MAAAC & Orange Beach are providing unprecedented support for its three county schools

MAAAC & Orange Beach are providing unprecedented support for its three county schools
$10 million performing arts center just one of city’s collaborations with Baldwin County School District
With Orange Beach donating the land for the building and funding for a spectacular $10 million performing arts center scheduled to open on-campus this September, the Baldwin County School District completed construction of its first grade 7 to 12 school in 105 years when the Orange Beach middle and high schools opened this on Aug. 12.
Up until the 2018-19 school year, Orange Beach middle and high school students attended school in Gulf Shores.
But when the Baldwin County School Board announced plans to build a middle school in Orange Beach for both Orange Beach and Gulf Shores children and expand the campus at the current Gulf Shores Elementary School, Gulf Shores City Council immediately voted to form its own school system, creating an opportunity for Baldwin County to amend its building plans to also include a high school on the prime Canal Road parcel 40-acre parcel.
Mayor Tony Kennon and the entire Orange Beach City Council immediately announced that supporting the city’s schools would be a priority and immediately backed it up by announcing plans for the performing arts center.
“We are doing things here that have probably not been done, in very unique ways. And when you haven’t done it before it makes it a little difficult to make that change and I understand that,’’ Kennon said at the school opening.
Kennon added that Baldwin County schools and Superintendent Eddie Tyler fully welcomed the city’s involvement in its children’s educational opportunities.
“We’re going to be the best, we’re going to be innovative. We’re going to be the first out of the box. So, this is just the beginning of where we’re going,’’ Kennon said.
That collaboration between the Baldwin County schools and the City or Orange Beach also includes direct funding, capital improvements to its two campuses and support for Makos Academics, Arts & Athletics Club (MAAAC), the nonprofit whose mission statement is to raise funds that directly support and enhance children’s experiences in academics, arts, and athletics in the city.
All funds raised at the Feb. 27 Orange Beach Seafood Fest at The Wharf will directly support MAAAC.
While Orange Beach schools, like the 43 other schools in the Baldwin district, receive funding for athletics and band, most of those dollars are earmarked for transportation.
By stepping up, a bountiful city such as Orange Beach, partly through its support of MAAAC, can ensure that the needs of its three schools are met.
MAAAC was formed as soon as construction started on the new Orange Beach schools.
In addition to providing sports teams with equipment and resources, MAAAC sponsors cleanup initiatives, provides volunteers for events and has been authorized by the city to coordinate city funding for projects that directly support and enhance educational opportunities for Orange Beach children.
MAAAC raises its own funds through the Seafood Fest, an annual gala, business sponsors and a drawdown, and works directly with Orange Beach to help facilitate $775,000 in grant money the city made available to the city’s schools to enhance classroom, arts and athletic activities at this year.
OB Finance Director Ford Handley said the $775,000 is a “not to exceed” amount and all of it won’t necessarily be spent.
“It’s not a lump sum check,” Handley said in the Dec. 30 Mullet Wrapper. “They still have to bring us invoices and requests and then we’ll pay accordingly.”
In 2020, the city spent about $270,000 in grants through MAAAC, President Ryan Long said.
MAAAC coordinated a summer camp, funded a reading specialist, and handwriting books at OBES, football, volleyball and boys basketball camps, Leader In Me programs and classroom items for special needs classes.
Two groups were allocated about $300,000 each from the city to support schools in 2020. And the efforts have merged heading into 2021.
“Originally, we had MAAAC and OBEF (Orange Beach Education Foundation) which each had agreements with the city for a maximum amount of $300,000 each. Now it’s just MAAAC and the total includes other expenses like what we used to fund items at Orange Beach Elementary, middle and now high schools,” said OB administrator Ken Grimes in the Dec. 30 Wrapper.
School upgrades already funded by Orange Beach include about $2.3 million for baseball and softball field upgrades at the Sportsplex.
The city council voted in December to spend $50,000 for administrators’ supplements, with $5,000 going to Assistant Principal Wesley Pouncey, $7,000 to Middle School Principal Robbie Smith and $12,500 each to High School Principal Erika McCoy, Athletic Director Charlie Smith and Fine Arts Director Darren Butler.
Orange Beach’s School Board representative Robert Stuart, elected in November, was a volunteer in leadership positions with the Orange Beach Sports Association for 25 years and is one of the founders of the annual Seafood Festival (originally the Red Snapper Festival), along with the late Kenny Vines and others.