By By Kerry Whipple Bean
As school boards across the state brace for budget cuts, Pollard-McCall Junior High School is celebrating a generous gift: a grant to help build two new classrooms for elementary school children.
The Escambia County School Board on Thursday accepted a donation from the Curtis Finlay Foundation to build a two-classroom building for early childhood education, considered grades kindergarten through third.
Pollard-McCall has grown significantly in the past three years, Principal Hugh White noted. When he began his administrative role at the school, enrollment was at 163; now it is 224.
As that area of the county grows, Pollard-McCall’s need for new classrooms has grown. The school had two kindergarten classes and two second-grade classes this year, a precedent for the small school.
School board member Richard Hawthorne said the board is lucky to have several organizations in the area that help fund educational efforts.
In other business, the board:
Hines received a composite score of 50 out of 52, with areas of improvement being collaboration and innovation. Even in those areas, Hyche noted, Hines scored very high.
Last fall Gov. Bob Riley declared Alabama’s education budget to be in proration, which means schools will not receive their total budgeted allocations this year.
Proration will cost Escambia County Schools about $2 million, she said.