Vestavia Hills City Schools Superintendent Todd Freeman expressed his excitement for the new school year and the role the school system plays in the city at the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon at Vestavia Country Club on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
“One of the great things about Vestavia Hills, why I love it and why many of you do, is because there is a spirit of oneness,” Freeman said. “When it comes to supporting the schools, we get lined up together. It’s very important to us because we recognize that we can’t do very much of significance unless we work together.”
When Freeman thinks about togetherness, he said, he thinks about the founding of the United States and Alabama.
In both preambles, Freeman said, the opening phrase is “we the people,” which he believes symbolizes the wants and needs of human life to work and collaborate with other people.
Freeman said the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of how much people desire personal connection.
“Look at the impact of isolation, separation and being disconnected from one another,” Freeman said. “Think about that impact on yourself and your business and magnify that many times over when we talk about the impact on our children. I believe we are at this inflection point where we must make an all out effort to connect our children to people and the purposes they have in learning.”
He said he thinks about the role of the school system as well as his role as superintendent within the community which are academics, instilling moral values in students and discipline.
“We are to model the values and beliefs of the Vestavia Hills community, that is the role of our school system,” Freeman said. “In Vestavia Hills, education is a top priority. When there are high expectations for high performance, you trust us to meet those expectations and the great thing is, when high performance happens, the result is higher performance.”
When he and his wife were learning about Vestavia Hills and its school system before they moved, Freeman was drawn to the beliefs of the school system such as the beliefs that every student has value, deserves to be respected, be safe and have their voices heard.
Freeman then talked about the 1Rebel 1Future initiative, which has two parts: profound and supportive learning experiences and safe and dynamic learning spaces, he said.
Giving students profound and supportive learning experiences entails persuading them into being engaged rather than just being involved, Freeman said.
“Involvement in church is sitting in the pew but engagement is worshiping… It’s very simple when you think about it that way. When we engage students, what we’re doing is connecting their unique talents and gifts to the learning that is going on in the schools. This is where the magic happens," Freeman said.
Freeman said having safe and dynamic learning spaces is equally important to a student’s academic success as providing profound and supportive learning experiences.
He said it's important to have secure and up-to-date environments for learning.
“We do have aging facilities,” Freeman said. “We have places that we want to grow and expand but we’ll start with the most important thing we can do which is to provide a safe and secure environment… We also want a healthy environment. That means a lot more than bodily health. That means making sure buildings are completed in such a way that is healthy. We want to make sure that roofs don’t leak, we have lighting systems that are beneficial for a kid’s learning and having air conditioners that run.”
