Board of education approves five-year capital plan

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The Vestavia Hills Board of Education approved a five-year capital plan at Wednesday’s special board meeting.

The plan includes projects within the Vestavia Hills school system, including several parking lot pavings at Vestavia Hills High School, new classrooms at Liberty Park Elementary, a new gym at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights and new classrooms at West Elementary.

Superintendent Sheila Phillips said the plan is a rough estimate of projected work. The plan is required by the state department each year so that it has a general idea about future projects.

“They allow you to make changes as you go along. It is just a rough idea of what you anticipate is coming and a possible timeline for that,” Phillips said. “[It’s] definitely subject to change. Construction always is.”

During the time for superintendent comments,  Phillips asked maintenance supervisor Ed Varden to update the board on the state of the press box at VHHS. Varden said the project will take another three weeks before it is completed.

“This is a hard project – they have very little room to work,” Varden said. “Everybody has done as much as they can to get this done on time.”

At the meeting, the board also:

  • Approved a list of consent items which included out of state trips for sports teams and the math team.
  • Approved the 2015-16 budget.
  • Approved the renewal of general liability and errors and omissions liability insurance policies. Attorney Patrick Boone said he reviewed the policies and the coverage is consistent with past coverage.
  • Approved a 4 percent supplement for the Vestavia Hills High School mock trial sponsors.
  • Approved an updated supplements list for school employees. Phillips said the amounts of supplements are compared to those at other schools. “We actually added several this year just because the amount of extracurricular requirements that are placed on our teachers, such as mock trial, the large dances, just those things that we’re asking teachers to spend a lot of additional time on,” Phillips said.