Editing Gadsden, Alabama (section)

==Education==
The Gadsden City Board of Education oversees fourteen schools: eight elementary schools, three middle schools, one high school, and two specialty schools (one alternative center and one technical center).

A new high school, [[Gadsden City High School]], replaced the three former city high schools ([[Emma Sansom]] High School, Gadsden High School, and [[Litchfield High School (Gadsden, Alabama)|Litchfield High School]]) via merger for the 2006–2007 school year.

Gadsden is home to [[Gadsden State Community College]], the second largest of the 27 two-year institutions in the [[Alabama Community College System]]. This was founded by former Governor George Wallace. Small satellites of [[Jacksonville State University]] and the [[University of Alabama]] also offer college courses in Gadsden.

Gadsden is home to the first statewide day-treatment program for juvenile offenders. The Community Intensive Treatment for Youth Program (C.I.T.Y.) was founded in January 1981 by [[Edward E. Earnest]] (1943-2005). With the assistance and support of the Honorable Judge Robert E. Lewis (1927-1993), the city of Gadsden, and the Gadsden City Board of Education, the C.I.T.Y. Program began enrolling students on February 1, 1981.  C.I.T.Y. is designed to be a multi-dimensional program emphasizing habilitation (i.e., equipping at-risk youth on juvenile probation with skills needed to meet the demands of modern society).

Its objectives are to identify the at-risk youth's individual strengths and weaknesses, provide an individualized environment in which the at-risk youth can develop skills, and alter the natural environment of the at-risk youth so that newly acquired skills are nurtured and encouraged. To achieve these objectives, C.I.T.Y. offers academic remediation in reading, math, language; intensive counseling that involves behavior modification, [[consumer education]], and job readiness training. After all objectives have been met, C.I.T.Y. provides GED preparation, return to public school, and placement into technical school, college, job, or military service. In 1983, the C.I.T.Y. Program of Etowah County (Gadsden) received the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Unique and Innovative Project Award. On October 1, 2009, C.I.T.Y.’s name was changed to Special Programming for Achievement Network (S.P.A.N.) It operates under the directorship of the Alabama Department of Youth Services.  There are eleven SPAN programs in the state of Alabama.<ref>Alabama Department of Youth Services, Etowah County Juvenile Probation Office, Gadsden City Board of Education</ref>