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now provide a template to build on. “We have gotten a lot of feedback. There are things that we will like to change, improve upon, but there are certain things that worked well,” Greene said. JPS is encouraging families to choose virtual learning if they can. “Giving the ongoing health concerns, we are urging all families who are able to select the virtual model to do so,” Greene’s guidelines state. On school-bus safety, the document said: “Temperature checks will be performed before boarding buses. Drivers will
be masked and gloved. Scholars will sit in designated areas with mandatory facial coverings. Disinfecting will occur between routes in high touch areas.” JPS will provide grades 3 through 12 with two washable and reusable facial coverings and one face shield for grades Pre-K to grade 2 because “facial coverings will be required from the boarding of the school bus or arrival on campus through the end of the school day.” Mitigating the risk of the virus will also have an effect on athletics and co-curricular activities, with middle-school and junior KAYODE CROWN
Albert Sykes, the Jackson-based executive director of Institute for Democratic Education in America, wants focus to be on students’ safety in schools.
varsity football shifted to 2021. JPS leadership committed to launching a mobile app with push notifications for important updates and to providing hand sanitizers, soap, gloves and disinfectants to students and employees. Better Relationship with Teachers Shonnie Cooley, the project coordinator for Parents for Public Schools, is a 20year resident of Jackson. She told the Jackson Free Press that many parents are saying their relationship with teachers is better since COVID-19, while commending JPS for the way it navigated the pandemic shock to the local educational system. “From the feedback that I have gotten from parents, the teachers did well to accommodate students,” Cooley said. “They did some homework packages for those that don’t have access to the internet to deliver to the parents they knew did not have access to the internet.” “For those that did, they did some virtual tutorials on different subjects; they did all these cool videos. It helped the student. They made phone calls to parents just to check in, asking, ‘how are you, how are your family doing?’” The nonprofit organization she works for focuses on parents’ engagement with public school, and she now believes that
Mississippi Association of Educators President Erica Jones wants teachers trained in distant learning.
COVID-19 has reduced the parent-teacher relationship gap. “Parents feel more comfortable with their teachers now,” she said. Cooley added that the pandemic has also made people appreciate the role of teachers more, because of what caregivers like Donaldson went through during the time she had to help educate Anajah. Email story tips to city/county reporter Kayode Crown at kayode@jacksonfreepress. com. You can follow Kayode on Twitter at @kayodecrown.
Jackson Museum Trail Construction Begins by Kayode Crown
Dr. Clay Hays highlighted the economic and health benefits of the Jackson Museum Trail.
city of Jackson and to the state. I am so pleased as commissioner to be a part of the ceremony and part of the support system to do this.” Construction should start this month. A volunteer effort to raise money to add amenities to the trail is ongoing. Visit www.jxntrailblazers.com.
July 22 - August 4, 2020 • jfp.ms
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tion of North Jefferson Street and Mississippi Street, for the groundbreaking ceremony of the $1.6-million project. Neel-Schaffer Engineers designed the project, and Hemphill Construction has the contract to build it. “We anticipate that the project will be completed by the end of October,” Hays, a cardiologist and vice president of the Jackson Heart Foundation, said. “It’s something that is going to be a great boom for Jackson. Hundreds of people have participated in this project, people from the city, state, Mississippi Department of Transportation, Blue Cross (and) Blue Shield, the medical community, the schools.” The trail will connect the Children’s Museum, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, the Mississippi Farmers Market on High Street and the Two Mississippi Museums. “The Department of Transportation has been part of the project for 10 years to work to get resources, to work with the City of Jackson and all the other entities, both public and private, that have worked so hard to make this trail possible,” Central District Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons said at the ceremony. “It is going to be very, very beneficial to the
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he Jackson Museum Trail, a 2.5-mile, 10-foot wide multi-use path, stretching from downtown Jackson to Lakeland Drive, will enhance quality of life and spur economic growth, Clay Hays of Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership says. Dozens of people gathered July 15 at the southern end of the Mississippi Farmers Market, near the intersec-
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