Students entering high school in the Vicksburg Warren School District in 2011 will have a new option in working toward graduation.

The new “career pathway option” will be outlined by Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Duran Swinford for eighth-graders and their parents at meetings Monday and Tuesday at the junior high schools.

Vicksburg Junior High eighth-graders and parents will meet Monday at 6 p.m. in the VJHS auditorium, while Warren Central Junior High students and parents meet Tuesday night at 6 in the WCJHS auditorium.

The Mississippi Department of Education added the career diploma option after the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 2389 and it became law July 1.

The third pathway to graduation leads to a standard diploma but includes credits in career and technical courses selected from a student’s chosen course of study.

Other diploma pathways are the college preparatory option and the opt-out program.

Both the opt-out and career pathways require parent or guardian request and approval, and all students must still pass the four subject-area tests to graduate — algebra, U.S. history, English and science.

This week’s meetings are required for eighth-graders to complete the high school registration process.

                                                                                          

If you go

Information meetings for parents of eighth-grade students in the Vicksburg Warren School District, with Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Duran Swinford outlining a new diploma program, will be at 6 p.m. in the school auditoriums.

• Monday — Vicksburg Junior High School, 1533 Baldwin Ferry Road, 601-636-1966

• Tuesday — Warren Central Junior High School, 1630 Baldwin Ferry Road, 601-638-3981