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CCS System Update
March 2024
Great News!
USA Today has nominated the city of Cullman for the "Best Small Town Cultural Scene”. To achieve a high ranking, the city relies on consumer votes. This is big for our community and has a direct impact on the local funding we receive for our schools. Below is a chart outlining the sales tax trends our school system receives from city and county sales over the last 10 years. As you can imagine, the national recognition from USA Today will only attract more tourists to visit Cullman and contribute positively to our growing tax base. To vote for Cullman, you will need to click the link below and simply vote for Cullman. I encourage everyone to cast a vote for our community between now and the end of March.
https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-small-town-cultural-scene-2024/cullman-alabama/
Governor’s App Challenge Local Winners
The Governor's App Challenge is a statewide computer programming competition for Alabama students. The goal of the challenge is to allow more students to gain recognition for their mastery and application of computer programming and design.
Cullman City Schools students were given the opportunity to participate in three grade bands:
Elementary K-5
Middle School 6-8
High School 9-12
Students worked hard to develop their own app ideas and then create those apps for judging.
The top three apps from each school were considered for judging at the Cullman City Schools district level.
These are the winners of each of those divisions and a description of their app in their own words.
Elementary: Avery Maples
App Title: Daily Trivia
App Description: Daily Trivia tries to accomplish giving people random facts about various topics to tell friends and family. The app includes trivia about toys, movies, animals and various other topics.
Middle School: Alizabeth Le
App Title: Mental Health: The Game
App Description: Mental Health: The Game is trying to help others’ mental health because many people have mental issues and either cannot afford certain mental health apps or cannot find the right one for themselves. Many people play video games which can help make people feel better- the app makes taking care of mental health into a game to make it easier, more fun, and more accessible.
High School: Ava Fales and London Phillipo
App Title: Race to Cast List
App Description: Overall, this app creates an idea for the life of an
aspiring actor in the world of theatre as the different choices you have influence the cast list of
lead to ensemble. Even if you are not a musical nerd, this can help you understand the difficulties
of auditions and expand your knowledge on the theatre world.
District 6 Winner:
These apps were submitted for competition at the Alabama School Board District level.
Our Elementary Winner, Avery Maples, won district 6 and will be competing at the state level in Montgomery in April.
Safety and Growth Plan Updates
The demolition of the round and FACS buildings is complete and now the contractors will begin the footers for the remaining third of the new Cullman Middle School Building.
The dirt work for the soccer complex is near its completion. The contractors are proof rolling the subgrade this week and beginning the stone haul. We could see the turf installation as soon as the last week of March.
East CNP Visits Governor Ivey
On Thursday, March 14, 2024 East Elementary was invited to represent Cullman City Schools and participate in the signing of the Declaration of National School Breakfast Week with Governor Kay Ivey. National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) celebrates the importance of a nutritious school breakfast in fueling students for success. Each year this special observance occurs during the first week of March. Leslie Dawson, CNP Coordinator, along with Amy Emmert, EES Manager, and EES students Bradley and Baylen Daniel attended the event.
Spring Break!
The students and employees of Cullman City Schools will be on spring break the last week of March (March 25th - March 29th). We hope everyone has a fun but safe spring break and returns on April 1st (no joke) ready to tackle the last 7 weeks of the school year.
East West Glow Bash
Earlier this month, the 5th and 6th grade students at East and West Elementary School came together for a dance party. A big thank you to the East and West PTOs, Ms. Harris and Dr. Page and the teachers and staff from East and West who attended. Here is an article from the Cullman Tribune with more information on this fun evening.
With the recent passing of the CHOOSE Act, it is important to remember why the Cullman City School System remains the best choice for the best education! Here are 5 quick reminders…
- School Resource Officers (SRO) on each campus
- Over $800,000.00 recent investment in preventive measures to secure campuses
- Serve English Language students across all five campuses who speak a total of twelve different languages.
- Offer the Alabama Seal of Biliteracy for graduates
- Over 100 three and four year old students served with a goal of 250 students by the year 2028.
II. Curriculum and Assessment
- System and schools consistently receive an A letter grade on the Alabama issued school and school system report card
- Schools and School System rank in the top 5 or 10 in academic measures as reported by the Alabama State Department of Education
- Eight Career Technical Education pathway options at CHS and each with middle school feeder courses
- Secured over $1,000,000.00 in local, state and federal grants to support K-12 STEM education
- 100% of classrooms equipped with interactive boards to maximize student engagement
- Most classrooms equipped with audio enhancing technology
- Over a 1:1 device to student ratio
III. Extra-Curricular Opportunities
- Robotics Club at every elementary, middle, and high school
- STEM instructor on all five campuses
- Sixteen varsity sports options at CHS (men and women)
- Sixteen sports options at CMS (men and women)
- Twelve student clubs at CMS
- Twenty-eight student clubs at CHS
- Seven Alabama state championships in the last ten years
- Active student governments beginning in 6th grade
- Performing arts opportunities in band, chorus and piano
- Award winning marching and concert band opportunities beginning in 7th grade
- Art classes offered on all five campuses
- State recognized and award winning theater program
IV. Employees
- More than 20% of applicable staff are National Board Certified
- Over 100 teachers who have either completed or are working on certification in the science of reading (LETRS)
- Approximately 400 total employees
- Local and state funded academic coaches to maximize teacher impact
V. Facilities
- Five year capital plan with an approximate $70,000,000.00 investment in modernizing and remodeling which will impact all five campuses
- Over a $1,000,000.00 recent investment in HVAC systems on each campus
- Amphitheater style outdoor learning space available for all schools and classes (to be completed in July of 2024)
- Synthetic turf surfaces on all fields- Baseball, Football, Softball and Soccer (to be completed in spring of 2024)
Literacy Act
In May of 2019, the Alabama Literacy Act was enacted. The Alabama Literacy Act was established to improve the reading proficiency of public school kindergarten through 3rd grade students and ensure that those students are able to read at or above grade level by the end of the 3rd grade. This school year is the first year the requirements of the Act will be fully implemented. One requirement is for 3rd grade students who are not reading at grade-level, as indicated on the ACAP, to be retained in third grade.
Throughout the school year, teachers will provide parents feedback on how their children are progressing in reading using benchmark tools like DIBELS and iReady. Third grade students who do not meet the score on ACAP will be required to attend a mandatory summer reading camp in June. At the conclusion of the reading camp the identified students will have one more opportunity to take the ACAP and show that they are reading at a third grade level or above.
The third grade teachers at both East and West are very strong and receive tremendous support, however it is going to take a team (teacher, parent and student) to reach the 100% threshold.
Strategic Commitments
Recently, the Cullman City Board of Education approved the new Strategic Plan and Strategic Commitments. The entire plan is located on the school system website (https://www.cullmancats.net). Some of the highlights from the six broad areas include:
Student Support and Safety
Safe learning environments
Access to related services
Increase modes of communication
Technology
Enhancing devices and connectivity
Safe and secure networks
Professional development and support
Curriculum and Assessment
Rigor, critical thinking and creativity
Alignment of assessments and intended outcomes
More academic and extracurricular opportunities
Employees
Consistent expectations from campus to campus
Continuous training on 21st century transferable skills
Seek the best educators
Finance and Resources
Financial transparency
Increase community and industry partnerships
Budget for the Board’s vision
Facilities
Clean learning environments on all campuses
Plan for comprehensive Cullman Intermediate School (3-5)
Expand preschool programs
Tech Check
In our continuous effort to provide technology support for teachers, our tech integration specialists Misty Waldrop and Sharon Drake will attend a Train the Trainer session for a third portion of Unified Insights. Unified Insights is a data platform that centrally stores varied student supports provided by school staff and community-based organizations. This platform provides tools that can support our district in building a shared record of what supports a student is currently receiving, who else is serving that student, what supports students have received before, and if those supports were successful.
Mrs. Waldrop and Mrs. Drake have already joined Elementary Curriculum Coach Emily Hines in sharing the training they received for the first two portions of the program with our teachers in grade K - 3.
Additionally, our technicians have been working to prepare the new Maintenance and Facilities Building located on the corner of Stadium Drive and Hoehn Drive to receive internet access. The final connection will be provided by a third party provider, but our role in preparing the building is crucial in the process.
Connect with CCS Using Our App
The Bottom Line
Full financial statements can be found on the Cullman City Schools website by clicking here.
The month of January is 1) 33% into the fiscal year. Revenues were at 2) 42.03% while
expenditures were at 3) 34.55%. Our total net operations were 4) $2.45 M. Total assets were
5) $13.65 M. We ended the month with a fund balance of 6) $13.65 M which brings us to
7) 4.28 months of reserves.
Kyle Kallhoff, Superintendent
Email: kkallhoff@cullmancats.net
Website: https://www.cullmancats.net/
Location: 301 1st Street Northeast, Cullman, AL, USA
Phone: (256)734-2233
Twitter: @kkallhoff