MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Board of Trustees for the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, a first-of-its-kind, specialized public school in Demopolis designed to train future health care workers, voted Wednesday to hire what they called a “dream team” of administrators ahead of the school’s anticipated launch next year.
First pitched by Gov. Kay Ivey during her 2023 State of the State address, the goal of the school is to meet the need for health care workers in the state, of which there remains a significant shortage, much like the rest of the country.
The project wouldn’t get off the ground, however, until 2024 after Bloomberg Philanthropies pledged $26.4 million toward the school, which was followed up by a $15 million allocation from state lawmakers as part of the 2025 Education Trust Fund budget.
The ASHS Board of Trustees unanimously voted to appoint Laura Bailey as ASHS dean of curriculum and instruction, Antonio Cooper Jr. as dean of students, and Susanna Speegle as admissions director.
“With these three leaders, ASHS is moving forward with a dream team that will help the school and its students reach their potential, and beyond,” said ASHS President Jimmy Martin when presenting his choices for some of the school’s top administrative positions.
“Laura, Antonio and Susanna’s experience and commitment to the concept and mission will inspire everyone they meet and truly change lives.”
Bailey previously served as an education administrator for Career & Technical Education Workforce Development in the Alabama State Department of Education.
Cooper is an adjunct professor of education at Samford University, and has been the director of curriculum and instruction for Vestavia Hills City School System since 2019. He specializes in career and technical education, and has helped establish dual enrollment programs and partnerships between schools and industry sectors.
Speegle is an enrollment and data specialist currently serving as assistant director of enrollment management at Marion Military Institute approximately 30 miles northeast of Demopolis. She has been involved with recruiting at MMI, including coordination and events management.
“We’re asking those who join us to take a real leap of faith in a complex new idea with wide scope, complicated demands, and high expectations vested in it,” said ASHS Board of Trustees Chair Mike Warren.
“And we’re asking them to commit to what in some cases is a new community and to the added responsibility of ASHS being a residential campus where being authority figures carries broader responsibilities than at a traditional school. We applaud these exceptional choices and Dr. Martin’s efforts to meet all of ASHS’s needs.”
While originally estimated to cost $62 million, the school could end up costing as much as $80 million, with the ASHS continuing efforts to fundraise for the remaining funds ahead of the school’s anticipated launch in the fall of 2026. Construction is set to begin this September, with a groundbreaking ceremony slated for October.
The school will offer a varied curriculum in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as health care-based courses, and operate in partnership with Whitfield Regional Hospital. Final decisions on the school’s curriculum are currently being made, with the first freshman class of up to 100 students expected to start next fall, first on the campus of the University of West Alabama in Livingston, and in 2027, on the completed campus in Demopolis.