6 minute read
Education on the Rise
Elmore County Public School system expands on several fronts
STORY & PHOTO BY DANIEL DYE
Growth and expansion have been primary topics of discussion and action in the Elmore County Public School System the past few years.
For starters, the school system saw its number of enrolled students in the system’s 15 schools increase by 183 students to 11,205 for the 2019-20 school year. While the number of students continues to increase, the system has a philosophy that every child is empowered and every child succeeds.
The Elmore County Board of Education recognizes that no one philosophy of education can express the total sentiments or beliefs of all teaching personnel. Generally, education is perceived as a process of growth and includes the mental, moral, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the individual.
Each student is seen as a unique person who possesses certain potential, needs, aspirations and interests. As each student is different, the purpose of education is to provide appropriate experiences in school, which develop maximum achievement so each individual will become a useful and productive member of society.
Taking the approach of meeting individual students where they are in their education and tailoring educational goals has proven to be effective as reported on the State of Alabama annual educational report card.
The report card is designed so parents, educators, stakeholders and others can easily understand how their schools are doing, just as report cards help parents understand how their children are doing.
The goals of the report card are to provide a starting point, with concise information showing how a school is doing, and to make sure that schools are accountable for explaining that to their communities.
Comparing the scores on the 100-point scale from the 2018-19 school year to the 2019-20 school year, Elmore County improved by six points to an 88 and is two points away from an A. In comparison, the State of Alabama improved by four points to an 84 and remained at a B.
“It is like moving a huge ship,” Elmore County Schools superintendent Richard Dennis said. “There are a lot of moving parts and it starts with the district and the principals.”
According to Dennis, what the county’s school system found as it dug into student achievement data were pockets of students who were growing academically and pockets of students who were not growing aca
demically.
“We gave principals as much data as we possibly could,” Dennis said. “When you start drilling down, there is a group at the top that carries the load. We drilled down and can target the groups that need the academic help.”
Dennis said the tailored academic instruction along with caring teachers in the classroom are some of the key reasons for the system’s improvements.
“The last three years we’ve gone up from an 80 to an 82 and now an 88,” he said. “We jumped six points this past year, which is positive. Are we satisfied? No. We want an A.”
He said he continually challenges the school’s principals to treat education like most Alabamians treat football in the state. You’ll soon find what Dennis is getting at if you’re a newcomer to the Southeast. “What that means is on a high school football team nobody gets cut,” he said. “Even if they are on the sideline not starting, they are out there. We do not cut anybody. That’s the way we want to treat education.”
While posting positive gains on state-mandated testing is a plus, Dennis wants parents and stakeholders to understand the bigger picture.
“The way I look at assessments is you don’t work for the test,” he said. “The test score is a byproduct of what we are attempting to achieve. We need all our students to be sound in reading, communicate effectively and have a good foundation in math and science. They have to have strong fundamentals.”
One area where the school system is meeting the needs of its students is via the Elmore County Technical Center. The center was established in the mid-’70s during a time when tech schools leaned heavily toward teaching students a vocation.
This is not the case today. The school, which is open to students in 10th through 12th grades, focuses on a variety of highly skilled programs.
Subjects offered at the tech center include automotive, aviation, computer, construction, electrical, hospitality and tourism, HVAC, medical sciences, pluming and pipefitting, pre-engineering, public safety and welding.
In 2014, there were eight programs and around 350 students attending the school. Today, around 800 students participate in 12 programs.
“There are several factors for our growth at the technical center,”
Students at Elmore County Technical Center work on a variety of different welding projects
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1 RENDERED FRONT VIEW McKee and Associates' renderings of additions and renovations at Elmore County Technical Center
Dennis said. “The state of Alabama has put more of an emphasis on technology education. Also, we closed some programs and added new programs based on labor data, and we constantly promote the programs to students, parents and the public.”
Additionally, the tech school offers dual-enrollment programs with Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City. Students have the ability to take several different college freshman-level academic courses at a reduced cost.
With growth comes the need for additional space. The school board approved $7.5 million in June to fund the construction of an additional building and to renovate existing buildings at the tech school.
“We have spent a lot of time planning for this one,” Dennis said. “It is a major project for us and it is something we have to do. Part of the plan here is to help us expand the programs we have now and offer new programs.”
The new building will be located along the back of the campus and house welding, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, cabinet making, aviation, public safety and medical programs.
As of July 2020, Dennis said it is
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too early know exactly when the project will break ground, but he expects it to be open to students no later than the start of the 2021-22 school. 2 RENDERED REAR VIEW
The school system also has its eyes on building a school in the Redland community. While plans have not been finalized, Dennis and the school board have discussed building a middle school on a 50.66-acre plot of land located on Jackson Road.
“That’s actually been discussed, a middle school for Redland,” Dennis said. “This is a huge asset for us.”
Dennis said if a middle school were to be built on the property it would open no earlier than the 2021- 22 school year.
Other construction projects the school system approved during the 2019-20 school year include an updated entrance at Elmore County High School; a new band room at Stanhope Elmore High School; improvements to the baseball and softball facilities at Holtville High School and more.
Digital learning is another area where the school system has increased its footprint.
Funding for improvements is expected to come from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Alabama received $1.8 billion in CARES funds from the federal government. Around $300 million was marked for expenses related to technology and infrastructure for remote instruction and distance learning.
If the state approves the school system’s budget request, Dennis said its digital infrastructure and nearly every computer the school system owns would be fairly new.
“If we get everything on our list, all of our technology would be less than three years old,” he said. “That is for students and personnel, too.”
He said current infrastructure in many schools in Elmore County is not equipped to handle the amount of technology he expects will be integrated in the near future.
“We have to go back to schools and update the infrastructure,” he said. “Rewiring of Cat 5 (ethernet cable) at all high schools. We really need to be prepared for technology at a high level of connectivity.”
The school system recently purchased enough Chromebooks so the school system’s 11,000-plus students have access to the school’s virtual learning program from school and home.
