Lamar County Schools Superintendent Tess Smith reminded School Board members that parents need to be prepared to bring their children to schools on Thursday and Friday when classes begin.
On Thursday, middle and high school students at Oak Grove, Sumrall, and Purvis will attend, while students at all Baxterville and Lumberton schools will be there only on Thursday. All elementary school students go to classes only on Friday. All students in the district start classes on Monday, Aug. 17.
Smith said the school district’s Transportation Department workers received safety training last week. With the staggered start on Thursday and Friday, she said parents who can drive their children to school are being asked to please do so.
“A normal start causes traffic delays, but this year may cause more delays than normal,” she said.
Smith said the teachers had a flex day last Friday, but they all started Monday.
“Their sanitation has been distributed to them, and they will have related training as well,” she said.
The enrollment was outlined to the School Board members by Smith, who talked about the students’ schools in traditional and virtual/online education numbers.
“This past school year ended with 10,749 students enrolled,” she said. “Enrolled today, we have 9,342, which is only 68.9 percent. So, we still need about 1,400 to enroll. Now, we do have some fluctuation in our enrollments, but we never had it to that degree.”
However, Smith said registrations online has been going well.
“You can do it on a cellphone,” she said. “We have enrolled 6,985, or 71.8 percent, that had chosen traditional; in virtual, 2,357, or 25.2 percent. Now virtual and traditional numbers are over the place.”
Sumrall had the highest percentage in traditional education numbers with 86.6 percent, so Sumrall has 13.4 percent in virtual/online education. It also has 2,010 estimated enrollment at 94.8 percent with 1,906 registered.
At the Oak Grove schools, 68.8 percent chose traditional education, while 31.2 percent chose virtual/online education. The 6,013 enrollment includes 86.1 percent registered.
Purvis and Baxterville schools included 82.8 percent of traditional education. In virtual/online education, the students were 17.2 percent. In estimated enrollment, 2,152 had 1,842 total registration, or 85.6 percent.
Lumberton schools had the lowest percentage at traditional education with 58.6 percent, while 41.4 percent was included in virtual/online education. Of the estimated 574 enrollment, 415 students – or 72.3 percent – are registered.