Covington School Board rejects superintendent-backed grade placement plan

COLLINS, Miss. (WDAM) - The Covington County School Board rejected a plan Thursday night that would have sent 7th- and 8th-grade students right to a high school campus, instead of attending middle school first.

Superintendent Babette Duty proposed a plan for K-6 grade students to be in elementary school and 7-12 grade students to be in high school.

If the plan had passed, the old Carver Middle School would have continued to serve gifted students, but the school would also have been used as office space for the district’s technology department.

The school’s cafeteria would also have been used for a culinary arts program.

Duty says the plan would have improved student achievement and graduation rates.

At a regular School Board meeting, two board members voted in favor of the plan, while two others voted against it.

One board member abstained.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” Duty said after the vote. “I feel like the rumor mill and the misinformation that was sent out that kind of garnered the crowd we had (Thursday night), the rumor that we were closing a school, closing Mount Olive, firing people, all of that was misinformation.”

Some people attending the board meeting were concerned about younger students being mixed in with high school students.

It’s not known whether the issue could be revisited by board members in the future.

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