Protect Paint Rock Valley School from Permanent Closure!!!
- by: Stacy P
- recipient: Jackson County Board of Education
Please sign our petition to prevent the closure of Paint Rock Valley High School. Paint Rock Valley is one of the smallest K-12 schools in the state of Alabama. Our school is the hub of the community and has been in existence since 1935.
Nestled in the shadows of Putman and Maxwell Mountains stands Paint Rock Valley High School. The quaint rock building is truly a community school built by hand, rock by rock in 1935. Pre-K through twelfth grade, students from Princeton, and the surrounding areas of Garth, Hollytree, Trenton, Swaim, Estillfork, and Francisco attend the school in the same building today. Some are fourth generation attendees of the school. Paint Rock Valley High School is a small, very rural school in northeast Alabama.
At the start of the 2016-17 school year the enrollment was 78 students. The school has 5 elementary teachers, one and a half high school teachers, a full time counselor, as well as a secretary. The school has two lunchroom workers, three bus drivers and one custodian. Everyone in the school performs more than one duty. Paint Rock Valley High School is a Title I school with 65% percent of students participating in the free or reduced lunch program. With few businesses in the area, many residents commute to Huntsville or to Scottsboro to work.
Even though we have a small faculty, our students are provided with a great education. Our teachers work well together taking on multiple duties. Students have access to online classes provided by ACCESS which are facilitated by our teachers. Some students choose travel to EPCOT in the mornings to take technical classes and back to Paint Rock Valley for core classes in the afternoon.
Because we are a small community, we have a good relationship with many of our parents. We welcome all parents in our school at any time. Our principal and counselor has an open door policy and is readily available to anyone at any time. (http://paintrockvalley.jch.schoolinsites.com/?PageName=LatestNews&Section=LatestNews&ItemID=182253&ISrc=School&Itype=News&IFrom=&SID=)
Dear Jackson County Board of Education Members,
Our community is asking you to please leave our school, Paint Rock Valley open. We are a small school that has sustained numerous obstacles in recent years. For example, the turnover rate for our school administrators has been well above average compared to other schools. While we have had some excellent principals, unfortunately, we have been placed at a disadvantage when you consider the benefits of consistency and the level of commitment that comes with long term leadership. Specifically, our school has been overlooked for certain improvements. It is our understanding that certain items have been requested, approved and placed in the budget year after year but they were never purchased nor delivered for the use of our students. Once again, we aren't provided with the resources our students deserve.
We realize that the continued operation will be costly. However, We have already raised $7000 in a recent fundraiser and have another event planned for April 29th. A portion of these funds will be used to fund our highly successful Pre-K program. In addition, our local Education Association has recently been awarded a grant for building repairs in the amount of $5000.00. As a community, we will continue to raise funds that will support the teachers and students of PRV.
The closure of our school would Destroy our community but more importantly, the decision to close the school would devastate these students.
We sincerely ask you to consider the people affected by the closure of this school. Please consider what it means to our community and vote "Yes" to allow us to remain open as one of the smallest K-12 schools in Alabama.
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