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The final school board meeting of 2024 also served as the final meeting for two of the highest-ranking members in the district: Dr. Casey Chambley, CCSD Superintendent, and David Owen, the Assistant Superintendent. 

Chambley is stepping down after losing his reelection bid in March to Dr. Sharon Weldon, who will take over the seat in January. Owen announced his retirement during the meeting. 

“I would like to take a moment to thank a member of my staff for his hard work and his dedication with the system. I’d like to thank Mr. Owen,” Chambley said during his superintendent report. 

He continued, “Owen joined us in 2021 and as our assistant superintendent…[He] has been a huge, huge part of the success that we have been able to accomplish during these four years, he has taken on so many responsibilities and duties, put out so many fires…He is a wonderful advocate for your children and for the children of this county, and he has worked tirelessly to maintain that integrity.”

After thanking Owen, Chambley thanked the board for their support over his four years as Superintendent.

Chambley has had a productive term, albeit a controversial one, having tackled the long-time desegregation case. Under his tenure, the court case mandating the two county high schools, Valley and LaFayette, be consolidated was done. U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins ruled in Sept. 2023 that the consolidated high school would be in Valley, to mixed reactions. Chambley has been vocal in supporting the legal decision, which has marked his term. 

Earlier this year Chambley and the district announced that the school would be named Chambers County High School and unveiled renderings of the school, the mascot and school colors. Ground was also broken in February on the new school. In March, the board announced that further decisions on consolidation would be paused until the new leadership was in office in 2025. 

During his final meeting, Chambley acknowledged the difficulty of the past four years, saying, “I made a solid commitment that we were going to tackle the desegregation case, and we did. We’re going to tackle these other issues, although many of them were not popular, but we tackled those…because you have to do those things to make the educational environment better, and we truly feel like that we have done that,” Chambley said. 

He also highlighted the district’s accomplishments during that time. 

“As my time as superintendent comes to a close and we transition into different leadership I would like to go over some of the accomplishments during our time here with all of the staff in the office and all of our principals,” he began. 

Chambley’s list of successes the district has seen included: The passing of ad valorem taxes, purchasing equipment including a fleet of upgraded school buses, the district received $175,000 for COVID testing by the University of Alabama-Birmingham, established Partners in Education program, restarted the Amazing Shakes competition, added academic interventionists, instituted a dress code, leveled salary schedules and the CCSD report card grades increased from 2023 to 2024 from a 73 to a 78. 

Newly appointed board president Vicki Leak ended by saying, “Thank you seems hardly enough from us. I would say that the main thing is that you were in the right place at the right time for us to get through the court case, and that’s 50 years of us trying to get through that.”