Story By John Mann
The Guntersville City School Board met for their first meeting of 2026 on Monday where five teachers from the system were recognized as Teachers of the Year.
“We’re so thankful for our great teachers and the ones we have here tonight are just exemplary in all they do,” Guntersville School Superintendent Dr. Brad Cooper said. “Thank you for your hard work, thank you for all that you guys do for our district and most importantly for our kids. Congratulations on being chosen, we’re here to help and support in any way that we can.”
The 2026 Teachers of the Year are Taylor Bronowicz (Guntersville Middle), Kimberly Graham (Cherokee Elementary), Skylar Cahill (Guntersville Elementary), Patrick Morton (Guntersville Middle) and Chris Canady (Guntersville High).
The meeting also served as the first official board meeting for Dr. Cooper, who came on as superintendent this year after being announced for the position last December and began work on January 1. Dr. Cooper succeeds the previous superintendent Dr. Jason Barnett, who departed to take on the Executive Director role of the School Superintendents of Alabama.
“I just want to say first three weeks have been great so far, lots of smiling faces and helping hands,” Cooper said. “Thank you all for making the transition great, hit the ground running in the middle of the year so it’s been good, I’ve been able to visit all of the schools many times and try to build those relationships.”
With Marshall County currently undergoing a week of low temperatures due to a winter storm moving across the Southeast, Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Mims reported to the board that the schools have been doing well so far with no leaks or breaks reported.
“The buildings are in good shape against the cold right now,” Mims said. “There are a few areas where we have had to leave some water dripping, we’ve taken the setbacks out of the heat and are keeping everything nice and warm for tomorrow.”
Dr. Cooper made several announcements during the meeting, notably that Pre-K registration is now open for the 2026-27 school year. Children born between September 1, 2021, and August 31, 2022, are eligible for First Class Pre-K. Registration requires a birth certificate and proof of residency submitted to aimeepuckett@gboe.net or in person at the Board of Education office. Registration forms for both in and out of district enrollment can be found online at guntersvilleboe.com.
The Child Nutrition Program in the system was also recognized during the meeting, with all lunchrooms having received perfect scores on their most recent health inspection.
“That’s just phenomenal for them to do that,” Cooper said. “It’s very hard to do that, they usually find something, so the fact that they all had 100s is just kudos to all the hard work that goes into that.”
The Apple Foundation will be hosting “An Evening for Education” on February 27 at 6 pm in the RSVP building in Guntersville. RSVPs for the event can be done on the foundation’s website at theapplefoundation.com.
As the high school basketball season begins to enter the postseason it should also be noted that the Guntersville varsity boys’ team will host their area tournament which will take place at Guntersville High School starting February 7. In other sports new the Alabama High School Athletic Association underwent a reclassification last week, which not only separates private and public schools from championship play but will change Guntersville High School’s classification from 5A to 4A. As stated by the AHSAA this decision will affect the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.
The next meeting of the Guntersville City School board will take place on February 23 at 5 pm. The board is located at 4200 AL-79. Board meetings are open to the public.
