Courtesy of Lathan and Associates
Gresham Elementary
A proposed redesign of Gresham Elementary includes a classroom addition and exterior work, such as a new canopy at the main entrance and a secure entry system.
The final meeting about restructuring of Vestavia Hills City Schools included details about the next steps the school system will take both with the newly-purchased Gresham Elementary and with the rest of the city's school facilities.
The school board is considering three options for reorganizing its facilities to better meet enrollment demands:
- Option A, which was approved in April before Gresham was purchased, makes Vestavia Hills High School grades 10-12, Liberty Park Middle and the unoccupied Berry Middle grades 6-9 and Pizitz Middle and all the elementary schools would become grades K-5.
- Option S (for "Split") would house grades 10-12 at VHHS, grades 6-7 at Berry, grades 8-9 at Pizitz, grades 6-9 at Liberty Park Middle and grades K-5 at Gresham and existing elementary schools.
- Option 9 (named for the 9th grade campus) would also make VHHS grades 10-12, Pizitz grade 9, Berry and Liberty Park Middle grades 6-8 and Gresham and the elementary schools grades K-5.
Interim Superintendent Charles Mason said the goal of the changes is to create enough classroom space for ideal class sizes and room for extracurricular programs and common spaces such as libraries, gyms and cafeterias to match enrollment.
Tonight's meeting, held at Pizitz Middle's library, had only about a dozen people with few questions. Concerns from parents across all the public meetings included rezoning, transportation, quality of facilities, equitability of class offerings across schools and concern about having sixth and ninth grades in the same building, as outlined in Options A and S.
“It’s kind of unnerving to think that my sixth grader could be with a ninth grader, in terms of maturity levels,” one parent said tonight.
Mason said all three plans are possible to implement by the start of the 2019-20 school year, according to timelines by project management firm Hoar Program Management.
“I think a lot of us wish there was some way to speed this up and give relief to the high school next year,” Mason said.
All three options on the table involve changes to Pizitz. If it became a 9th grade campus as presented in Option 9, Mason said the building would not be filled to capacity and some of its space could be used to house smaller programs currently in “less than ideal spaces.”
"We need Pizitz to be something other than what it is now,” Mason said.
Mason said he visited Homewood High School on Monday, Nov. 13, and toured the freshmen wing of the building. He said the freshmen wing has been in place for 15 years and offers opportunities for dedicated teachers to work together more closely to help students as they adjust to high school.
The goal in restructuring is to make all elementary schools west of U.S. 280 able to handle an enrollment of 800 students. Both Vestavia Hills Elementary East and Central currently have roughly 800 students according to September figures, while Vestavia Hills Elementary West has about 775.
The elementary schools in Cahaba Heights and Liberty Park have about 430 and 630 students, respectively.
Gresham Elementary's current capacity is 500 students, so Mason said a classroom addition would be built on. While the exterior needs some work to make it more attractive, the interior is recently updated and in very good condition. A secure entry similar to the other elementary schools will be added.
“Some of our other elementary school principals would kill to have that gymnasium,” Mason said.
Rezoning will be required no matter which option is selected. Mason said once the board of education makes its choice, the demographics firm Cooperative Strategies will be engaged to use current and projected future demographic trends to decide the best way to rezone the schools for roughly equal enrollment.
This will be completed by early spring, and Mason said there would be more public engagement meetings to give feedback on rezoning solutions.
“Somebody’s going to move, we just don’t know who it’s going to be,” Mason said.
Once the new zones are decided, Mason said the school principals will also get together to decide what changes will need to be made to each school's start time.
The board of education will combine feedback from these meetings with results of an online survey that closes on Nov. 22. About 2,200 people have taken the survey so far, Mason said tonight.
On Dec. 6, Mason will publicize his recommendation to the board about his preferred option. The board will then solicit more public feedback until its Dec. 13 meeting, when a final decision will be made.
Rezoning work will begin with the new year, Mason said, as well as planning for how the transition to the new use of the facilities will be handled. Mason said he wants a plan in place by spring so the new superintendent who is selected will have pre-determined steps to follow, rather than trying to make a plan on the fly while adjusting to his or her new role.