Pell City High School

Pell City High School does a great job offering students a variety of courses that prepare them for college and their careers. Pell City offers Project Lead the Way Biomedical and Engineering classes, Health Science and Sports Medicine classes, VoAg classes, Career Tech classes and a variety of Core courses ranging from general education to Advanced Placement. In addition to the courses offered, there are numerous activities that students can become involved in including athletics, a wonderful band, an amazing JROTC program (#1 in the state), and a variety of service, academic, and competitive clubs. The academic course work is rigorous and the teachers really care about their students. The administration does a wonderful job and are very good leaders. The guidance office does a great job helping students find scholarship opportunities and helping them set goals for their school careers. As with any high school, students are going to get out of it what they put in. For those striving to succeed, PCHS gives them every opportunity to do so. Go Panthers!

This school is working very hard to improve and provide learning opportunities for all students- not just the college-bound AP student. I believe the education a student has the OPPORTUNITY to earn at PCHS is second to none, but student apathy and lack of parental support for the school and the teachers/administration are the biggest hurdles here.

This school has not had a stable environment the past several years. There has been a high teacher turnover rate and low teacher morale. Very inconsistent discipline, a lot of fighting, bullying, open defiance to teachers, etc. The entire focus of the school has been on the football program. The bathrooms are filthy, the lunches are not edible. It has gone down hill. There are enough resources and funding for this school district. There is no excuse. Some of the teachers are very dedicated. The good teachers are unrecognized and appear to do the work of several people. There are some teachers who are extremely unprofessional. Nothing is done to address problems until a crisis occurs. The special education classes are overcrowded. Students cannot receive individual help. I would homeschool or go with private school.

The discipline at Pell City High School has deteriorated over the past 10 years substantially. The administrators from the superintendent down to the principal/vice principals will not crack the whip to get a grip on the situation. Instead they wish to brush it under the rug or take a "it's not really that bad" approach. The result is the discipline problem students are making things bad for the good students and the staff. Pell City at one time had good discipline but the administration has become too permissive and the result speaks for itself.

Also, the school is filthy. Although an addition or two has been completed the overall cleanliness of the facility is abysmal. That can be directly attributed to the lack of funding and prioritization given to custodial and maintenance in the district. If the saying, "appearance is everything" is true then it makes me ashamed to be from Pell City when visitors see the state of cleanliness at our schools and the lack of landscaping/maintenance. There is no excuse (including "lack of funds") for this condition---period. The BOE and the superintendent should get as interested in facility and grounds appearances as they do about trying to have a winning football team.

Pell City's focus on academics, nice facilities, and discipline ended when Dr. Nicholson and Dr. Jane Cobia left. All this administration and BOE is focused on is sports and lip service to problems.