NATCHEZ, Miss. – City aldermen on Tuesday approved the location of a charter school to be on the old Trinity Episcopal campus now owned by Cornerstone Church on U.S. 61 south.
The Board of Aldermen ratified the Natchez Planning Commission’s decision last month to rezone the site to allow the school adjacent to the Woodhaven residential neighborhood. Cornerstone Church is leasing part of the three-building campus to the charter school operators.
Instant Impact Global Prep was authorized in December by the state to operate as a public charter school, according to documents filed with the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board. It’s projected to enroll 150 students in kindergarten through second grade this coming school year with more grades added gradually to grow by 2027 to 350 K-6 students, with 80 percent required to be from low-income families.
The school property was previously classified by the city to allow businesses, such as shops, medical clinics and financial offices, to be located there.
During their discussions Tuesday on whether to allow the school to be located there by the Woodhaven neighborhood, aldermen did hear from one nearby resident. Kenny Jones, whose backyard abuts the campus site and its old tennis courts, expressed concerns about traffic noise that could come from the school. While he expressed no qualms about the school itself, he noted the now-dormant tennis courts could become a parking lot within view of his backyard.
Jones also questioned what the school property could be used for in future years if it’s rezoned now and the school later fails.
Trinity Episcopal Day School was located on the 14-acre site for nearly 50 years – from 1969, when its first structure was built, to 2018, when it closed after enrollment had dwindled to about 140 students.
Trinity Episcopal Church sold the three school buildings and property in 2019 to Cornerstone Church of Vidalia for $500,000. Plans then called for the church to establish a school located in the elementary and pre-K buildings.
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