Staff and cheerleaders from Jackson Public School’s Callaway School Zone swirled and slid across the floor of the Mississippi Coliseum. The staff executed the complicated line dance to Tamia’s “Can’t Get Enough.” After several minutes of performing in front of JPS faculty and staff, they clapped and cheered their way back to the green bleacher seats.
Before long each of the district’s seven feeder patterns performed a popular line dance during the dance battle, and the cheerleaders were leading each group in call-and-response cheers for their high school. The friendly competition on Aug. 4 was part of Jackson Public Schools 2024-2025 annual convocation, a family reunion-themed celebration that included cheers, dances and music..
“It was the official launch of the school year, welcoming all of our team members back. We have very, very few opportunities to bring all of our JPS team members together in one place,” Superintendent Dr. Errick L. Greene told the Mississippi Free Press on Aug. 2. “… It’s important as a team and as a community. There’s all the energy from folks having had some level of a break over the summer. So we’re coming back. We’re seeing our people again. The theme this year was the JPS Family Reunion, so just promoting (the idea that) we are a family.”
Jackson Public School faculty and staff had a lot to celebrate. On July 16, the district announced a significant pay increase for teachers and staff for the 2024-2025 school year. The district increased its local supplement by $5,000 for teachers with zero to 20 years of service, $5,250 for teachers with 21 to 30 years of service, and $5,500 for teachers with more than 31 years of service. The JPS Board of Trustees also approved hourly wages for classified staff with a minimum raise of $2 per hour. The district also increased skilled laborers’ pay by $7 per hour.
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“I’m very excited to provide such significant salary increases for JPS team members,” Greene said in a July 16 press
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