Board approves new coding class, principal contract
During a March 25 meeting, the Board of Education approved a new Pirate Programming class at Pizitz Middle School as well as a principal employment contract for Dr. Tyler Burgess.
Pirate Programming is a semester/year-long class offered as an elective to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at Pizitz. Children are able to learn the basic concepts of computer science through drag-and-drop programming using iPads, Macs and Chromebooks.
The unique class, taught by Pizitz teacher Kathy Rogers, was inspired by an event held at Pizitz called Hour of Code, which is an opportunity for every student to try computer science for one hour. The class prepares students for computer classes at the high school as well as a myriad of careers that require digital literacy.
“We decided to expand to a full-length elective because of continued conversations about coding and the large amount of student interest,” Burgess said.
The Board also approved a principal employment contract for Burgess. Effective May 26, Burgess will become the new principal of Vestavia Hills High School.
“As we have been reorganizing, our process is to analyze what we are doing. We’ve looked at volume and demographics of our school system and made sure we chose the right person,” said Superintendent Sheila Phillips. “I feel very comfortable with our decision.”
The Board is in the process of interviewing applicants for the next Pizitz Middle School principal.
In the other news, the Board:
- Recognized the Pizitz Middle School Robotics Team for their hard work throughout the year and success at recent competitions. The team, under the direction of coach Bill McInnish, won a design award for one of its five competition robots on March 7 at the state championships at Jacksonville State University. The team placed 12th overall in the competition, which pitted Pizitz against both middle and high school teams from Alabama. The design award gave the team an automatic berth into the world championship meet, April 15-18 in Louisville, Kentucky.
- Recognized visual arts students across the school district for excellence in the fine arts.
- Recognized members of the Vestavia Hills City Schools Foundation and their recent fundraiser, Dinner and Diamonds, which raised $74,000 for Vestavia City Schools.
- Approved an agreement with Lathan Associates Architects, P.C. in the amount of $300,000 for partial reroofing.
- Approved a contract with Johnny Hamilton Painting in the amount of $47,410 for systemwide painting. This agreement as well as the reroofing agreement with Lathan Associates will be part of summer projects throughout the school system.
- Approved members of the Textbook Committee.
- Gave an update on the Strategic Planning process.