When students return to Pillow Academy next month, they will be greeted with a few new changes, including a large clearing of land that wasn't there when school closed for the summer.
To the right of the elementary school, land has been cleared for what will eventually become additional playground space. It will replace the existing playground in the center of the school's campus directly in front of the elementary building to make room for the school's new performing arts building. The arts building will house an auditorium as well as possible space for a band hall, a dance facility and a chorus room.
"We will need to replace the playground space when the auditorium is built, which will be sometime in the near future," said Headmaster Russell Robertson.
Another not-so-visible improvement will be the renovation to the cafeteria building. While the evidence is there now - with construction equipment spread across the parking lot - later on, the only changes students will notice will be a new heating and cooling system and a new lay-in ceiling. "The effort there was to try to increase energy efficiency," said Robertson.
Also this year a 5-year-old kindergarten class will be added. Currently, there are four sections. Sheila Kolle will be the new teacher for that class. Former kindergarten teacher Mary Beth Coker has moved, and Meredith Stainback Brown, a previous second-grade teacher, will take over Coker's teaching spot. Former fifth-grade teacher Margie Muse will replace Brown as a second-grade teacher.
In high school, Steve Flemming will be the new varsity basketball coach. His wife, Leigh Ann Flemming, will be the new middle school math and English teacher. Another new teacher to the English department will be Shawn Layman, who will teach secondary English.
Jana Ennis will also join the Pillow staff as a Spanish teacher.
Tonya Waldrop will teach on a part-time basis. Her classes will include AP chemistry, physics and AP physics. She replaces Ed Miles, who retired this year after teaching for 13 years at Pillow.
Pillow band director David Pace resigned last week, and Robertson said they are now actively searching for his replacement.
Another significant change this year will be the return to AAA status. For the past few years, Pillow, along with other larger private schools in the state, was classified as a AAAA-school, The AAAA status has been eliminated, and schools that were previously rated as AAAA will return to AAA classification.
This means a new conference schedule as a few new teams are welcomed to the North AAA conference. The conference will include Pillow, Washington School, Indianola Academy, Clarksdale Lee Academy, Magnolia Heights Academy, Jackson Academy and Madison-Ridgeland Academy.
