Recently, it came to the attention of the Pearl River County School District that the election cycles for Board members are out of the proper election cycle.

Each Trustee serves a six-year term, while the superintendent serves a four-year term.

After consulting with the District’s legal counsel, Jim Keith, and the Mississippi Attorney General’s office, procedures were adopted and approved during Monday’s PRC School Board meeting to correct the problem.

“It was something that we researched and our attorney researched all the way back to when we were in cycle, but somewhere, it could have been a special election, we became out of cycle,” PRC Superintendent Alan Lumpkin said.

Board elections typically fall on a general election year, Lumpkin said, but the elections were scheduled this year, which is not a general election.

To get the election cycle back on track, there will be no School Board election this year, but four seats are scheduled for election in 2018 to put the cycle back on track. Monday, the Board approved these procedures for each Trustee, as established by Keith and the Mississippi Attorney General’s office:

District 1 and District 2 should have had elections last fall. However, because of the confusion, current District 1 Trustee Rodney Dyess and District 2 Trustee Jeremy Weir will remain in their current positions. An election will be held for District 1 and District 2 in November of 2018 and the successful candidates of those elections will serve the remainder of the unexpired term, which is a four-year term through the end of 2022. Another election will be held November of 2022 to get Districts 1 and 2 on the appropriate election cycle, which will be a full six-year term.

District 3 Trustee Natalie Glorioso has served on the Board since January of 2014. The general election for that District is scheduled for November of 2018, which will be for a full six-year term.

The District 4 election will be held in November of 2018 to elect a member for a full six-year term. The District 4 Trustee is currently Jeff Jones.

District 5 Trustee Elaine Voss has served on the Board since January of 2016. However, the election for that seat should have taken place in November of 2014. To get District 5 back on the correct election cycle, the next District 5 election is set for November of 2020 for a full six-year term.

Elaine Voss is the only current Board of Trustee not running for reelection, Lumpkin said.

In a separate matter, the Board also approved to advertise for architectural services for a new construction project and facility renovations at District campuses. Lumpkin said that based on the results from New Path Strategy Consultants, the Board is currently seeking quotes from architectural firms to prepare for the District’s future bond efforts.

Also, the Board approved to advertise for bids to repave parking areas and create additional parking at the high and middle school campus.

The next Board meeting will be Oct. 2 at 5:30 p.m.