Members of the Poplarville School Board plan to honor former superintendents who have contributed to the success of the school district next month.

Friday morning, the board approved Poplarville Superintendent Carl Merritt’s request to move the location of their monthly school board meeting in October to a larger venue—the high school library—in order to honor and accommodate the estimated eight former Poplarville school district superintendents and their families.

“I think it’s important for the history of the school district to recognize the services of our former superintendents. The Poplarville school district didn’t become a very good school district overnight, there’ve been a lot of people that have contributed to the success of the school district over the years,” Merritt said.

Also at the meeting, the board approved two agreements with Magnolia Health and United Healthcare in order to adopt the new policy change from Medicaid, which will allow schools within the district to continue the annual health screenings conducted via Medicaid, said board member Nance Fitzpatrick Stokes.

Board members also approved an agreement with CARES Center, Inc., a service provided by the Mississippi Children’s Home Services. The agreement, which is required by the Mississippi Department of Education, will serve as a safety net, allowing the school district to utilize the center’s consulting and training services, only if students within the district need particular services that the schools can’t provide.

In other news, the Mississippi Department of Education closed the feedback forum for the Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards this past Tuesday.

The forum was designed to allow stakeholders to submit comments either supporting the standards or addressing concerns, according to MDE’s website.

While it’s too early to comment on the results, Merritt said the standards have provided beneficial tools to teachers and students within the district.

Under the standards, Merritt said, “there’s a higher amount of training required for teachers. Also, children are being asked to move away from multiple-choice questions and use analytical thinking, where more reading and writing is involved.”

Merritt also said the district would comply if changes were made based on the feedback forum.

“We want our kids to do well so if it changes we’ll do whatever we’re asked to do,” Merritt said.

According to MDE’s website, the feedback will be evaluated by a team of educators, who will make recommendations on any changes to the Mississippi Board of Education for its consideration in December.

The next school board meeting will be Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. at the high school library.