Featured image: Local resident Carolyn Martin of Fort Payne donated a charter bus to the DeKalb County Commission that will be utilized by both the DeKalb County Schools and EMA
DeKalb Schools, EMA will share dual-purpose vehicle
By Joseph M. Morgan
Editor and Publisher
FORT PAYNE, Ala.—The DeKalb County Commission moved to officially accept the donation of a 1990 luxury style touring charter bus from Carolyn Martin of Fort Payne that will be utilized by both the DeKalb County Schools system and the DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency (EMA).
The bus will be completely renovated on the interior to serve as a rolling classroom for the virtual school program. DeKalb County Board of Education (BOE) Transportation Supervisor Keith Atchley said he hopes the bus will be able to accommodate as many as 20 students in addition to the program’s instructor.
Atchley said the bus will make a 14-school rotation, traveling to a different community each school day throughout DeKalb County to serve the students who are enrolled in the DeKalb County BOE Virtual School program and do not attend a traditional high school campus. The DeKalb County BOE announced earlier this year that they would be introducing the Virtual School program this fall and that students who take part in the program can take their classes from home or other off-campus locations using online teaching tools to follow the BOE’s curriculum requirements.
The program will be similar to that used for students who take online classes at universities and colleges all over the world and will follow the guidelines set forth by the program and adhere to the same curriculum standards of all DeKalb County Schools.
The Alabama Legislature passed a bill this year that will allow students who are enrolled in Alabama’s Virtual School program to also take part in the extracurricular activities of the nearest school that serves their community and that they are zoned to attend. In other words, a child living in Collinsville could remotely take all of their classes online from home without ever stepping foot inside Collinsville High School, but at the same time they could play on the Collinsville Football Team or join the Collinsville FFA or Beta Club and take their girlfriend to the Collinsville Prom.
As long as Virtual School students are following the curriculum designated by the BOE and remain academically eligible, they can take classes off-campus but officially enroll, take part in all extracurricular activities, and eventually graduate from the school in DeKalb County for which they are zoned geographically to attend. Administrators and others see Virtual School as an alternative to traditional home school. The bus donated by the Martin family will provide a resource to any Virtual School enrollee who needs academic assistance.
They will be helped by one of a handful of DeKalb County Schools teachers who will be aboard the bus to assist the students of that community. Students will have the opportunity to either wait for their community’s turn in the 14-day rotation and get help when the bus comes to them, or they will be able to elect to drive to wherever in DeKalb County the bus is that day and receive assistance from that community.
The bus will also be used during times of extreme crisis by the DeKalb County EMA as a Mobile Emergency Command Center. DeKalb County EMA Director Anthony Clifton said that the shared use of the vehicle is ideal because at times of serious emergency or severe weather the school systems would likely be closed, making the bus available to serve as a mobile command center.
“This is an ideal partnership between the DeKalb County EMA and DeKalb County Schools,” Clifton said. “It is important to us as public servants to be good stewards of our resources and by making the vehicle a dual-purpose vehicle we are maximizing the use of taxpayer dollars while using innovation and cooperation to provide a resource for two DeKalb County agencies. We are extremely grateful to Mrs. Carolyn Martin and the entire Martin family for their generosity.”
Martin said her family no longer used the bus. Her late husband, a musician, used the vehicle as a means of comfortable transportation when he traveled to perform his music.
“I’m so glad to see the bus going to a good home and to know that it will be used and appreciated by so many,” Martin said. “I think the bus has found it’s home and new purpose. We are glad to be able to help both the EMA and DeKalb County Schools.”
