The 2026-2027 school year is off to a good start, according to Russell County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kim Hooker.
Hooker stated during the Sept. 1 meeting of the school board that a total of 3,295 students are enrolled from Pre-K to 12th grade.
“We have gotten a lot of transfer students in,” Hooker explained. “I’d also like to thank our staff, our teachers and our administrators for a great start of the school year. I appreciate everyone and the work they’ve done over the summer to get our schools ready.”
The first day off for students was for Labor Day and the second day off will be Sept. 11, as it is Fair Day. Sept. 11 will be a work day for teachers, Hooker said.
Castlewood Elementary School will soon have a new principal. Current principal Adam Padgett will resign from the position, effective Sept. 30. Padgett will be replaced by Adrienne Robinson.
District 3’s J.J. Eaton asked Hooker and school board members to look into the dress code as it pertains to hats.
“I’d like to look at the dress code for the pros and cons of allowing boys to wear hats in our high schools,” Eaton said. “I’d like to look into allowing them to wear hats.”
Eaton also offered praise for the Go Tech Lab at Honaker High.
“If you get a chance, you need to go check it out,” he told his fellow board members. “They’ve got 3D printers, engravers that does metal and wood. They got digital animated welding. It is just unreal. It is something I wished we had when I was in school. That’s an awesome program.”
School board members voted to name the press box at Castlewood High School’s baseball field after Dan Glass.
The price for adult breakfast and lunch will be increasing. The price for breakfast will be $2.95 and lunch will be $5.05.
“I do want to add that this is not a Russell County decision,” Hooker said. “It is something our school nutrition coordinator goes through filling out information and it comes through the federal program.”
The school board also honored its Teacher of the Year and Employee of the Year. Wanda Gent, of Honaker Elementary School, is the Teacher of the Year. Honaker Elementary School’s Dustin Presley was selected as the Employee of the Year.
