In a rare morning session, South Pike school trustees today voted 3-2 to give school superintendent Dr. Bill Gunnell permission to apply for a potential $5 million grant — and give the district a new direction.
Trustees Veronica “Ron” Thomas, the Rev. Milton Patterson and Dr. Luke Lampton voted for the grant application. Board members John Hilbert and Angie Lee opposed.
The entire board met this morning at 6 — a time chosen to accommodate trustees’ work schedules — to discuss it further and take a new vote. Thursday’s vote was a tie, with Lampton and Thomas voting for the grant proposal, and Hilbert and Lee opposing. Patterson was unable to attend.
South Pike could get as much as $1.75 million per year for three years if it’s chosen for the competitive grant. The money would come courtesy of a portion of $47 million in one-time money directed to the state to help bail out schools that aren’t making the grade.
The catch? The grant was announced on April 15, and applications must be received in Jackson by April 30, meaning the district had a very short turnaround time to complete paperwork.
The proposal calls for dividing grades 7 to 12 into four “academies” to better tailor education for all students.
Much of the back-and-forth discussion on Thursday was between Hilbert, who worried “there are things we don’t know about,” and Lampton, who said he thought the decision was “a no-brainer.”
“It’s $5 million,” Lampton said.
And with the state continuing to take the carving knife to school budgets, Lampton said the district would be foolish not to seek the money and work on making South Pike more successful.
Gunnell proposes to tweak the junior high and high school model and direct students to their best potential beginning in the seventh grade.
Simply put, parents would have the choice of giving their children one of four educational paths once students reach seventh grade. Students who score proficient and advanced could choose to enter a new International Studies Academy, designed for students in grades 7 to 12. All courses in that program would have an international component.
Once students reach the 10th grade, they will continue to have choices — staying in the advanced international study program, taking the traditional route for grades 10 to 12 and earning their diplomas, or attending the Career and Technology Academy. Students can opt out of a program if they’re having trouble or want to take another educational route.
Both the Career and Technology and International academies would give students the chance to participate in early enrollment at Southwest Mississippi Community College and earn an associate degree or a vocational career certificate.
Each academy would have an administrator, all of whom would be under a site manager. Careful consideration will be put into making sure teachers fit into the various academy classrooms, Gunnell said. Because the proposal is only in a basic framework format, any personnel decisions are at least a year away.
Patterson backed the proposal after he was assured that students who are struggling academically will have the same focus as those who are more advanced.
“Change always creates friction because of the unknowns,” he said. “We have to make sure it’s administered fairly … so we don’t take (the top) group and widen the gap. The concentration can’t be on the top group alone.”
Gunnell said the district must do something to pull itself up, and he noted that the high school is in its second year of mandated School Improvement.
His proposal points out three weaknesses at the high school — a drop in performance on the English II Subject Area Test, a graduation rate by cohort (calculated using a state four-year formula) that’s less than 60 percent and high school students whose behaviors “indicate a lack of engagement.” The high school’s state accountability label is “at risk of failing.”
South Pike’s proposed International Studies Academy would partner with the California-based International Study Schools Network.
Dr. Susan Aysenne, who will write the grant application for the district, said the network “is specifically designed for minority students in poverty.”
“You’re losing a lot of your children,” Aysenne said, adding that going below the 60 percent mark in graduation rates “is staggering.”
Gunnell acknowledged the proposal is a bold move, but he said South Pike must find a way to get students interested in learning and keep them interested in studies that appeal to them.
On Thursday, Gunnell said that if the district doesn’t bring about a change, “we’re going to have a takeover.”
Hilbert disagreed and asked Gunnell, “Do you honestly think this will help?”
“Yes, I do. Honestly, I do,” Gunnell said.
Gunnell reminded trustees that the proposal is only the framework. Everything else will be filled in over the next few years, with board members having a big hand in shaping the school changes.
“We’re still going to be running our own schools,” Lampton said Thursday.
“Are you sure?” Hilbert asked. “I think we may be creating more problems, giving us more issues than we’ve ever had.”
“How is it not in the best interest of the students?” Lampton asked Hilbert. “Are you fighting change?”
Hilbert said that wasn’t the case, and that he had the right to “say no,” just as Lampton had the right to support the plan.
This morning, Lampton said the board took “a great step. It gets us closer to where we want to be.”
