As a teacher of 28 years, 25 dedicated to Sunflower County School District, Cordina Barber strived to save what she defined as a failing school district. As a frustrated Fine Arts teacher, Barber witnessed continuous events year after year displaying no type of improvement.

One particular incident hit a nerve in Barber, a nerve that motivated her to organize a rally that would not only change her school, but also the Sunflower County School District. The school elected prom queen, explained her fear of walking home at night because of numerous threats from her boyfriend to the schools principle. The principle told her to ignore the threats and she was later killed by her boyfriend while walking home from school. Once Barber was informed of this horrific event, she decided enough was enough. She asked her fellow colleagues to assist in developing a rally that would bring change to a school system that consisted of; mismanaged money, undocumented rapes, failing accreditations, and non- existing student safety programs. All the teachers declined because of fear of losing their jobs.

 Alone, Cordina Barber organized and demonstrated a rally that finally brought the attention Sunflower School District lacked. This attention caused the superintendent of the school to be fired along with several teachers.

One hit nerve caused the existence of a corrupt school district to be recognized. Now, Cordina Barber works for a school that has been taken over by the government and they’ve created polices and procedures to enhance the school’s safety and education. The new superintendent of Sunflower School District has drafted new teachers and new procedures that will be enforced next year.