Cullman County Schools awarded largest grant in system history for new STEM Academy/Career Center

CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman County Schools Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette and officials with Cullman County Schools announced a major investment in future plans for the school system on Tuesday. The district has been awarded an $18 million dollar grant from the Alabama State Department of Education. Those funds will be used to construct a state-of-the-art STEM Academy and career center. The new Cullman County STEM Academy will be built on a 79-acre tract of land in the Phelan community, on U.S. Highway 31.

“I am ecstatic to announce that we have received approval for the largest single grant that we have ever received in the 100-plus years of Cullman County Schools history. Over the past eight years, we have been advocating for funds to build a new career center. Dr. (T.J.) Franey and I have traveled everywhere from Montgomery to Washington begging for funds and writing every grant we could possibly write but most of those were for equipment or to renovate our current space, not to build anything new,” Barnette said. “Senator Garlan Gudger and I have been discussing for several years what it would look like if we could build a new career center and what that would do for our community. We’ve dreamed together many times, and I know he’s written letters and talked to different people trying to secure these funds. We were approved for an $18 million grant that will go toward building a brand new, modern career center for the students of Cullman County and Cullman City. This is monumental for not only the Cullman County and Cullman City students that currently attend our career center, but the entire Cullman County community.”

The new facility will be built on 79 acres of land the system is purchasing in the Phelan community, on U.S. Highway 31. Barnette and school officials have been working for almost a decade to secure funding for such a center and thanked State Senator Garlan Gudger as well as State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey as well as the Alabama State Department of Education for awarding this grant to the school system.

“This is a perfect location,” Barnette said. “This new facility will be centrally located in Cullman County, with easy access for all of our students.”

Barnette believes this new facility will open new doors for our students.

“I believe that building a completely new, modern STEM Academy in which young people will be eager to attend, will be a game-changer when it comes to providing the workforce for local industries and businesses, but also for these young people as they develop a skill that they will enjoy and can use to provide for their families for years to come.”

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