As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to force changes to routines across the world, officials from the Lamar County School District are keeping up to date and making changes as needed to policies, procedures and activities.
As far as professional development, many of the meetings that usually take place face to face over the summer are shifting to virtual components, with the exception of requirements for employment or grants that must be in person. Travel, including field trips and athletics, has yet to be approved.
“We've had some questions about field trips going forward, even into August,” district superintendent Tess Smith said at this week's school board meeting. “So for now, we just are not hosting those for the foreseeable future.”
With the board's previous permission, the district allowed practice of athletic events beginning June 1.
To date, Smith has approved approximately 35 plans for that endeavor.
“In going through those approvals, I've focused on the numbers that are allowed, using state and local guidance in everything we do,” Smith said. “(Centers for Disease Control) guidance, I do refer to that, but then I try to gauge that against what they're saying in our state, as well as locally.
“And I'm focusing on those numbers and locations, and we are allowing some area camps with approved choreographers. We're trying to do things as close to what we normally do, as allowed.”
The school board also previously gave approval to allow district officials to seek a law and public safety course through the Lamar County Center for Technical Education.
That course has been accepted and will be held during the fall at Purvis High School.
“We're very excited about that,” Smith said. “That will allow us to reach a group of students that we've not been able to before, and we hope to build some continued partnerships with local law enforcement, as well as emergency management, fire, and all those entities that relate back to law and public safety.
“Any time we can get a new program that might spark interest for students as far as careers, we're always excited to do that.”
INSURANCE COST RISES FOR SCHOOL DISTRICT
Although the Lamar County School District's insurance rates for Fiscal Year 2020-21 are rising by 23 percent – from $722,700 to $863,170 – officials say the increase is indicative of a nationwide trend rather than any measure particular to the school district, and the district will adjust accordingly.
During the school district's board meeting on June 8, Ross Bell, vice president of BXS Insurance, said the current period is the beginning of a “hard cycle” throughout the insurance industry.
“We have enjoyed a softer cycle over the years, and it's my hope that the softer cycles will return once the insurance industry rights itself,” Bell said. “But there are several things that are causing it – there have been some catastrophe claims from a property standpoint across the country and across the globe.
“The other part of it is, in Mississippi, it seems that we've had a rash of tornadoes, and a lot of them are hitting schools. But this is not anything that Lamar County has done incorrectly; I think all schools are feeling these types of increases.”
Bell said the biggest increase in property for the school district was in 2018, when the district added $25 million with the acquisition of Lumberton schools.
“It was about an 18-cent rate, and the following year was about an 18-cent rate also,” he said. “This year, the rate is a 22-cent rate. I know it's no consolation, but when we go back to 2014, it's still better than that rate. I just think what we're seeing in here is the industry attempting to regain some of its losses, and to set itself up on profitable footing.”
Bell compared capital in the insurance business to a supply and demand effect, as capital is what drives the supply side of insurance.
Hence, the more capital is present in the business, the more competitive the business becomes.
“We're kind of facing two things in the industry,” Bell said. “One is, the losses are rising when the capital is starting to shrink.
“It seems that these harder cycles – with technology being as quick as it is – tend to spike, and last a shorter amount of time than the softer cycles do, and the softer cycles would be the more competitive cycles. So we're looking all the time to bring insurance carriers to this state ... and I think if we could introduce more competition from a carrier standpoint, that would help.”
