Story By Donald Campbell
At their meeting Tuesday, the Fort Payne Board of Education approved updating the policy manual, bringing it in line with recent changes made by the State of Alabama.
Under the proposed update, no student under the age of 16 years old would be allowed to take part in ongoing school counseling services, which includes mental health services, unless a parent or guardian had submitted written permission to the school allowing the student to continue using the service. These changes were part of Alabama Act 2025-455, also known as Senate Bill 101, which became law when Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill in May. There was no additional discussion regarding the change from any of the board members, and a motion to approve the update passed unanimously.
The board also took action on an opportunity to further use community resources to train students for their potential futures, approving a contract to run through the end of the calendar year with an outside building construction specialist. With this, the specialist would be able to come in and provide training in various technical fields, such as plumbing and drywall. It was hoped this would be one of several such contracts that would be approved not only this year, but also in the coming years.
With Fiscal Year 2025 having come to an end on September 30, the board was informed that expenditures had exceeded revenue in the month of September. However, it was pointed out this is not an uncommon situation to have happen at the end of the fiscal year. Overall, the school system was in good financial shape, having taken in approximately $41.8 million in revenue during Fiscal Year 2025 and having expenses of around $41.2 million. Officials said the school system started the fiscal year with around $21.6 million in its general fund, while ending it with a balance of $22.2 million.
The Fort Payne Board of Education also:
• Approved minutes from their September 18 meeting.
• Accepted the retirement of a teacher at Wills Valley Elementary School.
• Accepted the resignation of five employees from across the system.
• Approved the transfer of two employees within the system.
The next meeting of the Fort Payne Board of Education will be Thursday, November 20, at 6 P.M.
