LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. — It's almost that time for students to head back into the classrooms. FOX54 spoke with Limestone County Schools Superintendent Dr. Randy Shearouse to see what's in store for this upcoming school year. New renovations throughout some schools across the district is where we start.
Dr. Shearouse explained that some of the major renovations at Johnson Elementary include new flooring, painting, ceiling tile, and lights. "We started building last year, but started building a new wing on to Johnson," Dr. Shearouse said. "Currently they've had about 60 new students sign up to transfer to Johnson from Creekside. So we have 16 new classrooms that we've added on here at Johnson and it's ready to go. It will be eventually well over 100, but they were able to phase in coming to Johnson. And so it wasn't immediate. Everyone had to come right away. As we went through the redistricting process last spring, this will allow us to receive more kids here at Johnson Elementary."
Johnson Elementary isn't the only school with new renovations. East Limestone High School and Creekside Elementary are also on the list. "We're redoing the flooring, you know, new lighting, new ceiling tile, new painting. We're super excited about that. We put in a new road at Creekside. Currently, Creekside Elementary has well over a thousand kids. Both at the elementary, 500 over 500 at the elementary and over 500 at the primary school. And so of course that's a lot of traffic. And so we were able to put in a road there at Creekside, which I think is going to really help with our traffic there on that campus."
Dr. Shearouse continued that in the past, attendance has also been an issue. "It's time to make sure we have our students in school each and every day. You know, we don't want you sending your child to school sick, of course."
Another major topic of conversation in school systems across the country is the new 'Teachers' Bill of Rights'. This bill allows a teacher to take action and exclude students from the classroom in certain circumstances which includes disruptive behavior, profane language, threats, and disorderly conduct. Dr. Shearouse said he planned to meet with school district principals Tuesday to discuss how Limestone County Schools will go about the matter. "And you know, to me, it goes back to just making sure that we as administrators support our teachers in the classroom. That's vitally important. We want to do that here in Limestone County. We want to communicate with our teachers to make sure that if they do have a student that is being disruptive, that we're able to work with them and come up with some measures to take care of that disruption. So I really think, you know, it is a law that's going to be in place, a new rule that's going to be in place. But we want to get in front of that and make sure that we're supporting our teachers each and every day."
Dr. Shearouse said the most important thing parents and students can do stay informed is attend open house. "We have open house next Monday night [July 29] at our high schools. And then Tuesday [July 30] we'll have open house at our elementary schools."