Alabama's largest school district begins first day of class for 2024-25 school year

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) -- Classes resume in Alabama’s largest school district. Thousands of kids and parents go back to school in Mobile County.

On the first day, especially in the drop-off line you can expect things to move slower than usually and school officials are asking for patience. A change this year will allow more middle school students to have leadership opportunities.

This year, the Leadership Officer Training Corps or LOTC program is expanding to all Middle schools. It started in Mobile County last year.

Similar JROTC in high school, the leadership program allows students to get gym credit for leadership opportunities like Color Guard, Drill Team, Cyber Team and Robotics.
Organizers say it’s a chance to expand horizons and challenge middle school students.

"So we teach these kids how to be leaders. We put in these different positions like in the classroom. We have class leaders. We also do where they they take care of the role in the morning. They also tell us what we're having for lunch that day. They also put them in charge where they tell us about the weather that day.So we put them put them in front of the class so they learn how to be engaged," said Lt. Col. Brandon O’Brien.

They had roughly 600 students last year and could potentially doub...