Parental reaction to the letters informing them Vicksburg Intermediate School faces federal sanctions has been muted, Vicksburg Warren School District officials said.

Parents were notified Aug. 17 that the school was being placed on ‘improvement status’ and, under federal guidelines, they could request a transfer of their child or children to another school due to low test scores two years in a row among special education students at the school.

That raised the possibility of a mass exodus of the school’s 580 student, said Superintendent James Price, head of the 9,000-plus student district. Friday’s deadline to apply for a transfer came and went without a single request, he said.

‘We did what we were required to do,’ said Price. ‘But I heard several people say, ‘We’re not going anywhere because we know that there’s quality instruction there.’

The regulations behind sending the required letter are complicated.

Students statewide are evaluated using one of two tests,

Under the state ranking system used to measure school performance, Vicksburg Intermediate earned a Level 3 this year, meaning that the school overall is ‘successful’ and performing at a satisfactory level.

Federal guidelines are more detailed. They require that 95 percent of students in each of eight categories must be tested. The categories are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, economically disadvantaged, students whose English-speaking skills are limited and special education students. If there are fewer than 40 students in a category, testing is not required and the category doesn’t count for or against the school’s overall scores. The test results are used to determine if a school has made Adequate Yearly Progress, a benchmark for annual improvement. However, if 95 percent of students in a category don’t take the test or if students in one category fail to meet AYP, the entire school fails to meet AYP.

Achieving AYP year-to-year is difficult because some students may fit into as many as four categories. Also, under the federal laws, students must be tested at their chronological level regardless of their functional level. That stipulation can be problematic for students with severe disabilities who may never fully function at their actual chronological level, said Price.

It was because special education students at Vicksburg Intermediate did not show required progress that the whole school was assigned the status requiring letters to parents informing them of their options.

Under improvement status, which lasts for two years, some federal funds will be automatically redirected into remedial and tutoring programs. Price said measures have been taken to ensure that those students have more resources.

‘We’ve redesigned the services we’re providing for’ special education students, said Price. ‘We’ve added some teachers and an assistant and we’ve got more people honed in on those students.’ About 37 special education students are attending Vicksburg Intermediate so far.

Price met with the school’s teachers Tuesday morning and said that they too have taken the situation in stride. ‘They’re pleased that the community is behind them,’ he said. ‘We’ve got a good quality staff there ‘they’re getting the job done,’ said Price. Vicksburg Intermediate principal Sharon Williams agreed.

‘This is home, this is school,’ said Williams. ‘I think everybody is ready to put this behind us and move forward.’

Tuesday afternoon, several parents of Vicksburg Intermediate students said they had seen or heard about the letter, but that they were happy to be at the school and weren’t planning to go anywhere.

‘He likes his teachers,’ and so do I, said Angela Carley, who was picking up her third-grade son, Jacob. Another parent, Regina Jones, has three children who attend the school. She also said the test scores did not prompt her to consider moving her kids.

Williams said she didn’t expect anyone to leave based solely on the test results.

‘The Vicksburg school district has a good support system in place,’ and ‘Vicksburg Intermediate School is a good place to be. I know people will continue to do everything that they can to meet the needs of the children.

For the students, parents and teachers of Vicksburg Intermediate, ‘This is their school and they’re proud of it,’ said Williams.