Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School is a little closer to purchasing St. Paul’s United Methodist Church and constructing a new facility on the property.
Board member Chuck Rutledge, also chair of the facilities committee, and architect Jonathan Tate provided a report during a recent meeting.
Rutledge said the school is closer to purchasing the facility from St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.
“We have a purchasing and sales contract that is up for review,” he said.
The board is expected to approve the purchase at a special meeting or the regular meeting in May.
Tate showed slides and gave a brief overview of the new building to be constructed on the land.
“You’ve got a lot of parking on the south side,” Tate said.
Tate said the schematic design and development will look like the letter “L” to go with the building already in place.
“We want to be respectful of the existing structure,” he said.
Tate said the new building will be two stories tall and there will be a rear parking lot.
“That is the location of where the modules are now,” Tate said.
Tate said there will be a new cafeteria, a reconfigured bus stop, a place for guest parking, internal courtyards and classrooms for grades 3 through 6.
Students from kindergarten through eighth grade will eventually attend the school.
Board member Billy Crews liked what he heard from Tate, but did have one question about the design.
“Is the auditorium/music area the most underutilized space?” Crews said. “That seems like a big space. I don’t know how much auditoriums are used compared to the cafeteria.”
Tate said the goal of the auditorium was to accommodate every student for assemblies and have after school activities.
Executive director Johnson said the auditorium would also be a more formal place for families and students. She said it would be used for more plays as the kids get older.
Board president Auerlia Jones-Taylor said next time she would like to meet about the facility in person, but do so in a place where there could be social distancing.
In other business:
Johnson discussed plans to continue distance learning for the remainder of the semester. She said students were originally provided paper and pencil packets when school first closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We decided to mail out those packets,” Johnson said.
“We received additional funding to provide online work and additional devices to scholars.”
Johnson said the teachers would be connecting with the students sometime this week to see what has worked. She said teachers and parents are connecting through phone calls and a family Facebook page.
The 2020-21 school year is expected to begin in July, but it may have to be virtual learning at that point.
“We’re not 100 percent sure what is going to be the best thing, so our teachers are trying a variety of things,” Johnson said.
Johnson said half of second and third graders have picked up their Chromebook and the school has sent home 40 hot spots for students who do not have internet access.
She said the Mississippi Department of Education asked schools to do a survey to figure who has internet access and what devices people have.
“Our funders have been very responsive,” Johnson said.
Johnson said donors have contributed around $110,000 and the money would be used to help students have internet access for the summer and start of the next academic year.
She said the summer plans must be given to the MDE by June 1.
“We are on track to meet our enrollment target,” said Johnson, adding she is a little nervous with everything going on right now.
“We are on track to complete instructional hiring.”
As far as Johnson knows, none of the students have come down with the coronavirus.
“As far as we know everyone is healthy and not infected or impacted,” said Johnson, adding one student was exposed, but in quarantine for a few weeks.
“Other than that, no, it has not come super close from what I can tell to our scholars and our teachers."
