By AMY JONES / Associate Editor

COLUMBIANA — The Board of Education introduced Dr. George Theodore as the new Alternative School principal at a regularly scheduled meeting Dec. 16.

Theodore has experience with the Shelby County school system. In the early 1980s he was a teacher at Thompson High School. Later in his career, he was the assistant principal at Pelham High School and then was the principal at Montevallo High School from 1992-2003.

Upon his introduction, Theodore said he was up to the challenge of leading the Alternative School.

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity,” he said. “I am thrilled to be here and I’m not going to let you down.”

Theodore received a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and history from Birmingham-Southern College, and then a master’s, education specialist and doctorate degree from UAB.

In other business, the board of education:

— Approved the salary of Superintendent Randy Fuller for the upcoming four-year term. Fuller will make a yearly salary of $164,400, a 6 percent raise from his former salary of $155,100.

Although Shelby County has the fourth-largest school system in the state, Fuller’s former salary of $155,100 was the second-lowest superintendent’s salary out of the six largest school systems in Alabama.

Also, in a survey of local school systems, the Trussville City, Birmingham City, Jefferson County, Mountain Brook City and Hoover City all had superintendent’s salaries of more than $180,000. The Jefferson County system is the only one with higher enrollment than the Shelby County school system.