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By Travis Gupton

The Selma Times-Journal

The Selma City Schools held their first public Town Hall meeting on Monday night under the new leadership of Superintendent Dr. Zickeyous Byrd.

The choir and the band began the Town Hall meeting before Byrd talked. Byrd explained his vision for the district. He listened to every concern and addressed questions asked by those in attendance at Selma High School’s Auditorium.

Several parents and teachers expressed their thanks for the things thatByrd and his staff have been doing during the first quarter. Byrd also reiterated to the crowd the school system’s mission to redesign and improve the educational system for all students would have a chance to succeed.

“I want to hear feedback from our parents about what we are doing right and things we can improve upon,” Byrd said. “All the things that we touched on tonight came directly from our parents.

“I want our parents to know that they can trust us to get this thing right. We are not always going to be perfect. We have a lot of things that we need to address even with our employees. We have teachers who feel stressed about the things we are asking them to do. We want to be completely transparent and open about those things we need to work on.”

Although there were things that parents and teachers mentioned the school district needed improvement, but saw positive things and that was a good feeling for Byrd.

“To be able to hear the authentic responses from our parents and to hear them share that they have seen the outcome of those surveys,” Byrd said. “That means we have actually addressed those issues. That was so exciting to hear. It was a great boost to me and I think a boost to all of our employees that were here tonight.”

Byrd mentioned during the meeting that they will hold another Town Hall meeting next quarter to see where the Selma City Schools stand after one quarter.