Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Autauga County Board of Education, ACBOE, held their last summer meeting before school starts next month. The board proudly welcomed a few new athletic directors to the Autauga County Schools, ACS team.
Stephen Matthews has been hired as the Marbury Middle School Athletic Director. During the meeting, Matthews introduced himself, and thanked the board as well as Superintendent of Autauga County Schools, Lymen Woodfin, for the opportunity.
Matthews stated that he is excited about this new position and wants to build a solid foundation with three solid pillars. The pillars are integrity, service before self and excellence in everything we do. He stated that success off the field is just as important.
The second new athletic director welcomed to the role was Thomas Sowell. He has been within ACS and at Marbury High School for the last 10 years. He has accepted the role as the new athletic director for Marbury High School.
“I’m very humbled to be here. Thank you to the board and Marbury High School (MHS). I love MHS, I’ve been there over a decade now and that place means the world to me. I feel like I’ve grown up as I’ve coached there and into the person that I am. I look forward to being more for MHS,” Sowell said.
The last to be recognized was Blake Boren, the new Prattville High School Athletic Director. Boren stated that his family is the main reason they have come back to the area.
“For the first time in my career, I get to work in a community that I call home. That is a big part of our life. I’ve always found myself driving and now we get the opportunity to lay roots here and where we choose to educate our children. I’ve seen from the outside looking in what a great school system this is and I’m glad to be here and be a part of it,” Boren said.
Lesley Poe, Chief School Financial Officer for ACS, went over the bank and financial statements. June is the 9th month of the fiscal year, where she stated they are looking at the home stretch and at about 75% of the budget.
Several supplemental appropriations that the legislature gave ACS will come into the ACS budget between June and September, Poe confirmed. These funds are meant to be spent within the remaining fiscal year, where Poe confirmed that they roll over into the next fiscal year.
ACBOE also competed the superintendent evaluation where Woodfin scored a 3.85 out of 5. Board Chairman Billy Hollon stated that is extremely impressive for a first-year superintendent.
The board scored Woodfin based on qualifications including, meets expectations, exceeds expectations and administrative excellence. Hollon stated that Woodfin did not have any level twos for any of the components of the examination. Level two means needs improvement, and the lowest Woodfin scored was meets expectations.
Hollon stated in the evaluation it was noted that Woodfin is a good steward with the dollars within the district in short- and long-term decision making. Communication and student discipline were other strengths of Woodfin pointed out by the ACBOE.
“Personally, when we watch the job, we know who’s in charge. There needs to be one voice in who represents our school system, our administrators, teachers and students. I think everyone in Autauga County knows that is Mr. Woodfin,” Hollon said.
The areas scored the lowest with a 3.2, are still above meeting expectations. Those components were teacher retention, improvement and curriculum based on test scores.
“I appreciate the honest feedback, and I think that’s the only way we can move forward. I appreciate the transparency. Thank you for the opportunity to serve and I look forward to serving again this year. I want to thank my staff, the things we do well are because of our staff. They keep me grounded every day and on schedule. Everybody works together. This is an honor of a lifetime and we’re going to continue to try and make things happen,” Woodfin said.
During the superintendent report, Woodfin confirmed that the summer feeding program has served over 60,000 meals to 12,000 children this year. Woodfin stated that the student meal program will continue in the upcoming year.
Woodfin thanked all the volunteers and staff for bringing the program to a successful fruition.
The new Prattville Kindergarten School is on track for completion. Woodfin confirmed that the final construction meeting will be held in August where he hopes to receive the punch list at that meeting.
Lastly, Woodfin confirmed that as of last Friday, 170 students have been accepted and enrolled in the new Virtual School Academy within the two-week window of enrollment being open.
Applications are still being accepted, as 250 students will guarantee continued state funding for this program.
