Gulf Shores’ school feud with Baldwin County continues

Gulf Shores’ school feud with Baldwin County continues

Corcoran asks G.S. Council to pressure County for school safety upgrades

By John Mullen
Gulf Shores School Board President Kevin Corcoran told the Gulf Shores City Council that pressure needs to be applied to the Baldwin County Board of Education to complete work on the city schools which will be in the county system one more year.
“(Baldwin County School Superintendent) Mr. (Edie) Tyler has expressed it would not be fiduciarily responsible to spend taxpayer dollars within the city of Gulf Shores because we are transitioning away,” Corcoran said. “It’s irresponsible in my opinion because it’s our tax money. Citizens in this city will pay over $5 million just to the one-cent sales tax penny that they pledged toward capital improvements.
“We need to encourage them to employ their safety tactics, enclosing the walkway which he promised in March of this year well after we formed the city school board. We need to continue pressure on the Baldwin Board of Education.”
One of the major concerns after a facility audit on the three schools Gulf Shores will take over in 2019 was security on all three campuses, especially the elementary school.
“In my opinion, they wanted these students for another year so they darn sure need to take care of them,” Corcoran said. “And we need to push for safety measures at all three campuses. We’re getting inundated with emails and Facebook posts regarding the safety issues at the school with tragic occurrence from Sante Fe. Safety was one of the top issues on our minds and one of the most important reasons we wanted to start in 2018. Everyone knows we were denied that opportunity.”
As has been the case ever since the City of Gulf Shores abruptly decided to split from Baldwin County last September, the BCSD superintendent has a different take.
“We proposed construction and renovations to Gulf Shores and they chose to create their own school system. They are no longer part of the pay-as-you-go program and we have no additional funding available now,’’ Tyler said. “We have had numerous meetings over the past year and no time has Kevin Corcoran asked me to continue with the expansions nor have they offered to do any upgrades or enhancements as many other cities have done. If Mr. Corcoran or the Gulf Shores Superintendent would like to have a conversation with me I would be happy to speak with him.’’
On April 20, Alabama State Superintendent Dr. Ed Richardson released his decision that the Gulf Shores City Schools separation begin in 2019.
It was not until April 29 that the G.S. School Board announced that Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Matt Akin accepted the superintendent job. Akin, the Huntsville school superintendent for the previous 18 months, was the only candidate interviewed.
“In our meetings to directly resolve this with Gulf Shores, we have always taken the position of a 2019 separation date. We have always felt that this start was in the best interest of the student and teachers,’’ Tyler said at the time.
“With only one year to go, we will begin work towards the 2019 separation where we will wish Gulf Shores the best while also celebrating the opening the new state of the art facility for grades 7-12 in Orange Beach (see page 8 story). There are many details to discuss and we will work towards a final separation agreement quickly. We have committed to being transparent and we intend to be but we must do so in a responsible manner. ‘’