School board considering options for Berry campus, other facilities

The Vestavia Hills school system may be aiming to “learn without limits,” but students are certainly reaching the capacity limit throughout city school facilities, and discussions are underway as to how to best mitigate the problem.

On Sept. 8 the Vestavia Hills Board of Education held the first two of many meetings to come to discuss any and all options for the former Berry High School campus with the public.

“There is the rumor out there that [action with Berry] is already decided,” Superintendent Sheila Phillips said. “We wouldn’t be going through [these discussions] if it was already decided.”

In a presentation that addressed the needed renovations to several schools throughout Vestavia, Phillips pointed out that the school system is growing, and that something has to change.

At the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, the district saw 6,476 students enrolled. This year, there are 7,094.

Phillips attributed the amount of growth to number of homes for sale within the district that do not currently have school-age children. When these houses are sold and families with young children move in, there is a large spike in school enrollment. 

Currently, 73 percent of homes in Vestavia do not have school-age children, which Phillips said leaves a large amount of space for potential families and children.

“We do not anticipate [our enrollment] slowing down,” Phillips said, but added that Vestavia does plan on adjusting for the growth accordingly.

Many questions and concerns were raised by the public at the meetings and online, including how the district plans on dealing with the increasing population happening through zoning and annexations, how the board might merge classes and schools, what will happen with the Berry campus, how money will be spent to keep students academically aligned and together to ensure the best education possible across the area.

In what Phillips called an “anchor idea,” she addressed one option that involves moving Pizitz Middle School to the Berry campus, and moving Vestavia Hills Elementary Central to the Pizitz campus, since Berry was built as a middle school or small high school. Central would then close, alleviating the need for costly renovations to bring the school up to a more desirable condition.

While the idea was explained to those at the meetings, Phillips reiterated that no decisions were being made and everything is still open for consideration.

The size of the new property was also discussed at length to clarify that in addition to its currently standing facilities, the Berry campus does have the capability to expand outward on the 37 acres where it sits.

Although no agreements have been made, the board is looking to have a decision in the coming weeks in order to keep with the timeline of “being pretty far along in three years.”

“We intend to make this experience even better, and that is what this whole initiative is about,” Phillips said.

No dates have been decided for future discussion of the Berry campus, but the locations will be spread out throughout the district to reach a broader audience. Dates, times and locations for future meetings will be posted online as well.