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With a thriving industrial base and a revitalized historic downtown, business in booming in Fort Payne, Alabama. Join Jennifer McCurdy, executive director of the Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce, as she visits with the people who are moving this progressive city forward.
Episode 17- Bryan Jett.mp3
Narrator: [00:00:01] Business is booming from the small mom and pops to the big industries. Our local businesses drive our economy and provide the products, services and jobs we depend on. Our host Jennifer [00:00:15] McCurdy, brings us these stories as she visits with the business owners and leaders of Fort Payne and DeKalb County, Alabama. And now here's Jennifer.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:00:25] Well, today we have Brian Jett, superintendent of the Fort Payne City School Systems [00:00:30] with us for Business is Booming. Thanks for joining us today.
Brian Jett: [00:00:33] Glad to be here. Very excited about this. Want to talk about our school system. Anytime I can talk about the school system, that's what I love.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:00:40] Well, that's what we want to learn more about. I know y'all got a lot going on right now, some [00:00:45] new initiatives and some other things maybe that you've been doing and you're doing a really good job at that maybe people aren't aware of. So why don't you talk about some things that are happening?
Brian Jett: [00:00:53] Well, probably want to start with growth. Growth is kind of how we look at everything, especially [00:01:00] when we're looking at our facilities. So we started out several years ago. We kind of knew that Williams Avenue is a 54 built in 1954. So we kind [00:01:15] of knew that we were either going to have to renovate there or we're going to have to move that school or something was going to have to happen. So the city comes in, they do the bond issue, we wind up getting $20 million out of that bond. So we build Little [00:01:30] Ridge. One of the biggest things that I've been able to take away from that is being able to move fifth grade out of the middle school and putting it with three, four and five together for Little Ridge Intermediate School. The [00:01:45] public, the community really liked that. They had always said they wanted fifth grade some way out of the middle school. It lowers the number for the middle school. It gets that elementary grade out of the middle school. So [00:02:00] it was a win win for everyone. So by doing that, that took third and fourth grade away from Williams Avenue.
Brian Jett: [00:02:06] So now you have Little Ridge three, 4 or 5, and then you have Williams Avenue. We didn't have anything. We kind of know what we want to do there. So we've started [00:02:15] with pre K, so we pulled pre K out of Wills Valley. Pre K is at Williams Avenue right now with around 155 students. We want that to grow and that may even grow into maybe [00:02:30] a four year olds as well one day and then maybe into three year olds. So that's kind of what's going on at Williams Avenue. If you haven't seen it, you need to take a look at it. We have went in and we use a lot of our what we call Esser [00:02:45] money, you would call it Covid money, probably close to well, at least half a million, right up to date. We're probably going to do a little bit more. We took the library totally out. It's turned into kind [00:03:00] of a little city in there where kids can play. We've redone the hallways in October of this year. They'll come in and they're going to take out all the existing 1954 windows out of the entire facility. [00:03:15]
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:03:15] That's a huge undertaking.
Brian Jett: [00:03:16] It'll be a huge undertaking. That's around another $450,000. So we'll have new windows, better energy efficient school. The school is great. It's still in really good condition. So we wanted to keep it in our [00:03:30] school system. And it's a perfect place for pre-K.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:03:32] Yes, it is perfect.
Brian Jett: [00:03:34] And it took the that that population out of Wills Valley and put it down to Williams Avenue. So that's working out great right now. We do bus some of our high school classes there [00:03:45] just because the high school, unfortunately, is where we have the largest growth right now and we're behind there. Williams Avenue. We can grow at Williams Avenue, Wills Valley. Now we have extra space at Wills Valley because [00:04:00] we took pre-K out so we can still grow there and be comfortable. Wouldn't have to add any more classrooms or anything like that. Little Ridge. We have space up there that we can grow. Fort Payne Middle School. We have space where we can grow because we took fifth grade out of the middle school. So [00:04:15] all of that K pre-K through eight is all set now for more growth, hopefully more industry into the city. Yes, we hope more growth. So the high school is kind of where we're a little bit behind. We were not expecting that. [00:04:30] I think this year we have around a 1105 students at Fort Payne High School. So back when I started 28 years ago, the school was probably around 750.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:04:44] Total for the whole school [00:04:45] for the whole school?
Brian Jett: [00:04:45] For the entire nine through 12 round. 750. Okay. So now just a few years ago, we were around 950-960, and now we're 1105 or 10 [00:05:00] kids. So we're building the BEAT center right now. So I'm very excited about that. That's Building Electrical Aviation Technology Center. So we're going to have a aviation drone classes, green car rechargeable battery classes [00:05:15] and a construction pathway. I love all three of them, but.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:05:19] Much needed.
Brian Jett: [00:05:20] Much needed, much needed.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:05:21] So construction is your favorite? Probably.
Brian Jett: [00:05:25] Probably. So. And I'll kind of tell you why. I love Steve Black. I wouldn't want him to think I'm not giving [00:05:30] him any love because of the aviation drone is.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:05:32] Well, his program at the school now is phenomenal.
Brian Jett: [00:05:35] It's phenomenal.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:05:36] All the kids that go there. That's right.
Brian Jett: [00:05:38] That's right. They all love it. So Rebecca Mason, we've hired her on. She'll really take [00:05:45] the lead in the TV production classes. So that'll kind of leave Steve to do a little bit of TV production, but really concentrate on on drone classes. Okay. So, so in January, [00:06:00] if everything works out well and we're able to get into that building, he'll kind of move totally into drone and do a little bit of a TV production. So with the drone classes, he's going to teach those kids. They're going to have [00:06:15] FAA certification when they leave the class. So they'll be able to fly a drone commercially for businesses or whatever that may be. We want to get into payload delivery.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:06:29] I don't know what that is. [00:06:30] Okay.
Brian Jett: [00:06:30] So payload delivery, that's where you're going to have a drone for probably Amazon one day, Walmart and other large retailers. They're going to deliver those packages by drone [00:06:45] to your doorstep. That's kind of what we're foreseeing, right? We have that drone already. We can do that. There's other neat little pathways out of that where the drone is infrared drone, where it can pick up infrared [00:07:00] signatures in buildings and things of that nature.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:07:04] Military or law enforcement?
Brian Jett: [00:07:06] So we're hoping to maybe partner with the city on that side of it a little bit and maybe get some of our kids hired. Work [00:07:15] for the city and vice versa. Things of that nature. So that's that's the drone classes. The green car classes. That's going to kind of evolve as we go. We're going to we're going to have a a green car kit where they're putting together a [00:07:30] green car that's totally battery operated, but it's actual car. They're going to build it. So that's going to be the start of that class. But it'll kind of go in a lot of directions.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:07:42] How do you find for the green car, instructors [00:07:45] for those programs?
Brian Jett: [00:07:48] Well, we have the aviation drone instructor. We don't really have the green car instructor right now. We're kind of in the process of we found 2 or 3 that might might fit that mold, [00:08:00] but we're not totally to that portion yet. Hopefully, November, December is when we'll be able to hire for that and then open up those classes in January. So like I said, my favorite pathway of the three and I say this [00:08:15] because I have so many friends that are in construction, so we're going to build tiny houses and we're going to we're going to teach the construction from from the ground up, plumbing, electrical, drywall. [00:08:30] So really what we want to happen here is we're going to we've we've pretty much found the instructor we believe in the coming months that we'll probably be able to hire. That'll be a 12 month employee. They're going to work year round for [00:08:45] us even in the summertime. So what we want is think of this as a sports team. So real good sports teams have great interaction with their coaches. Okay, you [00:09:00] follow me a little bit. So we want outside construction people to come in and maybe a master electrician and maybe teach a unit on electricity and to get to know the kids. Same [00:09:15] thing for plumbing, same thing for just general construction. We want we want these people to get to know our kids. And then just like in coaching, just like with sports, when the kids get comfortable with you, they want to talk to you and kind of really [00:09:30] learn things from you. Okay, are you with me?
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:09:32] I am.
Brian Jett: [00:09:33] Okay, So when that happens, then we're hoping by the time they're junior and definitely their senior year, we want them to maybe do a co- op or some type of internship where they're going out and working on [00:09:45] the actual job sites. So that's kind of that's what we're hoping to start funneling those students. And hey, if they want to do a two year degree out at Northeast and specialize into something, we're up for that, too. Yes. But we're trying [00:10:00] to get these kids to replenish an aging workforce.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:10:05] That is. Yes, 100%. Construction is there's not enough even plumbing. Electrical. That's right. And I think anyone listening can say and there's big money. There's [00:10:15] yeah, there's a lot of money in it. I mean, especially since there's there's a lack of availability of people willing to do it, I would say. So and I think the mindset of the parents need to or it's kind of it is starting to change. You know, there was a period you and I know college, right? But [00:10:30] remember when we were in school there we go to college, go to college, but now it's just you don't have to. I mean, there's so many.
Brian Jett: [00:10:37] You can make a really good living.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:10:38] Oh, 100%. And not even.
Brian Jett: [00:10:40] I'm very passionate about that pathway because I think we can see immediate [00:10:45] results. And I think we can we can have our contractors come back and say, hey, this is a huge impact right off the bat. That's really what I see. Now, the other two pathways, I think are the future. [00:11:00] Big time future pathways.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:11:02] They are.
Brian Jett: [00:11:02] But I think it will take a little bit a little bit longer to see kind of the fruits of that labor. But the construction pathway, I think we can see immediate results there because kind [00:11:15] of taking the mindset of the of the coaching of when kids become comfortable with adults and they're learning from the adults and they believe in what the adult is trying to teach them, all of it flows [00:11:30] so much better. The reason I believe that is we have a huge our graduation rates around 98%. Our college and career readiness certification that's around in the 90s, 92 to [00:11:45] 94 somewhere in there. So we're keeping the kids and they're interested in what we're trying to show them, whether it's health care, robotics, engineering, culinary TV production, [00:12:00] some of our older ag pathways which are still viable, right? So they like what we're offering.
Brian Jett: [00:12:08] And I just think these three new pathways are going to go off the chart and they're going to be very excited [00:12:15] about them as well about those as well. So we try to survey the kids and kind of get a little feel of what they want to do as well. So the BEAT Center is going to be huge for Fort Payne City schools and Fort Payne High School. A [00:12:30] little bit about the building itself. So the building itself is 12,000 square foot. The entire building is severe weather rated. It's a storm shelter. Even the roll up doors are FEMA certified. So you [00:12:45] could stand in one of the construction bays and so we could put the entire campus could fit in that building. Now, we will not do that just because of probably three fourths of the campus will go to that building. The other [00:13:00] fourth of campus, which would be in the gym, in the band hall and field house or athletic area down there. They're probably going to the basement of the gym reaction time, you know, like Little Ridge, an entire [00:13:15] wing of little, Little Ridge is a storm shelter.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:13:20] That's great, though. You have to think of those things now when you're building our.
Brian Jett: [00:13:23] New facilities that we're building. We're adding the storm shelter component and that a lot of that is [00:13:30] state regulations as well. But we're doing that as locally as well. So it's a win win. You know, you can have your all these pathways in there, these classes in there, but also have it where you can be really, really, really safe and your children [00:13:45] can be really safe.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:13:46] Which is appreciated. Yeah. So something you added last year was a full time career coach. Can you talk about what their role is in the school system? I'm a huge advocate and fan of having career coaches [00:14:00] in the schools. I think they're very beneficial and I'd love to hear more about what they're doing at Fort Payne.
Brian Jett: [00:14:04] So our career coaches. That's kind of an evolution there. It will kind of grow the more and more it's out there. So [00:14:15] we're trying to to take that person and to allow them to connect our students with job opportunities, maybe even college [00:14:30] opportunities. So so they're kind of the liaison to make sure we're exposing our kids, especially our seniors, but preferably before their senior year, because if we can get them exposed to something, [00:14:45] then we can put them in a pathway where they could, you know, I to take me, for example, let's say that I wanted to be in the health care pathway. Oh, I'm a freshman. I want to go in the health care pathway, Put me in there my my sophomore year, my 10th grade [00:15:00] year. "What's bodily fluids? Why am I having to deal with bodily fluids? What's I don't like blood?" I'm figuring out instead of when I'm spending mom and dad's dollars. Right. As a freshman or sophomore in college or maybe [00:15:15] even a junior in college, I figure out early on as a high schooler, Hey, that's not for me.
[00:15:22] Yep. We did have a Fort Payne student last year who job shadowed through with the Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce, partnered with [00:15:30] Fort Payne City schools and the career coach for job shadowing opportunities. And the the young lady did a job shadowing in the medical field and loved it. And now they're in the medical field. So but sometimes they may discover this is not for [00:15:45] me, but there's other opportunities. So it gives it gives them a chance to firsthand see what it's like, real time experience. And something else that Fort Payne is you have dual enrollment with Northeast Alabama Community College.
Brian Jett: [00:15:59] So dual [00:16:00] enrollment is huge. And. Northeast has been a great partner for us. Whether it's just your regular core classes or career technical. And [00:16:15] we want to continue that partnership and for it to grow more and more as the years go by. We also have what is called early college. So you have your dual enrollment, [00:16:30] all that's on campus, but you have early college and there's there's ten of those scholarships a year that we they're actually scholarships through the Fort Payne City Schools. So as a junior, you may decide to do [00:16:45] early college. It's a very competitive we only choose ten. They do not come on our campus anymore. They go solely to Northeast. It would not have been for me. It would not have been for my oldest daughter sports. So she wanted to be on campus. [00:17:00] She wanted the campus life. She wanted to know what was going on. She played volleyball. She played basketball. So that's not who you're looking for there. This is someone that knows what they want to do educationally wise. They're not really totally [00:17:15] into athletics or band or something like that, but they want to do the total college thing early on. It's great. You can knock out a lot of classes. A lot of it is free. I think Northeast takes care of a lot [00:17:30] of the books and everything on that. So we do. We do that as well.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:17:33] But you I know you've had students graduate with an associate's degree from Northeast as well as their degree from Fort Payne at the same time.
Brian Jett: [00:17:42] That's right.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:17:43] It's phenomenal. That's not for me either. But [00:17:45] students that know what they want to do and are that driven to be into the workforce and doing something productive. It's great for those students.
Brian Jett: [00:17:52] It's great for those students, and it's really good for the parents checkbook as well.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:17:57] Yes, it is.
Brian Jett: [00:17:58] So that can help their a lot. So [00:18:00] I don't we advertise that it's not for everyone, but it is for a portion of our population. I really think that's what we we pride ourselves on, and especially at Fort Payne High School, [00:18:15] is we pride ourselves on trying to have a niche for everyone in the school.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:18:21] You do a great job at that with your pathways, right? I think and that's one thing about the one of the many about the Fort Payne City school system that I love. [00:18:30] There are so many resources there and so many options for students. I'm just so diverse and I love that every student doesn't fit into the same mold and there's options. So that's appreciated and noticed.
Brian Jett: [00:18:42] So for 13 years I had [00:18:45] a secret statistic. And it was if you were involved in two extracurricular activities. Your grades were phenomenal. You had zero discipline and [00:19:00] your attendance was really good. Any time we could get the population of the of the high school to hit about 80% or better on that to be involved in two things. And you think, well, I [00:19:15] don't know what you're saying. Well, here's someone that's in the band, but they're in culinary. Right. Okay. Are there in JROTC.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:19:23] There is a phenomenal program to the JROTC.
Brian Jett: [00:19:26] You know, if you're involved in two extracurricular activities [00:19:30] and we have so many to pick from when you could do that, the student was so successful. And that's what we always strive for, is trying to get them into to no matter what, whether it was a [00:19:45] robotics competition or basketball, whatever it was, if we had them involved in those two things, they were going to be very successful and we were able to expose them to a lot of educational [00:20:00] opportunities.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:20:02] I can say that, and I agree with that. I know my daughter is into. That's right. She's driven anyway, I think a lot of students in that are involved in two things are driven just in general. You what you say So yeah. So [00:20:15] something else I wanted to mention. We've briefly talked about it because it's not on the podcast, but it's brand new. Is our senior collective, senioryearcollective.com website. The chamber has developed and it's in [00:20:30] partnership with our businesses in the community, and it's a platform for all of DeKalb County seniors, which there's over 780 DeKalb County seniors. They can access that website. They can find career readiness opportunities, excellent job shadowing, [00:20:45] internships, jobs. What else is on there? Volunteerism. A lot of some schools within the county, they don't have as many resources and options and avenues as we do at Fort Payne High School. Yeah, a lot of our clubs.
Brian Jett: [00:20:58] We need those volunteer hours, right. [00:21:00]
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:21:00] But that's great. And the county schools also may not have the clubs necessarily to to tap into that. So we're hoping to give all students an opportunity. And with that, I mean, you know as well as I do, there are some students that just stand out in the class and they take [00:21:15] advantage of things and they're students that maybe want to do so, but they're maybe don't have the voice to do so. Maybe their parents aren't as vocal and aren't pushing them as much as others, but they really want to get involved. So hopefully they'll access this website, find helpful resources, [00:21:30] get involved.
Brian Jett: [00:21:31] I mean, we're going to make sure we have that link on our website as well.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:21:34] Yes, we're I mean, it's so brand new. So but also we'll have workshops and things like that to maybe help develop some leadership skills within people who solve skills. Yeah. And [00:21:45] just like sometimes you're a C student, but you're still great, you're going to make something of yourself and we want to tap into your qualities and what you can do best and make sure that you're reaching the goals that's attainable for you. So senior year collective.com [00:22:00] it's new so the resources on there right now we don't have a ton but it is growing and the more businesses and that are involved in that and posting on that website, the more our students will have opportunities. So we we [00:22:15] are so thankful for Fort Payne High School and we thank you for all you do anytime. So one thing to end on, you mentioned that you need to see more facility growth at the high school level. Do you see that happening any time soon?
Brian Jett: [00:22:29] It's going to happen. We're [00:22:30] we're in the process of our gym right now, our genome will hold around 850 to 900 individuals. Well, I just told you earlier, there's [00:22:45] 1105 to 10 kids Fort Payne High School, plus another 100 faculty members. So we need a gymnasium that would hold everyone to upgrade to a 6A classification. [00:23:00] So I feel as though we're trying to move towards a new high school, an updated library type setting. I'm sure we're going to look at some more STEM type pathways. We would love to have an updated physics lab, [00:23:15] a more updated chemistry lab, some virtual augmented lab settings where we can simulate some things in different areas, whether it be chemistry, physics, biology, things [00:23:30] of that nature. That's kind of where we're moving. And it's about a $20 million build that that we're looking. We found the architect that we want to use. So it'll be something coming in [00:23:45] the next few years.
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:23:46] Yes, that will be wonderful. So we'll be looking for more information on that.
Brian Jett: [00:23:50] That's right..
Jennifer McCurdy: [00:23:51] Good deal. Well, thanks for all you do. And thanks for joining me. Having me. Yeah. Thank you so much. I enjoyed it. Thanks.
Narrator: [00:23:57] You've been listening to Business is Booming, [00:24:00] a podcast brought to you by Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce. The host is chamber Director Jennifer McCurdy, executive producer Stephen V. Smith. Our engineer is Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studios. Business [00:24:15] is Booming is a production of Rare Life Media.