The Lauderdale County School District plans to borrow $1.4 million to help fund repairs and alterations to existing buildings and purchase equipment and buses for the district.
At its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, the LCSD board voted to move forward with borrowing the money after a published resolution of its intention garnered no objections. The bond will be repaid with a special three-mill tax reserved to pay the debt service.
The board also approved hiring the Jackson-based Young Law Group and MuniGroup to act as advisers with the issuance of the note.
Superintendent John-Mark Cain, in a prepared statement Friday, said, ”The three-mill note authorizes the board to borrow up to $1.4 million to make repairs, purchase equipment, purchase buses or refinancing previous notes. This will replace a retiring debt note for LCSD.”
The district did not ask for an increase in the millage rate for its 2024-2025 budget that estimated revenues at $77.2 million and projected expenses of $89.5 million.
Also during Thursday’s meeting, Cain recognized Dr. Jason DeFatta and Ochsner Rush’s Project Inspire as the district’s Community Partner for the meeting. Aimed at addressing the rising violence among young people in the community, Project Inspire focuses on youth intervention, mentorship and career development.
“This program is a mentoring program. We’re teaching them different things about trauma. We’re teaching them professional development. We teach them financial literacy, We’re doing team building skills,” DeFatta told board members in explaining the program.
Over the course of the 12 weeks, participants during the weekly sessions will visit the Wesley House, visit different businesses throughout the community in partnership with the EMBDC to show them different types of jobs available, visit Meridian Community College and Mississippi State University-Meridian to learn about educational opportunities available and do different activities in the community, DeFatta said.
“We’re showing them the potential for what they can be because there’s so much here in Meridian that we have to offer, and a lot of these students don’t have a clue or they may not know where to go or where to turn,” he said, “so this is just an opportunity where we can build relationships, show them opportunities, and try to help them become the best version of themselves.”
The first class of participants from the 12-week mentoring program graduated in May, and the second class of participants is already underway, DeFatta said, adding he is excited to be partnering with both the Lauderdale County and Meridian school districts to make the program work.
“We’re real excited about what this can do and help and show what these students can become,” he said.
In approval of the consent agenda, the LCSD school board accepted several monetary and equipment donations to county schools from booster clubs, PTO groups and businesses, including donations to three schools from Happy Smiles Dentistry, which operates an office in Meridian.
Through its annual Caring4Communities initiative, Happy Smiles gives communities from across the state the chance to win a cash prize for school supplies for their local school. This year, three Lauderdale County schools earned the most votes for the first, second and third-place prizes. During the recent Northeast and Southeast Friday night football game, Ginger Christian, regional communications manager with Happy Smiles, presented a $2,500 donation to Southeast Elementary School, a $1,500 donation to Northeast Elementary School and a $1,000 donation to West Lauderdale Elementary School.
During the meeting, Ken Hardy, the district’s director of federal programs, student data and assessment, walked board members through the district’s results from the Mississippi Department of Education’s 2024 Accountability Report, which was released to the public on Tuesday. For the third year in a row, LCSD earned an A-rating based on the state metrics.
All four of the district’s high schools and four elementary schools were graded an A, along with one of the middle schools, West Lauderdale. The other two middle schools, Southeast and Northeast, were rated a B and C, respectively, meaning all 11 schools were rated high performing or successful, Hardy said.
The school district was ranked 25th in the state, slightly up from last year’s 18th place, but considerably lower than 2017 or 2019 when it was ranked 46th and 51st, Hardy said.
“We have moved the needle and we are much better than we were in 2017 to 2019,” he said.
Board President Kelvin Jackson said he applauded Hardy, school administrators, teachers and students for all of their hard work during the 2023-2024 school year.
“On behalf of the Lauderdale County Board of Education, what an extreme accomplishment,” he said of the A-rating for three years in a row. “It was amazing to do it once. It was awfully satisfying to do it twice, but to do it three years in a row is exemplary. And all of that is a combination of just everyone working together.”
He said, “It is amazing we have four zones and multiple, multiple administrators … and just a mixture of people as it relates to demographics, as it relates to income, and to be able to do something like this countywide is truly, truly awesome.”