Shelby County Schools continue growth despite loss of Alabaster, Pelham, superintendent says
Shelby County Schools Superintendent Randy Fuller said the system is continuing to grow despite the fact that two of it biggest cities left in recent years to form their own school systems.
During a keynote address at the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon on Aug. 6, Fuller said the Shelby County School District will have about 20,200 students this year and remains one of the fastest-growing systems in the state of Alabama.
Last year, Pelham negotiated a separation agreement with the Shelby County School District to create its own city school system. Alabaster split off from Shelby County to form a city school system in 2013.
“Even though we lost 30 percent of our population when two communities pulled out, we remain the seventh-largest school system in Alabama,” Fuller told luncheon attendees at Columbiana United Methodist Church.
The Shelby County School District has 150 new teachers joining the system this year, Fuller said. Shelby County Schools have become a destination of choice for parents desiring a top-quality education for their children due to a combination of great teachers and the support of business and political leaders across Shelby County, he added.
“What we do in our schools that make them successful is the partnerships we have created with the community, PTO leaders, business leaders like this chamber and our government leaders,” Fuller said. “We all work collaboratively, unlike some areas where you see governments and school systems butting heads. We have taken a new unified approach in Shelby County about what we do.”
April Stone, executive director of the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce, said she was excited to hear of the progress taking place in Shelby County Schools.
“To me it’s crucial that the business community and the school system work together,” Stone said. “That’s where we get our future workforce. The more involvement we have with the school system, the better off our workforce will be. It’s a win-win.”
Fuller said with a school system like Shelby County that focuses on preparing students for future success in college and beyond, great things happen. That is highlighted in its system tagline, “Prepared for the Journey.”
“My message to you today is that your kids, once they leave Shelby County Schools, will be prepared for the future,” the superintendent said. “People around the state recommend Shelby County Schools. We get a lot of acknowledgement for what we do in Shelby County. It is recognition of what you do as leaders that Shelby County is viewed the same way.”
Over the last five years, Shelby County schools have seen capital improvements of $80 million, Fuller said. That came from renewal of existing property taxes in Shelby County.
“We were able to restructure some of our bonds and go in and do these improvements,” Fuller said
That has enabled the system to build a new Calera Middle School, Helena High School and Forest Oaks Elementary School in Chelsea. Fuller said the system has also made improvements to Montevallo High School as well as done renovations at Montevallo Middle, Helena Middle and others.
One of the most successful programs Shelby County Schools has implemented is an initiative called Learning Support, which began two years ago, Fuller said.
“We bring all the community agencies together such as United Way and put them in a toolkit for our counselors so that anytime our students need something they can contact these folks in our learning Support to help our students and their parent,” he said. “That has been one of the most positive things we’ve done the last few years.”