By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
As regular television watchers probably know by now, the Pulaski County Special School District has taken the initiative to slow the steady decline in the number of students attending, and Jacksonville residents are invited to visit local schools next week.
“Come see what we’re doing,” is the theme for the Zone 6 schools in Jacksonville that week, and district officials hope that parents, grandparents, business people and other visitors will drop by, according to Carletta Wilson, the district’s director of community affairs.
Participating in the first of the district’s school-promotion weeks will be Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville Girls Middle School, Jacksonville Boys Middle School, and Jacksonville, Pinewood and Murrell Taylor elementary schools. “We want to call attention to positive things we’re doing for the kids,” said Wilson this week, and to encourage area residents to become more active in the local schools.
Wilson said banners and yard signs would welcome visitors, who, like any visitors to the schools, must first sign in at the office.
The tours will be led by school administrators or volunteers from the student council and the Parent-Teacher Association.
Wilson, whose husband is Jacksonville athletic director Jerry Wilson, says those interested may visit classrooms or tour the schools in general.
On Friday, members of the Jacksonville Girls Middle School will hold an “everything pink” party to celebrate the more than $1,000 the students raised for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
Wilson said there would be cake and punch, and presentations promoting breast-cancer awareness.
Tours of the Jackson-ville Middle School for Boys would include the new audio-visual studios and production equipment that Principal Michael Nellums has wrangled to help his students.
“We’re definitely wanting to reverse the (downward) attendance trend,” Wilson said.
She added that the promotion week has nothing to do with the push for a new Jacksonville school district, which would be drawn from area students currently enrolled in the PCSSD.
“We have to deal with the here and now,” she said.
For further information, Wilson can be reached at 490-6203.
