BAY MINETTE – Supporters of the Pelican’s Nest will start raising money in January for an expansion of the Fairhope school science center that could cost up to $3 million.
One issue to be resolved in that expansion, however, is how to pay for the teacher that staffs the facility, project supporters and Baldwin County Board of Education members said.
Since the Pelican’s Nest opened in 1997, the Baldwin County School System has provided a teacher. The center, however, is on the campus of the Fairhope K-1 Center. The city of Fairhope bought the campus, including the Pelican’s Nest site from the school system in 2019.
At the December school board meeting, members questioned if the school system should pay for a teacher at a facility on property owned by Fairhope.
Member Cecil Christenberry of Fairhope said he supported continuing support and hoped that the board and Fairhope Educational Enrichment Foundation, which is raising money for the expansion, can reach an agreement.
“I love the plan,” Christenberry said. “I think it’s a great idea for our children around the county. I’m going to be optimistic that there will be some way that this can be worked out and we can move forward.”
Member Shannon Cauley of Spanish Fort said she appreciated the work done by FEEF and other foundation to support education. She said, however, that the board needed to consider whether the money for a Pelican’s Nest teacher could be better spent on an instructor in a county school.
“If this is something that the city and the community wants to continue, could the city not hire an employee to run the Pelican’s Nest and become a city employee? There’s no reason why you can’t hire a retired educator to come in,” Cauley said.
Stephen Searcy, FEEF president, said money for a teacher would cut into funding for other Pelican’s Nest programs and the planned expansion.
“If that teacher unit is taken away, if that’s something the FEEF has to fund itself, has to take out of pocket, the impact that it then has and what we can provide to the schools would then be taken away a little bit,” Searcy said.
One possible solution discussed at the meeting would be to use money raised from the 3-mill property tax approved by Fairhope voters for local schools in 2019. That tax generates about $2 million a year in revenue, John Wilson, school system chief financial officer, said. Salary and benefits for a teacher cost about $70,000 a year.
Davis Brock, incoming FEEF president, said expansion plans call for additional staff to also be hired.
The Pelican’s Nest opened in 1997 as a marine science center for kindergarten through sixth grade students. The facility now serves about 4,000 students a year, Searcy said.
The plan calls for the Pelican’s Nest to provide services to seventh through 12th grade students as well as elementary pupils and to also offer instruction in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, or STEAM, programs, Brock said.
“We believe that the Pelican’s Nest in downtown Fairhope is connection to the community,” Brock said. “It helps us by being visible to the community and gives us the opportunity to, hopefully, continue to raise more funds as we continue to move forward to be able to provide more opportunities and enrichment activities for students.”
The “Feather the Nest” fundraising effort to raise money for the expansion will start in January,” Brock said.
“We have a plan to raise between $1.5 and $3 million depending on whether we want the Ford version or the Cadillac version of what we’re going to try to accomplish and we are prepared to begin that capital campaign in January,” Brock said.
Plans include renovating the current Pelican’s Nest center and to expand the program to four adjacent buildings.
