The curve is headed up at Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School.
The school on West Second Street is beginning the 2021-22 school year Thursday and enrollment is at its highest ever with several new teachers hired to handle the new students.
Executive director Amanda Johnson discussed these issues during Monday night’s board meeting and said the school will have 455 students for the upcoming year, which surpassed the goal of 450.
Kindergarteners through fifth graders are enrolled this fall. One grade will be added each year until kindergarteners through eighth graders are attending the school.
"Enrollment is really strong and all critical positions are set (for faculty and staff),” Johnson said.
Johnson said there have been more new hires than usual because third through fifth grade now has four teachers each. There are three home room teachers for each grade along with one math teacher.
"We have just a few more fourth and fifth graders,” Johnson said. “We added one more home room for fourth and fifth graders."
Building Construction
Two new buildings are being built on the school property and construction glitches should have them ready soon.
Johnson said the buildings are not completely finished so the modular classrooms in the parking lot will be used at the beginning of the year.
"Existing renovations are not 100 percent finished,” Johnson said. "As soon as the renovations are over, we'll move into that building.”
Once the new buildings are in use, the modular classrooms will be removed from the parking lot.
A celebration is planned for the new buildings.
"We're going to do a ribbon cutting in the fall,” Johnson said.
In-person learning is back to normal, but Johnson is preparing for any issues that may occur.
"We'll have to make adjustments if we have to, but we'll continue to monitor our scholars,” Johnson said.
COVID Concerns
Johnson said most teachers have taken the COVID vaccine, but some did not. Whether or not children took the vaccine will not impact any decisions on how the school will operate.
"Most of our kids are under 12 so that wouldn't be anything we'd do with kids,” Johnson said. “We're not sure what we can do with teachers just yet so we're just paying attention.
"We will definitely have a ribbon cutting in the fall, but as of now we are limiting our guests. We are excited to have some type of ribbon cutting in the fall."
