SHINING THE LIGHT ON SELMA AND DALLAS COUNTY, ALABAMA July 25, 2019 | Volume 4, Issue 26
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City leaders: Selma youth sports will continue BY CINDY FISHER Selma Sun Staff
After weeks of confusion over the future of Selma’s city youth sports leagues due to lack of funding, the city’s top leaders say the Parks and Recreation Department is operational and youth sports will continue. Fall football registration is expected to open on schedule, Mayor Darrio Melton told the Selma Sun. “It will be the same way it has always been,” he said. City Council President Corey Bowie told the Selma Sun the department is not closed, and football season will continue. This comes despite the City Council voting to defund the Parks and Recreation director position in late June and
reports that the assistant directors had been moved to the Public Works department. Melton said the Parks and Recreation director, Sean VanDiver, has not been terminated and that the council’s vote to defund VanDiver’s position was not official because only the mayor has the power to appoint and remove department directors. “The council can’t take away the mayor’s appointment power,” he said, adding, “you can’t fire someone without due process.” When the future of youth sports came into question after the defunding vote, volunteers from across Dallas County offered to keep it alive. An outpouring of support on social media brought volunteers together, saying they will
help coach or repair facilities to make sure Selma’s kids get to play sports. Others suggested forming a nonprofit that would run the league. Morgan Academy’s Athletic Director and head football coach Josh Thacker was one of those avid volunteers, saying kids who grow up in city leagues are better prepared to play at the higher level, like high school and college. Recreation teams also build community, he said. Thacker suggested rallying the city of Selma behind city recreational sports, much like the community did to cut grass at the cemeteries after city workers were laid off late last year. Those workers have not returned to work due to budget constraints.
City officials say Selma’s youth football league should play this fall, despite confusion over funding and recreation department leadership.
The Bridge Academy Selma offers adults another path to achieve a high school diploma BY FRED GUARINO Selma Sun Staff
Under the umbrella of The Gospel Tabernacle Church in Selma, The Bridge Academy Selma is helping to impact the Selma/Dallas County dropout rate by giving people an opportunity to earn a high school diploma through an accredited education program from home. The online school was founded by Pastor John Grayson of the Gospel Tabernacle Church and his wife Dr. C. C. “Chinester” Grayson and is taught by Dean of Instruction Cynthia Hobbs. The Graysons may be familiar to Selma residents as the owners and operators of the Walton Theater. They also operate a food drive that feeds about 3,000 families per month and a restaurant that feeds children 600 to 1,000 meals a day for free. C.C. said her husband had a dream: “How can we help the educational dropout rates here in Selma/Dallas County.” “We found out that a lot of kids who drop out of school don’t go on and finish their high school diploma,” she said. When they learned Hobbs from nearby Jones, Ala., was already working tutoring people who were working on their high school diplomas, “we managed to merge what she was doing with our vision to come up with The Bridge Academy.” Hobbs explained that she had been teaching the GED program at a community college but decided to tutor on her own in her own way. And she said
Melvin and Idell Parker are the elderly couple, ages 77 and 71, from Jones, Ala., who recently graduated from The Bridge Academy Selma with high school diplomas. He said it meant a lot to him because he’s been a pastor for 49 years. His wife said she wanted her diploma before she died. Photo submitted.
the success rate of her students went up. She explained that in programs like those offered at a community college, students must take a TABE (The Adult Basic Education Test) and move up through it before they can even start the GED program. She said many get frustrated and quit. She also said the GED classes were offered 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. or 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. every day, which was not convenient for someone with children. “What we The Bridge Academy Selma provide is one-on-tutoring,” Grayson said. She said students take the programs on line so they don’t have leave their babies or leave a job. She said The Bridge Academy Selma uses the KET (Kentucky Education Television) Program, which is an accredited program approved by the Alabama State Department of Education. Hobbs said the program covers all 274 objectives Alabama high school graduates must meet. The final exam is taken online, face-to-face with the students via a camera. The difference, according to Hobbs, is that The Bridge Academy Selma offers its students a Home School Diploma. It has the same curriculum as a GED but it can be done at home. Home schools have to have a church to cover them, and the Gospel Tabernacle Church in Selma provides that cover for The Bridge Academy Selma. Grayson said The Bridge Academy Selma opened in June of 2017, and the first graduation of the program was May of 2018 at the Family Guidance Center in Montgomery. She said that
Jessica Brown, 29, of Selma, who works at Dominos, said achieving the diploma “meant so much to me because I can accomplish what I thought I couldn’t accomplish.” Photo by Fred Guarino
Coffee Shoppe named one of state’s Retailers of the Year BY BRAD FISHER Selma Sun Staff
The 2019 Graduating Class of The Bridge Academy Selma. Photo submitted. was because most of the students were from Montgomery, Jefferson, Autauga, Elmore or Lowndes counties. This year she said the graduation was held at the Walton Theater in Selma on May 28 with 71 people who completed the program. Included in the graduating class was a couple, ages 77 and 71, from nearby Jones, Ala. Grayson said The Bridge Academy Selma Home School transcripts and diplomas are welcome in all public colleges in Alabama and beyond. But she and Hobbs said most of their students go to Trenholm State Community College. Others, they said, attend Stillman, Wallace, AUM and Coastal. Hobbs said The Bridge Academy currently has 93 students enrolled in college. And she said their students get ACT scores that range from 17 to 21. With the KET Program, she said, the students “are truly college ready.” Grayson said student who come to them through the Family Guidance Center in Montgomery only have to pay for their diploma and cap and gown. But there is a $290 fee for the program for all students that covers them from start to finish, including the KET program, the four exams required, the diploma and cap and gown. Grayson and Hobbs said they are hoping that sponsors will step forward to buy seats for the KET program license required for each student and which costs $69 each. About 60 students are currently enrolled with the next graduation in May of 2020. “The greatest thing about this (The Bridge Academy) is it unfreezes people,” Hobbs said.
She said there was woman who was disabled with three children who will now start school at Wallace. And Grayson said, “That’s our goal: to help people to move on.” C.C. Grayson has a master’s in counseling from Capella and doctorate degrees in transformational counseling and ministry. John Grayson completed his master’s in pastoral counseling. Hobbs has a bachelor of arts degree from Troy State and taught for three years. John said his church serves the community. Melvin and Idell Parker are the elderly couple who recently graduated. He said it meant a lot to him because he’s been a pastor for 49 years. His wife said she wanted her diploma before she died. Jessica Brown, 29, of Selma, who works at Dominos, said of the program, “It meant so much to me because I can accomplish what I thought I couldn’t accomplish. I wanted to go into criminal justice, but I thought I could never do it.” She wants to be police officer. Lorenza Hall, 20, of Tuskegee said of the program, “I like it because I needed it to do what I want to do. See, I wanted to be a truck driver, and I had to have a diploma.” He said he is filling out an application for a job as a truck driver now. Anyone can make a donation to help sponsor students to Gospel Tabernacle/The Bridge Academy Selma, P.O. Box 892, 36701 or phone 334-872-0888 and dedicate their donation for the school. The Bridge Academy Selma is an adult education program for students ages 17 and older.
A steaming cup of congratulations to Jacqueline T. Smith, owner and operator of The Coffee Shoppe in Selma. The Coffee Shoppe is among this year’s 14 Alabama Retailer of the Year winners. She has won either the gold, silver or bronze award in her annual sales category. Smith and the other Retailers of the Year will be honored Oct. 22 at the annual Alabama Retail Day celebration in Birmingham. The exact level of her award will not be revealed until that date.
The Alabama Retailer of the Year awards program, started in 1999, honors outstanding retailers who have demonstrated growth, innovation and a commitment to their respective communities. Winners are chosen by an independent judging panel, consisting of representatives from chambers of commerce, media, retail developers, academia and past winners. Selma’s most recent winner was Dave’s Market in 2017, when owner David Oliver was named bronze Retailer of the Year in the Annual Sales $5 Million to $20 Million category that year.
Jackie Smith, owner of the Coffee Shoppe.
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