Shelby County school district superintendents present at chamber luncheon

The Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce focused on education at its luncheon on July 27.

The chamber’s Education Work Group asked for the superintendents of Shelby County’s three school districts to discuss how each system was doing in terms of student success, technology and funding.

Randy Fuller, superintendent for Shelby County Schools, said the system had seen success since shifting its focus a few years ago.

“About three years ago we changed the focus in Shelby County Schools [and] we began looking at the total child,” Fuller said. “While we are still focused on academic excellence, we also want to focus on the soft skills [such as] leadership, presentation [and] teamwork.”

Fuller said one way that the district has accomplished this goal is by implementing a student program called My Future.

“Each senior student does a presentation of what they are going to do after graduation,” Fuller said. “[It’s] powerful because they have given conscious and intentional thought of what they are going to do.”

Another program that Shelby County Schools has seen success with utilizes technology and feedback to better the schools, Fuller said.

“Shelby County Schools was recently recognized of one of the top 20 schools in the nation in ‘Project Tomorrow - Speak Up,'” Fuller said. “That is a survey program that looks at parents, teachers and students [to see] what they want in schools.”

Fuller said that from the results of this survey, the district was able to implement a mobile app for parents in order to give them easy access to important information about their child and his or her school.

“We are doing things through the survey to implement through the school in technology,” Fuller said.

In terms of funding, Fuller said that Shelby County’s finances are in the hands of smart, capable leaders.

“We have a capital projects team that meets regularly to project growth in our county and develop long term plans for building,” Fuller said.

Through this strategic planning and foresight, Shelby County Schools has been able to fund new schools and classrooms to accommodate the growth in the area, Fuller said.

“We built three new schools for $80 million dollars, plus 37 additions of classrooms [and] renovations of gymnasiums and cafeterias,” Fuller said.

With Shelby County’s long history as a school district, additions such as these are the main financial concern.

“We have a great base [and] are happy with what we are doing,” Fuller said.

Alabaster City Schools Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers and Pelham City Schools Superintendent Scott Coefield also gave updates on their school systems.

Vickers gave an overview of his school district’s three-year history. He said that one of the district’s greatest accomplishments was that the graduation rate has been raised from 89 percent in 2013 to 98 percent in 2016.

The district has accomplished this raise in graduation rates by making education relatable and interesting to their students, Vickers said. One method used to accomplish this style of education is to have STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) in each school.

“This is going to make a difference [by] having students think about what they like and how they can get better at it,” Vickers said. “We think that this is the best investment that we’ve made as a school system.”

Vickers also discussed the district’s decision to improve their network infrastructure and wireless Internet rather than using the money to buy more technology for the classrooms.

“The funds that we had to use to get our infrastructure where it needs to be was the equivalent of buying over 6,000 devices,” Vickers said. “It doesn’t do any good to buy those devices if we don’t have the infrastructure for the students to use them.”

Another major project that the district has been using funding for is the construction of a new high school that should be completed by July of next year, Vickers said.

Coefield’s report focused on the importance of building a stable financial foundation.

“As a new school system, the thing that I am cognizant of, and that the board is very much aware of, is that the decisions that we make now will impact boards of education over the next 20-25 years,” Coefield said.

One way that the Pelham City Schools has planned to stay on track, Coefield said, is by sticking to a plan that is made up of nine commitments, one of which is that the district will not be mortgage poor. 

The other commitments include safety, curriculum, great educators, technology, extracurricular, community support, planning and facilities. 

Even with the district’s wariness of budgeting money, technology is a commitment that is well worth the investment, Coefield said.

“We have committed a budget of $1 million a year in technology,” Coefield said. “In that we have undergone major infrastructure repairs as well as update all of our teachers with new computers.”