by Hunter Dawkins
Recently, Long Beach citizens will vote on a $20 million bond issue the school board accepted. The school board released a statement explaining the $20 million would go towards building a new Long Beach High School, as well as security upgrades to other schools within the district. The Long Beach School District addressed the urgency for increased security due to the school being built close to 70 years ago. The new high school will be built in the same location as the current high school, providing that the new school will be built in phases. The city of Long Beach vote will be held on August 2. A statement was released late Wednesday by the Long Beach School Board President Tim Pierce saying: “For the past two years, the Long Beach School District Board of Trustees has been studying and evaluating various financial options in an effort to improve our aging school facilities with our primary focus being to replace Long Beach High School, which was built in the 1950’s. It is our belief that the flagship of our community is the historical success of our entire school district, but specifically, Long Beach High School. Hence, the LBSD Board of Trustees voted to approve a $20 million dollar bond election to be held August 2, 2018. These dollars, if approved by sixty percent of our citizens, will be directed toward a blend of new construction with the renovation of some existing structures to create a state of the art high school with a strong focus on safety and security for students. Currently, our aging high school facility has approximately 50 entry and exit points throughout the campus. The new facility proposed by the district’s architectural firm reduces the entry and exits points to four. The LBSD Board is committed to ensuring that our new high school facility will be built with student safety as our primary focus. In the coming weeks, the school district leaders and the City of Long Beach Mayor’s office will be working collaboratively to inform our citizens of all aspects of the school bond issue.” Long Beach School District was one of 15 school districts in the state of Mississippi that earned an A grade.
