Three students in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District will have a new staff member to help them get around their schools with their visual impairments.
The SOCSD Board of Trustees unanimously voted Monday to approve a contract for Leisa Pegues to be the district’s new orientation and mobility specialist. She is one of the few certified specialists in Mississippi, and she will help the three students learn to navigate their classrooms and school buildings on their own, student support services director Julie Jones said.
“If they have to work with a cane or count steps, (specialists) teach them,” Jones said. “They teach them how to orient themselves and get around in their surroundings as best they can without getting help.”
Orientation and mobility specialists often contract with several school districts at once, and Pegues was the only one in north and central Mississippi who was available to take another contracted position, Jones said.
The board reviews the district’s need for the position annually because the number of visually impaired students and the services they need both change every year, said Anna Guntharp, the assistant superintendent for special education, federal programs and preschool.
“If it’s a very specific service, sometimes it’s difficult to find people to hire full-time or even part-time in that capacity,” Guntharp told The Dispatch.
Jones said she is unaware of a time in recent years when the district has not needed an orientation and mobility specialist.
Pegues will be paid $100 per hour, according to her contract. Her predecessor moved away in November and was available to provide services twice a week, but Pegues will only be available once a week, Jones said.
Pegues is also the special services director for the Coffeeville School District. She could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday.
In other business, the board unanimously approved the replacement of the bridge that crosses Hollis Creek on the Starkville High School campus. The bridge is currently almost narrow enough to be a single lane, and the project will expand it to two lanes and include a 10-foot wide pedestrian path on one side, city engineer Edward Kemp said.
It will also be able to hold an 80,000-pound load, said Kevin Stafford with the Neel-Schaffer firm.
“We were very sensitive to making sure it’s not only functional but also very aesthetically pleasing, so I think what we’ve arrived at today achieves all of that,” Kemp said.
The bridge was one of three that the city applied for emergency repair funding from the Mississippi Department of Transportation a year ago, and the city received $514,998 for the repair in January.
Kemp and Stafford will update the Starkville board of aldermen on the project at the board’s work session on Friday, and the board will consider approving the project at its Dec. 17 meeting.
If approved, the project would begin after the end of the school year and be complete by early August, Kemp said.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.