Marion County Schools

WINFIELD — Winfield City Schools are partnering with Marion County Schools to allow students from Brilliant and Marion County high schools to attend career tech classes on Winfield’s campus.
Students will travel to the high school for two periods during the day, and then travel back to their school. These classes are currently meeting at the high school, but will be moved to the new facility located in the old SITEL building once it is fully completed and approved for use.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
MARION COUNTY — Alabama schools are preparing for new rules that will see third graders who fail the reading portion of the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program test held back a grade.
In 2019, the Alabama Literacy Act was established to improve the reading proficiency of public school kindergarten through third grade students and to ensure those students are able to read at or above grade level by the end of the third grade.

MARION COUNTY — Marion County schools took safety precautions last Thursday, April 27, after social media response to a threat made on social media towards a school in another county.
Earlier last week, threats were made against Phil Campbell High School in Franklin County.  
According to Marion County Schools Superintendent Ann West, even though Phil Campbell is not in Marion County, someone created a post on the social media app Snapchat to say that children should not be in school that day because of the threats to Phil Campbell.

By P.J. Gossett
General Manager
MARION COUNTY — Standardized test scores have been released for the 2021-2022 school year for the entire state regarding public schools. Students took the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program, along with the college-entry ACT test. The data is available online for each school or for comparison to other schools or districts.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
MARION COUNTY — An Alabama law prohibiting transgender K-12 students from using the bathroom which aligns with their gender identity, while also prohibiting discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation, is now law and will be up for vote as a new rule for schools in the state this week.
While the law came into effect in April of this year, The Alabama Board of Education voted whether or not to implement the new law as a rule for schools in the state.

By Louis Mellini and
Luke Brantley
Staff writers
MARION COUNTY — This round of COVID-19 outbreak has seen a noticible uptick in cases among younger people throughout the nation, putting strains on school systems throughout the country.
Marion County Superintendent  of Education Ann West and Winfield City Schools Superintendent of Education Randy Thomley spoke to the Journal Record concerning the recent spread of COVID affecting their respective schools.

Marion County Schools’ seniors were awarded approximately $1,729,460 in scholarship money this year.
The amount is the collective pool of 219 graduating students across five high schools in the Class of 2021, including Brilliant High School, Hackleburg High School, Hamilton High School, Marion County High School in Guin and Phillips High School in Bear Creek.
At Brilliant High, 21 graduating seniors were awarded $428,000 in scholarships.
Thirty-nine seniors at Hackleburg  High were awarded a total of $155,520 in scholarships.

By Scott Johnson
Managing Editor

All students enrolled in Marion County and Winfield City schools will continue to eat free breakfast and lunch through the 2020-2021 school year, according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Traditional and virtual students have been able to eat free meals throughout the pandemic year. That benefit will continue through May of 2022.