Board of Education
Lisa Baker will serve as the next president of the Vestavia Hills Board of Education, replacing outgoing president David Powell, who presided over his last meeting on May 18.
Baker, the current vice president, will preside over her first meeting in June, while board member Steve Bendall will be the new vice president. Local lawyer Scott Brown will take Powell’s spot on the board.
Powell has served on the board for five years and has helped lead the school system through major changes, including the recent COVID-19 crisis.
“I came on during a time when we had some controversy,” Powell said. “Since then, we’ve had a superintendent retire. We’ve hired an interim superintendent, done a superintendent search. We bought a school, then we bought another school, then we told a couple thousand of elementary students to go to a different school than the one they’d gone to before. We held community meetings, and then, for my grand exit, we decided to send 8,000 students and teachers home for the last eight weeks of school.
“So, it has been quite the journey,” Powell said.
Baker thanked Powell for his service and said it was a privilege to serve with him before joking about his punctuality – Powell would start meetings at 4 p.m., down to the second -- and light-hearted jokes toward the vice president.
“I will try to be as punctual as you are, and I will try really hard not to miss an opportunity to harass the vice president,” Baker said.
Other board members and Superintendent Todd Freeman thanked Powell for his years of service.
Also, at the meeting, the board voted to forego their compensation, an annual practice.
Assistant Superintendent Aimee Rainey gave an update on technology, including the results of a survey of parents, students and teachers on how virtual learning has gone during the COVID-19 crisis.
Rainey said offering both synchronous and asynchronous learning have been well-received by everyone involved, as well as having all assignments posted at the beginning of the week.
For the 2020-21 school year, Rainey told the board that the system will become a 1:1 system, meaning each student at every school will have a device to use at school, and in some cases, at home, to do their schoolwork. With each student having their own computer, it also helps lessen the risk of germs being passed from student to student, Rainey said.
Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights Principal Alicia Hunsberger’s contract was extended by three years and now runs through June 2023, with Freeman praising Hunsberger for doing a “great job” at the school.
An addendum was made to Vestavia Hills High School Principal Tyler Burgess’ contract to state he is now principal not only of VHHS but also the new freshman campus that will open this fall for the 2020-21 school year.
After obtaining his doctorate in education, Pizitz principal Chris Pennington had his salary increased from $119,600 to $124,600.
Courtney Brown, the school system’s chief financial officer, had her contract extended one year to June 2022.
Although it was tabled until the June meeting, Meredith Hanson, personnel director, said she was working on updating the school system’s job descriptions to bring them up to date with current jobs.
The board also approved the 2020-21 board meeting calendar.
