During Tuesday’s Picayune Municipal Separate School Board meeting a parent shared her concern of high turnover at one of the elementary schools.

Haley Wells, a parent of a student who has been attending an elementary school within the district, addressed the board about the high turnover rate at her child’s school. She said the problem has been long-standing, since he was in second grade. From that time on, with some exceptions, classrooms have been routinely taught by substitute teachers for extended periods of time when vacancies occur. Now her child is in the fifth grade, and so far this year he has had three homeroom teachers.

“The problem is, these kids get attached to their teachers,” Wells said.

She’s concerned because she feels the constantly rotating staff creates an atmosphere of instability for the children.

Recently, her child said he did not want to go back to school because the child’s teacher does not remember his name.

“I feel we have got to find a solution to this problem,” Wells said.

Due to this situation, Wells said she has enrolled her first grader in private school until changes are made.

Board president Edward Stubbs said while the board cannot directly control how long staff stay employed with the district, they will work to fix the problem.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting the board got a chance to celebrate their hardest working teachers by naming them teacher of the year.

This year’s district teacher of the year is Aliscia Burton of Nicholson Elementary. She was also named teacher of the year for that school.

Other teachers of the year include, Gabriella Welch who was described as inspiring, innovative, creative and dedicated.

Robin Jenkins, an English teacher at Picayune Memorial High, was awarded teacher of the year for her dedication and hard work in securing certification to become the school’s advanced placement English teacher.

Vivian Minica was selected as Roseland Park’s teacher of the year for her hard work with children in the behavior modification class. She was described as being devoted to the students in helping them not only learn social skills, but also reach academic goals.

Melissa Bertucci was selected as South Side Upper Elementary’s teacher of the year for her ability to step up to the plate and instruct students in the mild to moderate special education class.

Nicole Bond was selected as South Side Lower Elementary’s teacher of the year for always helping students reach the benchmarks by working with them one on one.

Patricia Taucer was selected as West Side Elementary’s teacher of the year for giving 100 percent and going the extra mile to ensure students succeed.

Earlier in the morning the board toured several schools, including the Career and Technology Center, where Director Joaun Lee gave the board a rundown on the classes offered, including marketing, auto mechanics, drafting and architecture, health science, engineering and robotics, child care and carpentry, to name a few.

Lee is also interested in starting a culinary arts class similar to what is being offered at Pearl River Central and Poplarville high schools, however there is a cost involved. To start from scratch would cost the district more than $200,000, but she suggested the district could get a head start with the project by utilizing the old cafeteria at the Alternative School.

The next meeting of the board will be Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m.