Welcome back to class! New school year begins
Aug 1, 2024- Thursday was the day public schools in DeSoto County welcomed students back to class for the 2024-25 school year. It meant for a busy morning around the county as youngsters returned to class, and some arrived for the first time, at one of the 42 campuses in what is the largest public school district in Mississippi.
The crush for the first day of school meant traffic issues around the schools and more than the usual busyness around school offices and in classrooms, and maybe a few tears by mothers and young children being left behind for the first time.
DCS Supt. Cory Uselton asked for some patience from parents as everyone gets adjusted.
“It takes several days for students and parents to get into a routine,” Uselton said. “ This will cause traffic delays and delays in bus routes at the beginning and end of the day.”
Safety and security is a top priority and that has come with school resource officers again placed in each school.
“We have a great partnership with local leaders, and we appreciate everyone’s support of our School Resource Officer program,” Uselton said. “Our school district is allocating over $4 million to ensure that we have a School Resource Officer in every school. For each officer, we pay $70,000 to local agencies for each officer’s presence on campus.”
Uselton also thanked the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors, city boards of aldermen, and law enforcement at the city and county level for their program support.
Thursday was the first day of classes but Uselton said there was still a need to hire teachers, as 99 percent of the teaching positions were filled on the first day.
Last year’s student population of over 34,000 will likely grow again this year and Uselton said it will likely be a few weeks before the district has firm numbers on enrollment. “We have students registering every day,” he said. “We have been working hard for several months to get ready for this school year. We are excited to see our students again.”
