Big changes coming to Gulf Shores City Schools

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -A wave of changes coming to Gulf Shores City Schools, in the form of a new ten-year plan.

It’s a plan that’s been sixteen months in the making. Tuesday night it was all unveiled.

A new high school campus was one of the new additions revealed in “The Next Wave” plan.

Along with a new home for Gulf Shores Middle and several renovations for Gulf Shores Elementary.

Superintendent Dr. Matt Akin says this is very important for the history of Gulf Shores City Schools as this plan will be impacting generations to come.

“Obviously a lot of planning has to do with capacity of existing buildings. Our middle school for example, has seen growth of about 16% this year,” Dr. Akin said. “And we’ve seen steady growth in all our schools. So this is about growth but it’s also about capacity for instruction.”

To keep up with all the growth in Gulf Shores a new high school campus is on the way.

With both the middle and high school at full capacity the superintendent says the need is there.

Robert Monk, who has grandchildren in the school system, agreed it’s time for some changes.

“These schools have been in need of some upgrades for several years now and just for a while it was routine maintenance,” Monk said. “This place is growing, the city is growing, the student age population is growing, so yes we definitely need some upgrades.”

Monk says he’s especially interested in seeing changes at the elementary school.

The Next Wave plan includes expansions and renovations to Gulf Shores Elementary, and the work has already started.

“We really have already started on infrastructure things, things that aren’t very sexy like HVAC and roofs,” Dr. Akin said. “But tonight we’re going to talk about instructional upgrades, making classrooms able to let our teachers teach and our students learn, like we think is important as they head into the future.”

Gulf Shores is one of the fastest-growing cities in Alabama so this is just one way that the city is keeping up with that growth.

Dr. Akin says this not only means something for the students but the community around them.

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