SOCSD presents tentative budget pending Legislature’s approval of school district allocations
Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District administrators presented a proposed budget of about $64.5 million in expenditures for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 at the school board’s meeting Tuesday night, about $2.5 million more than expected revenues.
SOCSD board members raise questions about COVID-19’s effect on school year
The COVID-19 pandemic and the various ways it will affect students and teachers in the rapidly approaching school year dominated discussion at Starkville-Okitbbeha Consolidated School District’s Board of Trustees’ meeting Tuesday night.
SOCSD gives students options for return to school
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District will allow parents and students to choose their preferred method of education for the upcoming school year due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Superintendent Eddie Peasant announced Tuesday on the district’s website.
Projected state revenue loss will be less than 2 percent at SOCSD
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District might get significantly more funding from the state than administrators previously thought, they said at a special-call meeting and budget work session Monday.
Nearly-complete Partnership School to be ready for students in August
Now that the Partnership School is almost finished and ready to open, it’s “a huge relief” for Eddie Peasant, the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District superintendent.
SOCSD, facing possible shortfall of $2.1M, braces for budget cuts due to pandemic
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District could see a funding cut of more than $2 million from the state as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus, district Chief Financial Officer Tammie McGarr told the board of trustees at its Tuesday meeting.
SOCSD adjusts credit recovery program for distance learning
Starkville High School students who need to take summer courses in order to advance can complete those courses virtually after the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously for its credit recovery program to accommodate distance learning.
Quitman High School principal to take over at SHS
Starkville High School will have a new principal starting July 1.
Peasant: Leading SOCSD during a pandemic takes ‘good common sense’
Eddie Peasant worked for the Gulfport School District in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. The district returned to school a few days later, he said.
SOCSD becomes second district to leave GTECHS
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District became the second district to cut ties with the Golden Triangle Early College High School with two unanimous votes by the board of trustees at their Tuesday meeting.
Partnership School construction halted for pandemic
Construction on the long-delayed Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District’s Partnership School has stopped due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Superintendent Eddie Peasant said Friday at a special-call meeting of the board of trustees.
Feeding the mind: $900K grant to fund garden project at new Partnership school
The vegetables that Overstreet Elementary School students grow and harvest in their garden become part of their dinners, and they are always excited to tell their teachers about it the next day, science teacher Summer Buntin said.
Gordon seeks reappointment to SOCSD board
Wesley Gordon has submitted a letter of interest to be reappointed to the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees, he said Thursday.
Parent: School bus was 3 hours late with parents left unaware
The mother of a second-grader told Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District board members that administrators never notified her when a school bus was three hours late bringing her child home from school.
Area school districts emphasize WorkKeys
Columbus High School Principal Craig Chapman tells a story about a particular student who swung by his office to ask, “When are the industries visiting?”
The student, one of the school’s 202 seniors, had taken the WorkKeys exam, a workforce readiness test similar in format to the more academic-oriented ACT, and was now excited to meet representatives from area industries planning to visit the schools.
Partnership School set for April completion
The long-delayed Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District’s Partnership School took a few more steps toward its anticipated August 2020 opening at Tuesday’s SOCSD Board of Trustees meeting.
SOCSD to receive federal funds for English learners, immigrant students
Luri Arruda had just turned 9 when she joined Dana Roberts’ third-grade class at Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School in late September. Her classmates welcomed her by singing the Happy Birthday song to her in her native language of Portuguese.
SOCSD hires new orientation and mobility specialist
Three students in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District will have a new staff member to help them get around their schools with their visual impairments.
SOCSD starts fall clothing drive for district-wide clothes closets
The clothes closets in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District started as a quick and easy solution for students to get clean clothes in case of emergency and return to class quickly.
Holocaust survivor encourages students to educate themselves, never give up
One of the sixth-graders in the audience that heard Sami Steigmann’s first motivational speech in 2008 wrote him a thank-you letter that changed his life, he said.