Photo courtesy of Cindy Warner
Brandon Byars (left) and Cynthia Monroe (right) were both approved for assistant principal positions during the Feb. 18 SCBOE meeting
Two personnel actions were approved for new assistant principals during the Feb. 18 Shelby County Board of Education meeting. Brandon Byars will be the new assistant principal of Helena Intermediate School and Cynthia Monroe will be the new assistant principal at Oak Mountain Elementary School.
Byars has served as a physical education teacher for Shelby County Schools for 11 years and Arab City Schools for three years. Monroe has over 16 years of experience as an educator. She taught at Chalkville Elementary School for 11 years and then at Calera Intermediate School for three years before becoming a district reading coach.
Eight Shelby County teachers were recognized for receiving their National Board Certification.
Dr. Angela Walker, professional development coordinator of instruction presented for Shelby County Schools recognized Margaret Blankenship, Elizabeth Howard, Amanda Gallups, Crystal Lawrence, Kylie Mitchell, Holly Partridge, Deborah Shipman and Rita Parker.
Superintendent Lewis Brooks read a certificate of achievement from the Alabama Department of Education that certified Shelby County Schools Transportation Department has obtained a goal of excellence of school bus safety inspection in 2020.
“We had zero deficiencies in our transportation department and I want to give credit to Rick Bynes,” Brooks said. “We are proud of the work they do to get our kids to and from school safely.”
Brooks also congratulated Mt Laurel Elementary School after the school was recognized by the Legislative School Performance Recognition Program. The program was created by the Department of Education to reward public schools that demonstrate high performance by being ranked in the top 25 percent of public schools or demonstrate exemplary progress by improving the overall annual ranking of the school by at least one letter grade. The school will receive $5,000 for the achievement.
Assistant Superintendent of Finance John Gwin went over the January 2021 financial statements. The general fund balance hit a peak balance of $57,600,369.38, which is over a three month reserve.
Gwin also said that they recently received news from the State Department of Education that schools will be getting a new allocation of our CARES Act funds. The allocation for Shelby County is $7,109,036.
“The state will send down applications to show what our system plans for the allocation of those resources are,” Gwin said. “We will huddle with all departments and come up with a plan for that.”
A bid was approved for an ultra terrain vehicle for Chelsea High School to Hall's Motorsports in the amount of $12,196.99. It will be used to haul band equipment from the band room to the football field. The funds were provided by the City of Chelsea grant for this purchase.
Other approvals by the school board include:
- An emergency declaration for a recent water leak at Montevallo Elementary School that required immediate attention.
- Three bid renewals were approved for another year including: fire extinguishers and services from Safe Guard Corporation; paint from Sherwin Williams; and ceiling tile products from Interior Distributors of Alabama.
- Bid approval for partial re-roofing of various Shelby County schools (Chelsea, Oak Mountain and Montevallo) to Standard Roofing of Montgomery
- Cost change order for additions and alterations to Vincent Middle/High School gymnasium
- Cost change order for the weight room project at Vincent Middle/High School
Randy Reeves, Facilities and Maintenance Coordinator, gave an update on current projects:
- The Vincent Middle/High School gym renovation is complete and the gym was used in January.
- The multi-purpose building at Vincent is still under construction.
- The CTEC project of restrooms/changing rooms, enhanced ventilation in cosmetology and welding departments, handicap ramp, canopy project should be completed in the 90 days.
The next SCBOE meeting will be held on March 18 at the central office in Columbiana.
