Photo by Erin Nelson.
Jennifer Bailey
Jennifer Bailey, the new director of student services for the Vestavia Hills City Schools, is photographed at Cahaba Heights Elementary School.
Education may be a second career for Jennifer Bailey, but she’s already moving into her second job with Vestavia Hills City Schools.
Before becoming a high-school language arts teacher at both Thompson and Chelsea high schools for a total of 12 years, Bailey spent five years in the advertising business.
For the past three years, Bailey has worked as a director of curriculum and instruction at VHCS, helping teachers be better prepared to help students in the classroom.
Now, Bailey has stepped into the role of director of student services for the school, replacing Aimee Rainey, who moved into a new role as assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. In this role, Bailey will focus more on helping students outside the classroom.
Bailey began being prepared for the job during her years teaching, before coming to Vestavia.
“What makes me so interested in student services is the experience I had with student groups and, in particular, peer-helper groups,” Bailey said. “I spent a lot of time working with, collaborating with counselors to train peer-helper groups in our schools and in our district, in Shelby County.”
The experience helped Bailey gain a better understanding of students and their needs, she said. “It really changed the way that I taught, the way that I viewed students, the way I interacted with them, and gave me a heart for their overall well-being, not just their academic success,” Bailey said.
In her new job, Bailey will be able to “marry” that dedication to meeting students’ out-of-the-classroom needs to her academic expertise, something she said she’s excited about.
“The new role is more about the ‘whole child,’ their social and emotional well-being, their behavioral and academic success,” Bailey said.
Bailey said there’s not a “typical day” as the director of student services, with various responsibilities that are central to helping her and other school leaders better serve Vestavia students.
Talking about Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs,” Bailey said it’s vital that school leaders understand that if a student’s basic needs aren’t met, they won’t be able to focus on education.
Vestavia is renowned for the academic success of its students, but in order for that to continue, it’s important for students to feel taken care of in and out of the classroom, Bailey said.
There’s more awareness in the community about the need to address mental health than has existed in recent years, Bailey said, and VHCS is committed to learning how to help students deal with issues related to mental health, such as depression, anxiety and others.
As part of her work, Bailey will partner with the Help the Hills Coalition, which seeks to curb the use of harmful substances among students, as well as PTO leaders. She’ll also collect data from reports like the student-incident report, a list of student disciplinary incidents that are reported to the state, and the PRIDE Survey, taken by students to find out what behaviors related to drug and alcohol use are happening in and out of school.
The challenge, Bailey said, will be having to balance spending as much time in each area of her job as she’d like, especially when it comes to interacting with teachers and students, while ensuring state-mandated reports and other administrative tasks are handled. Her work will be benefited, she said, from Rainey’s work before her.
“I think [Rainey] has made a lot of great changes to move our district forward,” Bailey said.
Rainey implemented structures and processes that will help as she gets started, Bailey said.
Bailey said while she may be in a new role, she’s still excited to work with the people at VHCS and in the Vestavia community.
“The people are the best part about working in Vestavia,” Bailey said. “That’s everybody from the people I work with in the central office into the classrooms and schools, and even into the community. … The relationships that I forge with people who work hard, who are smart and do all of their work on behalf of students is the best part of my job.”
