Neal Embry
Board members David Powell and Steve Bendall look on as Vestavia Hills Superintendent Todd Freeman presents at the Feb. 25 board of education meeting.
Due to above-average rainfall in the winter months, Pizitz Middle School students won’t be moving to the old Berry High School campus at the beginning of the 2019-20 school year, Superintendent Todd Freeman said at the Feb. 25 board of education meeting.
The Berry campus is being converted into a facility for middle-school students, and the original plan had Pizitz moving to the campus ahead of next school year, but with weather delaying construction crews replacing the roof and performing other vital tasks, that’s no longer going to happen, Freeman said.
The Vestavia area received a little more than 23 inches of rain between December and February, 10 inches above the annual average, said Whit McGhee, communications director for Vestavia Hills City Schools.
Because of the rain, construction crews have lost days since November, Freeman said.
“It was an ambitious goal to [be ready by the start of school],” Freeman told the Voice.
Freeman said the plan is to move Pizitz to Berry preferably when school is not in session. With Berry not being ready, ninth-grade students will attend Vestavia Hills High School for the entire 2019-20 school year, Freeman said. It is unknown when exactly Pizitz will move to Berry, but the plan is for it to happen before the 2020-21 school year.
The decision won’t affect the school’s long-term plan, Freeman said, and there is no enrollment emergency for the upcoming school year.
The school is working with Jefferson County to install a turn lane on Columbiana Road next to the school, and that project may be delayed, Freeman said.
The reconfiguration of the system’s elementary schools is not affected in any way by the decision, Freeman said. It is possible, however, that the new classroom addition at the new Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge will not be available because of weather, but Freeman said the school will still be open and students will be able to attend classes, even if the new addition isn’t open by August.
While the projects are delayed, Freeman said the school system has still saved about $20 million, as it would have cost an additional $10 million on top of what they paid for Berry to build a new middle school, and an additional $10 million, on top of the cost for VHEDR, would have been needed to pay for a new elementary school.
Freeman released a video with details of the update here.
In other news, the board also approved the memorandum of understanding with the city of Vestavia Hills, which states the city will pay $280,000 per year for 10 years to the board to help with ongoing construction, in addition to affirming the board of education's responsibility for building two fields at Berry for shared use, as well as parking agreements, pedestrian crossings and a future land swap allowing the city to build a new New Merkel House and the school to take over land near the city’s library.
In other business, the board:
- Approved a change order for about $103,000 in additional construction work at Berry, including a new sound system.
- Approved a bid and roughly $100,000 contract with Armstrong Transfer and Storage, who will help in the transitions between elementary and middle schools.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the board of education, not the city, is responsible for building the ball fields at the old Berry High School.