Smith said she'd like to see other minorities follow suit. She's active in the University of North Alabama's Minority Diversity Committee through the college of education. The group's mission is to identify young minorities, beginning as early as seventh and eighth grades, and encourage students to consider a career in education.

      ``I have to be honest when I talk to these students because I honestly do believe things are changing for minorities in education, and they will have ample opportunities for employment,'' Smith said. ``I've had other opportunities at other places to work within education and outside the field. I think it can be easier to find employment as a Black woman these days, but at the same time I want to be chosen for a job because I can do the job, not because I have the right skin color. Minorities still have doors shut in some fields, but they're open in education.''

      On a national scale, the Southern Education Foundation, based in Atlanta, reported in 2002 that the minority teacher population was then at 13 percent.

      The same group predicted that by 2005, if trends continued, the minority teacher number would drop to 5 percent or lower. Though the data hasn't yet been compiled for 2005, officials with the foundation say the decline has continued as predicted.

      Locally, the number of minority teachers in 2005 has changed very little. Still, percentages of minority teachers in the Shoals remain in the 7-12 percent range. The exception is Franklin County, which has only two nonWhite employees, or less than 1 percent.

— Associated Press