FULL CIRCLE: Ashley Walls, first Boaz graduate to lead city school system, enjoying her new job

By DONNA THORNTON, Editor

Ashley Walls has come full circle. She’s a graduate of Boaz High School — and a proud alum of its cheer program — who pursued her higher education at Snead State, Auburn University and the University of Montevallo, and received her doctorate in education at the University of Alabama.

She taught first at Etowah, then moved to the Birmingham area before coming back to Boaz.

You might say the Boaz City Schools have come full circle, too, since the system’s formation in 2003-04.

“I am the first Pirate to lead the Pirate ship. I do not take that lightly,” Walls said. “I’m very proud to be a Pirate.”

Prior to moving back to Boaz, Walls served as assistant principal at Oak Mountain High School, which serves about 2,700 students.

“It was as large as Boaz City Schools,” Walls said. After having two children, being closer to grandparents seemed like a good idea, so Walls and family moved. She became assistant principal at the high school, then principal at Corley and for the last 13 or 14 years, she had worked in the central office as director of teaching and learning.

This summer, Superintendent Todd Haynie announced he was leaving the school system to take the assistant superintendent’s job with Oxford City Schools. Walls was tasked to head the district in the interim, and in August she was named Superintendent of Boaz City Schools.

Walls said she and her husband had talked about how their daughters could graduate from Oak Mountain – a great school system. “But it runs differently than the City of Boaz does, and I wanted my children to have a well-balanced approach, where people just take your kids in and love them.”

Numbers

Walls provided a lot of numbers, speaking recently to the Boaz Rotary Club, relating to the school’s K-12 students. The numbers, exact on the day Walls spoke to Rotarians, but fluctuating from day to day, included these: 410 faculty and staff members – 10% of that being the Hispanic population. 

“They are growing in terms of employment – persons who might not look like me, and we’re excited about that,” she said. “We’re open to that opportunity because obviously we … serve lots of kinds of students. We are actively looking for all kinds of people to lead our school.”

Looking at school demographics, Walls noted that the schools have 564 students who qualify as English Language Learners. She said that does not include students who speak English at school, then go to a Spanish-speaking home. She said they probably have 60% of students speak Spanish at home but score high enough that they don’t need ELL services.

“If you went to Boaz, and you think Boaz looks like it did when you went there, I would advise you to come walk around with me. It does not look the same,” she said, “but it’s go so many more creative things just flowing through it that’s awesome in a different way.”

Enrollment is 2,532 students, down 100 students from last year – a trending number in this area. The school system has five campuses and has purchased land for future projects.

“We’re in the process of looking at building something, whether it be a brand, new high school or what it is we haven’t officially decided,” Walls said. While she said there’s been talk a new high school will be built, “we’re looking at what best fits those kids. It might be a a high school, but it might be something else.”

There are plans drawn up she said. “The question is, does that meet our needs. We’re asking questions, as to whether that’s what it needs to look like 10 years down the road. I don’t want build a high school and spend the money we currently have to build and it not fit 10 years down the road.”

The school district has 16 National Board certified teachers – teachers who’ve successfully completed a rigorous process that is very difficult and takes about a year and a half, she said.

Walls said she’s often asked about school finances: “We are very financially sound in Boaz City Schools,” she said. The system currently has five months’ operating costs in reserve; “We’re required to have one,” she said, praising Chief Schools Financial Officer Greg Maples for doing an excellent job managing school funds.

“We are in great shape to grow things. We want to be good stewards of our money,” Walls said. She also gets questions about what the system has done, and she listed some things:

• Recently completed tennis courts

• Turfed athletic fields

• Flooring in library media centers

• Garbage cans at athletic facilities

• Sound systems at athletic facilities

• Restrooms at softball/baseball/track (almost finished)

• Purchased band equipment

For the future: Everything is getting paved. Walls said people will have to get find other ways to get around for a while, but the projects will increase parking and include building a road between the Middle School and Butler Avenue. “So stay tuned, that’s coming,” she said, and without losing any practice field space.

Reserved parking space at the stadium will be doubled, all elementary schools will be getting paving work and probably some fences around playgrounds at elementary schools.

The high school has 694 students, Walls said, and 651 of them are enrolled in a career-tech education class — pathway courses for the students’ futures. Educators work with students, she said, to choose pathways, and to find another pathway if one is not working out.

“I don’t know how many in nursing have found they were scared of blood,” she said. Walls said her daughter in 10th grade started in a medical pathway and found it was not for her; she changed to education.

“Thank goodness we didn’t do that in her sophomore year at Snead, right?” she said.

BHS has 53 students who attend the Marshall County Technical School daily and five who attend the new Snead State Community College Workforce Development Center.

There are courses offered that people may not know about: Medical terminology (full of Latin phrases and terms that help out on SATs); hospitality and tourism, forensics, sports officiating, advanced agriscience (there are talks with NASA about horticulture in space), health sciences, dual enrollment and Advanced Placement courses.

“You can take our chemistry culinary course, and it counts as your chemistry credit,” Walls said. “They get to bake and it counts as chemistry.”

Previously, students had to choose to take AP classes or dual enrollment. After talking to Dean Van Scott at Snead State, changes have been made so that BHS students have four classes they can take that will count for both advanced programs.

“We’re trying to provide as many on and off ramps for a kid as they want,” Walls said. “There are lots of opportunities.”

“We start in January in the eighth grade year. They come in and pick a pathway. Mom comes in and picks a pathway and they argue about it. They decide on something,” she said. In ninth grade, they have a chance to choose again.

“We’re really trying to make high school flexible, but at the same time not to lose all that parts of high school that you loved, too — the pep rallies and homecomings.”

The schools’ year-to-date attendance rate on the day Walls spoke to the club was 95.39%, an increase of 0.28%. Attendance rates are used in calculating school report cards and funding.

Walls said the district’s rate sits at about 87%, and from the numbers she has run, it will be hard for BCS to achieve an A-score. “I think I can get us to 88 or 89,” she said. But based on the formulas used to calculate the score – formulas the school district can’t control – the best-case scenario is about an 89. “An 87 is good for us,” she said. Though she wants and A grade, “we’re proud of that 87.”

Chronic absenteeism is calculated on 16 absences a year, and it does not matter if the absences are excused. If the absences are all for doctor’s appointments, they are still counted against the schools.

And it’s not just health-related: Walls said Boaz has a nationally recognized cheerleading squad. Those cheerleaders mixed five days of school in February and it was counted against the chronic absenteeism rate, even though they were on an athletic field trip.

“When I tell you I can’t math it any more than the way I’m mathing it — there are somethings I’m not going to take away from the kids to make my A happen.”

When the football team left school early to go to Russellville for the state playoffs, that, too, counted against the absenteeism rate. “But kudos to them, they made the state playoffs,” she said.

Walls said a proud accomplishment for her was bringing Lauren Ray in as head of communications for the school system. She said social media participation has increased by 30% this school year – averaging 2,450 engagements on Facebook and Instagram weekly with 410 direct shares each week. “That’s getting the message out pretty well,” she said.

There are countries the schools have social media engagement with weekly, through comments, likes, dislikes, or shares: USA – 98%; Indonesia – .6%; Guatemala – .2%; Brazil – .1%; India – .1%; and Mexico – .1%.

“In our 2nd and 3rd grade school, with about 210 (students) per grade, we speak 24 languages – 24. Some of those are unidentified. People don’t understand if they haven’t been in Boaz City Schools in a while,” Walls said.

Walls provided a demographic breakdown of the school population:

Female students – 1,256

Male students – 1,276

American Indian/Alaskan Native students – 29

Asian students – 12

Black/African American students – 114

Hispanic students – 260

Middle Eastern/North African students – 2

Multi – 927 students

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students – 41

White students – 1,147

English Language Learners – 564

Homeless students – 203

Ashley Walls works with students in a Boaz classroom. The Boaz High School graduate is the first Boaz superintendent who went through the city schools as a student herself. She’s been on the job as the leader of the school district for a few months and has enjoyed the work. BOAZ CITY SCHOOLS