Education

This Thursday, attendees at the Shelby County Public School board meeting will once again review the construction progress for the finishing touches at the Northside Early Childhood Center and the last bits of construction at the new Southside Elementary School.

The Shelby County Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. at the district's offices, 1155 Main Street in Shelbyville. A representative from K. Norman Berry and Associates will be on hand to update the board with a slideshow presentation of images for both buildings.

n 1912, in reaction to the Day Law that segregated black and white students, the doors opened to The Lincoln Institute in Simpsonville, a boarding high-school established for African-Americans.

After a rise in integrated schools, The Lincoln Institute was closed in 1966, but for 54 years it was a bastion of reading, writing and arithmetic.

This weekend the school’s alumni will reunite, with more than fifty-years worth of students attending.

It’s an unfortunate yet accurate fact that many children go throughout their school day with an empty and growling stomach.

But for many students across America, those tummies are being tamed, thanks to The Community Eligibility Option, a reform from the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010.

The program provides school lunches at no charge to all students at participating schools, regardless of the family’s income.

Construction on the new Southside Elementary building is running slightly behind schedule, but according to Harry Dumesnil with K. Norman Berry Associates Architects, it will be ready before the 2014-15 school year begins on August 13.

Dumesnil originally anticipated a completion date of July 5, but said because of weather and various other factors, “That day will come and go.”   However, Dumesnil was confident that they would receive a certificate of occupancy by the end of the month.