VIDEO: A New Partnership School In North MS Moves A Step Closer To Being Finalized

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)-Plans for the partnership school between Mississippi State University and the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District takes another step forward.

A memorandum of understanding to receive state bond funds for the project was passed during Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

The new middle school will serve all 6th and 7th graders in the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District.

School leaders estimate that roughly a thousand students will be enrolled.

The planned location for the project is going to be right off of the intersection between George Perry Street and Highway 182 on the north end of MSU’s campus.

“We’re really excited the final approval came through for the design just recently and we anticipate putting out the bid for the site preparation, the dirt work sometime in the month of April and we’ll break ground in the early summer,” said Dr. Devon Brenner, head of the curriculum, instruction and special education department at MSU.

The partnership was proposed due to overcrowding when the district first consolidated.

Dr. Brenner said with the new school being built, it’ll create a better and healthier learning environment for the students.

“Our vision is that in partnering with the university and the school district, we’ll be able to provide really powerful education for the students,” she said. “They’ll also have the opportunity to take their classes right here on a college campus, so they’ll get to know what college life is like and begin to imagine themselves attending college.”

The unique partnership will allow hands-on training for the University’s Education majors.

Teachers will also be able to incorporate some of MSU’s resources into their curriculum.

“For example one of our collaborators will be the MSU museums and galleries,” said Brenner. “There are great archaeological artifacts on campus, or the Eco car, and those can be resources that we use for curriculum and for planning, and to help teachers supplement their programs.”

The new partnership school has been in the works for three years now. School leaders tell WCBI they’re looking forward to the many opportunities this project will bring.

“One of the things we know is that middle school is a particularly challenging age range,” Brenner explained. “Sixth and seventh graders kind of set the tone for the rest of their high school careers and through graduation in those grades, and it’s an important great to provide really quality education in.”

The school is excepted to be open in January of 2019.