Cody McCaleb had attended two local schools, and he’d been home-schooled. Where education was concerned, nothing seemed to take.
So when his parents enrolled him at Greenwood’s North New Summit School four years ago, he wasn’t exactly enthused.
“He didn’t want to go, not at all,” his father, John McCaleb, said last week. “But after he got in and saw the way they treated him, he was fine.”
Cody’s grades these days consist of As and Bs.
In fact, his father said, “He gets there early and stays late. I’ll be honest, he went from not being able to do anything, to being able to do just about everything.”
North New Summit, a private, kindergarten through 12th grade school, opened at a small location on Grand Boulevard in February 2005. At the time there were two students.
Today, the school is located in a new, 14,000-square-foot building on Sgt. John A. Pittman Drive and has 75 students.
Susan Floyd, school director, attributes the steady rise in enrollment to the school’s purpose getting passed around by word-of-mouth.
“Our main goal is to provide a quality education for students with diverse learning needs,” said Floyd, who has been with the school since it opened. “That goes from one end of the spectrum to the other.”
At North New Summit, classes are limited to 10 students. The small setting allows a teacher to personalize an approach. The pupil, in a way, dictates the speed at which a lesson is taught: things can be accelerated or slowed down, depending on a student’s needs.
Another benefit, Floyd said, is how students view themselves.
“Teachers get to know students personally, on an individual basis,” she said. “And I think what students gain from that is a high self-esteem. They build confidence.”
Began in Jackson by Dr. Nancy New Boyll in 1997, New Summit Schools are accredited by the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools and the Mississippi Department of Education for Grades K-12.
Between 250 and 300 students attend New Summit in Jackson.
The Greenwood school follows the same approach to education that Boyll set forward in a mission statement: “To encourage students, levels kindergarten through twelfth grade, to reach their full academic potential while promoting their emotional well-being.”
Of the 75 students attending the Greenwood school, roughly 25 are in elementary, while the other 50 are in junior high and high school. The majority come from Leflore and Carroll counties, but in the past some have come from Belzoni, Grenada, Winona and Kilmichael.
Clinton Howard, who heard about North New Summit through a coworker, has a step-daughter and a son attending the school.
Paris Reid, his step-daughter, was enrolled in another school when the year began.
“She was just struggling to keep her grades up, kind of across the board,” Howard said.
So halfway through the year, Reid, a 17-year-old junior, began at North New Summit.
“She’s much more relaxed,” Howard said, adding that her grades have risen. “I can tell she enjoys it.”
Howard’s 7-year-old, Blake, began first grade at the school this year.
“And for the same reason,” Howard said. “We felt like he would benefit from that one-on-one atmosphere.”
Floyd stressed that North New Summit doesn’t aim to compete with any of the other public and private schools in Greenwood.
“What we try to do is offer people another option,” she said.
One of the ways the school does that is by offering online courses for high school students. The courses vary from remedial (for students who might have fallen behind) to advanced (for students looking to get ahead). Floyd said students from 14 other schools in the area have taken some of the online courses in the past. Last summer, approximately 150 people enrolled in an online course.
North New Summit students have three different “tracks” to choose from. There is the career track, which is geared toward a student looking to attend community college or enter the workforce upon graduation; the standard track, which is similar to a traditional high school course; and the advanced track, for high-achievers.
In three full years in operation, 13 students have graduated from the school. Of that number, 11 have gone on to college, one entered the workforce and one enlisted in the U.S. Army.
This year, 14 students will graduate from the school. All of them, Floyd said, plan on attending a community college or university.
Floyd has been an educator for roughly 20 years, most of which were spent in public schools. At other schools, it’s difficult to reach every student, she said.
“You may have a student who is advanced or a student who needs a little extra help, and through no fault of any teacher, it is just extremely hard to reach these students with 25 to 30 students in a classroom, but with 10 you can. This is one of the biggest differences. There’s no comparison.”
John McCaleb was more straight forward in his assessment of the school.
“They’re interested in their students learning, not just wanting to pass them along,” he said.
Said Floyd, “When you get parents, teachers and the staff all working together for that one child, they will succeed.”
