West Point Consolidated School District Will Not Use Central School During Upcoming School Year

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI)- For nearly a century, Central School has been a staple in the West Point Community.

However, for the very first time, the bells won’t be ringing at the school when the 2018-19 school year rolls around.

“We received a report from an engineer saying that there are some structural issues at Central that we really need to look at and consider putting a whole lot of money into it, or either decide to move students out,” said Burnell McDonald, superintendent of the West Point Consolidated School District.

McDonald said the district received the report on April 10th, then three days later, they sent a letter to parents informing them of the findings and changes.

“What you’re looking at is foundation problems,” McDonald described. “The structure, the deteriorating foundation is causing floors to sag, and walls to crack and those type of things.”

The decision is forcing the district to move the nearly 500 fifth and sixth graders at Central School over to Fifth Street School, now making it consist of fifth, sixth, and seventh graders.

“Back in 1995-96 I was an assistant principal at Fifth Street, we had approximately 800 plus kids,” the superintendent recalled. “It was fifth, sixth, and seventh grade school then, so this is nothing new to us. This is just going back to the old arrangement of the student make up in that particular building.”

The change also forces eighth graders who normally attend Fifth Street School to merge with the freshman in the North Campus at West Point High School.

“Really when that building was originally built it was built for eighth and ninth grade, so it’s going back to again, the original plan for that building, so there is plenty of room there as well,” said McDonald.

On Monday night, McDonald and other school leaders met with parents to talk about the changes as well as the future of the district.

“Well just like he said, all of the teachers are going to move over to Fifth Street, so really she is not losing any teachers she’s just gaining more at Fifth Street,” said Jockaline Savage, a concerned parent who has a daughter that attends Central School.

“We just really need to either decide whether we want to invest a pretty good bit of money into trying to get the building up to standard, or whether or not we may, who knows maybe in the future look at building a new school,” said McDonald.

Even with the changes set to take place, McDonald said all of the teachers in the district will keep their jobs.

McDonald said the principal and assistant principal at Central School with move to North Campus at West Point High School, and the principal and assistant principal at Fifth Street School will remain in their current positions.