The Vicksburg Warren School District Board of Trustees held its monthly meeting on Thursday.

Superintendent Chad Shealy began the meeting with an address, highlighting Sen. Roger Wicker’s visit to the Academy of Innovation on Nov. 10, during which AOI students presented Wicker with custom-made ornaments to be hung on his Christmas tree at his office in Washington, D.C.

“He came because our students at AOI did a presentation for the Wicker tree, which was pretty incredible,” Shealy said. “They highlighted a lot of Mississippians; some of those were local Vicksburgers. And they did that in innovative ways. They built these ornaments from 3D printing, through cast plastics, and they had ceramics that they hand-built and fired and glazed. They were absolutely beautiful.”

The board also adopted a resolution honoring the life of retired educator Bessie Dillard, who died on Nov. 11 at the age of 103.

Updates were also given to the board by Jason Stewart of Bailey Program Management, LLC, on multiple construction and maintenance projects throughout the District.

Stewart told the board that while headway is being made on certain projects, work is not progressing as quickly as the company would hope.

District 1 Board Trustee Bryan Pratt asked Stewart about the progress made on the agora, a large open space at the entrance of Warren Central High School.

“There’s still challenges with the roof and water penetrating the existing B building,” Pratt said. “I’m just trying to figure out when we’re going to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Stewart said that he is expecting the agora to be dried in (at a point where weather-sensitive materials can be installed) around spring break.

“We’ve issued a change order, and it was supposed to have been done over the summer,” Pratt said. “It still just seems to be slow.”

Next, the Director of Financial Services for VWSD, Cassandra Lewis, gave the financial report for the district. The district funds as of October are $19,537,290.59. MAEP collections appropriations for August were $2,353,450, and casino revenue for September was $59,433.30.

During the Proposed Consent portion of the meeting, Associate Superintendent Dr. Cedric Magee spoke about a resolution that would allow the administration of Narcan by licensed VWSD staff. Narcan is a drug used to reverse an opioid overdose and is administered via nasal spray.

District 5 Trustee Sally Bullard asked Magee who would be able to administer the drug.

“It would be just the nurses and SROs (School Resource Officers),” Magee said. “They have to go through training and (the Narcan) needs to be stored in a secure place.”

It is expected that the board will review and vote on the matter in the next session.

For a calendar of VWSD Board of Trustees meetings and board documents, visit vwsd.org.