Picayune School Board receives pieces of good news
Published 7:00 am Wednesday, October 26, 2016
HONOR ROLL: Staff of South Side Upper Elementary pose in front of the school’s sign, which celebrates the fact that their school earned the highest accountability grade out of every elementary in all three school districts within Pearl River County.
Photo by Jeremy Pittari
Several pieces of good news were shared with members of the Picayune Municipal Separate School District’s Board of Trustees during Tuesday’s meeting.
The Board was updated on work completed as part of Lowe’s Heroes volunteer project, which constructed a series of outdoor classroom settings, including a stage complete with audience seating, flower beds for gardening, four picnic tables, planting of four maple trees and a reading web at Nicholson Elementary. The work totaled $2,500 in donations.
Nicholson Elementary Gifted Teacher Maureen Pollitz said the school also received gardening tools from Tractor Supply, soil from Paul Bounds, vegetable seeds from Cale’s Farm Supply, and $5,000 from International Paper, all of which will help flesh out the outdoor classroom project.
Curriculum and Testing Director Mary Williams updated the Board on the results of the District’s accountability testing. Williams said that Roseland Park Elementary, Picayune Junior High and Nicholson Elementary all received a C, while West Side Elementary, South Side Upper and Lower Elementary Schools and Picayune Memorial High School all received a grade of B. She said that South Side Upper Elementary received the highest score, 412 out of 700, of any elementary school within the three Pearl River County school districts. South Side Upper Elementary Principal Debbie Smith said that score is only 43 points shy of an A.
In other matters, the Board approved a motion to provide 10 days of professional development to teachers at Nicholson Elementary and Picayune Junior High School. Williams said the teachers are inexperienced and will benefit from the training and help them reach student testing goals. Superintendent Dean Shaw said the training will cost $1,300 per day.
The Board also approved a motion to accept a bid of $5 per acre for the lease of 640.5 acres of hunting and fishing land in Hancock County. Finance Director Lisa Persick said that rate is what the District hopes to get for a 16th section lease of that nature.
See Thursday’s Item for additional coverage of Tuesday’s meeting.
