School name: Athens Bible School

Principal: Randy Adams

Amount of time as principal: Eight years

Grades: K-12

Total number of students: 226

Total number of teachers and staff: 50

New programs: “We do have a new music program. We got a new certified music teacher starting that. We do have some additional dual-enrollment classes this year. There are four hours of chemistry through Northwest Shoals Community College. It’s Chemistry 111 and 112. That’s eight hours of chemistry taught to 11th graders.”

What makes Athens Bible School special: “The first hour of every day is devoted to Bible study. Every kid here on campus shows up and either has chapel, where we do a cappella singing, read from the Bible, and we have a message from one of our local ministers. And then also in that first period, that first hour, we have 30 minutes of Bible class. That’s the foundation that starts each day, and we feel like that’s the best foundation. While other people are moving away from it, we’re trying to tighten down on it. I think that makes us special and unique, even among Christian schools, because most of them, if they do have Bible class, it’s twice a week or something, while we have it first hour, first thing, every day of the week. That’s what makes it special. Academically, I’ve been at 10 different schools, and this is far superior to any of them. You have great kids, great families, a great social environment. And since we’re a 1A school, a lot of kids will play several different sports, whereas at a larger school, they may not have the opportunity to play even one. … Our average kid is so much more involved than a kid at a larger school … because they have so many activities they can be involved in. My two daughters graduated here in ’03 and ’06, and they were just very, very involved. They both had dual-enrollment credits. The youngest had an associate’s degree before graduating from high school. Last year, we had four out of the class (graduate with an associate’s degree while in high school); the year before, we had five. I feel like the academic program here is second to none.”

Primary objectives for 2018-2019: “Our theme is, ‘Everything you do, be done in love.’ It’s a scripture that Steve Klein, our Bible teacher, has decided will be our theme for the year. … That’s the theme of the year and the focus of the year. Of course, we’re hoping to at Christmas make that gigantic move (to the new campus). We think we’re still going to be able to do that at the Christmas holidays. That’ll be an effort that has to happen in a very scheduled kind of way because even though you have 14 days out or a few more, you still have to manage everybody’s Christmas and New Year’s time and still get that move made. That’s the big thing, if we can do that. … Our new school is self-contained. Once you get in, you don’t have to go out to go to lunch or to the gymnasium. It will be a more secure situation than what we’ve had in the past.”

What the principal is looking forward to: “Obviously, the transition (to the new campus). This is a special year for me in that I have my oldest granddaughter in the kindergarten down the hall. That’s a real pleasant thing. I just want to refine the program. I want to keep doing what we’ve done over the years. We haven’t deviated much from our original mission. A lot of schools morph over time, and we’ve tried to stay focused on what we do best, and that’s give a spiritual foundation to our young people. We think that’s the primary important thing, and everything else builds on that.”