Both Overstreet Elementary School and Partnership Middle School will have new principals next year.
Overstreet Principal Cynthia Milons is taking a position as graduation coach at Starkville High School. Partnership Principal Julie Kennedy will take Milons’ current position at Overstreet. Both will start their new duties on July 1.
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District approved both administrative changes at its regular board meeting Tuesday.
“Principals Kennedy and Milons are veteran educators with more than 30 years of experience between them,” Superintendent Eddie Peasant said in a prepared statement after the board meeting. “I am grateful for their dedicated service to our school district and our greater school community.”
Milons previously taught English and served as a lead teacher at SHS before taking the reins at Overstreet in 2018. Kennedy has served as principal at Overstreet, Armstrong Middle School and the Partnership school.
The district is currently searching for a principal to take the reins at Partnership.
The board also passed a $7 million bond package for capital improvements throughout the district at the meeting.
The 10-year special obligation bond is $7,160,000 total, with an interest rate of 1.2 percent, said E.J. Gregory, a representative with Memphis-based financial firm Duncan-Williams Inc., which the board hired to handle its bond issues.
Peasant said the bond will help pay for about $8.1 million worth of capital improvement priorities throughout the district, including renovations and repairs to HVAC systems, restrooms, roofs and other infrastructure for all the district’s buildings except for Partnership, which only opened this year.
He told the board the district could begin those projects over the next few months.
The bond will not require a tax increase.
Modified calendar and remediation
During Tuesday’s meeting, the board also voted unanimously to approve a traditional calendar for the 2021-22, ending a weeks-long debate among district administrators, faculty, parents and stakeholders about whether to switch next school year to a modified schedule that would keep students out of school for only six weeks in the summer and spread more breaks throughout the year.
However, each board member also expressed enthusiasm for Peasant’s plan to move forward with a modified calendar for the 2022-23 school year, which he plans to present to the board by October or November. He said he has also asked for teacher volunteers to serve on a committee to help plan that calendar.
Peasant said most districts that implement a modified calendar take two years to do so, and he felt the district should take that time to implement it, even though most people have been supportive of the change.
“With rushing it, I felt like we would put ourselves in the position, with the pushback — although … the number of people that were pushing back were in the minority, I understand that — but any issue we had because of lack of preparation could cause us, I felt like, a tremendous challenge that would be bigger moving forward,” he said. “I felt like next year, we’ll plan.”
Peasant and others who favor the modified, year-round calendar, say the shorter summer break will help with learning retention, while more frequent breaks throughout the school year will allow for remediation for students who need extra help and “enrichment opportunities” for students who want to participate in more academic or extracurricular activities. With the disruptions to the traditional school schedules the COVID-19 pandemic has caused since March 2020, Peasant and board members all said it was even more important that students have the opportunity to take advantage of those types of programs.
Board members said they understood why Peasant chose to wait.
“I hate that we’re not doing it this fall,” board member Wes Gordon said. “However, I understand. We’re still in this pandemic, and we don’t know exactly what school’s going to look like (next school year). We know what we hope, but I would hate to change to a modified calendar and then have to modify that. I think that would send our teachers over the top. I don’t like the fact that we’re waiting a year, but I feel like our hands are tied and we have to. … However, for the fall of ’22, I’m pretty excited.”
Board member Jamila Taylor specifically asked Peasant what he plans to do for students who have fallen behind this year, since the district will keep its traditional schedule going into next school year. Peasant said administrators and teachers are in the midst of planning — and searching for funding for — remediation programs to help students over the summer.
“We’ve already allocated some funds that we’re putting toward summer programs for our students and remediation funds …,” Peasant said. “Going into next school year, we’re wanting to put in place more robust afterschool programs and some other things that we’re still talking through on our ideas as we shift from planning for a modified calendar for next year.”
Other business
The board unanimously approved the purchase of five new buses for $90,211.69 each.
Peasant also said SOCSD has entered into a partnership with OCH Regional Medical Center, which is offering Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to teachers on March 19. About 91 teachers had already signed up as of Tuesday evening, leaving spots for about 59 more. Peasant said some teachers have already been vaccinated, but the partnership with OCH will guarantee more of them a spot.
The board also elected new officers. Sumner Davis is board president, with Wes Gordon as vice president. Taylor retained her position as board secretary, and John Brown is assistant secretary. Each vote was unanimous.
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