Photos by Alison James
Jessica Cummings, a kindergarten teacher at West Elementary School, works with Tyde Boyd to create the letter A out of connecting blocks. The lesson, in addition to focusing on crating and recognizing the letter A, focused on fine motor skills.

By Alison James

alison.james@fct.wpengine.com

Russellville City Schools Superintendent Heath Grimes and Franklin County Schools Superintendent Gary Williams had the same thought on the beginning of the school – everything has begun well.
“It seems there’s a lot of excitement from our teachers, faculty and staff,” said Grimes, who came in with energy and excitement himself at the beginning of the summer following Rex Mayfield’s retirement. “The start of the school year is always exciting for me because I’m very passionate about what I do. I’ve been in classrooms and visited the lunchroom to eat with a group of middle-schoolers,”
Williams similarly takes the time at the beginning of the school year to mix and mingle in the hallways of county schools. Greater interaction with students and teachers is what he said he misses most about being in central office instead of the classroom.
Williams pointed to a busy summer prior to the first day of school.
“We had 17 people retire this past year,” he said. “I think we’ve had over 40 personnel changes – the most I can ever remember.”
RCS also has new people in place across the system, and Grimes said he sees them as “awesome fits” in their new roles.
“I think we hired a lot of awesome talent and moved some talent to key positions. Everyone seems to be fitting in pretty well,” Grimes said. “(We have) great leaders across the system. We’ve laid out the vision I have here, and they are working hard to make sure we meet that and students get everything they deserve.”
Of course, every new school year comes with its own set of challenges, and the beginning of school can be a complicated time. But with no major issues, back-to-school seems to have gone smoothly in Russellville and Franklin County.
“We’re looking forward to a great school year,” Williams said.