The Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School Board has approved taking steps toward expanding the opportunities for middle school and high school students to earn college credit.
The board voted Tuesday in favor of implementing an early college program.
Dr. Montrell Greene, a former Greenwood school superintendent and the father of two students in the consolidated district, gave a presentation to the board on the potential benefits of early college.
The program would be operated alongside existing dual-enrollment opportunities to allow students to earn college credits while in high school. However, whereas dual-enrollment serves only high school juniors and seniors, the early college program would be open to all high school students, and the middle college program would benefit students in middle school.
“Such a program will increase rigor and options and will bring opportunities to our schools that some other schools already have,” Greene said.
To qualify, administrators must apply to the Mississippi Department of Education to classify the district’s schools as “schools of innovation.”
Greene said he thinks this is reasonably likely, given the history of other schools that have implemented the programs.
“Districts that have undergone this process either reside in or neighbor counties that have colleges or universities. In our case, it is both,” he said, referring to Mississippi Valley State University and Mississippi Delta Community College.
Superintendent James Johnson-Waldington met last week with representatives from MDCC to discuss the middle college program. “They will make sure — if we have students who are interested — that they set up a stream or are able to come on campus to teach them,” he said.
He has a meeting with MVSU set up for later this week.
“As far as early college is concerned, we put a ton of money in remediation, and a lot of the time we miss those children who are advanced or proficient,” he said. “We need to be more well-rounded and look more seriously at early college or middle college.”
Also at the meeting, the board recognized 39 students who received certificates for scoring 20 or above on the spring ACT. The group included 18 students from Greenwood High School, 14 from Amanda Elzy High and seven from Leflore County High.
Dr. Ro’Shaun Bailey, board member, referred to these students while discussing the college credit program.
“I support this 500%. As displayed this evening, we have students who are capable; we just need to give them access.”
Johnson-Waldington said, “As we saw here tonight, we have capable students, and half of them weren’t even able to make it.”
The board also heard from attorney Jim Keith, a partner at Adams and Reese LLP in Ridgeland, regarding a letter sent to the district in April from the Mississippi Department of Education. MDE had asked the board to respond to a complaint that the board was overstepping its bounds.
According to Keith, MDE informed the board that its central office was overstaffed in relation to the size of the district and recommended eliminating positions in an organizational chart the state agency provided to the board for the 2022-23 school year. The school board was supposed to send letters to each of the personnel in terminated positions by April 15 but failed to do so because of conflict between the board and the previous administration, Keith said.
Keith was hired to draft a response to the MDE letter.
He said MDE recognized the “unusual and extenuating circumstances, with the board trying to move in one direction and administration moving in another,” and the MDE letter was simply a cautionary measure. Similar letters are sent to other school boards as well, he said. By eliminating these positions, the district saved
$1.3 million in salary and benefits, Keith noted, commending the board and administration for working to move the district in a positive direction.
Also Tuesday, the board:
- Heard from Walker Sturdivant regarding upgrades the Greenwood Little Theatre requested for the Davis Elementary School auditorium. The board gave approval for the theater to install a professional lighting system — to be provided by the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale — and four sections of aisle seating for people who use wheelchairs.
- Gave approval for Delta Health Alliance to continue a teen pregnancy prevention curriculum in the district. The curriculum begins in sixth grade and offers age-appropriate instruction, said Latoya Lee, director of programs for DHA. It teaches skills such as good decision making, setting standards and refusal skills. The curriculum serves boys and girls, and students must get permission from their parents before participating, she said.
- Approved the superintendent’s request to select a company to advertise and conduct a reverse auction bid for new air purifiers, touchless water fountains and student desks.
- Entered closed session to discuss the job performance of employees but took no action.
- Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.
