Vicksburg Warren board approves claims docket with $360,499.54 paving payment; hears updates on curriculum, buses, federal grants and construction

The Vicksburg Warren School District Board of Trustees on Aug. 28 approved the district claims docket — including a $360,499.54 payment to Fordyce Construction for paving — accepted the July financial report and heard a series of departmental presentations about curriculum alignment, student assessment changes, bus GPS tracking, federal grant deadlines and ongoing construction work.

The board approved the claims docket with the added Fordyce invoice after a motion and voice vote. The board also voted to accept the district financial report for the period ending July 31, 2025.

Those approvals came alongside a series of informational updates from district leaders about the start of the school year and several operational changes. Superintendent Dr. Holloway said the district had completed student registration and emphasized efforts to standardize grading and align curriculum across schools, saying district leadership had worked “to make sure our grading scales are the same across the district” so “an A at Beaumont is an A at WCI, is an A at Warrenton.” He also reported the district’s administrative spending at roughly 2% of the budget — about $1.9 million — below the state cap and the state average.

Veil Watts, director of assessment, accountability and student information, summarized changes communicated at the Mississippi Association of School (MAS) conference and warned that the state’s accountability model will change. “MDE will be resetting our A through F accountability standards,” Watts said, and described a new assessment readiness index, changes to diploma point values and a higher ACT threshold for earning full accountability credit.

Ke…