Primary and Secondary Education

Three public school systems and four private schools provide quality educational opportunities in Etowah County. Superintendents and principals encourage families to visit and inspect their schools, and will help ease the transitions of transferees’ children in their classes.

The Gadsden, Attalla and Etowah County school systems operate 35 schools and 2 career technical centers, with a combined enrollment of 15,905 at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year. The school systems are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Alabama Department of Education.

Computer-aided instruction begins in kindergarten. Programs in art, band, choral, drama, strings and graphic arts begin in elementary school and continue through high school; a number of these endeavors have won national awards of excellence. Sports programs have won state championships. Special programs are offered for both handicapped and gifted students. College credit is granted for advanced placement courses in high schools.  Click here for infomation about career technical training.

To graduate, a student must pass a minimum of four units each of Math, Science, English and Social Studies, as well as a Career Preparedness course which focuses on three integrated areas of instruction: academic planning and career development, financial literacy, and computer technology.

Our schools define a prepared graduate as one who:

(1) possesses the knowledge and skills needed to enroll and succeed in credit-bearing, first-year courses at a college or technical school without the need for remediation, and

(2) possesses the ability to apply core academic skills to real-world situations through collaboration with peers in problem solving, precision and punctuality in delivering a product, and a desire to be a life-long learner.

Residents continue to demonstrate support of public education by voting to renew property taxes that are earmarked for the three school systems, by a margin exceeding 80%.

Gadsden City Schools

The system operates 8 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, a high school, a career technical center and an alternative school. Total enrollment is 5,416. The Gadsden City High School offers extensive curricula in foreign languages; a full slate of Advanced Placement courses; enhanced fine arts classes including drama, photography, strings, and multiple instrumental performance ensembles; as well as more career-technical courses such as engineering technology, web page design and video technologies. For additional details, click http://www.gcs.k12.al.us/why-choose-gcs/.

Attalla City Schools

The system operates an elementary school, middle school and high school. Total enrollment is 1,721. Click www.attalla.k12.al.us for more information.

Etowah County Schools

The system operates 10 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, 6 high schools and a career technical center. Total enrollment is 8,768. The Etowah County School System ranks third among the state’s county school systems in academic performance. For additional information, click www.ecboe.org.

Private Schools

Coosa Christian Schools http://www.coosachristian.com
Episcopal Day School http://www.episcopal-day-school.org
St. James Catholic School http://stjamesgadsden.org
Westbrook Christian School http://westbrookchristianschool.org