gave a matching amount for parents.”
Dickie and Zach Scruggs were assigned to teach adult education while they were in prison.
“When they started working in adult education, they saw the need to have something for the parents too,” Lyons said. “That is huge because the goal is to reach everybody, and you have to reach the parents before you really impact the children.”
Lamar County Superintendent Tess Smith first expected simple beginnings for the program.
“When we first met and brainstormed, we came up with the idea of dealing with parents and teaching English,” she said. “You start thinking about logistics and all that. Oh, my, it has grown from that to all these other people who have benefited from these other programs. It’s been amazing to watch. Like I said at the board meeting, we are so focused on children that being able to add this adult component, then you are able to help an entire family.”
In the first half of 2018, 160 children and 23 adults were helped through Second Chance Mississippi. Zach Scruggs said the local connection with PRCC has been outstanding.
“Lamar (County) was the third one we started, and it has been the most successful,” he said. “I have not seen the synergy of the Lamar County-Pearl River Community College collaborative anywhere else.”
For Smith, the success of the program is close to her heart.
“We help kids daily, but when we help an adult, we help the whole family,” she said. “We are all about changing the lives of children. I can’t say enough about this program and what it does to change whole families.”
Former Oak Grove Primary School Principal Dahlia Lee Landers, who retired earlier this year, hosted the English Language Learning program at the school. The primary school also had the pre-K classrooms, so some parents dropped off their children and stayed for classes.
“Some of my precious Hispanic moms who are so kind and so good have a place to learn English,” she said. “They bring their children in the morning. … It’s such an opportunity to help some of our children that are lower socioeconomic many times. Not that their parents don’t want to do better, but they don’t have the resources to do better.”
When obstacles arise, Lyons said Second Chance Mississippi stepped in, Lyons said.
“We try to provide some of those things so there are not barriers to taking the classes,” she said, adding that welding students had gloves and helmets. “They had to bring their own steel-toed boots and their own long-sleeved shirts. We do that for the other classes, like the scrubs for the CNA classes and their first test is free. They have to travel to take their CNA classes, and it takes about a month after their test to be certified.”
Taking that first step is important for both age groups – pre-K students and adult learners – Lyons said.
“People don’t consider the social and emotional things that you have to work through (in pre-K classes),” she said. “A lot of pre-K is the social and the emotional aspects and learning how to function with other people. Entering pre-K is a scary situation.
“I had one girl last year who cried every day for the first month, but she was in pre-K. Now that she is in kindergarten, she is comfortable, she’s confident and she knows where she’s going. She has the academic side now, but she is not worrying about the social and emotional side of it now.”
Lyons said getting parents to join the Second Chance Mississippi program can be difficult sometimes.
“There were three new (adults) that we picked up in April and they were people we had been working with since January to get them in,” she said. “Sometimes it is just hard to take that first step. They have to know where they are taking their class and what they are supposed to do. It’s a hard first step for people to take.”
PRCC also helps ease any problems with joining the classes, Lyons said.
“Through our partnership with PRCC, we can get (the adults) there and school officials understand completely,” she said. “So, I can message them and say, ‘There’s a mom coming and she’s very nervous.’ They will have three people there to meet her. They understand that aspect of it, so that is very reassuring.”
Lyons said the results from the program have been lifechanging for the adult learners.
“It’s been really exciting just to watch, just to see these people,” she said. “It takes a lot of encouragement sometimes for them to get excited, but once they do, just the pride they have in themselves and the pride that the kids have in them has just been beautiful to watch.”
Smith said the Second Chance Mississippi collaboration with Pearl River Community College has been important for families in Lamar County.
“When we met that day, we made a commitment,” she said. “I thought it was going to be this, teaching English to these moms. It’s just been amazing to watch what it has turned into and all the blessings that have come out of it.”
