Board of Trustees hear update on Head Start growth in district

The Picayune School Board of Trustees met Tuesday afternoon and covered a rather short agenda of items.

Board member Dr. Lori Blackmer asked for details on changes being made in the Early Head Start Program.

Dr. Pamela Thomas, director of the Early Head Start in Picayune, responded to Blackmer’s request stating:

“We received additional funding from the Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation as well as the United Health Group and that will fund an additional classroom because we received so many requests from the community for additional classrooms and children moving up from the 3 year old program.”

According to Dr.Thomas, this will allow for three 4 year old classrooms as well as the three 3 year old classrooms already in place. The three year olds will be housed at the Alternative School campus and the 4 year olds will be at the Southside campus. Thomas said that they are not increasing staff nor any salaries, but are aligning positions to make sure they are in accordance with the new Head Start Performance Regulations and making sure those positions and responsibilities adhere to those new standards.

The Board also approved a change in the uniform policy to put the Elementary Handbook in line with the Junior High and High School policies according to Assistant Superintendent Brent Harrell. The new policy will allow all students in the district the choice of wearing tee-shirts that reflect a logo of the Picayune School District or an established college or university. The policy for pants and shorts will remain the same.

The Board voted to accept grants from the Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation. Mr. Harrell stated the grants were in the amount of $152,000.00 for Pre-K Collaborative funding and $44,000.00 for Summer Literacy Tutoring funding assistance.

The next Board of Trustees meeting will be on July 25th at 12:00pm.