By Nicole Thomas
THE SPARK
The #StarkvilleSpark continues to grow as we welcome opportunities of the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District.
We introduce #OneStkOkt as we become one school district offering the best learning opportunities for all of our children.
We are on the verge of something amazing for our community and for our children as our two school districts merge to form the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District next year. We continue to prepare to bring our students together and to make our expanded district a true model for education in Mississippi, providing unprecedented opportunities for our students and sparking a new flame of education success.
THE PLAN
High School
Starkville High School welcomed almost 100 students from East and West High Schools to campus for first block classes this fall to take advantage of SHS’s wide range of course offerings. We look forward to having all 9-12 graders in Oktibbeha County together at SHS beginning in August 2015.
Middle School (Grades 7-8)
All 7-8 graders in Oktibbeha County will attend Armstrong Middle School beginning in 2015.
Sixth Grade
Sixth grade students in the current Starkville School District and sixth grade students at East and West Oktibbeha Elementary Schools will remain at their current schools in 2015.
After considering the significant costs associated with renovating Overstreet Elementary School for sixth grade along with moving SSD’s Alternative School and Family Centered Programs to another building, SSD’s administrative team determined a more fiscally responsible decision would be to allow sixth grade students to continue to attend their current schools while SSD continues to work with MSU on a groundbreaking partnership that includes the planned construction of a new 6-7 school to be completed within the next few years.
East and West Elementary Schools are currently K-6 schools while AMS is currently 6-8.
Additional teachers will be hired for the new district in grades 7-12 to maintain small class sizes and current teacher/student ratio.
Elementary
Students who attend East and West Elementary Schools, Sudduth Elementary School, and Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School will continue to attend their current schools.
PARTNERSHIP WITH MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY
The creation of Starkville Consolidated School District in July 2015 presents a unique opportunity for a groundbreaking partnership with Mississippi State University that promises to set a new standard for educating Mississippi’s students and future teachers.
Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District and Mississippi State University plan to construct a new partnership school for grades 6-7 located on the MSU campus. The new school will include facilities and resources to be used by MSU in preparing students, teachers, and administrators to become change agents in education throughout the state. This partnership school will allow our students to learn in the future’s most innovative classrooms and be among the first in Mississippi to experience new and developing best practices in education.
PLAN FOR THE FUTURE
Middle and High School
All 6th – 7th-grade students living in Starkville/Oktibbeha County will attend the new SOCSD/MSU 6-7 Partnership School to be constructed on the MSU campus.
All 8th – 9th grade students living in Starkville/Oktibbeha County will attend Armstrong Middle School (with necessary upgrades and renovations).
All 10th – 12th grade students living in Starkville/Oktibbeha County will attend Starkville High School (with necessary upgrades and renovations).
THE BEGINNING
It begins with a spark. The Starkville Consolidated School District is poised to set a groundbreaking example for how the consolidation process in Mississippi can be more than downsizing paperwork and meeting minimum test-score requirements. It can be the spark for providing greater educational opportunities than ever before and achieving a new and greater shared benchmark of excellence.
The Starkville Spark is growing. It is getting brighter and brighter as we welcome new students, new partnerships and new opportunities. A new flame of success for our community has been ignited, and our work is just beginning. Yet, our commitment to every student in Starkville and Oktibbeha County, every day remains the same…
Find the spark. And fuel it.