Chickasaw City Schools is entering its fourth year as an independent system with a major structural change: for the first time, the district will operate two separate campuses instead of housing all of its roughly 1,000 students under one roof.
The shift centers on the opening of a standalone elementary school, formerly known as Peter Joe Hamilton Elementary under the Mobile County school system, which sat unused for the past year. During that time, students in kindergarten through fifth grade shared library, gymnasium and cafeteria space with older students at the district’s combined school, while an interim principal worked to keep the younger children as separated as possible from the middle and high schoolers.
That interim principal, who has spent 14 years as a teacher and math coach in Mobile County elementary schools, was named permanent principal of the new elementary campus this spring. Ahead of the opening, teachers, parents and community members pitched in to renovate the long-vacant building, painting classrooms and cleaning the property from top to bottom. The district also installed a new roof and made broader technology upgrades, bringing the total investment in the campus to roughly $400,000. That includes new laptops and Chromebooks for students and smart boards in every classroom. A separate grant is also funding the district’s first-ever pre-K classroom, complete with a new playground.
School board leadership said the community has wanted a dedicated elementary campus for some time, and officials expect enrollment to eventually reach around 500 students, though early registration numbers were running lower than hoped, a pattern district officials say is common at schools that rely heavily on federal Title I funding, where families often register late or not at all.
The elementary school’s separation also frees up space at the district’s original campus, which will now serve roughly 500 students in grades six through 12. Sixth- and seventh-graders will move into space previously used by younger students, while a new high school principal, a former accountant making his first stint as a principal, and previously a curriculum administrator in the Escambia County school system, works to fill several vacant faculty positions, including a special education team hired in just the past month.
The high school is also expanding its offerings, adding career-technical programs in robotics, engineering, welding and culinary arts through a partnership with a local community college, along with a new drama class. Every science teacher will have access to a dedicated lab for the first time, and administrators say the athletic program is on track to move up a classification in the next year, even as the school works toward building a long-term athletic facility. The district’s outgoing superintendent, who was the system’s first employee when it broke away from the county district four years ago, is departing to lead a school system in west Alabama, with his top deputy stepping in as interim leader.