By Bob Garver Last year, the Japanese anime “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” racked up an impressive $49.5 million at the domestic box office. It even accomplished the rare feat of climbing to the #1 spot in its second weekend after opening at #2 (because “Mortal Kombat” was terrible and fell like a rock). Similarly, the anime “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” opened at #2 this past weekend behind the third weekend of “The Batman” and I would love to see it climb to #1 next weekend. That overstuffed cash cow could stand to be taken down a peg and this movie deserves whatever success it can find. The story follows teenager Yuta (Megumi Ogata, and I’m going by the Japanese version with English subtitles, rather than the English-dubbed version that is alternately available) as he struggles with a powerful curse he accidentally put upon himself as a child. The curse takes the form of a powerful monster named Rika (Kana Hanazawa) that pops up and attacks enemies whenever he gets too upset. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and even contemplates submitting to an execution to rid the world of his curse, but blindfolded teacher Gojo (Yuichi Nakamura) tells him there is another way. Yuta can come study under him at a special secluded school and learn how to control the curse so that it benefits the world and even help rid it of evil curses. Comparisons to “Harry Potter” and “X-Men” are unavoidable, but the template is used to its full potential. Yuta has a hard time fitting in the school, but then again none of the other students fit in anywhere either. Maki (Mikako Komatsu) knows everything about curses and how to handle them with various objects, but is secretly inept on a very basic level. Toge (Koki Uchiyama) is an already-established warrior skilled in curse-speak, but limits his standard conversation strictly to ingredients in rice balls (“Tuna Mayo” is the new “I am Groot”). Panda (Tomokazu Seki) is… a panda… with the ability to turn into a bigger panda. He picks up on some attraction between Yuta and Maki. Because in 2022, where there are hormonal teenagers, there has to be a panda. Yuta and the school soon find themselves pitted against evil former student Geto (Takahiro Sakurai), now a powerful sorcerer with the creepiest smile you’ll ever want to see. He wants to rid the world of non-sorcerers, which would seemingly leave it with a population of about a few hundred people, but whatever. Geto rightly deduces that Rika is the most powerful curse in the world, and all he has to do is kill Yuta to absorb the curse and make him unstoppable. He unleashes a thousand curses in Tokyo and Kyoto to keep Gojo and the other students and faculty busy so he can attack an unattended Yuta back at the school. These urban battle scenes are filled with characters that barely appear elsewhere in the film, and I assume they are cameos from other arms of this franchise. The “0” in the film’s title indicates that it is a prequel to a supposedly-familiar, properly-numbered series, but outside of a few scenes where maybe the world-building was a little too ambitious, I thought this worked perfectly fine as an introduction. I found myself really getting invested in the culture of “Jujutsu Kaisen.” It doesn’t hurt that the creative curse/creature designs are incredible. They’re nightmarish, but I can’t get enough of them. This movie does have the same problem as “Demon Slayer” when it comes to battle sequences, where there’s a huge explosion every few minutes that should wipe out the entire setting, but often all participants will be okay, so it makes the action and stakes hard to understand. Still, I was eager to see what happens next with these characters. If “Jujustu Kaisen 0” is this engaging, I can only imagine what it’s like when the installments actually have value. Grade: B “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” is rated PG-13 for violent content, bloody images, language, thematic material and some suggestive references. Its running time is 105 minutes. Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu. 1

The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) voted today to invite public comment on a temporary adjustment to the statewide accountability system so A-F grades for districts and schools and federally required school improvement designations can be determined for the 2021-22 school year. Mississippi’s A-F accountability system and school improvement identification system consider several indicators, including how well students perform on state tests, students’ growth on tests from year to year and whether students are graduating within four years. The system also measures how well schools are helping their lowest achieving students and English learners make progress toward proficiency. The U.S. Department of Education (USED) granted waivers to states from federal accountability requirements for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because the pandemic disrupted schooling and state assessments. Mississippi students did not take statewide assessments in spring 2020. The USED is now requiring all states to resume their accountability systems and identification of schools for support and improvement for the 2021-22 school year but is allowing states to request a one-year addendum plan to adjust for missing data. The temporary adjustment SBE is inviting public comment on is needed because the cancellation of assessments in spring 2020 resulted in some students lacking scores to calculate growth. Mississippi resumed statewide testing in the 2020-21 school year, with a 97% participation rate. The high participation rate provided MDE with a valid measure of student performance in 2020-21 and a way to measure student growth between 2020-21 and 2021-22. Federal law requires all states to assess students annually in English Language Arts and mathematics in grades 3-8 and once during high school. Though Mississippi will have two consecutive years of data to measure growth at the end of the 2021-22 school year, students who took Algebra I as middle schoolers in 2019-20 are missing a score for their high school mathematics assessment and students that tested in Algebra I last year are missing a score from the 2019-20 school year to measure growth. Therefore, the MDE will propose the following addendum to USED: · If growth cannot be calculated because of a missing prior-year score from the spring of 2020, the prior-year score will be pulled from the 2018-19 school year to calculate growth. For students who took Algebra I in the 8th grade during the 2019-20 school year and did not test in the spring of 2020, the students’ proficiency and growth score in math from the 2018-19 school year will be used in the math component calculations. To address federally required school improvement classifications, the MDE’s addendum request will propose to change the frequency for identifying schools in need of improvement and the timelines and criteria for schools to exit school improvement status. The MDE worked closely with the state’s Accountability Task Force, Technical Advisory Committee and the Center for Assessment to review and analyze assessment data to ensure the addendum proposal is technically sound and presents an accurate picture of the academic performance of Mississippi students. MDE will present further details about its addendum proposal during the Accountability Task Force meeting on March 22, 9 a.m. - noon. The meeting will be livestreamed. Public comments will be accepted through 5 p.m. April 11. For more information on the proposal and instructions for submitting comments, visit mdek12.org/PN/APA Find all MDE news releases at mdek12.org/news.

The Mississippi Secretary of State's Office is seeking high school seniors with a passion for leadership and state government to apply for the agency's newly-created Student Ambassador Program. The program aims to increase voter education and registration among youth and encourages students to engage in Mississippi civics. Components of the program include: A fall summit in Jackson focused on the state's elections process. A spring summit in Jackson focused on the state's legislative process. Virtual trainings and educational sessions with Secretary of State (SOS) representatives and various government officials. Participation as a poll worker on Election Day. “The SOS Student Ambassador Program is a great opportunity for young leaders to cultivate their affinity for public service and expand leadership skills," said Secretary Michael Watson. "We are excited to take part in the development and growth of the next generation of Mississippians and look forward to providing a greater understanding of one of our greatest liberties, the right to vote.” To be considered for the SOS Student Ambassador Program, students must meet the following criteria: High school senior during the 2022-2023 academic year Grade Point Average of 3.0 or above Proven satisfactory behavioral conduct Strong interest in state government and service The deadline to submit an application is May 15, 2022. Applications may be submitted via email to ExternalAffairs@sos.ms.gov, hand-delivered, or mailed to the Secretary of State’s Office at 401 Mississippi Street, Jackson, MS 39201 to the attention of the External Affairs Division. Click here to download the application.

By Bob Arnold Back in the 1960s when Babs Wood packed her bags and guitar and headed off to New Orleans at 18 years old to find a job in the French Quarter, she never dreamed her journey would start her in a multi-decade career as a musical entertainer. Wood learned music from her grandmother, whom she visited in western Copiah County as a child during the summer months. Wood accompanied her as a singer at Brandywine Methodist Church in Claiborne County where she played the piano, learned to play the piano herself and took up the guitar as well, but never had any formal musical training. Sonny Oschner, assistant manager at Pat Obrien's in New Orleans, however, saw something in the young girl seated in the garden at the famed French Quarter restaurant-bar, where she was thinking through her job search. Oschner engaged her in a casual conversation that turned out to be a job interview. "Do you sing?" he asked. "Yes," Wood said. "Do you play the piano?" Oschner inquired again. "Yes," Wood affirmed. "Why don't you come to work for us?" Ocshner invited. "It was a God-send," Wood recalls. Oschner's father, who managed Pat Obrien's and later bought the establishment, directed her to a Quarter clothier who helped outfit Wood to appropriately dress her to begin her career as a singer-pianist at the Quarter landmark. Wood started performing for $300 per week and continued her work there on and off until 2013. A Baton Rouge native, Wood traveled with her family from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Long Island, New York, and places in between where her father worked in construction and repair as a contract electrician. "I was always the new girl in school," Wood says. Twice because of her father's work and her grandparents' home in Copiah Country, school brought her to Wesson -- for fifth grade at the Wesson Old School just before it closed and then to high school based at Co-Lin, where she graduated after starting in the tenth grade just before it, too, closed Before going to New Orleans, Wood attended college classes at Co-Lin briefly, but she explains that "at that time, my two sisters and me were expected to marry and do housework." In the 1970s, after six years entertaining daily at Pat Obrien's from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., Wood moved to California where she hired an agent who booked her at bars, clubs, and hotels. She performed throughout Southern California and then Las Vegas. "I hated working Las Vegas," she recounts. "At one casino, my pit boss -- a scary dude -- told me to take a break when the audience was too big, and taking the patrons away from slot machines and gambling tables." During a performance there, she recognized a familiar face in the crowd. Unbelievably, it was Sonny Oschner. "Are you ready to come home," he asked her. "I am under contracts here," she told him. Oschner said he would get her out of them. Soon, Wood was back on stage at Pat Obrien's singing and playing the piano. In the 1980s, another break from Pat Obrien's took Wood to Nashville, where she recorded her own CD, and worked with George Jones, Jim Nabors, Slim Pickens and Rex Allen. Helen Reddy and Rufus Thomas also recorded some songs she wrote. Wood also took time off from her musical career for other work. "As a legal secretary, I was terrible," she recalls and jokes: "There may be some couples in Copiah County who are not legally divorced now because of my legal work." For 11 years, Wood also was a florist with a store in Hazlehurst. Wood now lives in Crystal Springs, and since 1985, has been married to Bubba Wood, whom she met at the Old Depot in Hazlehurst. She has three grown children by a previous marriage, whom her husband is now adopting as they approach 50 years old -- Chris Viramontez, the owner of a business; Dona Wood Pell, a nurse at Brookhaven Pain Clinic; and Brandy Gremillion, an elementary school teacher at Wesson Attendance Center. Wood also has eight grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. Her family lives in the Wesson area. Today, Wood also continues to perform regularly at Le Soul restaurant in Hazlehurst and venues in the Jackson area. "At Wesson High School, I had no plan, and I never thought I would have been in the places or met the people I have," Wood concludes. What are your hobbies? I love traveling. Anywhere. Nashville, however, is a favorite place, where I have a lot of friends. Are you a reader? I enjoy John Grisham's novels, particularly The Testament. How about music -- beyond your own? I like Linda Ronstadt and Chris Stapleton. Do you enjoy movies or theater? I watch the old episodes of NCIS New Orleans on television, mainly because I know the spots where it was made. My favorite movie is Blazing Saddles and I like Chicago, the play. I am very much into little theater, particularly Brookhaven Little Theater, in which I performed in Annie -- my only acting credit. What would you do with lottery winnings if you were so lucky? I would invest the money & set up trust funds for my children, grand children & great grandchildren. And I would eat out for the rest of my life. How would you change the world? Only God can change the world. I’m only human and look what a mess humans have made so far. Nope, not my job. I’m leaving that up to the only One who is qualified.

Wesson Public Library is starting a monthly books giveaway to build traffic, including both new and existing users. Friends of the Library (FOL) is funding the prize books -- one awarded to an adult and one to a child in drawings every month starting in March. Book winners will have to come to library to register for the drawings. FOL says registrants new to the library will learn about its services and resources when they come in and registrants who are already library users will be reminded of its value to members of the community. For voracious readers, the giveaway will introduce new authors, and it will encourage others to discover the pleasures of books expand their reading. FOL is a support organization that conducts fundraisers for the library and assists in its programming through advice and counsel, volunteers, and donations.

By Kara Kimbrough This isn’t an essay on rising food prices. For one thing, it’s not fair to pick on one area when costs are skyrocketing in almost every segment of the economy. However, it's a fact that food prices are climbing. The rising cost of bread is part of the equation. I’ve found a way to counteract this disturbing trend: make your own. With my simple recipe (or a bread machine) it’s easier than you might think. First, there’s one exception to my new plan. I refuse to give up store-bought Ezekiel 4:9 Bread. It’s my bread of choice for morning toast (covered in my homemade jelly, of course) and a quick snack throughout the day. Found in the freezer case, this amazingly healthy and tasty bread is crafted in the likeness of the Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9 - "Take also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils and millet, and spelt and put them in one vessel…" Made with six grains and legumes, each slice is also packed with amino acids, fiber and other vitamins. And it still manages to taste good without flour, GMOs, sugar or other artificial additives or preservatives. Yes, it’s a little pricey, but I consider the splurge on something this healthy (and good) to be well worth the extra cost. However, I draw the line at paying $3 (or more) for a simple loaf of bread often lacking in taste and any nutritional value. When prices began rising a few weeks ago, my search for a bread machine in stores and online began. Unfortunately, I gave mine away years ago in a purging spree I’ve since regretted. I quickly realized that thousands of other Americans are also looking for bread machines, creating ridiculous prices even on models that appeared to be past their prime. As a result, finding an easy-to-make bread recipe was vital. One of the prevailing comments from many of the cooking and frugal living sites I follow is that homemade bread is too time-consuming and in the case of those with arthritis and other ailments, difficult due to the kneading process. Luckily, I found a recipe for a quick homemade bread with a kneading time that should be doable for most. Cooked in an enclosed Dutch oven, the bread emerges with a delicious, crispy crust and soft interior due to the steaming process that occurs inside the heavy pan. The recipe results in a flavorful bread that should please even the pickiest eater. But, word of caution: it won’t resemble smooth bread maker-bread or store-bought. Bottom line, it may not be Instagram-worthy. The good news is, it’s filling, healthy and when topped with butter and toasted or covered with homemade jelly, results in a delicious breakfast treat or covering for your favorite sandwich ingredients. Inflation 2022 Homemade Bread 3 cups bread flour (can substitute all-purpose, but use bread flour if you can find it) 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt 2 teaspoons dry active yeast 1-1/2 cups warm water (use thermometer to make sure it reads 104 degrees (or very close to this before adding) Lightly grease a glass bowl and mix all ingredients together. Place dough on a floured surface and lightly knead for a few minutes (preferably at least 10) then gather sides to the center to form a ball. Place back in the glass bowl, cover with a clean cloth and let rise for three hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees; 30 minutes prior to cooking, place Dutch oven in oven to get warm. Place dough on a large piece of parchment paper (not wax paper) and place both paper and bread in the Dutch oven. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 15 additional minutes. Remove, cool and slice! Tips: 1. To test if bread dough has been kneaded enough, tear a piece off and stretch it out. It should be strong, soft, elastic and smooth. It should not rip at the first instance of stretching. If it is not ready, knead again for another 3 minutes and try again. 2. After letting dough rise, poke the dough with a wet finger. If it springs back immediately, give it longer to rise. The dough is ready when the poke leaves an imprint that stays for 3 seconds before it bounces back. Kara Kimbrough is a food and travel writer from Mississippi. Email her at kkprco@yahoo.com.

Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet (MMB) presents a new production of Charles Maple’s “Wizard of Oz” on April 2 and 3 at Jackson Academy Performing Arts Center in Jackson. Featuring Maple’s inventive choreography, exquisite costumes and dynamic sets, this presentation of the classic story is sure to please audience members of all ages. Maple is a former soloist with American Ballet Theater and principal dancer with Basel Ballet in Switzerland. During his performing career he worked with such choreographers as George Balanchine, Antony Tudor and Jerome Robbins. He has danced with and been coached by such greats as Baryshnikov, Fernando Bujones and Rudolf Nureyev among others. Students of Maple have competed as finalists in prestigious competitions including the Prix de Lausanne, The Jackson International Ballet Competition and Youth America Grand Prix. In 1992 Maple began creating his own works and has created over 75 ballets, including “Alice in Wonderland,” which MMB produced in 2019. MMB artistic director Jennifer Beasley is pleased to be working with Maple again. “Charles’s choreography represents a diversity of dance styles, yet it is rooted in the traditions of classical ballet,” says Beasley. “It is an excellent fit for our company. There are strong roles that challenge our principal dancers and soloists. The roles created for younger dancers offer significant stage time and provide them with the opportunity to hone their performance skills. It has taken a tremendous amount of hard work as well as lot of brains, heart and courage to bring this ballet to the stage. We cannot wait to present it to our community.” Over 80 members of Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet will perform in the production that follows Dorothy from Kansas to Munchkinland and along the Yellow Brick Road to Oz, where she meets the Wizard. Accompanied by her smart, loyal and brave companions, and assisted by Glinda the Good Witch, Dorothy defeats the Wicked Witch and learns there is no place like home. The role of Dorothy will be danced by MMB soloist Hallie Young of Brandon. MMB principal dancers Madeline Page of Madison and Brelyn Binkley of Brandon will appear as Glinda and the Wicked Witch, respectively. Eleanora Ellis of Brandon will fill the role of the Tin Man. Rebecca Trowbridge of Ridgeland will dance the role of the Lion, and Hart Maley of Jackson will appear as the Scarecrow. Ellis, Trowbridge and Maley are all soloists in the company. “It’s been wonderful working with Mr. Maple again,” says Trowbridge, who performed the role of Tweedle Dum in 2018. “He’s been involved in every aspect from auditions to zooming with us during rehearsals. The choreography is fresh and challenging. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to strengthen my technique, and we are working hard to bring his vision to life.” Trowbridge is excited about dancing the role of the Lion in part because her character’s development through the ballet is analogous to dancing with MMB. “The Lion starts out being timid and worried about making mistakes. As the ballet progresses he gets more confident; he relies on his friends to give him courage. We all start off unsure when we are first learning a dance, but through hard work and support from fellow dancers, we persevere and create a performance for everyone to enjoy.” Maley comments that MMB real-life friendships strengthen the on-stage friendships between Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. “This cast is very tightly knit. We are all very good friends. So, it makes it easy to act and to really engage the audience in the performance.” Following the performance, young audience members may step into Dorothy’s red shoes and travel to the Land of Oz. Young visitors to Oz will meet Dorothy, Glinda and other ballet characters for on-stage photo ops. Each young visitor will also receive a souvenir and light refreshments. Land of Oz tickets are sold separately from performance tickets. Accompanying adults receive complimentary admission to the Land of Oz. Tickets for the ballet “The Wizard of Oz” are $30-35. Land of Oz event tickets are $15. On Saturday, April 2, the ballet performance will begin at 3 p.m. followed by the Land of Oz at 5 p.m. On Sunday, April 3, the ballet performance will begin at 2 p.m. with the Land of Oz following at 4 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit msmetroballet.com. MMB is a pre-professional ballet company based in Madison, Mississippi. Members of the company are selected through audition from the over 500 students of Mississippi Metropolitan Dance Academy, the official school of MMB. Season sponsors for 2021-2022 include the Mississippi Arts Commission; Jackson Optimist Club; Gertrude C. Ford Foundation; Ergon; Eventful; Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi; Larry and Michael Johnson Family Foundation; Harper, Rains, Knight, and Company; The Pig & Pint; and Hilton Garden Inn Madison/Jackson.

Wesson Aldermen have scheduled a public hearing at their next meeting to hear comments about whether or not the municipality should be open to licensed producers or distributors of medical marijuana under the new state law or opt out. Wesson Police Department (WPD) personnel also continued to be a focus of the Aldermen at recent meetings. The Aldermen voted unanimously to hire Brookhaven Police Officer Ashley McDuffey as a certified part-time officer for WPD and Richan Tilman, who has worked in law enforcement in Hazlehurst, as a certified full-time officer. They also accepted the resignation of Officer Ron Boyce and rehired former WPD Police Chief Chad O'Quinn as a full-time Officer. In other actions, the Alderman approved: Travel and associated expenses for the Mayor, all Aldermen, the City Clerk, Public Works Director and Police Chief to the Mississippi Municipal League conference in Biloxi June 26-30. Travel and associated expenses for City Clerk Angela Hester to the Mississippi Municipal Clerks Association at Ridgeland April 27-29 and the International Institute of Municipal Clerks conference at Little Rock, Arkansas, May 22-26. Advertising for sale a 2009 Dodge Charger police car and the building on Spring Street just east of the municipal library, with March 7, 2022, as the closing date for receiving bids and when they will be opened for public announcement and discussion at the April meeting of the Aldermen.

By Bobby Thornton On March 4, 2022 Department Finance Officer and Post 79 Commander Bobby Thornton presented a new Space Force Flag to the local high school in Wesson, MS. On Veteran's Day Commander Thornton was the guest speaker for the school's Veteran's Day program. During that time, he noticed that the school did not have a Space Force Flag. Soon after, Commander Thornton gained the support of the Post 79 Membership and went on to purchase the flag to donate to the school.

By Bob Garver Back in January, when COVID numbers were raging and another lockdown seemed imminent, Disney made the decision to make Pixar’s “Turning Red” a Disney+ exclusive. But soon after holiday tourism died down, so did the COVID numbers, and theaters are fully capable of showing this movie. In fact, restrictions here in New York have eased so much this was the first weekend where I wouldn’t have needed so much as a mask to go see a movie. But I guess the decision to move the film to Disney+ was an irreversible one, or maybe the studio just didn’t want to compete with the second weekend of “The Batman.” I usually reserve this column for theatrical releases, but I’ll make an exception because there were no other major releases this weekend, no carryovers are begging to be covered, and this first-class movie “should” have gone to theaters. The story follows 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian Mei (Rosalie Chiang) as she undergoes bodily changes tied to strong emotions. Specifically, her human body changes into that of a 10-foot-tall red panda. Based on the film’s advertising, I thought that the panda stuff would be a cutesy workaround for actual biological changes, but surprisingly the symptoms, manifestations, and treatments of biological changes are addressed within the film and very much in play. This movie, though deservedly PG, plays to a more mature audience than the usual Pixar fare. Mei is horrified to be changing into a wild animal. She had a good thing going with her school and friends and a job as a temple caretaker. Sure, her mother Ming (Sandra Oh) could be a bit overbearing, and it was becoming harder and harder to hide how stupidly boy-crazy she was, but literally transforming into a giant beast was not in her carefully-planned schedule. My only real problem with the film comes in Mei’s reaction to becoming a panda. She’s freaked out, which is understandable, but her instinct is to try and hide it. Even in a world where magic and transfiguration are possible, it still comes off as unnatural. To her knowledge, she’s the first person in all of human history to undergo a change in species, and she’s still concerned with her social status? At the very least, this calls for an immediate talk with her family. Or a scientist. Or a doctor, either a pediatrician or veterinarian. But no, apparently the movie just wants to give us a sequence of shenanigans and comical misunderstandings. Fortunately this is Pixar, so they’re funny shenanigans and misunderstandings, but the motivation behind them is questionable at best, distracting at worst. At first Mei can only see the downside in sporadically turning into a panda (in that it’s not normal), but she soon sees an upside: people love pandas. Her friends want to hug her at every opportunity and classmates are willing to pay money to take pictures with her and have her appear at parties. If she really plays her cards right, she and her friends might even be able to parlay her panda powers into going to a concert to see their favorite boy band. Ming forbids it, with or without the dangerous panda element, but what’s a little thing like parental permission when a teenage girl is in love? At the center of “Turning Red” is the increasingly-unstable relationship between Mei and Ming. Mother-daughter relationships aren’t often explored in Disney movies, especially given the studio’s track record of letting parents see the second act of their stories. The only other one that did it on this level was 2012’s “Brave,” another movie where a character turned into a bear, come to think of it. Sandra Oh absolutely steals the movie as the mother trying to reel in her out-of-control daughter as she’s closer than anyone realizes to losing control herself. I have never seen a Pixar movie I didn’t like, and the “Red”-hot streak continues here. Grade: A- “Turning Red” is available for streaming exclusively on Disney+. The film is rated PG for thematic material, suggestive content, and language. Its running time is 100 minutes. Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.

William Carey University announces the undergraduate President’s and Dean’s List Scholars for the Winter 2021 Trimester. President’s List Scholars have a perfect 4.0 grade point average and Dean’s List. Scholars must have at least a 3.5 grade point average; both lists require students to have no failing grade in any class. Students earning these recognitions are: Brookhaven - President's List: Hannah Riley Davis. Dean's List: Carlee Bess Nations Crystal Springs - President's List: Rachel Olivia Moore. Dean's List: Bailee Brianna Howell Wesson - President's List: Brandy Michelle White

A new health and school safety platform will be available at no cost to 135 Mississippi school districts that recently opted to receive the service to create a safer and better learning environment for students, teachers and staff. In February, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) announced plans to use $14 million of its American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III funds to purchase the web-based nSide health and school safety platform. ESSER III funds will cover the costs of the platform and cameras until Sept. 30, 2024. School districts had to opt in by Feb. 28 to receive nSide. To see a complete list of the districts go to List of Districts with Health and Safety Platform. The platform boasts several features to aid districts, including the following: One surveillance camera for the district central office and up to five school-based surveillance cameras with the ability to detect and notify of crowd congestion Access to a 360-degree live, virtual walkthrough of a school to provide situational awareness in emergencies A system to create detailed campus maps and building floor plans with georeferenced images that give first responders precise locations of individuals A portal to upload emergency operation plans Mobile app for notification of emergencies and to notify staff and emergency responders Assistance with creating and managing emergency operations plans that meet state and federal requirements Among the 135 districts, 10 opted to receive the platform without new surveillance cameras. However, the platform may be compatible with those districts’ existing cameras. Two school districts – Lee County School District and Rankin County School District – were using nSide prior to MDE purchasing the platform. Districts will begin receiving welcome packets to nSide next week. In the coming weeks, the 135 districts will be onboarded to the nSide platform with drills, trainings and a review of best safety practices. The School Safety Act of 2019 requires school boards of each district, with assistance from MDE’s Office of Safe and Orderly Schools, to adopt a comprehensive local school district school safety plan and to annually provide a plan update. By offering the nSide platform to districts, a more consistent development and implementation of safety plans is anticipated. “With nearly every school district in the state choosing to use this innovative health and school safety platform, Mississippi schools will now have a more uniform approach to keeping students, teachers and staff safe,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “MDE is confident this platform will be beneficial to districts by helping them prevent and mitigate crises.” Find all MDE news releases at mdek12.org/news.