Wesson Attendance Center enrollment to hold steady

Wesson News

            Wesson Attendance Center (WAC) anticipates enrollment to hold steady in the coming 2025-26 school term.

            The new school year begins in Wesson on Wednesday, August 6. 

            New faces – Ann Shelby Smith and Vanda Brister – are moving into elementary and high school principal positions with retirement of High School Principal Dr. Barbie Roberson, six new teachers are joining the WAC staff and a new MTSS coordinator will handle student interventions.

            In high school, WAC is also adding two elective career education courses – one focused on engineering and another on entrepreneurship.

            WAC athletic teams will renew old rivalries in a return to competition at the 2A level.  Back on team schedules are Loyd Star, Enterprise and Amite and Wilkinson Counties, among others

            "We expect about 860 to 870 students to enroll," says WAC principal Tommy Clopton.  Kindergarten registrations are particularly strong, he adds.

            "All students attending WAC must reside within its district or have been released by their local school board and approved by the Copiah County School Board," Clopton says. "Otherwise, law requires students to attend school in the districts where they live. 

            "Residency means a student resides full time, days and nights throughout the week and on weekends, within the limits of the school district.  Students must reside full time at the address used for registration and live with a natural parent or have legal documentation on file with WAC that shows they are under the guardianship of someone."

            To enroll in classes at WAC, four documents for each incoming student, who did not attend the school last year, must be provided:

•         Birth certificate

•         Social Security Card

•         Original copy of Mississippi Immunization Form 121

•         The final report card from the previous school

  
  

            All students planning to attend WAC, even if they were enrolled last year, must show residency proof, including one document from each of three groups with the name of the registrant's parent or legal guardian:

• Real estate documentation.  Mortgage papers or property deed, original apartment rental agreement or home lease (receipts will not be accepted) of a filed homestead exemption form;

• Utility bill or deposit receipt (lights, water, gas) dated within the last two months (cell phone bills will not be accepted);

• Other proof.  Driver’s license, voter registration card or automobile registration.

            If documents of legal guardians are used to prove residency, the registrant must provide a copy of the court order appointing the guardian or the filed petition for a pending guardianship decree.  Children or youth living with an adult other than parents or legal guardians in the district may be enrolled at WAC in cases of death or serious illnesses of the parents or legal guardians, abandonment, abuse or neglect; unstable or detrimental family relationships or living conditions, or if they are exchange students with host families.  In such cases, the district resident housing the students must provide an affidavit stating the relationship to them and documentation fully explaining the circumstances.  WAC may also require temporary placement and custody orders from courts.

            Call WAC for dates, times, and place for new student registration in which parents or guardians can enroll them.  Returning students should be registered online through the Copiah County School District website at www.copiah.ms, where an ActiveParent sign-in will be required.  Log-in information, if not known by the registrant, is available at WACEnroll@copiah.ms or at 601-643-2221 Monday through Thursday 7:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. and Friday 7:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.  Once logged in as an ActiveParent, a drop-down menu guides users through the student selection and the registration process.  Registrants should be prepared to download copies of required documents -- the same ones required for new students.   

            New students include those who have been home schooled or attended other schools.

WAC staff and personnel are accessible by telephone, fax and email:

•        Principal Tommy Clopton.  tommy.clopton@copiah.ms.

•         High School Principal Principal Vanda Brister.  vanda.brister@copiah.ms.

•         Assistant Principal Ann Shelby Smith.  ann.shelby.smith@copiah.ms.

•         Guidance Counselor Taylor Burke.

•         High School Secretary Gwen Shannon.

•         Elementary Secretary Aretha Butler.

•         Nurse Michelle Berch.

•         Bookkeeper/Secretary Amanda Granger and Jacque McCormick (also Records Clerk).

High School telephone:  (601) 643-2221/2222

Elementary telephone:  (601) 643-2295

Fax:  (601) 643-2458 or (601) 643-5838