EMCC Board hears GTECHS update

The East Mississippi Community College Board of Trustees received an update on the situation surrounding the Golden Triangle Early College High School at its meeting Monday.

GTECHS Principal Jill Savely and EMCC Golden Triangle campus Vice President Paul Miller gave an update on the status of the school after both the Starkville-oktibbeha Consolidated School District and Columbus Municipal School District pulled out of their agreements with GTECHS citing rising cost, saying the school is no longer serving its target population and the districts having to pay for homeschool and private school students to attend the school. The program allows students to earn an associate’s degree or technical certificate from East Mississippi Community College along with their high school diploma. The school graduated its first class last year.

“There’s a lot of questions about the selection process, and pretty much over a span of about three weeks, it reached a point where we found it best that we allowed (the Mississippi Department of Education) to intervene again and meet with us and have a discussion with us and the superintendents about remaining engaged with GTECHS to allow the students that already began a program of study.”

The superintendents will agree to an extension of the current memorandum of understanding to allow the students to finish, rather than the new contract originally sent out.

Savely said after further discussion with the local superintendents, the school will not