From special needs to Advance Placement, Robertsdale Elementary School serves a wide spectrum of students in Central Baldwin County and beyond.

“We have such wonderful teachers and staff here that make it work every day,” said Faye Sheppard, who has served as the school’s principal since 2010. “And of course we couldn’t do that without the support of our parents, the city and the community.”

The school’s current facility, completed in 2008, houses over 1,100 students from pre-K through sixth grade, which includes 44 regular classrooms, including seven each of K through second grade, classrooms, six each of third through fifth grade classrooms and five sixth grade classrooms.

Ideally, Sheppard said, regular classrooms include around 20 students. RES currently averages about 23 to 24 students per grade with the sixth grade averaging close to 30 students per classroom.

“We could definitely use another sixth grade classroom right now,” Sheppard said.

Along with the regular classroom instruction, RES includes several Advanced Placement classrooms and serves as a model for the AMSTI curriculum.

RES also includes about 150 students in its English Language Learners program, or students who have English as their second language.

“The majority of these students are Latino,” Sheppard said, “but we also have Chinese, Haitian, Taiwanese and Indian students.”

RES also includes a choral program for fourth and fifth grade students under the direction of Suzie Vivar and band for sixth grade students under the direction of Crystal Thomacek.

The school also includes activities such as the Robertsdale Runners Club, under the direction of coaches Kim Deen, Amanda Fuller, Caleb Wooten and Blayne Green, which includes about 45 students. The runners meet once a week for practice and participate in about one event per month, Sheppard said.

Archery is also a fast growing activity at the school, boasting about 70 participants who compete locally and at the state level with coaches Samantha Lefford, who leads the sixth grade program, along with the seventh grade program at Central Baldwin Middle School; Celeb Wooten and Blayne Green, who coach the fourth and fifth grade programs.

Another activity started last year under the direction of Sheppard is the Mini-Dribblers Club, which includes about 20 first grade students, who will perform this year during halftime at three middle school and three high school basketball games.

Even though the school’s facility is only eight years old, Sheppard said, one of her biggest immediate needs falls in the area of classroom and office space.

“We have several county school system employees that currently occupy space at our school,” she said. “We certainly welcome those employees and understand the important role they have in our school system, but right now we have no office space available.”

Sheppard also cited expansion of the school’s special needs programs as another area that needs to be addressed.

Currently, about 20 percent of the school’s population, more than 230 students, have special needs, including those with physical needs as well as those with mental needs, as well as students with emotional needs.

In addition to two regular education pre-K classes, the school includes two classrooms of students in an inclusion program, which includes eight regular education students and eight special needs students.

Included at the school are Project Reach classrooms for students on the autism spectrum, along with a state-of-the-art sensory room, which includes equipment that was provided by a federal grant.

RES also includes a Pathways program for students who have behavioral and emotional issues. All of these programs draw students from all over Baldwin County, Sheppard said.

In addition to more space, Sheppard said, she is also asking the school system for a full-time assistant principal who can focus on the school’s special needs programs.

RES currently has one full-time assistant principal, Tiffaney Plato, who is mainly in charge of transportation and discipline.

“All of our faculty here is responsible for discipline,” Sheppard said, “but for her, those two areas really are a fulltime job and we need someone who can focus their attention on our special needs students.”

The school has a part-time assistant principal, Bob Weichert, who has a background in special education. He spends half of his day at Robertsdale Elementary and half at Magnolia School, Sheppard said.

“He would be ideal to lead our special needs programs,” Sheppard said. “Regardless of whether it is him or someone else, we do need to have someone who can devote fulltime to those programs and we hope that will happen in the near future.”