Joe Bracey

The 2025-2026 theme for East Marion Elementary School is "Learning, Creating, Achieving through the Arts." The vision is to provide high-quality, arts-integrated instruction to elevate academic achievement. The mission is to deliver rigorous, engaging instruction that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration within a safe, inclusive environment, aiming for academic excellence and a lifelong love of learning for every student.

The Marion County School District's Dropout Prevention Plan focuses on improving student preparation through Kindergarten Readiness, providing academic and emotional support through graduation coaches, and offering learning loss opportunities for students affected during the pandemic. The plan includes strategies such as Pre-K programs, Positive Behavior and Incentive Systems (PBIS), credit recovery options, and Individual Success Plans (ISP) to increase graduation rates, reduce dropout rates, and improve student outcomes.

The Marion County School District's strategic plan for 2025-2028 focuses on providing educational opportunities that ensure student success and create a community of empowered, lifelong learners. Key goals include supporting schools to meet state accountability standards, increasing graduation rates to 90% for both high schools, providing access to high-quality early childhood education, ensuring effective teachers and leaders use data-driven decision-making, maintaining safe and orderly schools, and operating efficiently with sound financial management. The plan also emphasizes providing all students with access to high-quality academic, arts, and athletics programming.

The Marion County School District's Instructional Management Plan for 2025-2026 focuses on providing educational opportunities that ensure student success by fostering a community of empowered, lifelong learners. The plan outlines strategies to streamline instructional programs K-12, increase data-based decision-making, and implement consistent professional learning opportunities based on defined needs. It emphasizes a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) aligned with state curriculum frameworks and Mississippi College-and Career-Ready Standards (MCCRS), promoting high-quality classroom instruction, supplemental support, and intensive interventions to meet diverse student needs.

The board meeting included an invocation, amendment to the agenda to add discussion of personnel, approval of minutes from January 10th and 20th, acknowledgements and celebrations including board member appreciation and preps awards, public comments regarding the non-renewal of a principal contract, approval of consent agenda items, superintendent report on a historical landmark/grave project, approval of athletic schedules, approval of out-of-state field trips, and discussion of a student transfer request. The grave project involved investigating and potentially designating a historical cemetery on school property.