Celita Carmichael addresses the Shelby County Board of Education after being approved as the new instructional supervisor for the district. Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.
Celita Carmichael has spent the last nine years as principal of Mt Laurel Elementary but will soon be serving the school system in a new role. At the May 18 Shelby County Board of Education meeting, Carmichael was approved for a new position as instructional supervisor for Shelby County Schools.
During her time at MLES, Carmichael led the school to receive the 2021 National Blue Ribbon school status and the school recently received the legislative school performance award for being one of the top 25 schools in the state of Alabama.
“It's been an honor to have worked at Shelby County Schools for 21 years,” Carmichael said. “As I look around this room and see all the leaders and mentors in my life that have helped me along this path, I am forever grateful. I will rise up to the challenge and continue to help all these leaders make Shelby County great in the future.”
Shelby County Schools recognized mental health week with a Wear Green Day on May 18. During the meeting, Superintendent Lewis Brooks shared a video made by students at Shelby County High School about mental health.
“Through an awareness campaign and through this video, we hope everyone will see what we are doing is supporting some of the challenges our kids face,” Brooks said. “For all of us, we understand the challenges that our kids face and so having the opportunity to have support for them is just tremendous. We’re very proud of our Shelby Cares program that teaches our kids how to deal with some of these challenges.”
Brooks also recognized two First Year Teachers of the Year: Cason Young, a first grade teacher at Helena Elementary was chosen for elementary and Austin Dennis, a social studies teacher at Calera Middle School was chosen for secondary.
“We have two outstanding teachers who are first year teachers,” Brooks said. “We know the kind of support we have in place for our first year teachers and a big thank you to HR, instruction, and federal programs– all these entities come together to support our first year teachers.”
Lynn Carroll discussed summer school during the instruction report. She said the literacy act mandates 60 hours of reading instruction for second and third graders, and this will be the first year having math for fourth and fifth graders.
“Students will be invited based on their score on the diagnostic assessment,” Carroll said. “All of the summer school teachers are funded with Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds.”
Elementary summer school will have about 900 students who will be invited from across the district and take place June 5-9. Transportation and lunches will be provided. Middle schoolers can participate in a one week enrichment type program the first week of June. High school students will have two sessions for credit recovery and around 989 students will be invited to participate.
“Overall, a little under 2,000 students have been invited for K-12,” Carroll said. “It takes a village to be able to pull off summer school for that many students.”
The board also approved:
- Out of state field trips
- A change order for turf and track resurfacing at Heardmont Stadium. This will increase the cost by $94,070.00 which will be incurred by the school and they’ll work to pay it off over time.
- A bid for $49,263.72 for replacement windows for Shelby Elementary involving the changing out of 16 window units. This is the second phase of window change, the first was completed in 2021.
- A bid new electrical service equipment for Linda Nolan Learning Center, bus shop and Helena Elementary School
During the architect and construction report, Barbara Snyder gave an update on several ongoing projects throughout the district.
- Construction has begun at Chelsea Park Elementary (moving dirt and taking out sidewalks) on the eight classroom addition and new gym.
- At the fine arts center project at Oak Mountain High School, ceiling grid and tiles are being installed, along with HVAC and electrical panels.
- At Chelsea High School, a walk through was scheduled for May 19 upon completion of the turf and track project.
