Although nothing has been set in stone, officials from the Lamar County School District are keeping an eye on possible school expansions to accommodate the district’s increasing population, which currently sits at 10,532 students and growing.
District superintendent Steven Hampton said that number brings the district’s population to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the district wants to be ahead of the game if the number of students at the district’s 17 campuses experiences another increase.
“Twenty years ago, (because of) the influx of students due to factors like Hurricane Katrina and things like that, we had to build a number of facilities very quickly,” Hampton said. “So we’re just trying to be more proactive, looking at population estimates and things like that, and other things the county has in works, just to make sure we don’t get caught flat-footed.
“(We don’t want to) build facilities in reactionary purposes; we want to do it in more proactive means.”
Hampton said as part of that measure, the district is paying attention to the Eagle One Mega Site, which is located off of U.S. 11 in unincorporated Forrest and Lamar counties. That site, which is controlled by the Area Development Partnership in Hattiesburg, is intended for large industrial land users considering substantial facilities requiring major capital expenditures and significant employment levels.
A Regional Economic Development Alliance has been formed between Forrest and Lamar Counties to serve as the governing entity for the site.
“That’s just conversations – if there is a corporation or multiple corporations that come into that industrial site, what impact does that have on our student population?” Hampton said. “Estimates could be anywhere from two thousand to five thousand jobs (at the mega site), and with two to five thousand jobs, that means students coming to our district.
“So that’s that conversation, as far as school expansion – just making sure what that looks like and how we accommodate that number of students.”
No decisions have yet been made, as officials are still in the beginning stages of exploring the possible expansion process.
“It could hinge on a lot of factors,” Hampton said. “It could (depend on whether) the Lamar County Board of Supervisors lifts the moratorium on multi-housing family units, and how that looks.
“There’s just so many factors, and that’s part of that conversation of ‘what if.’ That’s the whole reason why we’re talking about expansion – we don’t have any definite plans, and there’s nothing in the works right now. We’re just trying to be proactive in that area.”
The Lamar County School District is made up of the following campuses:
- Baxterville School in Lumberton, grades PreK-8
- Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, grades 9-12
- Oak Grove Middle School in Hattiesburg, grades 6-8
- Bellevue Elementary School in Hattiesburg, grades PreK-5
- Oak Grove Elementary School in Hattiesburg, grades PreK-5
- Longleaf Elementary School in Hattiesburg, grades PreK-5
- Purvis High School in Purvis, grades 9-12
- Purvis Middle School in Purvis, grades 6-8
- Purvis Upper Elementary School in Purvis, grades 3-5
- Purvis Lower Elementary School in Purvis, grades PreK-2
- Sumrall High School in Sumrall, grades 9-12
- Sumrall Middle School in Sumrall, grades 6-8
- Sumrall Elementary School in Sumrall, grades PreK-5
- Lumberton High School in Lumberton, grades 7-12
- Lumberton Elementary School in Lumberton, grades PreK-6
- Lamar County Center for Technical Education in Purvis
- Jefferson Todd Education Center in Purvis
