Northside students are expected to benefit from millions of dollars recently invested in area schools.

Improvements among the area’s private schools include: choral music area and football field renovations at Jackson Academy, six new classrooms at St. Joseph’s Catholic School, seven new classrooms at First Presbyterian Day School, athletic additions at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, and a new kindergarten building and hospitality center at Madison-Ridgeland Academy.

Many more projects are expected to begin this year at the area’s public and private schools. Jackson Prep is planning to build a new dining facility and Christ Covenant School is expected to begin work on a new multi-purpose facility. In Jackson, the school board has recently approved spending $36 million in bond money on renovations at current schools and planning for new schools. And, in Madison, the county is building a new kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school in the Mannsdale area.

Officials say the improvements will give students a better learning environment, less cramped classrooms and more opportunities to learn.

Schools like Jackson Academy are able to complete renovations thanks, in part, to successful capital campaigns and private donations. JA President Peter Jernberg said the school’s campaign, to date, has brought in more than $6 million to fund building projects; and, as a result, construction crews had a busy summer.

While students slept late and went on family vacations, crews installed artificial turf at Raider Field, renovated classrooms and updated two science labs. “Projects here are ongoing as we complete our master plan,” Jernberg said. “The new facilities will help us attract new students and improve the educational opportunities for the students already here.”

He pointed to a $580,000 football field renovation and a $300,000 bill for technology upgrades, which were funded through donations and the school’s developmental foundation. “We now have interactive Smart Boards in all of our secondary (junior high and high school) classrooms and replaced the old research lab (25 computers) in the media center with new hardware,” he said.

The artificial turf at the football field, he said, will help the field better stand up to punishment, like marching band practice and physical education, than grass would. “It isn’t just for football, it’s a multi-function teaching station,” Jernberg said.

Madison Ridgeland Academy also boasts recent construction at its 25-acre campus. Spokeswoman Beth Yerger said the school has added a new hospitality center to enhance campus security. And preschool students, began this school year in a new kindergarten building with new classrooms, a large after school care room and a music room. The football field, she said, was also completely overhauled.

“Another completed construction project is our new elementary building housing fifth-grade classrooms,” a large multi-purpose room and administrative offices,” she wrote in an e-mail. The $2.2 million in improvements, she said, were to accommodate for the school’s growth. “Our new kindergarten building has a two-fold benefit: we were able to accommodate students who had been on our waiting lists for years and also were able to replace an aging structure with a new, modern, larger building.”

At St. Andrew’s, fans have already seen the $150,000 in improvements at the football field. In addition to a new grass surface, there are also new sidewalks, fencing and a softball batting cage. A new jumping fence was completed on the track in the spring, said the school’s Vice-President of Finance Kevin Lewis.

On the academic side, there’s been a renovated space for three-year-olds as well as four renovated classrooms for third-graders. Lewis said the athletic booster club funded the athletic improvements and the other projects were funded through the school’s reserve and annual budget.

At First Presbyterian in Jackson, the school has benefited from the church’s expansion. Head of School Gary Herring said the school building and sanctuary have been under the remodeling phase for three years. Now with workers gone, the school has seven new classrooms and the church, a new sanctuary.

Employees there also benefit from the additional nursery space, where they can take their children.

Work was completed in June 2007, Herring said. “The church decided we needed the additional classroom space to reduce the number of students from 25 to 20 per class,” he said. “We’re very pleased.”

While some schools have already completed massive projects, some schools and school districts are now beginning to make improvements.

On Lakeland Drive, Prep school officials said the school is spring-boarding off a successful capital campaign for the Guyton Science Center, a $3.5 million facility now in its third year.

Head of External Affairs Crisler Boone said the school is now finalizing plans for a groundbreaking for a new dining commons, the first building added to the campus since it opened that will serve every student. Among its amenities, the 8,500-square-foot facility will feature a 1,000-square-foot kitchen and a private dining hall for receptions.

It will have seating for 75-100 outside and an amphitheater. Boone said the facility, once completed, will serve other purposes as well.

“We needed more space,” Boone said. “The kitchen now is only 300 square feet. The new building will be used for athletic banquets, award ceremonies, alumni functions and prospective student functions.”

The school is working to raise additional funds for expansion projects through its capital campaign. Boone said the fund-raiser has already brought in $4.2 million in major gifts and is expected to bring in even more as it enters its “community phase.”

“We hope to make some athletic improvements and senior high renovations,” she said.

Through the school’s parent and teacher group, and capital fund, the school has also equipped each room with Smart Boards and up-to-date overhead projectors.

Other educational institutions are also making upgrades. A fence now going up at Christ Covenant is a sign of what school officials there say are big things to come.

Cathy Haynie, headmaster, said the school is entering into a partnership with Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church to build a $2 million multi-purpose building with a gym, stage and after school facilities.

Unlike some schools looking to expand to attract more students, officials at Christ Covenant say the expansion is not growth-related. Haynie said the 20,000-square-foot building is needed to help the school expand its sports offerings. Covenant, she said, houses students in kindergarten through sixth grade. She said it should be completed before school starts next year.

“We started with football and basketball and also have an after school care ministry and needed it for that,” she said. A groundbreaking is expected to occur in the next few weeks. Like other private schools, Christ Covenant is funding the construction costs through a capital campaign from the church and school.

At St. Joseph’s, students are already benefiting from six new classrooms. But Principal William Heller said they’ll soon be enjoying a new fine arts center. The school, in November, is breaking ground on the $6 million complex, which will have an auditorium, choir hall, band hall, and art and pottery classrooms.

The school, he said, is also raising money for a new $450,000 chapel with help from a foundation in New Orleans. In all, the school plans to spend about $7.3 million on the projects.

Public schools and local taxpayers are also investing millions into their children’s academic future.

According to the Jackson Public Schools Web site, the school board voted on September 10 to spend $36 million in bond money to fund renovations and upgrades at existing schools. Of those, Casey Elementary is receiving a $5 million facelift, with a new building addition expected.

The vote also included spending for the design of several new schools as well.

And in Madison, a new school is planned to accommodate the district’s mushrooming student population.

The kindergarten through fifth-grade school will be built on district property near the intersection of Mississippi 463 and Mississippi 22, in the Mannsdale area.

Site work is now being done on the project, which is slated to be finished by fall 2009.