The Albany Independent School District 2018-2019 school year began today, Aug. 16, with classes starting at 7:55 a.m. on both campuses.

As of press time, administrators were not ready to forecast enrollment numbers.

“We don’t have numbers yet, because our high school students are still picking up schedules,” said interim superintendent Doyleen Terrell.

Nancy Smith Elementary had 272 students registered by Monday, compared with 279 at the same time last year.

The portion of Baird Street between Hwy. 180 and Rambler will be closed next week starting on Monday, according to Albany city manager Billy Holson, so that a concrete low water crossing can be constructed at the Rambler intersection.

The street was newly paved two years ago, but Holson said that his plan was always to put concrete where water crosses the road behind the old nursing home.

“I was hoping to get a couple of years out of the asphalt, and we did,” said Holson. “But it keeps spidering and I don’t want it to go any further.”

Donations to the Albany Fire Department have been used to purchase a replacement for the City’s aging 1987 GMC fire engine, and in the next week or two the new rescue engine will officially be installed in a “Push In” ceremony. 

“Last year, the fire department received a sizable donation and kept most of that money set aside in hopes of coming across a good used truck,” said fire chief Kyle Tischler. “Unfortunately, buying a brand new fire engine like this is simply out of the question. Funding is just not available.”

Shackelford County elected officials looked at Information Technology (IT) suggestions for the upcoming fiscal year in an afternoon meeting on Monday, Aug. 13 that ended with an hour-long budget workshop.

Commissioners also discussed a contract with Callahan County for inmate housing.

Technology Needs

Sam Goldsmith, the county’s IT consultant, presented several different items on Monday’s agenda, updating the commissioners about ongoing issues and giving them a list of needs that need to be addressed in the near future.

The Albany Chamber of Commerce annual garage sale will take place on the third Saturday in September this year, rather than the usual second Saturday of the month because of the way the dates fall. 

Chamber directors decided that since Sept. 1 is on a Saturday, the second Saturday would be too early in the month.

Albany High agriculture teacher Chris Beard, new Moran ag instructor Matthew Hise, and Michaela Bradford, the new Shackelford County AgriLife extension agent, are all getting ready for the start of a new year of activities with FFA and 4-H students.

There will be a pool party at the Webb Park complex from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Aug. 20 for 4-H and FFA students to kick off the new school year.

FCCLA members are also invited to join the party.

Former Albany resident Gina Gillit Overby has been named the new high school principal at Anson.

Overby attend Albany schools from third grade until she graduated with honors in 1992. She then graduated Cum Laude from Abilene Christian University a few years later, and received her masters degree from the University of Texas at Arlington in Curriculum and Instruction in 2006.

County residents may have noticed a bright red flag flying at the Albany Visitor Center.

The new banner signals whether the Shackelford County Commissioners have enacted the county-wide burn ban. It will be flown continuously until the ban is deactivated.

New AgriLife extension agent Michaela Bradford is in charge of making sure the flag is flown at the correct times.

The Texas A&M Forest Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension are in partnership for the effort, Bradford said.

Forty years ago this month, record-setting rainfall caused severe flash flooding in Shackelford County, killing nine Albany residents, leaving 102 families in the city and 50 more in the county homeless, damaging about 100 additional houses, washing out multiple bridges and miles of roadway, destroying hundreds of miles of fences, making the water unsafe to drink, and causing millions in property losses to area businesses and agricultural producers.