Twenty more slots were established in the 4-year-old Pre-K program within the Picayune School District during Tuesday’s meeting of the District’s Board of Trustees.
Tuesday evening, the Board approved a motion to establish the class. Dr. Pamela Thomas, director of the Picayune Early Head Start, said that establishing the additional 20 slots in the 4-year-old program will match up with the 3-year-old program’s current 60 slots that are separated into three classes.
Funding for the additional classroom, which will employ an additional teacher and teacher’s assistant, will be established at the South Side Elementary campus. It will be funded with a combination of state funding from the Department of Education, a $152,000 grant from the Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation and $90,000 in funds from a check received last year from the UnitedHealth Group. Thomas said the new class will start during the 2017-2018 school year.
In other business, the Board approved a motion to bring the soon to be established school dress code at Picayune Memorial High School and Picayune Junior High School to the elementary schools. The new dress code, which goes into effect at the start of the coming school year, allows students in all schools to add a T-shirt of any color to their attire, so long as it has the logo of the Picayune School District, that of an established college or university or the logo of the United States Armed Forces. The new policy allows conforming T-shirts to be worn un-tucked and substitute the already established Polo-style pullover.
The next Board meeting will be held July 25 at noon.