BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — At the April 14 Opelika School Board Meeting, the board heard an update from Lamar Zuiderhoek, representative for Scout Program Management, and discussed regular business.
“We’re looking at this as the calm before the storm, which is coming this summer,” he said. “We have currently got the greenhouse underway, so that’s moving along. They started last week, and they’ve already totally demoed the existing greenhouses. They’re doing soil testing tomorrow, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the soil that’s there now is what we’re going to be able to put the foundations on. Moving along, we’ve got the long lead items already ordered, the greenhouse and the middle building. So the game plan is to have it all spit-shined and ready for the start of the school year in August. The renovations to Jeter and Morris are obviously going to start on the first day of summer. We have a meeting on April 28 with each of the schools to review the moving processes, who’s doing what, how to label the boxes and all of that.”
Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Pam Fortenbary explained plans to change some previous systems for grading for report cards in early education.
“I talked to Dr. Davis, and we talked to the principals, and the proposal is to change [the grading expectations],” she said. “Kindergarten will stay with standards-based, that’s simple. But [we want to] move first and second grade into an A to F report card.”
Fortenbary explained that one of the things that sparked the change is the realization that the current report card system has created inconsistencies in the report cards that early education students are bringing home across the different schools. She said the goal is to create a standard for grading across the schools and ensure all students receive a one-page report card.
“We realized that even the three intermediate schools, some third-grade kids are going home with an average report card grade of five grades, and some schools or third graders are going home with 10 grade report cards,” she said. “So we’ve been working on this for a long time.”
In Other Business
- The board voted to approve the minutes from the previous meeting.
- The board was informed of the certificate of affirmation for the reappointment of Board Member Antione Harvis at the April 7 Opelika City Council Meeting, in accordance with the Local School Board Governance Rule.
- The board voted to approve a contract renewal for April Brock, principal of Fox Run School.
- The board approved the Board Resolution opting into the provisions of the Alabama Assistant Administrator Accountability Act.
- The board approved the personnel recommendations.
- The board approved the textbooks recommended for adoption.
- The board approved the bid for a Child Nutrition Walk-In Cooler for $136,760.73.
- The board approved the fiscal year 2026 Budget Amendment No. 1.
- The next Opelika School Board Meeting and the Teacher Retirement Ceremony will be held on May 19 at Fox Run at 4 p.m.
- There will be a Groundbreaking Ceremony for Fox Run on May 1 at 9 a.m. at Fox Run.
