The Brookhaven School District will soon receive $500,000 toassist in the development of distance learning hub sites at MullinsSchool.

The Rural Utilities Services under the United States Departmentof Agriculture awarded the Distance Learning and Telemedicine grantto the Brookhaven School District (BSD) to jumpstart a project withthe Jones County School District and the South Central MississippiConsortium for Educational Excellence and Development.

“It’s going to allow us to develop Mullins as a regionalservices center,” said BSD superintendent Dr. Sam Bounds.

A renovation project is expected to begin in January 2003 totransform the school’s library and two classrooms to accommodatethe needs for the project.

In the library, a conference presentation center will becreated, while two classrooms will be used as computer labs with 24computers in one lab and mobile laptops used in the other.

Mullins will be one of two hub sites that will connect the 18participating districts within the consortium.

“I think it’s a tremendous compliment to the school board, thecommunity and the administration that so much trust is being placedon us to kind of blaze the way,” said Bounds.

Another $500,000 grant will be used to create a similar sitewithin the Jones County School District.

The hub sites will provide students in the 18 school districtswith the ability to participate interactively with other classesthrough video conferencing equipment.

“The fine points are still being worked out as to how it will beused, but there’s numerous possibilities,” said Bounds.

One way the center will benefit students is by making archivedclasses available for students who were absent from class. Theywill be able to use the lab later to access the materialneeded.

“An example of that is if we have a student who has to be in analternative environment where they are isolated, the teacher canstill teach them,” said Bounds.

Also, the instructional strengths of faculty in theparticipating district can be shared throughout the system.

The school districts could use just one teacher to teach thesame subject at more than one school.

“This could help with teacher shortages in the long run, if wehave one outstanding teacher teaching at two places,” saidBounds.

Through the Brookhaven hub, more than 26,000 students and 1,200teachers will be impacted by the project, and the Jones County hubwill reach even more students and teachers.

Teachers will benefit from the project by having the ability toenhance qualifications and instructional strengths via jointprofessional development activities.

They will be able to receive training from all over the worldand reduce the need to travel to workshops.

“It will give us the ability to project within the district,between the two labs and conduct workshops on the state level,”said Bounds, adding that the creation of a conference presentationcenter at Mullins will be a center point for other activities aswell.