During a recent conversation with Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Dr. Tori Holloway about the status of the school system, The Post also touched on concerns about Vicksburg High School (VHS).

Holloway said the population at VHS has declined slightly.

“Actually, we kind of maintained,” he said. “We do have some teacher needs there.”

Because of a declining population, Holloway said the school had decreased its career academies from three to two.

“We combined two academies,” he said. “Didn’t lose those pathways, just combined them to be more efficient.”

“Why don’t we (VHS) have three like Warren Central? Which we do, but because that population has decreased a little bit, we needed to merge those two into one. Kids still have the same opportunities, it just looks a little different.”

The two academies at VHS are Engineering, Design and Innovation (EDI); and Health and Human Services (HHS). EDI is a combination of Architecture, Construction, Mechatronics and Engineering (ACME); and Communication, Arts and Business (CAB).

Recently, career academy ambassadors from both VHS and Warren Central High School held a retreat at the Youth Development Center. During their time together, they discussed the future of the district’s nationally recognized career academies, including the launch of new Freshman Academies at both schools, according to VHS’ website.

Even though the student population has had a slight decline in recent years, Holloway said the schools will not be consolidated.

“It’s not happening,” he said of consolidation. “My goal is to make sure every school is performing well. Again, I want to put systems and processes in place to ensure that these quality programs that we have last beyond my tenure as superintendent and current administration’s tenure in their role. We’ve got some great stuff going on that needs to last beyond my time. I don’t think people understand how far ahead our district is in comparison to some others in the state.”

Holloway also said VHS’ academies are hoping to be recognized at the National Career Academy Conference in Hawaii.

“This year, Vicksburg High School is going through their baseline review. Even if we don’t (get the award) we still go, the district has gone every year since we’ve had district academies. Whether we get it or we don’t, we still attend. It’s about learning best practices, to improve what we’re doing, so we can get to model status.”