Photo by Jon Anderson
Vestavia Hils Elementary School East
Vestavia Hills school officials have no plans to redraw school attendance zones this year, but growth at Vestavia Hills Elementary School East has them concerned it may be necessary in the near future, Superintendent Todd Freeman told the school board Monday.
Enrollment at the East elementary school has climbed above 800 this year, including 156 first graders and 144 kindergartners, Freeman said. School leaders like to keep those grade levels in the 120s if they can, and “if we continue with the trajectory of 145 to 150 kids, it’ll be hard for us to maintain those numbers” at East, he said.
A contractor this summer is converting the old cafeteria at East into three permanent classrooms and three office spaces, but the school is close to capacity, Freeman said. There still are a couple of options to be creative with space, but if the grade levels continue to be that high, the school board may need to consider redrawing attendance zones to ease the load, he said. There is available space at Vestavia Hills Elementary West and Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge to accommodate more children, he said.
“Nobody really likes the notion of rezoning. We’ll hold as long as we can and be optimistic,” but school officials will need to take another look next spring at how big the next incoming kindergarten class will be, Freeman said.
The good news is that, for the most part, class sizes are within the range that Vestavia Hills school officials like to see, the superintendent said. That’s 13-16 students per kindergarten class, 16-19 students for grades 1-3 and 20-23 students for grades 4-5, he said.
Almost all grade levels at all schools are within those ranges right now, according to enrollment numbers shared by Freeman. The exception is that the average first grade class size at East this year is 19.5 students right now, he said.
Source: Vestavia Hills City Schools
In other business Monday, the school board:
- Approved a revised strategic plan for the school district. See the new strategic plan and goals here.
- Approved the 2025-26 pay supplement schedule for athletic and academic coaches and sponsors of certain groups. See that schedule here.
- Approved a new fee schedule for groups that rent school facilities that includes a surcharge for groups of more than 100 people. See the new rental fee schedule here.
- Approved licensing agreements with MM Marketing, Parks Hills Creative and Wagner’s Team Alabama for the use of Vestavia Hills City Schools logos and trademarks on promotional products or apparel See those licensing agreements here.
