Vestavia Hills school system welcomes wave of new principals

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The Vestavia Hills school system has a new crop of principals for the 2024-25 school year.

Blair Inabinet was appointed as the new principal of Vestavia Hills High School, following three years as principal at Vestavia Hills Elementary Liberty Park and this past year as principal at Liberty Park Middle School. Lauren Dressback was named principal of the alternative school, after two years as principal at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights.

Also, four women who have been serving as assistant principals have been promoted to the top role at their schools following several retirements and the transfers of Inabinet and Dressback. 

Kim Polson is taking Dressback’s spot at Cahaba Heights, while Dori Hardee is replacing Inabinet at Liberty Park Middle School. Susan McCall is taking on the lead role at Vestavia Hills Elementary West, and Cindy Echols is leading at Vestavia Hills Elementary East.

All of those new principals have spent significant stretches of their careers in the Vestavia Hills school system. Here’s more about each leader:

Blair Inabinet: Vestavia Hills High School

A Georgia native, Inabinet earned three degrees from Georgia Southern University, including her bachelor’s degree in secondary social science education and a master’s degree in middle grades education. 

After relocating to the Birmingham area seven years ago, she earned her doctorate in education leadership from Samford University.

Inabinet said she doesn’t intend to make any immediate sweeping changes at Vestavia Hills High School, which, she believes, has many of the best students and teachers in the state. In the short term, Inabinet said she will continue to focus on the traits that have made the school one of the top public schools in Alabama.

As for long-term goals, Inabinet said the future direction of Vestavia Hills School will be shaped by regular dialogue with key stakeholders, including students and parents.

“Those specific and concrete goals will come after many, many, many conversations with our families, our students and our staff about what their priorities and their goals are moving forward,” Inabinet said. “That’s really important to me to include the student voice, family voice and faculty voice in the decisions that we make, both in the short term and the establishment of long-term goals.”

Lauren Dressback: Vestavia Hills Alternative School

Dressback has 21 years of experience in education, with 18 of those in Vestavia Hills City Schools.

She was named Vestavia Hills’ Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2015 and then served as an assistant principal first at the high school and then at Liberty Park Middle School, before being named principal at Cahaba Heights in 2022.

She was put on administrative leave in February and not allowed on school property, and then put in charge of the alternative school in May.

Dressback said in mid-July she still didn’t understand the reason for the transfer but is leaning on her faith and a desire to do the best job possible.

I’m a glass-half-full kind of person,” she said. “I very much believe that you bloom where you’re planted. … I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. I may not understand that reason, but I will let the Lord use me for whatever purposes he sees fit. … This is where I am in my life, and so this is what I’ll be dedicated to and passionate about, and I will work to give the students that come through the alternative school the very best scenario that they can possibly have.”

Dori Hardee: Liberty Park Middle School 

Hardee’s career has taken her all over the country. Growing up in Maryland, Hardee attended East Carolina University and then moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she began her teaching career. 

She and her family then relocated to Grand Forks, North Dakota, where she worked as a personal trainer until the state passed a reciprocity agreement that allowed Hardee to get back into the classroom. 

Following another move to Alabama, Hardee initially worked as a substitute teacher before landing full-time teaching jobs in Mountain Brook, Clay-Chalkville and Alabaster. Hardee said that Inabinet created a solid academic legacy at Liberty Park Middle School, and her primary focus is to build on that foundation of academic excellence while finding areas for improvement and growth. She also said character development will receive plenty of attention for these students at a pivotal point in life.

“Our staff put in a lot of work and a lot of heart and a lot of passion into moving our instruction forward,” Hardee said. “I don’t have a to-do list of changes. That’s really not in our best interest right now. Our best interest is to take the foundations of what we’ve already done and keep moving them forward.”

Kim Polson: Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights

Polson has more than 20 years of experience as a special education teacher, beginning her career at Calera Elementary School in Shelby County. She spent time at Oak Mountain Elementary School and Brookwood Forest Elementary School before joining the faculty at Cahaba Heights six years ago. 

During her career, Polson sought out opportunities to mentor interns and new teachers, which helped her develop an interest in leadership. “I realized that I had been given a lot over the years, and I was ready to turn it around and provide support for other people,” she said.

Polson said the dynamic and unique character of Cahaba Heights has shaped the community’s elementary school. As principal, she plans to deepen those ties between the school, parents, the business community and other stakeholders, especially in character development. 

“There is something happening here in the Cahaba Heights community,” she said. “Anything we ask, they support us. We’re working on a plan with community stakeholders to join us on our character journey. … We’re looking specifically at amplifying student voice, having multiple avenues for parents to provide input and also to just interact with us in the building more frequently.”

Susan McCall: Vestavia Hills Elementary West

After spending eight years as the assistant principal at Vestavia Hills Elementary West, McCall now takes over for outgoing Principal Kim Hauser. A native of Mississippi, McCall has 35 years of experience in education as a teacher, reading coach and administrator. 

McCall earned her bachelor’s degree from Mississippi State University, her master’s degree from the University of Georgia and her doctorate from Brunel University. As principal, McCall aims to build on the high levels of achievement attained while working with Hauser.

“Since I’ve been here eight years, I don’t have a huge agenda of things I want to change,” McCall said. “I feel like Kim was such an amazing leader, and she really brought me in as a co-leader from day one. So I do feel like I’ve been able to have an influence all along the way.”

Like her colleagues, McCall said character development is as important as academic achievement, and she plans to continue the school’s focus on character education. “We will continue to focus on our core values, which is the West way — kindness, respect and responsibility — and just keeping that in the forefront of all that we do as we work with children.”

Cindy Echols: Vestavia Hills Elementary East

Echols, a Tuscaloosa native, is making her second appearance as a principal. She began her teaching career at Cahaba Heights Elementary prior to the community’s annexation into Vestavia Hills. 

Soon thereafter, at the age of 29, she was named assistant principal at Hewitt-Trussville Middle School. Three years later, she earned her first principal position at Edgewood Elementary School in Homewood, a position she held for three years before taking time off to raise her children. 

At Vestavia Hills Elementary East, she has been an assistant principal under Mark Richardson, who retired at the end of this past school year.

Among her goals are to ensure academic continuity in every classroom and to continue to invest in and empower the school’s teachers.

“Mark and I have just led together. He’s been great in the way that he guided me and allowed me to make decisions, mainly in curriculum instruction,” Echols said. “So, I think we’re going to be working on our curriculum as far as being consistent in every classroom with effective teaching. … Our teachers are so involved and make so many decisions, and we trust them totally to do what they do in their classrooms, and we’re not going to micromanage.”