
Photos by Erin Nelson.
Vestavia Hills superintendents from left, Patrick Martin, Aimee Rainey and Todd Freeman at the Vestavia Hills Board of Education on Sept. 11.
When Aimee Rainey took the Vestavia Hills City Schools director of student services job during the 2018-19 school year, she knew her first year would be defined by more than just how work was going.
Rainey’s young son also joined the system as a student, leading Rainey to hope all the good things she had heard about Vestavia schools were true. She hasn’t been disappointed.
“It’s a very kind and loving community … not just as an employee, but as a parent,” Rainey said.
She wasn’t alone among school leaders working in their first year in the system. She was joined by Superintendent Todd Freeman and Patrick Martin, the assistant superintendent of operations and services. This year, Rainey has been promoted to assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, replacing Jane-Marie Marlin, who retired at the end of the 2018-19 school year.
The three administrators all said they enjoyed their first year in Vestavia Hills and are looking forward to their future in the system.
“It’s been wonderful,” Martin said.
With so much going on in terms of construction and the massive movement of teachers and equipment over the summer due to reconfiguration, it has been “very rewarding work” thus far, Martin said.
His position didn’t exist until he joined the staff. Martin was a finalist for the superintendent job that eventually went to Freeman, but said working with Freeman as an assistant superintendent has been rewarding.
“The wealth of knowledge that Dr. Freeman brings … I consider myself very, very fortunate,” Martin said.
After meeting board members and principals, Martin said he knew he wanted to work in Vestavia Hills.
Rainey echoed Martin’s comments and said it’s a “privilege” to work with both Freeman and Martin.
Like Rainey, Freeman also brought a child into the school system this year. He and his wife Rachel’s first child started kindergarten this year.
“It’s a new experience,” Freeman said. “Immediately, I know the value of a teacher connection with a student.”
Seeing Vestavia teachers interact so well with students, including his own, is affirming to him, he said. To have so many teachers with a genuine love and concern for their students goes a long way, Freeman said.
Freeman came to Vestavia after serving as superintendent of Sylacauga City Schools and working in the Auburn school system. He said while he had always heard good things about Vestavia, he now has seen first-hand the excellence of the schools.
“What I knew about the system has come to fruition,” he said.
All three superintendents said the Vestavia community has been supportive of them as they’ve taken on new roles within the school system.
Rainey said she has really enjoyed working with the Help the Hills coalition and other community groups that help Vestavia Hills students.
“That brings me a lot of joy,” she said.
Martin said he has enjoyed working with his colleagues in the school system and with the Vestavia Hills Board of Education as well. One of his favorite parts of the job is seeing the board recognize outstanding students and teachers at its monthly meeting.
“Excellence is an expectation,” Martin said. “It’s not something they’re aspiring to, and that starts at home. … It’s an expectation from parents that they [students] will be excellent, and that’s fun to be a part of.”

The Vestavia Hills Board of Education along Montgomery Highway.
In his first year, Freeman oversaw the closing of the Vestavia Hills Elementary Central campus, the reconfiguration and rezoning of Vestavia Hills Elementary East, West and Cahaba Heights to become K-5 schools, the addition of Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge — also a K-5 school — and the addition of the Berry campus, which will at some point be the home of Pizitz Middle School.
Despite the numerous big decisions he made, including the decision to delay the move to Berry as a result of construction delays, Freeman said he wasn’t nervous, as he and other school leaders had spent time preparing, organizing and planning decisions ahead of time.
While Freeman doesn’t follow social media, he said Whit McGhee, the school’s director of public relations, keeps him up to speed and is told the response to the major moves made by the system in the past year or so have been “very positive.”
Freeman attributes that positive feedback to the collaborative efforts with other leaders.
He said the people surrounding him have naturally helped him grow as both an educator and on a personal level.
“Growth usually is at its best when you’re surrounded by people who allow you to grow,” he said.
With so much going on in the areas of construction, reconfiguration and other changes, Martin noted principals across the system have been willing to put in long hours.
“While there are challenges, you’ve got the team in place to meet those (challenges),” Martin said.
The challenge for Vestavia, a system renowned for excellence, is to continue to push for even greater success, Freeman said. “It’s a great challenge; it’s an opportunity, really.”
One of the ways the school system meets that challenge is to sit down with stakeholders and develop a strategic plan. This past year, the strategic plan was created with the help of Vestavia Hills students, which allowed them to have a voice and see they are valued, Rainey said. It’s yet another way the Vestavia Hills school system is trying to grow.
Taking part in the strategic planning process allowed Rainey to catch a glimpse of the future Vestavia has — something that has her excited as she works through her second year in the system.
“Through that process, to really hear the history and then to dream of what the future is going to look like, and to be able to be a part of the team that is going to get to do that fabulous work, that really is exciting to me,” she said.