Renovations, plaques receive funding

The Vicksburg Warren School District will move ahead with $30,000 in renovations at Vicksburg Junior High School and will spend nearly $5,000 for four bronze plaques for recent campus additions.

The renovations, approved by board vote Thursday, will move administrative offices from the west side of the facility on Baldwin Ferry Road to the east side, near the gymnasium on the Weems Street side of the school.

Superintendent James Price said the renovations, funded through the district’s capital improvement account, were needed for safety.

“Vicksburg Junior High School has not had any type of major renovation in years, the school started as an elementary and was added on to in the early 1960s to become a high school,” he said. “Because it’s a multilevel facility, it is very difficult to monitor students as well as walk-in traffic.”

Offices are now housed in the center part of the school’s top level, and visitors must walk through two levels before coming to the office.

“This will make it much more accessible to the public,” Price said. “We can show parents and visitors more quickly to their destination.”

The construction will be contracted in-house to save money, Price said.

“He always crunches the cost so, I’m sure the actual cost will come in much lower,” said Jan Daigre, board president and District 4 trustee.

The four plaques will cost $4,875 and be mounted at the girls’ field houses at Warren Central and Vicksburg High Schools; the band hall at Vicksburg High School; and the board room at central offices on Mission 66.

The field houses were built in 2001, and cost the district about $800,000 total. The VHS band hall was completed last year and the $1.5 million structure is the largest in the state. The board room, built adjacent to the district’s current building, cost $56,000 seats about 75 to 100.

The district is operating on a $72 million budget, up $9 million from last year due to raises ordered by state legislators. Still, state funding was $2 million short of the expected amount, and spending adjustments have been made in other areas.