Barkley named Discovery principal
Students meet at Discovery Middle School. (CONTRIBUTED)
MADISON – Discovery Middle School has a new principal.
At its Aug. 8 meeting, Madison Board of Education welcomed Melanie Barkley as the Discovery administrator. Barkley has served as charter principal at Mill Creek Elementary School. She previously worked for Madison County Schools as a coach, history teacher and reading coach. She then worked for the state with the Alabama Reading Initiative.
Sally Bruer will serve as interim principal at Mill Creek. Bruer retired as principal at Liberty Middle School.
In other personnel actions, Nicole Phillips, formerly with Madison County Schools, is the new assistant principal at Heritage Elementary School. “I’m very excited about joining the Heritage and Madison City family,” Phillips said.
Heather Donaldson is returning to Bob Jones High School as assistant principal. Last year, Donaldson worked as assistant principal at James Clemens High School and has worked at the Central Office.
Angie Bush will lead foreign language development in elementary schools.
After the second state-mandated hearing, the board approved the 2013-2014 budget at approximately $95 million.
Elementary instruction coordinator Judy Warmath reported that a parent advisory program for gifted students has been formed. Among its duties, this group will provide more resources, like guest speakers for the gifted program. Kindergarten and first-grade students now will receive standards-based report cards.
For the first time since 2008, the state allocated money — $11,480 — for Madison’s gifted program, which includes 689 students. “The state keeps cutting our funds, and we have to pull up the slack,” board member Connie Spears said.
The board approved policy for self-reporting arrest or conviction. “If an incident occurs as a reportable event, the employee should notify the superintendent within three days,” personnel coordinator John Jones said.
This school year, the City of Madison will furnish 13 school crossing guards for $83,855.91. The city also will provide eight special resource officers (SRO) from Madison Police Department at a cost of $250,286.40. The school board also will pay up to $10,000 for expenses for officers to attend the Alabama Association of SROs Summer Conference.
