ORANGE BEACH — The Orange Beach City School Board held its first meeting Thursday, April 7 and began dealing with issues such as personnel, students living outside the city and hiring a superintendent.

The board elected Robert Stuart as president, Nelson Bauer as vice-president and Tracie Stark as secretary.

"OK, first let me get started. Are we ready to do this or what? Are we ready to do this? Let's go start a school system today," Stuart said at the start of the meeting.

The Orange Beach City Council voted March 15 to create a city school system, separate from the Baldwin County Public School System. City officials said the split will be completed and the new system established July 1.

Stuart said a major concern among teachers and other employees in Orange Beach schools is how the split from the Baldwin County Public School System will affect their jobs.

"I know that we have spoken about the need to let our employees know what's going on. I've had a couple reach out to me and I told them that we're working our way through this and that right now, we're certain that everybody's going to be dealt with fairly," Stuart said. "Sometimes when you answer a question politically, it kind of makes people nervous but when you really don't have the answers, it's the only thing you can say."

Nash Campbell, a lawyer working with Orange Beach to establish the system, said personnel actions will have to wait until the board hires a superintendent. He said employment notices for the superintendent job search should be posted in the upcoming week.

"I think that once we have that person in place, we can make some definite strides and if there's anything that I could say to any of them, it's just that if you want to be here, once you're here, we just have to get to that point where we can say, technically, that it can be done," Stuart said.

Board Shannon Robinson said parents who live outside the city limits whose children have been attending Orange Beach schools are also concerned about how the spilt will affect those students.

"The two main questions are is my kid going to be allowed to go to school here, that's from people living in Fort Morgan and outside the city and, if so, how much is it going to cost," Robinson said. "And the other is, when will I know about my job."

Students living on Ono Island, which is outside the city limits, also attend Orange Beach schools. Children in Fort Morgan have been going to county public schools in Orange Beach since Gulf Shores created a city system in 2019.

Campbell has worked with other cities that have created municipal school systems, including Gulf Shores and Saraland. He said the board will have to decide which students will attend Orange Beach schools. He said some systems have also charged tuition to students living outside the city.

Fees are sometimes based on the difference in city property taxes paid by residents living in the municipality and those outside Orange Beach, Campbell said.

"Typically, depending on what your ad valorem taxes are, if you're really just trying to recoup the gap in what somebody's whose out of district compared to what you should be getting if they did live within the city limits, it's usually somewhere between $1,500 and $2,500," Campbell said.

He said some other systems have not charged tuition in order to allow students outside the city to stay in the same schools they now attend.

"One, it makes your system a lot more attractive," Campbell said. "Two, it keeps kids together, juniors or seniors. I think you all know the pluses and minuses of keeping those kids together."

He said other city systems often receive many applications for students living outside the attendance zone to attend schools in the municipality.

"A system like Saraland constantly turns kids away," Campbell. "They've raised it up to where if you don't have a 3.5 GPA you're not getting in, and they'll charge up to $2,500 a kid and you will be a system like that if not way better really fast."

Also at the first meeting, the board voted to name Mayor Tony Kennon as a non-voting member to serve as a liaison with the city and to create general fund and payroll accounts.