FROM STAFF REPORTS

COLUMBIANA–Randy Fuller, who has served three consecutive terms as Superintendent of Education for Shelby County Schools, has announced he will retire at the end of his current term in office this December.

Fuller has been an educator for more than 40 years, serving in many capacities including teacher, coach, administrative assistant, assistant principal and principal. He began his administrative career as an assistant principal at Gardendale High School for a short time before being named principal of Oak Grove School and McAdory High School in the Jefferson County School District.

Fuller was hired by Shelby County Schools in 1998 as principal of Oak Mountain High School, where he oversaw construction of the new school. After serving as principal of OMHS for eight years, Fuller was elected superintendent of Shelby County Schools on July 18, 2006, and took office on Nov. 1, 2006. He began his third term as superintendent on Jan. 1, 2015.

During Fuller’s tenure as superintendent, the Shelby County School System has faced multi-million dollar shortfalls in state funding due to proration and historic recession. He developed a four-component organizational vision to direct the system toward continued success.

This four-part plan provides a sustainable path to follow which allows the district to still meet the expectations of being an exemplary school district even in times of continued economic crisis. The four components of this plan are Continuous School Improvement, which seeks improvement in all aspects of a school, long-range strategic planning, leadership development to enhance and grow current and future leaders in the district and instruction—a unified K-12 effort to design quality curriculum and instruction through the development of strategic initiatives and priorities targeting various grade levels and evaluating results.

This four-part plan has helped to ensure that the Shelby County School District has been one of the top school districts in the state for student achievement and academic performance.

In December 2016, Shelby County was one of 16 school districts across the state to receive an “A” on Phase I of the Alabama State Department of Education’s “A-F” report card. Shelby County was the largest and most diverse district to earn the “A” distinction, as well as the only county district to earn it.

Fuller also helped steer Shelby County Schools through its first district-wide accreditation process. The district was deemed a “model school district” by the AdvancEd Quality Assurance Review Team. The QAR Team recognized the district for several strengths including superintendent leadership, organizational structure, strategic planning and continuous improvement planning, among several others.

Committed to improving school safety, Fuller implemented a five-point safe school plan entitled the Safe Schools Initiative. The Safe Schools Initiative was developed as a collaborative partnership with local law enforcement, first responders, government leaders, community leaders, social service networks, parents and students. The mission of this plan is to provide safety and security in a welcoming learning environment free of violence, intimidation and fear.

As superintendent, Fuller has been recognized with numerous awards including the University of Montevallo Kermit A. Johnson Outstanding Superintendent Award, the Alabama School Communicators Association’s Superintendent of the Year Award, the Marbury Technology Innovation Award for Central Office Leaders at the 2011 Alabama Educational Technology Conference and the Lifetime Commitment to Education Award from the University of Montevallo.

Fuller is a member of the School Superintendents of Alabama and was nominated for School Superintendent of the Year in 2016.  He is a charter member of the Superintendents’ Leader Network.