The Pearl River County School District’s Board of Trustees held a special called meeting Wednesday evening to discuss delaying the start of the school year for students.

Originally students were going to start classes Aug. 6, but because of new precautions and hurdles teachers are having to deal with regarding their classrooms, it was recommended the student start date be moved back one week.

Superintendent Alan Lumpkin said because there are so many new intricacies regarding COVID-19 guidelines the district wanted to give teachers and staff more time to prepare.

“As we return to school during the pandemic there will be new procedures and policies that will go on at campuses and we felt this will better prepare staff members and our facilities for the first day,” Lumpkin said.

The school district rearranged teacher work days in order to allow teachers more time on campus before students arrive to set up their classrooms.

There will still be the same number of school days for students, and school will end the last week of May like in previous years.

The only changes made to the calendar that’ll affect students is that they will return from Christmas Break on January 4 instead of January 7, and the last day of school will be May 28 instead of the originally scheduled date of May 26.

Students won’t have any extra weeks of school or lose any other holidays to make up for the delayed start of school.

The new student start date could’ve affected athletics as well with the Mississippi High School Activities Association announcing that fall sports, excluding football, could begin practicing August 10.

However, Lumpkin said the new start date won’t affect any athletic programs because workouts and practices are already taking place.

Following the unanimous approval of the delayed student start, the board moved into closed session to discuss a personnel matter.