Neal Embry
Vestavia Hills City Schools Superintendent Todd Freeman speaks to the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
By all accounts, 2018-19 was an outstanding year for Vestavia Hills City Schools, Superintendent Todd Freeman said at the Aug. 13 luncheon of the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce.
The school saw more than $33 million given in scholarships to graduating seniors, teachers and students receiving multiple awards, many National Merit finalists, athletic championships and more than $250,000 given to the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center as part of the RISE fundraiser, led by students at Vestavia Hills High School.
Yet, the school is continuing to work to constantly improve and offer students the best chance for a successful future as Vestavia strives to create a culture where students, the school motto says, “learn without limits,” Freeman said.
“Learning without limits is something we want our entire system, our whole organization, to think from an emotional perspective of what that really means,” Freeman said. “That has so much breadth and meaning, and it’s not just words that sit up on a screen or that are on plaques at a school.
It's something that actually bears meaning, and it gives up the opportunity to imagine, and to dream and to think about the things that we think would never be possible,” Freeman said.
Freeman discussed the school’s strategic plan, which yielded, among many other results, three main goals for the school system, with the first being to “ensure that students learn and demonstrate a profound understanding of knowledge and skills consistent with expectations of teachers, parents, and the community, and ensure that students find value and meaning in the work provided to them.”
Freeman said this is seen when the schools see students as “valued,” not just “valuable,” focusing on test scores and grades, and ensuring they are prepared for whatever it is they choose to do after their days in the Vestavia school system end. Freeman spoke about how teachers today are teaching skills, not just content, and also about non-collegiate opportunities, like the Academy of Craft Training, which offers students a chance to earn credit and potentially get a job while learning skills such as welding, HVAC and masonry.
The second goal is to “embrace our leadership role in developing common understandings and shared community support for confronting the problems and challenges that impact the system, youth and families,” Freeman said.
The mental health crisis and ongoing opioid epidemic hasn’t stayed away from Vestavia, Freeman said, and the school is seeing issues with mental health, as well as chronic absenteeism.
The third goal is to “strengthen leadership, management and staffing systems committed to advancing the mission, beliefs and goals of the strategic plan.”
Freeman said 50% of the upcoming year’s budget, which is set for about $80 million, is funded by residents, a huge help to the school system that sends a message of community support.
The school anticipates 2 to 3% growth per year financially, with most of that money going toward teacher raises, Freeman said.
While the school is currently at 84% capacity district-wide, when Pizitz students move to the old Berry campus, and ninth-grade students move to the current Pizitz facility, Freeman said the school will be at 70% capacity.
While Vestavia is renowned for its school system, Freeman said school leaders aren’t settling and resting on current successes.
“We constantly want to be moving the bar and getting better and better,” Freeman said.
Next month’s luncheon will be held on Sept. 10, featuring speaker Doug Wilson, who works in security and cybersecurity. Wilson will be speaking on domestic and international travel in a post-9/11 world.
