Just weeks after what board members called one of the most productive Baldwin County school board work sessions in recent memory, the outgoing superintendent who led that discussion is now leaving the district, raising questions about whether momentum toward fixing an aging Bay Minette elementary school will hold.
Superintendent Robbie Owen facilitated a lengthy work session in late May focused entirely on the future of Bay Minette Elementary School, which has emerged as a top facilities priority for the district even as available funding shrinks. Board members left that meeting with a positive outlook, both on the school’s options and on Owen’s leadership. Roughly twelve hours later, Owen announced his resignation, saying he would return after June 30 to Rockwell Elementary in Spanish Fort, where he had previously served as principal for nearly 18 years.
That abrupt announcement has left the board weighing whether to push forward on Bay Minette Elementary while simultaneously searching for an interim superintendent, a process that could stretch out before a permanent replacement is named.
During the May work session, Owen laid out two main paths forward for the aging school. One option would add a roughly 35-room wing and cafeteria onto the adjacent Intermediate School, effectively merging the two campuses into a single K-6 facility at a cost of around $6 million. The alternative would spend up to $500,000 renovating the existing Elementary School building, addressing bathrooms, fire alarms and other overdue improvements. Most board members agreed that constructing an entirely new school is essentially off the table after voters rejected a property tax referendum in March that would have funded major capital projects.
Concerns about mold, asbestos and leaking at the aging building had already rattled parents in recent months, with some keeping their children home during a round of testing meant to confirm the school’s air quality. Officials say that testing ultimately found the air was safe and that areas of concern had been addressed, but the episode underscored just how urgently the district needs to settle on a long-term plan for the building, among the oldest in the county.
Owen said he planned to consult with his staff and bring a formal recommendation to the board at a special meeting scheduled for June 4, even as he prepared to leave the district. He said he did not believe the superintendent search would meaningfully delay board action on the school.
District 1 board member David Cox, who represents Bay Minette, said any delay caused by the search should be short-term at most. He has advocated for building the proposed new wing using money from the district’s roughly $10 million capital projects fund, though at least half of that fund is typically needed each year for other facility needs across the county. Cox said whoever is ultimately named interim superintendent needs to understand immediately that Bay Minette Elementary is a top identified priority, noting that many of his constituents have already reached out with concerns about how new leadership might handle the issue.
District 7 representative Shannon Cauley acknowledged there is a real risk of losing the positive ground gained during the May meeting, putting pressure on the board to keep the superintendent transition from derailing the school’s momentum. Owen, for his part, said he wanted any final recommendation to reflect broad staff buy-in rather than being solely his own call, since he will not be the one implementing it after leaving the district at the end of June.