This past Friday, the Hartselle Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual State of the Schools breakfast at Hartselle First Methodist Church. The event gave Hartselle City Schools superintendent Brian Clayton the opportunity to address those in attendance and outline the progress Hartselle City Schools have made over the past academic year, as well as vision casting for the future.  

Clayton began his presentation by outlining his vision for Hartselle City Schools, which he said is to inspire and prepare all students for learning, leadership, and life. “If we keep the main thing, that teacher and student in the classroom every day and give them our support, we will be successful with our mission,” he said.  

As part of his presentation, Clayton outlined a number of highlights from the 2022-23 academic year. Some of which were attendance rates for all HCS schools over ninety percent, ranking number one in college and career readiness among public schools, continued improvement in ACT scores and the strength of HCS’s career and technical education program. 

On the future of HCS, Clayton said, “The difficult job that we have in Hartselle is when things are really good, how do you improve upon them? I think it comes with a mindset, which our staff, faculty and administration has, is to continue not to be satisfied with where you are.”  

Clayton added that he would like to see HCS continue to do the things that have gotten the system to where it is, but also continue to try and improve. In this respect, Clayton emphasized addressing the continued mental health crisis facing the nation and focusing on new ways to address the needs of the students.  

“In Hartselle our kids work hard, our teachers work hard, and our administrators work hard. And we’re going to continue to try to do that,” Clayton said. “Our students represent the leaders for tomorrow. When I first got here we established a student advisory group and they come and meet with me once a quarter and they have been a great encouragement to me.” 

The event was sponsored by Redstone Federal Credit Union, Hartselle Enquirer, Cerrowire and Sonoco. Additional sponsorships were provided by Hartselle Utilities, JT Ray Company, Alabama Education Association, The Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind and Bailey Harris Construction.