After Amendment One passed with more than 70% of Alabama voters supporting it, Franklin County Schools Superintendent of Education Greg Hamilton promised transparency as the system considers what to do with approximately 389 valuable acres of Section 16 land located at the Interstate 22/Alabama 13 intersection in Walker and Fayette Counties.
Amendment One's approval by voters means the Franklin County Board of Education will be able to sell and/or lease the property with all proceeds coming back into Franklin County Schools.
Recent developments at I-22 intersections in the area have included a Love's Truck Stop in Jasper along with retail development. Based on the asking price of adjacent lands, the sale of the school system's property could bring in tens of millions of dollars.
At a special-called December 10th meeting, the board approved Hamilton's recommendation of a 13-person Section 16 Land Committee to oversee all matters related to the management and/or sale of the Fayette and Walker County lands.
The committee includes two Franklin County Schools employees, and 11 stakeholders representing each of the county's 10 schools. Committee members include: Justin Baker, Alan Bostick, David Britton, Johnny Cleveland, Chris Fretwell, Jason Harris, Paul Humphres, Abby Madden, Jarred Pierce, Steven Smith, Rick Suddith, Lori Tompkins and Chris Williams.
“The committee will meet at the discretion of the superintendent on matters pertaining to the management of Franklin County Schools' Section 16 land located in Fayette and Walker County,” Hamilton said.
“We are blessed to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to possibly secure the financial stability of the Franklin County School System for many, many years. I am not going to squander this opportunity,” Hamilton added.
It was simply good fortune that these Section 16 lands would end up right in the path of a major east-west interstate corridor linking Memphis to Atlanta. And with that good fortune comes a responsibility to maximize the long-term benefit to the system, as Hamilton explained.
Hamilton told board members he had been in contact with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which managed the land prior to the passage of Amendment One, and the agency is working on preparing a deed that will give the school system complete autonomy as to the land.
Hamilton said some of the land is leased, although none of those leases exceed five years.
The committee will be non-voting, but will meet to listen to what the board considers as it relates to the Section 16 lands. Ultimately, the board of education remains the voting body, though.
In other agenda items, the board:
--approved the employment of Keslie Garrett, Career Coach, Franklin County Schools, effective January 6, 2025, Emma Whitfield, temporary special education teacher, Red Bay Elementary School, and Abby Ward, elementary teacher, Tharptown Elementary, effective January 6, 2025.
--approved the transfer of Randy Hester, from bus driver at Phil Campbell to bus driver at Vina High School, Jerome Morgan, from bus driver at Tharptown to bus driver at Phil Campbell and Billy Fell, from bus driver for bus #19-31 to bus driver for bus #19-28 at Phil Campbell Schools.
