MPSD board recognizes football coaching staff

Published 5:07 pm Wednesday, December 13, 2023

During its monthly meeting on Monday night, the Meridian Public School District’s Board of Trustees recognized the coaching staff of the Meridian High School football team for a season which saw the Wildcats upset Ocean Springs to make it to the second round of the Class 7A playoffs.

The recognition followed the announcement last week that head coach Marcus Boyles was resigning after one year to become the head football coach at Petal High School, a job he held from 2012 until his retirement from coaching in 2020. At the time of the announcement, Boyles said he was making the move to player a bigger role in the lives of his two daughters, grandson and son-in-law who live in Petal.

Under Boyles’ helm, the Wildcats finished the season 6-7 and reached the second round of the playoffs after knocking off Ocean Springs, the top seed in the region.

“I really appreciate all of the support from the administrators to the board, just the community,” Boyles told those in attendance at the school board meeting. “Our players really bought in, and we had a great season. We didn’t win a state championship, but still it was a great season. The growth of our kids from when I got here in February til the middle of November was remarkable.”

“The timing is not good,” Boyles said, “but my one year at Meridian High is special and I appreciate that very much. Thank you.”

The school district’s athletic director Dr. Cheyenne Trussell thanked Boyles for his work with the Wildcats since he was announced head coach in January.

“I had a chance to witness Coach Boyles’ work each and every day. No short cuts,” Trussell said. “Each and every day he gave his all, and he’s leaving us with, starting in the spring, we will have 110 football players out in the spring. That’s the most we have had in years … we are so excited …. he has left us in great shape.”

In other business at the school board meeting, the board voted to approve a professional services agreement with Athletic Services Plus to provide an engineer for work to replace the synthetic turf at Ray Stadium, which was last done about 10 years ago.

“At Ray Stadium, the turf has had a long and successful life span, but it is nearing the end of that,” Director of Operations Clay Sims told board member.

“In working closely with Dr. Trussell, we have identified similar professional services to help us ensure that we get the proper design and installation of the new turf which we will be looking at,” he said.

The fee to engage the services of Athletic Services Plus will be 10% of the contracted work, Sims said. Work to replace the turf is expected to be completed by next summer.

School board member Ron Turner Sr. asked Sims if the current logo will remain the same on the field or if there will there be a new design.

“We would discuss that with them once we get them secured to determine what appropriate next steps are,” Sims said. “Would we design it to look exactly like the existing turf, probably not, but we won’t know until we talk with them.”

Also on Monday, the board approved a contract with J&J Contractors for additional renovation projects at Carver Elementary School expected to cost $2.34 million. The school board accepted J&J’s low bid at its November monthly meeting. The new project at Carver Elementary will separate the bus and car rider lines, bringing the bus lines around to the back of the building where a new entrance will be created for those students. A new car rider entrance and drop off point will be added in front of the building, as well as an addition to the cafeteria and more restrooms. Work on the project is expected to begin immediately and be completed by mid July, Sims told board members.

The board also approved a contract with Carter, Miller, Sansing Ltd. to handle the design and installation of a new cooling tower for Carver Elementary’s HVAC system.

“Over at Carver we have a hydronic cooling system, which means the building is water cooled. There’s a cooling tower on the roof of the building currently that circulates that warm water out of the building and cools it down. That cooling tower is at the end of life,” Sims said.

The fee for their professional services would be 6% of the project total, and the project will be paid for from federal pandemic relief funds, he said.