Water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, forces students to scramble — and they're dreading virtual classes
Students in Jackson, Mississippi, are scrambling to contend with the water crisis that has plagued the state’s capital city and forced them from school.
Desmond Washington was hospitalized with a severe rash on his back after showering last week in his dorm in Mississippi's capital city of Jackson. The ongoing water crisis there has not only left residents without a reliable water supply, it has forced students like Washington out of the classroom.
A doctor told Washington, a Jackson State University sophomore, that the water had exposed him to bacteria. He left the hospital shortly after receiving an IV drip with antibiotics.
“When I came back from the hospital, they said we couldn’t use the water and took us out of class for a week,” Washington said. “So that’s now limiting our class time and learning, and one of the things I was excited about this year was that we’d be 100% back and not doing virtual learning. But now it’s been virtual last week and that’s how we’ll attend this upcoming week.”
The water crisis that prompted the historically Black public university to delay its student move-in date and return to virtual learning has also left K-12 students, teachers and families scrambling.
School leaders, meanwhile, are fielding questions from frustrated students and angry parents about the problems while they wait for answers from city and state officials — the only ones who can really speak to when Jackson will get reliable water service back after the failure of its water treatment pumps.
Rating: 5