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The Demopolis City Board of Education on Monday approved an agreement with Shelton State Community College regarding dual enrollment and credit that students enrolled in the program will earn.

The school system and SSCC partnered a year ago to offer an HVAC class. That class, along with an English course, is currently being offered with a welding program scheduled to begin in January.

“We are working to build these type of programs. We want every student who leaves DHS to have some college credit or a career readiness certification in their pocket,” said Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff.

The board also approved a memorandum of understanding with the Marengo County School System, which will be transporting some students to the old New Era building for the HVAC course. Kallhoff said there is an established fee for those students that help cover supplies and materials.

Other items addressed during the meeting included the following.

• The board approved a list of this year’s planned student travel events for the DHS cross country team and FBLA.

• approved a personnel report that included teachers for the new Pre-K class recently added. Those hires included Miranda Luker Maher as Pre-K teacher, Rakeena Anderson as Pre-K auxiliary teacher, and Natasha Ladnier as special education Pre-K teacher. Connie Lee and Elizabeth Renner were added as substitutes, and a number of supplemental positions were approved.

• Kallhoff reported that student enrollment is about the same entering the school year as compared to the enrollment used to base this year’s teacher unit funding from the state. He said he expects that enrollment will increase.

He also reported that students achieved a 98.65 percent attendance rate for the first week, a feat he hopes will continue into the year.

It was also reported that the opening of the new STEAM Lab — now officially named The Lab 212° — will be celebrated with a ribbon cutting in September.

(This article originally appeared in the Saturday, August 25 issue of the Demopolis Times.)