By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Shelby County School System’s Linda Nolen Learning Center, which serves county students with significant special needs, was included on a list of the Alabama Department of Education’s “failing schools” for 2014.

In a statement, Shelby County School Superintendent Randy Fuller said LNLC, which is off Shelby County 35 in Pelham, is an asset to the county’s special-needs students, including those with significant medical issues requiring round-the-clock care and those with emotional and behavioral disorders.

LNLC was the only school in Shelby County included on the list of Alabama’s failing schools.

Fuller said LNLC is an “excellent school that is providing a quality education to students who are on an individualized education plan.”

“The teachers and administrators at the Linda Nolen Learning Center are working very hard to help the students make progress on their individualized goals, helping them to move from point A to point B, not holding them accountable to the same standards as all other students,” Fuller wrote in the statement. “This school provides an excellent, nurturing learning environment for these students, and it is one where the majority of parents have chosen it as the best option for their student.”

According to the Alabama Department of Education, LNLC met the criteria as a “persistently low-performing school” as outlined in the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013.