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Board of education approves new Pizitz principal, land swap with city

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Photo Courtesy of Vestavia Hills

UPDATE: A previous version of this story included an error. The traffic light at the south end of the Berry campus will not move. The light in the middle of campus will move to the north end of campus.

Chris Pennington will soon step into the role of principal at Pizitz Middle School after the Vestavia Hills Board of Education approved his hire at the May 20 meeting.

Pennington is currently principal of Chickasaw Middle and High School, which serves students in grades six through 12 in the Mobile suburb of Chickasaw, and brings 29 years of experience to PMS, Vestavia Hills City Schools said in a news release after the meeting.

“It’s important to me that we make sure our students, faculty and staff feel supported by the entire community throughout this transition,” Pennington said in the release. “We’ll all be working together for the good of our students and helping them to be the best they can be.”

Pennington was formally recognized and hired at the meeting, approved by the board in its list of personnel items. Current Pizitz principal Meredith Hanson will become the district’s director pf personnel services after Mike Donaldson, who currently holds that position, retires at the end of this school year.

The board also approved the conveyance of property, a land swap, between the BOE and the city of Vestavia Hills, in which the board will receive property including the current New Merkel House and surrounding areas, and the city will receive land for the future New Merkel House and Cahaba Heights ballfields, as well as roads and parking.

Assistant Superintendent Patrick Martin gave a construction update. At the high school, work began on May 20 to demolish part of the visitors bleachers at the football stadium and install eight new ADA-compliant spaces. That project will be finished by June 25, two days before the I Love America night is set to be held at the field.

At Dolly Ridge, work is ongoing to add 14 rooms, a carpool loop and parking. The first floor of the facility addition should be complete Aug. 1 with the second floor following on Aug. 26, while the carpool loop and parking should be finished July 31, Martin said.

The playground at Dolly Ridge should be complete by July 21, with striping and signage for the carpool lane done on the same day.

At the future home of Pizitz Middle School, formerly Berry High School, work is ongoing in an effort to prepare the school for the 2020-21 school year. The facility renovation and addition should be finished by November, with the Columbiana Road project, in which a turn lane will be installed, should be completed by the end of December.

The turn lane project will see the light in the middle of the campus moved to the north end. The light at the south end of campus will stay where it is.

The school system is adding a new gymnasium, a new band room and a new choral room to the new PMS, and the roof for those additions should be done by May 22, Martin said. The entire roof at Berry is also being replaced.

The board also approved a change order for kitchen work at the new Pizitz campus, formerly Berry High School, in the amount of roughly $36,600, as well as contracts with DOL Solutions for security audits at the schools and with Simply Green for lawn maintenance. The DOL contract is $50,000 and the Simply Green contract is for $27,332.

In other business, the council:

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