The Simpson County School Board took their February monthly meeting on the road, visiting Simpson Central to see the progress being made on the construction project there.
The project is progressing well and is expected to be completed on schedule.
Board comments opened the meeting. Member Stanley Bulger commented on progress at Mendenhall Jr. High and said he wanted to keep focus on Mendenhall Jr. High and replacing that facility.
Bulger said, “It’s a terrible facility to send kids to, both from a health and a safety standpoint and we must replace Mendenhall Jr. High.”
Bulger commented that during the bond issue campaign he believes many people did not understand that there were several “moving parts” beyond the consolidated high school. He explained that the move would help improve the quality of other facilities. He emphasized moving Mendenhall Jr. High to the existing Mendenhall High School.
Bulger explained that several locations were explored for a consolidated high school, including Mendenhall. There was not enough space to move Mendenhall Jr. High or build it on existing property nearby, Bulger said. He said the broader picture with the bond issue that could have been explained better. However, the overall plan is still to improve all facilities within the school district wherever there was a compelling need, he said.
He also commented that the way academics are delivered has changed throughout the districtand that the district has been focused on improving the quality of education for SCSD students. Bulger explained that it is difficult to operate and teach up to today’s standards in the current facilities, which do not promote some of the things the district hopes to bring to the school, such as ROTC and aspects of robotics.
Bulger said, “There are a whole lot of things that we can not do because we are constrained by the facilities. But we’re trying and we’re working, and nobody is giving up on it. I commend the school district, administration, teachers, and principals for continuing to move ahead.”
Bulger said there have been many years of neglect such as not having a master plan for facilities or a specific plan for educating children in the county.
Ralph Walker expressed excitement for the new nine weeks award recognition. He commented on recently attending an awards ceremony in Magee and witnessing the auditorium be full of parents, grandparents, and community leaders. He exclaimed that the number of students that received honors Superintendent and Principal scholar awards was awesome. Awards day previously took place at the end of the school year, but Walker applauded the idea of doing a ceremony every nine weeks.
Danny Cowart compared the United States educational system to other countries. He explained after doing some research on the educational system in the Netherlands, that the United States is behind. He said a lot of conferences that he and other board members attend express the same sentiment. He shared information on Lancashire England, and how it is the fourth leading aerospace industry in the world. He also shared that they have the highest rate of STEM education in the world, and are doing it through academies. Similar academies that the district is planning to implement for Simpson County.
Simpson County School District presented the Innovative Teacher Award to teachers who have demonstrated innovative teachings and who have encouraged students to explore, research and use all tools to uncover something new. Recipients of the award include Laurelle Williams of Mendenhall Elementary and Vicki Parker of Simpson Central School.
Policy BDE for School Board Operation for the Simpson County School Boards was reviewed. Policy GAEP concerning grievance procedures was approved. The Board of Education will make a decision on how to proceed with the Public Comment Policy during the March meeting. The decision was tabled for newly elected board members to receive training, and to give all board members an opportunity to be present for discussion. Currently, public comment is suspended until the board has studied all policies surrounding public comment and public hearing to determine which policy is suitable for regularly scheduled board meetings.
The strategic plan was approved to include Portrait of a Graduate, Teacher, and Leader. These programs will be integral to student and teacher success. Previous meeting minutes for January 12 and January 20 were approved.
The 2023-2024 Academic Calendar was approved. Cowart stated that there are two sessions of full intersession. Cowart asked Dr. Holloway to explain why the school calendar has changed. Dr. Holloway explained that it is year-round school, but instead a modified academic calendar. He explained that traditionally school was scheduled around farming and traditionally the district would wait until the end of the year to try and fix everything that was wrong with a child with summer school.
He said, “If a kid had a problem in August you compounded that problem over the next 8 moths and added to that problem as he has gone throughout the school year. So, what we do no is, if kids have issues with content or standards at those intersessions, we fix the children right then.”
He said the main premise behind modifying the calendar is to take care of the kids who need the most help. Dr. Holloway said at some point the intersessions will also include enrichment to add on and extend learning for other students. For now, remediation is the focus and operating this way will help with student to teacher ratio. Dr. Holloway believes with Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann pushing this, at some point it will be state wide.
Job descriptions for the director of maintenance, transportation, and social worker were approved. The Social Worker position will be paid for through a grant. Dr. Holloway said there is a serious need for the position because more children are coming to the district with trauma.
Joanna Maddox updated the board on financials through December. Dr. Holloway announced that Maddox will be leaving the district on June 30. The board thanked Maddox for her hard work in helping correct the School District’s finances. They all expressed appreciation for her walking into a tough situation and doing a great job.
Jeffery Walker gave a construction update and said the Simpson Central project is on schedule, and the Mendenhall fifth grade building will be completed for next school year. Pending approval from counsel the board approved a standard form of agreement between the district and contractor J.E. Stevent Construction Group for the Mendenhall High School Cafateria Project.Cowart commented that Simpson County has approximately 32 million dollars of bonding power period. He said the District has already done approximately 12 million dollars of improvements.
Cowart said, “Leveraging that money to make a global effect so we can get out of the low educational stuff is what we tried to do, and the albatross is Mendenhall Junior High.”
During the Superintendent report Dr. Holloway expressed that an increasing number of students are dealing with trauma and the district plans to be proactive and provide training to teachers on how to handle it. He also spoke on the data dealing with discipline in the school.
Dr. Holloway said, “There is this perception out there that our schools are bad and we have a lot of discipline problems. I ran the numbers and none of our school average more than 3 discipline referrals in a day.”
He shared data from two days prior to the meeting stating that with over 3,000 kids in the district they received 17 discipline referrals on Wednesday, and 9 on Tuesday.
He said, “We have good kids in our school district. We have some that make some bad choices every now and then, but we do not have bad kids and they do not get into a lot of trouble.”
He shared that Mendenhall Jr. High averages 1.8 discipline referrals a day and Magee Middle has 2.2 referrals a day.
Pat Brown with the Simpson County Economic Development Foundation spoke on how the public education system is directly related to economic development. He gave an account of a recent visit to Vicksburg to see what the School District is working towards. He said they were surprised to see the level of their children compared to Simpson County Children.
Dr. Holloway stated that the chronic absenteeism report was recently released and Simpson County School District was in the top for a variety of reasons. Simpson County School District is 9 among schools with high chronic absenteeism. He said the administrative staff has begun to address this issue.
Dr. Holloway said, “We need our kids in school, and I wanted you all to see what the numbers look like. That is an area that we are targeting to increase that.”
He said addressing does not mean just making things punitive but to also put incentives in place to make sure and get kids in school.
Dr. Holloway said the state has 32 accountability standards that the School has to meet. He said the district plans to audit themselves on the standards to make sure they are compliant. He also announced Simpson County School District will host Community Roundtables in April to discuss Simpson 2030 and other updates with the school community.
Dates for Roundtables are as follows:
o April 4, 2023, 6 p.m., Simpson Central School Gymnasium
o April 11, 2023, 6 p.m., Mendenhall High School Gymnasium
o April 18, 2023, 6 p.m., Magee Elementary School Gymnasium
Dr. Furlinda Travis explained the professional growth system used to evaluate teachers and administrators. Dr. Deidre Randall updated the board on the first semester benchmark assessment report.
The Board entered executive session to discuss student discipline and litigation before adjourning the meeting.
