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Imagine 1 county, 1 school system
Published Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Each morning, The Star-News staff meets to plan out what is now the finished product you hold in your hand.
It’s a time of creativity, idea sharing and sometimes, just flat out gossip. And no, we do not let Mrs. Grundy sit in on our meetings.
Tuesday’s topic of discussion began with this week’s Andalusia High School homecoming activities, which led to talk about football, which led to talk about schools in general, which ultimately led to a fantasy sports team comprised of athletes from every school in the county.
Of course, this got the sports guys going good, but the discussion ended with the question: Why does Covington County have three school systems?
For me the more important questions were “Do we really need three?” and “What would happen if we combined?”
I left the meeting and traveled to Florala to have “Tremendous Tuesday” lunch with my daughter, a fourth grader at W.S. Harlan Elementary School. For the majority of the drive, I tried to figure the logistics of such a move in my head.
I know Covington County is a large county, and it would prove difficult to structure such a single system, but I think it could be done. There are several such models around the state.
Right now, there are 18 schools in Covington County — three each in Andalusia, Opp, Straughn and Florala; one in Fleeta; two in both Pleasant Home and Red Level; and one private Christian school.
Next year, that configuration changes when Florala City Middle School closes and Red Level splits into an elementary school, middle school and high school.
So basically, each of those schools — with the exception of the private school — has one principal and one assistant principal, in addition to its teaching and support staff. That’s a lot of people to employ, and a lot of duplication in administrative employees, i.e., three superintendents and central office staff.
Let me be clear — this line of thinking is no reflection whatsoever upon the performance or personnel in any of the three school systems. I’m just saying making one county school system is an interesting point to ponder — especially with the increasing amount of proration facing the education system statewide.
On the flip side, many will argue that the three-school-systems method is the way it’s always been done and is the way it should continue to be done.
As for the logistics of converging the systems in to one huge system, I have no idea how to make it work. I would argue we’d need at least three elementary schools, three middle schools and one humongous high school — which according to the sports guys in the office would make us a Class 6A powerhouse in football. That idea in itself was enough to make them go for the proposal.
Now, let me re-emphasize I’m just talking off the top of my head. But I bet you’re wondering about it now, too.
Comments
Posted by winkie (anonymous) on October 14, 2009 at 9:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
County Schools should be kept seperate from City Schools. ( I think ), but I will agree with you. Our Schools do need to down size and come together. Another thing that needs REFORM is the way we Vote in Covington County. The City folk's can vote for the County Offical's, but the County folk's can't vote for City Offical's. I wonder if City/County School Tax are combined in one fund or do they keep them in seperate fund's? Just was wondering.
What is wrong with this picture?
Posted by ParleyP (anonymous) on October 14, 2009 at 8:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
COVINGTON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL !!!! If we could come together and make Florala the CC Elementary School, Opp the CC Middle School and Andalusia the CC High School and abolish all other schools including CITY SCHOOLS, the only problem would be the logistics of getting the kids to school. But if you think about it, it's only 30 mins to anywhere in Covington County. So if you compare that to a large city commute its no different. I say let the debate begin... We could save money and have one heck of a School System, not to mention Sports and extracirricula activities. I think money is doled out based on attendance right...so we could build a new SCHOOL in the center of the COUNTY...I am sure land owners would give the land to do this like Lockhart Lumber Company gave land, lumber and labor to build the school in Lockhart which the County took over..
Let's put a petition to the County Commision and get a fesability survey done on how folks feel. Then we can work out the logistics. The old schools could become local library/training sites for folks looking for jobs..just a thought...chime in and tell us what you think...
Covington County WILD-BOB-DOGS wooooo whooo !!!!
Posted by alleycat145 (anonymous) on October 14, 2009 at 8:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ok that is just about the dumbest idea I have ever heard
Posted by ParleyP (anonymous) on October 15, 2009 at 9:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, I think the dumbest idea I have ever heard is electing a person born in KENYA, as President of the US and leader of the free world but I digress..... Do you know how many kids attend each of our High Schools? Florala reports 512 students from K-12, Struaghn reports 1,159 K-12, Pleasant Home reports 529, Red Level reports 654 and Fleeta reports 223, for a total of 3,077 student attending K-12 in the Covington County School System. Now lets add Andalusia City reports 1,675 and Opp City reports 1,401 for a GRAND TOTAL of 6,153 students K-12 in Covington County. Total Teachers in Covington County are 269 thats about 1 teacher for each 22 students...pretty good huh. If all were combined Covington County would most likely be the largest school in the State of Alabama.....Sounds good to me...
Posted by WAtidefan (anonymous) on October 16, 2009 at 7:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ParleyP: you are correct about electing Obama. I'm not sure where he was born but he has no business being president.
Now to the topic of this thread: I'm not sure having just three schools is workable, but certainly there could be one system. Having just one superintendent with an assistant could easily be done. That alone would save money. I taught in a district that is 360+ square miles (about 1/3 the size of CC) but had over 65,000 students. This district now has 88,000 students with one superintendent. So, it seems to me that would CC could have just one district.
Posted by starburst (anonymous) on October 27, 2009 at 7:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's absurd to have so much duplication in multiple systems. Consolidation works well in so many other places; no reason it couldn't work here. We can make better use of tax money in one combined system.
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