Entries Tagged 'Schools' ↓

The president’s plan to speak to all school children in a nationally televised speech became a hot topic in Baldwin County; a county where parents typically vote conservative.

Because of the controversy, the Baldwin County School District let principals make the decision whether or not the speech would air. Some of those principals let teachers decide. The vast majority felt the President’s Speech would disrupt the classroom.

The schools that did air the speech chose to remain anonymous, and the school district refused to release their names.

Local 15 News discovered the names of two Baldwin County Schools that did give students the option of listening to President Obama’s speech: Daphne High School and Gulf Shores High School.

Baldwin County Schools Tune Out President’s Speech

How can a school choose to stay anonymous? Parents have a right to know if this video or anything else was shown or not. That is absurd. What else are schools choosing to stay anonymous about?

The reasons and solutions for the Baldwin County Public Schools funding woes were the topic of a recent interview with Superintendent Faron Hollinger.

Baldwin County sales tax increase could be revisited

The final installment of a three-part reader Q&A with Baldwin County school officials. Click here for Part 1. Click here for Part 2.)

People in Baldwin County have got their first look at this year’s school budget at a public meeting Thursday. Some cuts may still have to be made.

The Baldwin County School System has faced a $56 million revenue shortfall. In order to balance the budget, $1.9 million is still needed. Officials are hoping to close the gap with stimulus money and/or a retirement incentive.

Finacial woes continue for Baldwin County schools

Baldwin school system spokesman Terry Wilhite said teachers and principals will decide whether to work President Barack Obama’s speech Tuesday to the nation’s schoolchildren, and related assignments, into their lesson plans.

He said parents will be able to decide whether their children will take part

Wilhite urged parents opposed to the speech not to pull their child out for a whole day, but contact their school’s office and inform administrators to give the child an alternative activity during that time.

Baldwin: Speech like any current event

Controversy surrounding a former

Baldwin County property owners are breathing a collective sigh of relief. Last year, appraisals were raised, leading many people to contest the amounts. But this year, appraisals will be down eight percent.

But, a lower tax bill means fewer dollars going to schools. Earlier this month, the school board had to layoff more than 150 support workers. So leaders like Spanish Fort Middle School Principal Carol Palumbo are calling on parents to help pick up the slack.

Baldwin Co. property taxes take a dip

Each year, as required by law, the Baldwin County Public School Systems holds budget hearings. These meetings are open to the public.

The first of two budget hearings for Baldwin County Schools is scheduled for Thursday, September 3, 2009, at 5:00 p.m. in the Central Office Satellite cafeteria, 1091 B Avenue, Loxley.

The second budget hearing will be held on Thursday, September 10, 2009, at 5:00 p.m. in the Central Office Satellite auditorium, Loxley. A special board meeting will follow this hearing to vote on the FY10 budget and to address any other business.

Baldwin Co. announces budget hearings

As diagnoses of food allergies rise, school leaders are grappling with how to accommodate the needs of vulnerable students, aware that those with severe allergies might develop life-threatening conditions if they eat the wrong things.

Many school parents in Mobile and Baldwin counties received letters in recent weeks asking them to keep peanut butter and nuts out of snacks and lunches.

As peanut allergy diagnoses rise, so do restrictions in Mobile and Baldwin county schools

During a tight budget crunch, Baldwin County School Officials say they had to pick up the tab for a $30,000 mold problem, found at Foley Middle School.

The mold was found right before school started and has since been corrected, according to board spokesman Terry Wilhite.

Baldwin Co. School System faces $30K mold problem

In the midst of tough budget cuts and gloomy financial forecasts, the Baldwin County Board of Education got some good news Friday — districtwide accreditation, for the first time in the system’s history.

The announcement by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement, a division of AdvancED, was the culmination of a nearly two-year effort

Schools accredited nationally

A Bay Minette Middle School teacher was arrested Friday when he fell asleep in class reportedly because he was under the influence

Nicholas Taylor Pope was charged with public intoxication and illegal possession of prescription drugs, both misdemeanors.

The 25-year-old Foley resident is a special education teacher and assistant football coach.

Bay Minette teacher arrested

The Baldwin County Board of Education voted tonight to lay off 205 more school system employees in an effort to trim $14 million from the budget.

No teachers were on the list, but the layoffs do include Walter Ken Mason, construction coordinator, and Martha Holloway, nursing supervisor. In addition to Holloway, 12 other nurses, out of a staff of 56, were on the termination list, which cuts the number of classified employees, now about 1,800, by more than 11 percent, according to school system reports.

Superintendent Faron Hollinger says the cuts will save about $5 million. $9 million still needs to be trimmed for the upcoming fiscal year, following these cuts.

Baldwin to lay off 205 more school employees

Baldwin Co. Schools to cut 180 jobs

Full list of those affected starts on page 51 of the board’s agenda

School officials in Baldwin County this week announced there were at least a dozen students with H1N1 but did not disclose which schools were affected.

Kim Taylor, public information officer for the Baldwin County Health Department, said there is no quick way to determine the exact number of students sick from flu, whether it’s the H1N1 strain or the seasonal variety. Baldwin’s Taylor said that for every case that is confirmed, there are likely several people who did not go to the doctor for testing or treatment.

Baldwin school officials won’t report location of swine flu cases

Baldwin County Flu Outbreak

The county’s current budget crisis got a sweet bite taken out of it Friday—at least, for Daphne’s public high school—when more than 1,150 people attended the ‘Taste of the Eastern Shore’ fundraiser at the Daphne Civic Center.

The charitable feast netted $28,700 in ticket sales; totals from the silent auction had not been tallied before press time. Donations will help county administrators offset a growing deficit—now totaling $56 million—that has led to waves of budget cuts and job losses.

‘Taste’ nets close to $30K

With classes back in session, flu cases, including the H1N1 variety, are already showing up on Baldwin County public and private school campuses, educators said Tuesday.

On Monday, a parent called St. Patrick Catholic School in Robertsdale to report that one student had been confirmed by a doctor as having the H1N1 variety, commonly known as swine flu, said Sister Margaret Harte, school principal.

Several students have also been diagnosed with the flu strain in public schools, said Terry Wilhite, Baldwin County Board of Education spokesman. Wilhite said he could not confirm how many cases had been reported. “It’s less than a dozen over (system’s) 45 schools,” he said

Swine flu hitting schools

County by county numbers

Parents should be told if a student at their child’s school has swine flu. Parents have a right to know if they are exposing their children to this disease when they send them off to school in the morning. Why won’t the school system release a list of school with confirmed cases?