Etowah County Schools look toward new infrastructure, enhanced SRO presence in new year

As schools prepare to bring in students for another year of learning and growth, systems across Etowah County are making preparations for both short-term and long-term changes.

For Etowah County Schools, these changes start with an influx of new infrastructure projects coming to completion during the 2022-2023 academic year.

"The biggest part of this is that we have a new Board of Education building being completed, which will allow us to be located downtown on Broad Street," said Dr. Alan Cosby, superintendent.

The new school board building has been in the works for some time, as the Etowah County Commission voted in 2020 on purchasing the former BB&T bank building as the system's new home.

Cosby said there are plans in place to begin the move to the building in the next few weeks; the hope is to be fully using the space by the time school starts back on Aug. 11.

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"We're very thankful for the cooperation we've had from the commission in relocating us from our current building, which we have been in since 1992," he said. "This will give us a presence on Broad Street and a better working relationship with all of the parties involved with our system."

This is not the only project the school system has in place. Work is continuing on the new Hokes Bluff Elementary School and on extensive remodeling at Whitesboro Elementary School.

"The Hokes Bluff Elementary building is a project we have had going for quite some time and we are hoping to be in there by the start of the year in 2023," Cosby said. "We've spent this summer doing a remodel on the cafeteria and we have new classrooms being built throughout the year."

He said Whitesboro Elementary is anticipated to be finished within the next couple of months, which he hopes will get students out of portable classrooms into a permanent location.

"We've had several classrooms be disrupted by this work, so we hope that completing it will give a sense of normalcy back," he said.

In addition to these remodels, Cosby said that all six high school gymnasiums have been undergoing remodels over the summer to include new air conditioning units. These projects are ongoing and are expected to be completed in the next several weeks.

"We were able to do this as part of the money we received from COVID-19 funding, and those are being worked on as we speak," he said. "It will give us a much more pleasant environment for our sporting events. It will make all of our gyms in the county air-conditioned."

Outside of infrastructure plans, Etowah County Schools also is working on enhancing protection measures within its facilities. Thanks to the system's continued partnership with the Etowah County Sheriff's Office and the County Commission, every school within the system will have access to a School Resource Officer.

Glencoe Elementary School recently received funding for a new SRO thanks to this partnership and a sponsorship from Tameron Honda in Gadsden.

"We've also had great cooperation with Rainbow City, Hokes Bluff, Southside and Altoona when it comes to partnering with us to put officers in those schools," Cosby added.

Cosby said recent events such as an officer-involved shooting at Walnut Park in Gadsden and national events over the last school year have created a "heightened sense" for security within schools, which calls for SROs to be "constantly reviewing their plans."

"We've been carrying out active shooter drills over the summer for all of our officers and schools," he said. "We want to make sure they have ample amounts of training that will allow us to provide the safest and most secure schools for our students as possible."

Cosby also cited some concerns over the supply chain for resources such as lunchroom foods. Issues with the chain last year and ongoing inflation rates caused many lunchroom favorites to be missing or harder to come by for school menus last year, and he believes the problem will not stop this year.

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"Some of the things have gotten better but we are still going to have menu changes throughout the year because of these supply chain issues," he said, "My hope is that those issues will get better as the year goes on."

Despite this, Cosby said the school's child nutrition program team will be prepared to make changes as they go to ensure that every child who eats a school lunch will get a quality meal.

"We ended last year with 8,300 students within our schools and we are hoping to add a few more to the roster as the year gets started," he said.

The system currently has 1,100 employees, with 516 of those being educators. Cosby said are no new principals in the system, but four new assistant principals have been hired.

Cosby said this summer was easier than previous years as far as new hires for the system.

"Over the last several years, the applicant pool we can usually pull from has not been as great as it once was. However, this summer we did not have as much trouble when it came to finding new people to fill our vacant roles," he said. "We want to recruit the best employees and teachers we can find and we've been able to do that."

Cosby said that he is excited to kick off the next school year as this will be his 30th year in education. "Year 30 is just as exciting as my very first year for me personally," he said.

He said that Etowah County Schools looks forward to parents entrusting them with their students for another year.

"Our goal is to provide them the best education and services we can while doing everything we can do to create good citizens every single day," he said, "It takes everyone to educate a child and we look forward to seeing all of the smiling faces that will return on August 11!"

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Back to school: Etowah County Schools make preparations