By Barry H. Hendrix
The Thomasville City Schools District has been known as one of the most progressive school systems in Alabama despite its rural setting. This district was one of the first to introduce one-to-one laptops for students and has continued to provide the educational services that local children deserve - despite funding pressures.
The quality of the Thomasville school system has always been an asset to recruitment of industry to the city.
The school district and the City of Thomasville must continue to work together to provide educational and extracurricular opportunities for all students in the school district. “We need their (the council members) continued support, said Vickie Morris, Thomasville City School Superintendent. Morris gave information on the state of the school system during a school board work session on Jan. 28 in the Thomasville High School Library.
The school system continues to see a financial shortfall due to the loss of student population each school year. Loss of students translates to loss of funding from the state Foundation program. Public schools no longer are receiving federal COVID funding, which was paying for many positions in the Thomasville system.
State funding is often earmarked for specific purposes. When state money is not available, local funds must be utilized.
School administration officials are having to make difficult choices when there is a lack of adequate state funds for teacher units. For the 2024-2025 school year, two teacher units had to be eliminated at the high school. A difficult decision was made to eliminate Driver’s Education, and a history teacher was cut.
Sports programs such as soccer, track, golf and volleyball do not generate enough revenue to support themselves, Morris said. Lack of funding could lead to loss of career tech opportunities on the high school campus.
The school system appreciates the financial support of Mayor Sheldon Day and the Thomasville City Council. Thanks to recent city support the financial shortfall for THS was cut from $236,000 to $90,000.
The financial shortfall for Thomasville Middle School is $223,000, however, the school is being run with only the most necessary teacher units. “If I cut, I have to close the school,” Morris said. “It’s bare minimum over there. They can’t run with any less.” Local funding is being used to fill the gap.
Thomasville Elementary has the right amount of funding for teacher units. However, TES is short in funding because the state only pays for half the funding of a school counselor.
The following items were approved during the regular board meeting:
• Anjelica Gibson, Chief School Financial Officer, gave the financial report for December 2024. Payroll totaled $932,278.55, and accounts payable totaled $319,012.89.
• The following personnel actions were approved Jan. 28 by the Thomasville City Board of Education:
(Leave Requests)
Crystal Rogers, Child Nutrition Program (CNP) Assistant at Thomasville High School;
(Resignations)
Logan Pitts, Athletic Trainer at THS;
(Volunteers)
Charlene Pugh;
(Employment in Positions)
Evelyn Jackson, School Nurse at Thomasville Middle School;
Renetha Woods, CNP Assistant at THS.
• The following field trips were approved:
An overnight field trip by the THS cheerleaders May 28-31 to cheer camp at Auburn University;
An overnight field trip by the THS Thespian Troupe Feb. 14-16 to the Thespian Festival in Vestavia Hills.
• The next meeting of the Thomasville City Board of Education will be held at 5 p.n. on Feb. 25 in the THS Library. The public is invited.