Residents plead with Morgan school board not to close Sparkman Elementary

Sep. 4—Voices were raised and tears were shed last week as residents with ties to Sparkman Elementary pleaded with the Morgan County school board not to close the school.

Increasing per-student operating costs and declining enrollment over the past two decades have led the board this year to discuss the school's future.

Eleven people, including parents and educators, were each given three minutes to address the school board Thursday evening about Sparkman Elementary.

Tensions in the room quickly became obvious.

One of those in attendance, Logan Smith, was unhappy with the time limit.

"This meeting, you literally stated you would be here until 1 a.m. if needed and then you said, 'I'm going to set a timer for three minutes,'" Smith told school board Chairman Billy Rhodes. "So you lied. That's ridiculous, all the lies."

Rhodes replied that he would be willing to speak with her as late as she wants.

"I don't lie, ma'am, and I'll be up here until 8 a.m., if you want me to, speaking one-on-one with you," Rhodes said.

Rhonda Corda also criticized Rhodes, saying he told parents they could not speak on the issue at a school board work session last month.

"Ma'am, I've been in education for a long time and a lot of things you say are just totally incorrect," Rhodes said. "Work sessions are for the board, they're not for the public."

Superintendent Robert Elliott Jr. opened the meeting by explaining the cost per student at Sparkman Elementary is $10,000 higher than at other schools in the district. He said this year the district will spend about $2.1 million in total operating costs for the school.

"That's $20,000 per student (at Sparkman)," Elliott said. "As a county, we're averaging $12,000 per student."

According to schools Chief Financial Officer Brian Bishop, the district would save $448,641 in local funds per year if Sparkman were to close. Elliott said that sum would go into the district's general fund.

Sparkman Principal Layne Dillard said "if this was a money argument," those savings are not a compelling justification.

"We have a nice general fund right now," Dillard told the board. "To say we're going to close and the only thing the district is going to save will be $448,000, it does not seem like much money."

The school is located off Alabama 36, about 5 miles east of downtown Hartselle.

In 2020, the district moved the school's seventh and eighth grades and the self-contained special education program to Cotaco School, which decreased Sparkman's enrollment from 203 to 105. Enrollment now stands at 101 students.

Dillard told the crowded room she did not understand why the current enrollment was an issue. She said then-Superintendent Bill Hopkins Jr. and the school board told her in 2020 they were fine with operating the school with 105 students.

"These were the words: 'Yes, we are fine with functioning a small elementary school on one side of the school and we're going to put something on the other side of the school like a pre-K or career tech,'" Dillard said.

School board Vice Chairman John Holley said many in the Sparkman community supported the district's move to take seventh and eighth grades out of the school in 2020.

"Now they want them back," Holley said.

Jordan Purser, whose son is a fifth grade student at Sparkman, told the board the school was crucial in helping her son academically.

"My son was going into third grade, and he couldn't read but three letters," Purser said. "He came to Sparkman, and now two years later, he's in gifted classes and makes straight A's."

As Joan Derryberry told the story of enrolling her niece at Sparkman, some of those in attendance sobbed.

"This little girl went through five foster homes, and she was almost 6 years old," Derryberry said. "She knows these teachers love her. To go through five foster homes and learn that somebody loves her ... that's what this school is about."

Retired Sparkman Principal Ronnie Moore suggested the board redraw school district lines to increase enrollment.

"It seems like the answer is to bring in more students," Moore said. "I think we could move the northern boundary all the way to (Alabama) 67 and bring students in."

Gina White, a retired Morgan County educator who taught for 26 years at Sparkman, said the board has been promising to redraw district lines for the past 20 years.

"No one has redrawn anything to make any kind of a difference," White said.

Holley said there were several people living in the Sparkman school zone now who send their children to other schools in the county.

"It disappoints me we have so many people that are in the existing zones that are not sending their children to (Sparkman), and that includes employees that are teaching at that school," Holley said.

Holley told the crowd at the end of the meeting he would be interested in looking at moving the school-zone lines because it would also relieve overcrowding at other schools.

Elliott assured the crowd at the central office there are no definite plans to close Sparkman Elementary. He said if it were to close, students would be sent to Falkville, Priceville or Cotaco schools and Sparkman's employees would follow them there.

"Those employees are going to have a job," Elliott said. "We do have a (teacher) shortage, so we're going to find a place for everybody to work."

Elliott said if the school closes, the district would still maintain Sparkman's facilities and continue using the building to store technology equipment.

— wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.