For students who were ready to move into fourth grade and into Jackson Careers & Technology for middle school, those students won’t be moving just yet.
That’s because the Jackson-Madison County School Board approved the district’s plan to move fourth grade from its current location at JCT to the neighboring elementary school at Isaac Lane Elementary.
Both schools are adjacent to each other on essentially the same property on Lexington Avenue in East Jackson.
So the physical location of fourth grade isn’t changing in August when JMCSS schools return to class from summer break.
But the building in which the grade is housed and taught will change.
“If you look at how elementary and middle schools align, then most of the time, if not all the time, fourth grade is in elementary school,” said Rickey Catlett, the deputy superintendent for the district. “So this is just us cleaning that up and getting that class in line with at least every other fourth grade class in our district, and really most across the state.”
In other news at the March school board meeting, Superintendent Marlon King and Madison County Commission Chairman Mike Taylor honored the recipients of the Star Teacher Grants, which was $50,000 that came from the County to supply grants to different teachers in the district.
The Board also voted to buy a strip of adjacent land to the Pope School construction site on Ashport Road to give them room to make the Phase 1 offsite improvement (turn lane on Ashport in front of the school). The Board also gave clearance to begin taking bids on the work with Phase 1.
According to what was said at the work session on March 18, in addition to widening the road, underground infrastructure including sewer pipes and lines for different electrical, phone and internet services will have to be moved along with five light poles and a couple of fire hydrants.
Cary Henson of Henson Construction told the district he’d like to be able to start on Phase I as soon as he can after school so he can try to get that project done during the summer before school starts back in August.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
