Albertville School Board Holds Regular Meeting, Celebrates AKPK

ALBERTVILLE - The Albertville Board of Education opened its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 20 with some special guests. 

A group of students from Albertville Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten led the packed room in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. 

“AKPK has such a sweet culture. You can’t help but to smile when you’re there,” said Albertville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Boyd K. English. “Thank you for letting us love on, nurture and support your children.”

September’s school spotlight has been on AKPK. Principal Mona Sheets decorated the boardroom with student artwork and presented a slideshow at the meeting sharing a day in the life of a kindergarten student at AKPK. She recognized the teachers who came out and shared her excitement over being able to welcome parents back in the school. 

Dozens of AKPK teachers turned out for the meeting as well to share some facts about the school and support the children and administration. Currently, there are 24 kindergarten classes totaling 468 students at AKPK and seven Pre-K classes totaling 124 students. Each week, students have music, counseling and library classes.

“If you want to brighten up your day, come see the kids at AKPK,” said AKPK Assistant Principal Steven Hudgins. “I want to open up that invitation to parents and to the board members. I promise they will brighten your day.” 

Varsity Boys Basketball Head Coach Dylan Bunnell resigned as a teacher from Albertville High School but was placed on an independent contract to remain as the Aggies’ head basketball coach. 

“While I am thankful for my time spent as a classroom teacher at Albertville High School, I am equally excited that I have been presented with an opportunity to make basketball an even bigger part of my life,” Bunnell wrote in a letter. “I greatly appreciate Dr. (Boyd) English, Mr. (Jordan) Phillips and Mr. (Matt) Lambert for working to allow me to spend more of my time focused on the things I am most passionate about, including the development of the Albertville Aggies basketball program.” 

The Aggies will tip off their season on Nov. 8 against Gadsden City. 

Dr. English acknowledged an agreement with the Exceptional Aggie Café to provide transitional experiences for Albertville City Schools’ special needs students, which was effective immediately. The café will be housed at the LifePoint Coffee House at 700 Motley Street in Albertville. 

Dr. English thanked the special education staff on hand for their work. The Exceptional Aggie Café will teach students life skills they need to be able to take care of themselves. The grand opening will be held Oct. 18 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. 

Also, during the meeting, the board:

  • Approved the Aug. 16, Aug. 30 and Sept. 2 minutes.

Approved the following personnel items:

  • Retirements/Resignations
    • Carrie Dixon, resigning as elementary teacher at Albertville Elementary School, effective Oct. 14.
    • Dylan Bunnell, resigning as secondary teacher at Albertville High School, effective Sept. 16, 2022. 
  • Supplement Resignations
    • Carrie Dixon, resigning from leadership team at AES, effective Oct. 14. 
    • Dylan Bunnell, resigning as head varsity boys basketball coach at AHS, effective Sept. 16. 
  • Transfers
    • Carin Johnson, transferring from 10-month assistant principal at Albertville Middle School to 12-month instructional coach system-wide (replacing Kelly Bonds), effective Oct. 1. 
  • Employments
    • Trenten Jordan, 12-month data and information systems administrator at the Central Office (replacing Joshua Roper), effective Sept. 21. 
    • Ramona Weeks, agriscience teacher at AMS (replacing Jared Beasley and pending certification), effective Sept. 26. 
    • Tanner Mayo, agriscience teacher at AHS (replacing Anastasia Beasley and pending certification), effective Sept. 21. 
  • Supplement Assignments
    • Brandi Randall, yearbook at Albertville Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten with an additional $250 paid by AKPK (replacing Ellen Sims), effective Sept. 21. 
  • Independent Contract
    • Dylan Bunnell, independent contract to provide services as the head varsity boys basketball coach at AHS, to be paid and not to exceed $12,250 by the Board of Education, not to exceed 28 hours per week, effective Oct. 21, 2022 – March 1, 2023. 
    • Mary Bates, independent contract to provide private lessons during class time in the AHS band room, to be paid and not to exceed $2,000 from AHS band funds, effective Sept. 21, 2022 – May 23, 2023. 
    • Karen Fancher, independent contract to provide services as an accompanist for AHS show choir/band concerts, to be paid and not to exceed $2,500 from AHS choir funds, effective Nov. 1, 2022 – May 31, 2022. 
  • Other
    • Spring Charles, elective virtual teacher, effective Sept. 21, 2022 – May 31, 2023. 
    • Darla Patrick Day, English virtual teacher, effective Sept. 21, 2022 – May 31, 2023. 
    • Taylor Quinlan, science virtual teacher, effective Sept. 21, 2022 – May 31, 2023. 
    • Mark Williams, math virtual teacher, effective Sept. 21, 2022 – May 31, 2023.
    • Pamela Ancelet, history virtual teacher, effective Sept. 21, 2022 – May 31, 2023. 
  • Approved the financials and reconciliations for August 2022. In August, the district revenues were $7,912,216.39, and expenditures were $5,640,526.47. 
  • Approved the agreement with Marshall Technical School for the 2022-2023 school year. 
  • Approved the reallocation of PSCA funds from the AHS New Academy of Career and Technical Education in the amount of $161,290 to the AHS band renovation. 
  • Approved the FY 2023 five-year capital plan. 
  • Approved the out of state field trip for the AHS FFA group to travel to Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 26-30 for the National FFA Convention. 
  • Approved the following professional contracts. All contracts are effective from Oct. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023. 
    • Agreement between ACS and Milestones Behavior Group, Inc., to provide Behavior Analytic Services and/or speech/language services of all types to identified students, not to exceed 55,000. 
    • Agreement between ACS and Ramona Evans, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, to provide orientation and mobility assessments to identified students, not to exceed $14,000. 
    • Agreement between ACS and Twin Acres Physical Therapy to provide pediatric physical therapy to identified students, not to exceed $32,000.  
    • An agreement between ACS and Kris Wayne Courson Sign Language Interpreting Services, LLC, to provide interpreting services to identified students, not to exceed $143,000. 
    • An agreement between ACS and Woolley Institute for Spoken-Language Education to provide comprehensive educational audiology services for identified students, not to exceed $10,000. 
  • Approved the surplus of textbooks located at Albertville Primary School.
  • Approved the September 2022 fundraiser requests.
  • Approved the cancellation of bid 18-004, juice and other bottled beverages, with Coca-Cola, which was approved May 17, 2022, since they can no longer provide the 12 oz. Powerade that was listed in the bid. 
  • Approved the low bid of $12,215 as submitted by Coca-Cola for bid 22-12, juice and other bottled beverages. 
  • Approved the surplus and sale of four school buses on Govdeals.

Albertville City Schools will hold its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 6 p.m. in the boardroom located at 105 West Main Street. 

group of five students in front of three teachers, all smiling, wearing bright colors and patterns

The Albertville Board of Education opened its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 20 with some special guests. A group of students from Albertville Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten led the packed room in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. From left, front row, Henley Mosley, Jacob Garcia, Biancca Guerrero, Allie Hudgins and Cora Bryant. Back row, AKPK Assistant Principal Steven Hudgins, ACS Superintendent Dr. Boyd K. English and AKPK Principal Mona Sheets.