Staff Report
Alabama Political Reporter
Visitors are expected today in Decatur City Schools. They will get a polite, Southern welcome, but school officials aren’t looking forward to the visit.
State Department of Education representatives will be monitoring the school system to make sure it’s following state and federal regulations.
These visits every three years create a lot of additional work that educators dread.
But new state Superintendent Tommy Bice gave educators from Decatur, Hartselle and Madison hope for relief and more flexibility Monday during a speech to the Rotary Club of Decatur.
He said part of this relief would be to push for the end of or major changes to the federal No Child Left Behind law, a move that also drew educators’ applause. That included hinting that adequate yearly progress requirements in state accountability guidelines could disappear.
Bice said the state Department of Education has “become too bureaucratic and system driven.”
He wants the department to focus less on compliance enforcement and more on supporting local schools. He will present a department reorganization plan this week to the state Board of Education.
