By By Adrienne McKenzie
Chancellor Bradley Byrne of the Alabama College System was the guest speaker Friday morning at the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce's Business Before Hours co-hosted by Jefferson Davis Community College.
Byrne recently resigned from the Alabama Senate and was appointed by the State Board of Education as Chancellor of the Alabama Post-Secondary Education System. He said he has spent many hours traveling to different parts of the state since becoming Chancellor.
He said he understands that there have been issues in junior colleges, but said he has heard nothing wrong about the local school, Jefferson Davis Community College.
"I understand the issues that have been in the press," he said. "But, there has not been one problem at Jefferson Davis. They have a great president (Susan McBride), great executive staff and a great faculty at Jefferson Davis."
Byrne said that with certain issues, without divulging into what those issues are, that he plans to enforce that everyone in the Alabama College System abide by each and every law.
"If there is anybody that doesn't live up to our standards, they need to leave and leave now," he said.
Byrne said he is proactively going through different issues and criminal problems.
"At the end of the day our system, your system and the state will be better," he said.
In part of making the system "better," Byrne said everyone in the system is going to go under ethics training.
"By the end of this year, everyone in the system will be trained with the state ethics law," he said. "I hope that makes you feel good and proud about your system."
Byrne said that the Alabama College System has three missions: academic transfer function, adult education and workforce development.
Academic transfer function is when the two-year colleges grab high school graduates that, for some reason, can not go to a four-year college. For example, those who can not afford a four-year institution.
Adult education is where two-year colleges are going to grab adults who have not graduated from college or gotten a GED.
And, the workforce development is where two-year colleges will focus on industrial maintenance jobs, grabbing individuals who enjoy working with their hands. For example, welders.
"We have to ramp up he ability of delivering on all three mission points," Byrne said. "We believe our mission is critically important to the state."
In conclusion, Byrne spoke about how much he enjoys the town of Atmore.
"I absolutely love being in Atmore," he said. "I will do anything I can to do to work with our college."