Strategic Planning Survey

Parents,

The district has been charged with updating our Strategic Plan. Strategic planning is used to set priorities in order to focus energy and resources and to strengthen operations.

The goals of a strategic plan are gathered from the thoughts of the staff and parents in the district via surveys. Your answers will allow us to gather valuable information concerning the district's accomplishments and challenges.

Below is the parent survey that we are asking each of you to take. Please make every effort to take this survey today. We can't do this without you and we value your opinion.

http://www.advanc-ed.org/survey/public/7186458

FFA State Officer

Ardmore High School student Kelsey Faulkner is a state FFA officer. We are very proud of the leadership exhibited by Kelsey in our school and state. The officers made a trip to Montgomery this summer where they met the governor and other state leaders. The magazine "Cooperative Farming News" recently had an article featuring the trip.

Future Farmers of America (FFA) offers our students excellent leadership opportunities. We are very fortunate to have a strong FFA program at Ardmore lead by Mrs. Lauren Graham. We are very proud of our students, especially when they are recognized at the state and national levels.

Welcome Back

New School Year

Back to school commercials fill the airways, excited teachers prepare for the return of energetic students. These events signal the beginning of a new school year. Some students will be more excited than others to welcome a new school year but most of them will be excited even if they do not want to admit it. Some teachers will also have a little apprehension about the new school year but the majority welcomes the challenge to make a difference in the lives of students.

The great thing about a new school year is the feeling of a fresh start. Each year brings anticipation that this year will be even better than the previous years. For those of us who have been in schools the majority of our lives we are renewed by the possibilities a new year brings. One pleasure veteran teachers have is to see new teachers come into the profession. New teachers typically have tons of energy and excitement about the task they are about to undertake. Statistically, and sadly, many teachers leave the profession in the first three years but most will continue to serve students for years to come. The idealistic views of many new years are an encouragement to those who have been working in the field for many years.

Students view the new school year in a multitude of ways shaped by many factors in their lives. Some love the interaction with their friends and are excited to see them for the first time in a couple of months. They want to share stories about their summer and while social media has allowed many of them to stay in touch it is still better to see them in person. Sadly, some students are glad to be back because they will have two meals a day and friendly faces to greet them each day. Some students will not be excited about the school year because they have had unpleasant school years in the past and do not have the expectation that this school year will be different. Hopefully, somewhere deep down in these students there is a ray of hope that this year will be a little different.

One never knows what a new year has in store, but a positive attitude and hopeful anticipation can help when facing inevitable challenges. In some ways school has changed dramatically over the last twenty years while remaining unchanged in others. The challenge for school leaders is to make the changes necessary to fit the needs of our new society while holding fast to the ideals of providing an education that equips students to face the challenges of their lives. Some exciting things are taking place locally and across the state of Alabama with respect to public education. We look forward to serving your students this year and in the years to come. 

Phone Calls

The Limestone County Central Office has had several calls that the messages that were sent recently were blank. School personnel checked the website and looked at the calls details with the representative. There doesn't seem to be any issues with the calls. School and company officials developed one theory as to why people are having issues with the phone calls.


The system is very sensitive to noises giving it the ability to leave a message on an answering machine/cell phone message. When it hears an extended amount of noise, it waits until the noise ends to begin the message. It thinks the noise is the message on an answering machine. This could be happening to the people that receive a phone call and do not hear a message. We are assuming there is enough background noise (children, TV, at a ballgame, wind, radio, etc.) that the system is mistaking it for a recorded message and it is waiting for silence.

To solve this problem, a person needs only to press 1. This will make the recording play in its entirety.  

Tornadoes and Schools

I am old enough to remember the tornado outbreak in 1974 which changed many people’s lives, including mine, forever. I was a young boy, but can remember it like it was yesterday and for years since then when I hear about a tornado warning I take it very seriously. I have been in public schools for over 25 years and have been in many hallways during a tornado drill. Thankfully, I have never been in a school that has been hit by a tornado, but we have come close a few times.

Everyone in this area can remember April 27, 2011 when we had a horrible outbreak of tornadoes in this area. Our area was devastated and school was out for over a week. The tornadoes did not behave exactly as predicted and we were at school for a large portion of the day. We spent time in the hallways for protection and waiting on parents who were unable to get to the school due to debris in the road. Thankfully everyone at Ardmore was safe and the school was not hit. East Limestone High School and Creekside Elementary School were very close to the path of the tornado but thankfully no students were injured.

There are times in North Alabama when things happen so quickly we are at school when a tornado warning is issued and we will always take our precautions to try and protect the students on our campus. We practice these drills every month and due to the frequency of tornadoes in our area I believe the students take the drills seriously. Obviously, the best answer would be safe shelters for every school, but money has not allowed the state to build shelters on each campus. Maybe one day this will become a reality, but for now the current plans are the best we can do to provide safety at school during a storm.

The weather forecasting is much better than it was in 1974 and many times we know days in advance of the severe weather event and school systems can take precautions to ensure students are not on campus during severe weather. However, April 27 proved that things don’t always go as predicted in terms of severe weather in North Alabama.  I know people will debate forever whether schools should dismiss due to the threat of bad weather, but in my opinion we should always error on the side of caution when it comes to the safety of our children. 

Hunter's Highlights