4 Shelby superintendents share "State of the Schools" for 2018

Career education and social and emotional skills were two major talking points for the superintendents of Shelby County's four school systems at a "State of the Schools" panel on July 25.

The Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce's monthly luncheon hosted Shelby County Schools Superintendent Randy Fuller, Hoover City Schools Superintendent Kathy Murphy, Alabaster City Schools Superintendent Wayne Vickers and Pelham City Schools Superintendent Scott Coefield, who each gave a status update on their school system and answered questions provided by the chamber.

In Alabaster, Vickers noted the new Thompson High School and the technological advances in the building, as well as graduation rates rising to 96 percent and a 950 percent increase in the number of National Board Certified teachers in the system. He also mentioned that the school system made the top 25 in U.S. News and World Report's ranking of schools in the state.

Murphy's update on Hoover schools centered on the Riverchase Career Connection Center, which will come online in August 2019. She said skilled trades such as culinary arts, health sciences, construction HVAC and electrical work and information technology need more emphasis as a viable path for students to successful adult lives.

"We want to make certain we are focused on all students," Murphy said, not just those on the college path. She also noted that Hoover's rezoning takes effect this school year.

Coefield said Pelham just completed its second rezoning of the elementary schools in the young school system's history, and he mentioned the diversity in Pelham's schools across race and socioeconomic status. Coefield said Pelham just approved additional raises for teachers on top of state-mandated raises, and the school system has seen rising standardized test and AP scores.

Pelham is starting a new individual accountability program for students, Coefield said, and they established the Pelham City Schools Foundation recently.

Fuller, who is preparing to retire, mentioned a variety of programs in Shelby County Schools for student success, including teacher coaching and frequent assessments, mental health professionals working throughout the system, leadership and accountability programs targeted for different grades and roughly $2 million put toward secure school entrances over the past five years, as well as an estimated $500,000 to be spent on school resource officers this year.

After talking past the three-minute time limit set on the panel, Fuller joked, "When you're going to retire, you can say about whatever you want to."

All four superintendents were asked to define success at different grade levels. While academic proficiency and college or career readiness were mentioned, they spent more time focusing on emotional wellbeing and "soft skills" such as leadership, communication and accountability. Coefield mentioned the importance of getting students engaged in electives or extracurriculars during the difficult middle school years, while Murphy said the school system has a responsibility to support students with mental health issues.

"I hope that we're helping instill being good human beings," Murphy said.

This extended to skills like how to talk, act and dress for job interviews.

Vickers said there is a gap between the careers students are being educated for and the jobs available in the workforce nationwide, leaving a number of skilled jobs unfilled. Working on training for those career paths, both in middle and high school programs, is an important part of Alabaster's work, but Vickers also said they have to change mindsets of parents and students that college is the only successful post-high school option.

Around 1,500 Alabaster students have taken at least one career education class, and Vickers said the school has a responsibility to help students plan where they're going. 

"That diploma that we hand to our students has to mean something," Vickers said.

In Shelby County Schools, Fuller said that preparation looks like the programs that help freshmen prepare and present an outline of their plan for high school, while seniors have to prepare a career plan.

"We feel like that is the next phase of preparation of our students with the workforce," Fuller said.

Murphy was asked to talk more specifically on safety, as the Hoover system was recently named by Niche as the safest school district in Alabama and the fifth safest in the U.S. She noted upgrades to the camera and monitoring systems, the staff of interventionists, threat assessment training and the hire of two new high school SROs, but Murphy also said there's more work to be done to avoid violent incidents that have happened in other school districts.

The superintendents were asked about their needs, aside from funding, in the school systems. Vickers and Murphy both said said emotional health and coping skills were a critical need, as Murphy said schools are a "microcosm" of issues in their surrounding society. 

Coefield added that advanced math and science teachers, as well as special education instructors, were in short supply, and Pelham's teachers are facing additional state and federal paperwork along with understanding a new generation of students.

Fuller said a need he saw in Shelby County was that people want to move to the area, but around 50 percent of the student population at 11 schools qualified for free and reduced lunches due to family income. Support for those families translates to better academic success for students.

The chamber's last question was how its members could support the school system. The superintendents said better connections between schools and local businesses to offer job opportunities, internships and shadowing would be a positive, as well as members supporting work that benefits children's mental health.

Fuller said many people have expressed their support for the work of the four school systems in the county, but those words must be paired with actions.

"Say it, own it, fix it," Fuller said.