Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle
LaTasha McMillan
Several administration positions were approved during the June 6 meeting of the Shelby County Board of Education
- Chris Myles was named as the new Student Services Supervisor. Myles has over 14 years of experience in public education and has served as the principal at Calera High School since 2020.
- Holly Laney was named as the new principal of Helena Elementary School. She has most recently served as the Director of Special Education and Student Services for Tarrant City Schools. Before this role, she worked in Shelby County for 17 years, the most recent being the Assistant Principal at Calera Intermediate School for four years.
- Tyler Lemen was named as the new assistant principal at Helena High School. He most recently served as the Assistant Principal at Moody High School and previously served as Assistant Principal at Montevallo Elementary School during the 2022-23 school year.
- Latasha McMillan as the new principal of Helena Middle School. She has most recently served as an assistant principal at Chelsea High School.
McMillan said that she began her journey into teaching 20 years ago from a phone call from Brooks and recently had him offer her first job as a principal and thanked him for the opportunity.
“Thank you for two decades of support, leadership and friendship,” McMillan said. “It has been an honor to witness you model excellence, humility and integrity through your leadership. To the Shelby County Board of Education, thank you for this opportunity and for your investment in the children of Shelby County as you and Dr. Brooks lead us to empowering and inspiring our students to excellence.”
She also thanked the Chelsea administration for challenging, encouraging and embracing her for the past six years and said she is thankful to return to the Helena community where she first began her administrative career.
Superintendent Lewis Brooks shared that around 1,600 Shelby County School students are taking part in summer school, which is less than one percent of the student body.
866 students in K-5 are taking part in a literacy and math camps for nine days, 213 middle school students doing virtual courses and 454 high school students are working on credit recovery. Also, 106 students taking the dual enrollment health class from the University of Montevallo.
“Kudos to our instructional team and all the teachers and leaders who are at our various schools supporting our students this summer,” Brooks said.
Middle and high school coaches recently participated in two-day training of Capturing Kids' Hearts, which focused on building positive culture through relationships, establishing trust, creating accountability and focusing on academic performance.
Brooks said the attendees went back to their schools asking their principals if they could move forward with training at their schools.
“They all were so energetic and supportive and excited about the things that they learned,” he said.
The Alabama Association of School Resource Several was currently underway and Brooks reported that Jennifer Cofer, who serves as the Student Services Supervisor for Shelby County Schools received the TAASRO school safety partnership award and that the Calera Police Department won the TAASRO unit of the year award.
“It’s a testament to how we focus on school safety and I think that really speaks to the partnership we have in the community and with our law enforcement partners and how safety is so critical in our schools,” Brooks said.
During the meeting, the board approved the following actions:
- Approval for a bid to Shelby Company for $729,000, for athletic renovations at the former fine arts space at Oak Mountain High School. This will include continued improvements on old spaces and renovations of existing dressing room spaces.
- An increase in lunch meal prices for students and all meals for non-students. The increase will be 25 cents. Elementary and intermediate lunches will increase from $2.50 to $2.75 and middle and high school lunches will increase from $2.75 to $3. Visitor meals will be $4 for breakfast and $5 for lunch.
- A seal coat and restriping bid for projects at several schools, including the track at Chelsea Middle School, to Massey Asphalt Paving for $111,981.13. $81,000 of the funds came through a grant program from Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth’s office.
- Out of state field trips
- A student insurance provider for the 2024-25 school year
- Child Nutrition Program bids for beverages, ice cream and bread
