By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Jefferson County Schools superintendent Dr. Phil Hammonds broached an unpopular but unavoidable topic recently to a group of community leaders in Kimberly: Proration.

Hammonds was the guest speaker Thursday at the North Jefferson County Strong Schools Strong Communities meeting at Bryan Elementary School.

Strong Schools Strong Communities is a coalition of local school, business and community leaders who are working to improve schools and communities.

Hammonds explained the dire proration situation and also offered glimpses of hope.

The State of Alabama’s revenues for education fell below the projected budget, forcing Gov. Bob Riley to declare proration last month. There is a 12.5-percent deficit, which will be decreased to 5.7 percent when “rainy day” funds are added to the budget, Hammonds said.

However, Hammonds did have some good news for the group. He said that no county school employees’ jobs are currently in jeopardy. Rather than cutting jobs, he said the system would simply not fill 200-250 current vacancies.

In addition, Hammonds said the school system reduced the number of new buses ordered from 30 to 23, has frozen the textbook account, and is asking schools to cut back on utility usage.

“Let’s do all those things that we know to do,” he said, adding that there are currently “no pink slips going to anybody.”

He also said the school system has “built up a fairly healthy reserve” to tap into, but added that he did not want to deplete the reserve, which is reportedly $80 million.

Hammonds also discussed the new Mortimer Jordan High School that is in the works. He said that now is a good time to be bidding out the school because construction costs are down due to the slumping economy. He also said companies that have never shown interest in school projects are now asking to bid on school construction.

Principals of all schools in the Mortimer Jordan High School feeder pattern gave updates on their schools.



Mortimer Jordan

Principal Barbara Snider said that Mortimer Jordan made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) this year, a requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act, as did every school in the feeder pattern. She also said the dropout rate is down and that more than 200 students are enrolled in advanced placement courses. Mortimer Jordan now has 35 clubs, most of which are service-oriented.



North Jefferson Middle

Principal Mary Beth Blankenship is excited that her school was chosen last year as a site to be reviewed for district accreditation and that it is now an Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI).

The Mortimer Jordan school zone is the only one in Jefferson County in which all schools are AMSTI sites.

There is a new program at the school called Good to Great that has shown success in helping students who are struggling with grades.



Bryan Elementary

Bryan Elementary has completed its second year of AMSTI training. It was the first K-5 school in the state to become an AMSTI site.

Principal Debra Campbell said that the school recently won the Attorney General’s Alabama Safe Schools 2008 Award of Excellence.



Warrior Elementary

Principal Mike Frugoli reported that the school organized a program to provide Christmas gifts for dozens of its underprivileged students. In addition, Warrior Elementary is getting a new air-conditioning system in its gym, which Frugoli said will make it one of the few air-conditioned gyms in the county.