By Hannah Caver, Staff Writer
ST. CLAIR COUNTY — Voters deliver a new high school to Moody as the provisional ballots were counted on Tuesday, November 23, at the St. Clair County Commissions office.
The measures failed across most of the county, but the yeses in Moody and Pell City referendums held on by razor-thin margins pending the opening of provisional ballots and certification today.
Moody Junior High School (MJHS) and Moody High School (MHS) had limited space and classrooms and with the tax referendum passing in Moody by eight votes bringing the current tally as of the opening of the provisional ballots, for proposed taxation 928 and against proposed tax 920. Moody will now be able to build a new high school, a performing arts center, renovate Moody Elementary School (MES), Moody Middle School (MMS) would receive a new outdoor PE facility/playground area, and the MJHS would move to the current MHS and be renovated for the students.
“It shows that we have a community that supports our kids, our students,” Moody High School Principal Chris Walters said. “We’re growing in population, we are also growing in understanding the need of our students, and what they need to be successful when they graduate from high school.”
Walters said that the groundbreaking ceremony will take place on January 13, 2022, at 11 a.m. for the new additions to Moody.
In Pell City, the tax referendum passed by 22 votes bringing the current tally as of the opening of the provisional ballots, for proposed taxation 1,473 and against proposed tax 1,451.
Springville voters at First United Methodists Church, the largest precinct, favored the referendum by 47 votes, but the measure ultimately failed by 40 votes due to those voting against in outlying precincts.
Springville was also limited on space and classrooms at all their schools Springville Elementary School (SES), Springville Middle School (SMS), Springville High School (SHS), and if the tax referendum had passed they would receive a new school for SMS which would house the seventh and eighth-graders, new Performing Arts Center, and a new turf football field.