Board of Education
Work will soon be done at both Vestavia Hills High School and Vestavia Hills Elementary East to improve energy efficiency after the Board of Education approved a roughly $5 million contract with Schneider Electric at the June 28 meeting.
The company recently performed an audit to determine projects that will save the system money over time by making school facilities more energy efficient. The approved projects at the high school will include the installation of LED lighting at the school and athletic fields, a new central operational system for the school’s infrastructure, and a new chiller, cooling tower, chilled water pump and condenser water pump, along with other work, according to the contract. At East, part of the roof will be replaced.
The total savings from all projects is anticipated to be more than $27 million over a 20-year partnership with the school system.
The board also heard an update from outgoing athletic director Jeff Segars, who talked about the department’s finances. Segars said there were 888 athletes last year, and the department needs more parents to become members of the school’s booster club to help fund all sports. Sponsorship opportunities can be found online at 1rebelathletics.com.
Expenses for the 2020-21 school year for the athletic department was about $220,500, and for the past two years, Segars said the department has been able to meet the “wish lists” of the coaches of several sports. That is benefited, in part, from ticket sales and other revenues from Friday night football games, as that revenue goes to all sports, not just football, Segars said. Segars also took time to praise the high school sports teams, many of which won championships or finished with great playoff runs, he said.
Segars will soon begin his new job as an assistant athletic director at the Alabama High School Athletic Association. Superintendent Todd Freeman, along with Assistant Superintendent Patrick Martin and VHHS principal Tonya Rozell, who is the acting athletic director, will oversee the search for the new athletic director, which they hope to have in place before school begins in August.
In talking to the board about the upcoming 2021-22 school year, Freeman said while the school may still have some students quarantined as a result of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing, the system will not be performing the contact tracing; rather, that will be done by the Jefferson County Department of Health. Other than that, Freeman said plans are to have a normal school year.
In other business, the board:
- Approved a budget amendment to add back in an allocation from the reserve fund to pay the system back for 2020 COVID-19 expenditures.
- Approved the 2021-22 salary schedule
- Approved the TEAMS contract for the 2021-22 school year. Thirty-six slots in the higher-paying salary schedule are available for current teachers in grades 6-12 who meet certain criteria. The contract targets math and science teachers and gives them the opportunity to make more money based on good performance.
- Approved new board member Jay Stewart.
- Heard the evaluations on both Freeman and Chief School Financial Officer Courtney Brown, both of whom received high marks from the Board of Education.
- Went into executive session at the end of the meeting.
