Slingluff: A man for all schools

Busing, desegregation, proration and consolidation — Morris Slingluff has been through it all with Dothan City Schools.
At times, he was the concerned parent of three children attending DCS, and other times he sat in the school board chair.
Today his interest, which has never waned over the last 35-plus years, is a board member of the Dothan Education Foundation, one of the founders of the Yes We Can! Dothan initiative, a community leader and businessman, and the grandfather of three enrolled in DCS with three more grandchildren set to enter kindergarten over the next five years.
In Dothan, if there is an education concern or problem, Slingluff, Dothan High School Class of 1959, has been the go-to man. Yet the man, himself, wonders a little over his passions.
“My heart, for whatever reason, is in supporting the public school system, so I remain active,” he said recently from the offices of Slingluff Insurance on South Oates Street.
“My whole mantra, or philosophy, whatever you want to call it, is that the foundation of a democracy is an educated public. You can’t have an educated public without good public schools. You can’t have a good community without good public schools. The majority of citizens in the community will be educated in public schools.”
The city schools recently recognized Slingluff for living his philosophy by naming him an Honorary Chairman Emeritus of the board of education. The honor took the 69 year old by surprise.
“It was overwhelming,” he said.
The always modest Slingluff gazes across an empty conference room while chatting with the Dothan Eagle, shrugs and adds, “It is surprising to be honored for something you wanted to do and was going to do no matter what.”
Superintendent of Schools Sam Nichols said the honor is appropriate.
“Morris loves Dothan,” he said, “and he wants all institutions that are a part of Dothan to thrive. I have been here 35 years and that’s how long I have known Morris. When I was first here, he was head of the PTO council, leading the way.
“He has always wanted people to work together and he wants the issues to be resolved peacefully. He came on the Dothan City Schools board about the time when we were under forced busing. Morris lead the way, through thick and thin.”

The years past
Slingluff was appointed to the school board in 1976 by the Dothan city commission after another board member abruptly quit during a meeting. Slingluff had two daughters in elementary school at the time.
“We had our first busing in Dothan in August 1975,” he said. “The schools had integrated in 1969 and Carver High School was closed and everyone went to Dothan High. That left the elementary and middle schools as schools of choice. There was no forced cross-town bussing.
“Then a federal judge, Frank Johnson, said in 1975, ’This is over.’ To achieve integration, the school board paired the schools and every one, with the exception of Stringer Street and East Highlands, was fully integrated and fairly balanced. We didn’t have huge racial discord here.”
After he left the board in 1983, Slingluff remained involved with his son’s PTO and the booster clubs and was a driving force on the Bi-Racial Study Council. Around 1995, J.E. Saliba helped form the Dothan Education Foundation, which Slingluff joined as a board member.
“It was set up to provide annual grants for teachers to do things the budget wouldn’t allow them to do. All the funds came from donations and interest from deposits,” Slingluff said. “Funding started with 20 people donating $10,000 each.”
The last decade was a controversial one for the board. The contract of an unpopular superintendent was bought out and proration came with a vengeance on the heels of the construction of three new elementary schools. And the growing private school population was evidence that many were not satisfied with the state of affairs within the school system. The system countered by creating magnet schools as it attempted to put the extras back in education.

The present successes
Slingluff wanted to see continued progress. He’d heard about the success of the largest school system in the state, Mobile county schools, which had the lowest test scores in the state.
To counter that, the community stepped forward and organized the Yes We Can movement as a way to get residents involved in improving student achievement. Slingluff knew it could work in Dothan.
“After six years, Mobile closed the gap between test scores of poverty and non-poverty students,” Slingluff said. “They were number one in closing the gap.”
Slingluff got the group’s executive director to come to Dothan to help set up a similar program, which has now been picked up by Huntsville schools. The Dothan group, with financial and in-kind assistance from the Dothan Education Foundation, Wiregrass Foundation and the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce, held 47 community meetings to hear what ordinary folks had to say about the schools.
Two years after Yes We Can! Dothan was formed, test scores have improved, and the system for the first time since 1975, is out from under a federal court order. A uniform policy has been adopted and the system has gone to neighborhood schools.
But Slingluff is not satisfied until test scores improve year-over-year-over-year.
“He loves his community and has put his whole heart and soul into it,” Dothan Mayor Mike Schmitz said. He has made public education a primary focus of his life. He sets goals and holds people accountable.”

The financial crisis
Now, as the system faces up to $9 million in cuts, Slingluff believes more than ever the community must do everything possible for the city schools, in the face of 12-13 percent budget cuts.
It’s a financial crisis for systems all over the state, he said and only a few communities, like Mountain Brook, have approved higher property taxes to support the schools. Similar votes in Dothan have overwhelmingly failed.
When people ask, “How did we get here?” Slingluff looks around.
“It is very frustrating that our state government won’t say that the education of our students is the number one priority of the state,” he said. “This is the most important thing and who knows what the legislators will do. They haven’t done anything. They’re talking about bingo.
“The Legislature has to solve the problem so the funding of public schools in Alabama doesn’t go up and down with the sales tax. They have got to fund it another way with stable funding.”
In the mean time, all public schools will struggle to keep those extras it worked hard to acquire: art, music and advanced placement classes.
“It’s not going to be easy,” he said. “They say consolidating would save $2 million, but lots of people are against that,” he said. “Nobody has come up with a way to save somewhere else, so they have to consider it.”
Slingluff does not expect the system to try another property tax vote, but there has to be a new source of revenue. And a well-organized community-wide fundraiser could help.
“A small increase in property taxes would solve our education problems,” Slingluff said. “But this is not good timing with the economy where it is and job losses.”
He believes, however, that the community does care about public education.
“The business leaders realize public schools are important,” he said. “People whose children are in private schools know that 75 percent of all kids are in public schools. They know we have to have good public schools. More people understand that now than they have the last 10 years.”
Attorney Dan Johnson said Slingluff has been in a position of leadership in the community because he has no prejudice. He realizes every child needs a quality education.
“He looks at all children as children of God,” Johnson said. “He loves the people of Dothan and he wants what’s best for the people of Dothan. He believes the best can be achieved through the schools.”
“Morris believes education defines a community and I think he’s right. He is a consensus-builder, and nobody has his energy for public education.”

Personal struggle
In the midst of all his volunteer work and after putting his son, Ben, in charge of the insurance agency, Slingluff suffered a setback in the form of a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
He had surgery at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, last September, followed by a series of low-dose chemotherapy treatments in Dothan. He returned to Houston in January, hoping to get an all-clear. Doctors found more tumors.
“As my wife, Louise, and I got in a taxi to go to the airport after hearing that news, there was a plain box furniture truck on the interstate,” he said. “I pointed for Louise to look. On the back of the truck in big, black letters was the word ’Hope.’ We are hopeful and we are optimistic.“
While Slingluff admits his energy level is not the same as he undergoes a new round of radiation, he recounts his previous day’s schedule which included three community meetings.
“You can’t be doing bad and have a day like that,” he says. “I am fine. I shot one under par last week for the first time since last October.”
And Slingluff said the disease has taught him a very important thing.
“We have always heard if you have your health you have everything,” he said. “I say if you have love you have everything. There has been an outpouring of love with this. It is a paradox to have a wonderful thing come your way in the middle of a yucky disease.”