Members of the Vicksburg Warren School District, superintendent Chad Shealy and a representative from the architecture firm working with the school district on its proposed facility plan will be available to answer questions from the public Thursday.

The Vicksburg Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will host a community forum Thursday at 6 p.m. in the circuit courtroom on the second floor of the Warren County Courthouse prior to the school’s district’s bond referendum vote March 27.

“It is open to the public,” event organizer Gertrude Young said. “We will have it just like we have done in our other forums where the public will be able to ask questions in regards to the superintendent and the school board dealing with the bond issue. It is nothing against it, we just wanted more knowledge for the public because a lot of people are unaware.”

Shealy, district communications director Christi Kilroy, board members Alonzo Stevens, Joe Loviza, Bryan Pratt and Jim Stirgus Jr., as well as Gary Bailey from Dale/Bailey Architecture, are scheduled to attend the forum, Young said.

“The main purpose is bring knowledge about the bond issue to everyone,” Young said.

“If they have any kind of questions dealing with it they can ask. We thank the board and the superintendent for being available to us.”

The forum replaces the town hall that Stephens hosts every month.

“Some people are saying it is just a band-aid,” Stevens said. “It is not a band-aid. It is a total uplift of our schools to bring them into the 21st century along with other schools in our area — Brandon, Pearl and Clinton — and make ours as good as any in the state of Mississippi. They can see that this is an investment for the future of our children.”

VWSD will hold a vote on the $83 million bond referendum March 27. The bond must pass with 60 percent of the vote, and if passed, will fund the majority of the $132 million facility plan the school board approved in December.

The last day to register to vote is Feb. 26. Registration can be completed at the circuit clerk’s office at the Warren County Courthouse or by printing the form from the clerk’s website, Mississippi Secretary of State’s website or the Warren County election committee’s website and mailing it in.

Voting on March 27 will take place at Vicksburg and Warren Central high schools.