Concerns about Headstart
In March we, the parents of the Weir Headstart, learned that the lease at the school would be up at the end of May. This means that all three, four and five-year-olds that attend our county Headstart would not have a place to go to school in August.
An official with Mississippi Action for Progress, which has taken over our Headstart program, went before the Choctaw County School Board and requested the board to consider extending the lease another year to give MAP time to find a building.
She said officials with MAP have been looking for buildings. However, two months is not long enough to find a building, get grant money, and renovate to accommodate the students.
We were told that Weir Elementary, which formerly housed Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grades lacked the space to hold Weir Headstart. Now, as an alumnus of the former Weir Attendance Center and who also attended the former Reform-Panhandle Head Start, that's the part I didn't understand because when we went to school from Kindergarten through 12th grade, there was plenty of room. The school is now Pre-K through sixth grade, and now there’s no room? Superintendent Glen Beard said that there were six classrooms that were demolished due to mold that part is understandable but that still leaves room and an untouched high school hall.
I would like for someone to explain how Weir Attendance Center made it as school holding Kindergarten through 12th all those years, not to mention the additions made to the school over the years and now there’s no room?
This sounds like a lot of crap to me. The Headstart caters to children who are mostly low-income. If there is no Headstart, where would the children go? Does the school district have the room and space to provide adequate attention to every student that will now have to attend if there is no Headstart?
It would also put several hardworking teachers and support staff out of a job. Is that the aim of the Choctaw County School Board? Does the district have the room to provide employment? I believe there is a reasonable plan that can be worked out if cooler heads prevail that would benefit all of our students.
