Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney
Mark Richardson, who just retired after 25 years as principal at Vestavia Hills Elementary East, has been hired to to work as a mentor for Vestavia Hills principals.
The Vestavia Hills school board on Thursday continued adding to its stable of mentors for administrators.
On the recommendation of Superintendent Todd Freeman, the school board approved contracts with former Principals Mark Richardson and Kim Hauser to be mentors for principals in the system.
Richardson and Hauser, both of whom retired at the end of this past school year, are longtime administrators with a wealth of experience.
Richardson spent 25 years as principal of Vestavia Hills Elementary East, and Hauser was principal at Vestavia Hills Elementary West for 11 years and was an assistant principal there for 12 years before that.
Freeman said he believes they will be wonderful mentors for Vestavia’s principals, many of whom are new to the head principal role. Vestavia Hills has four principals this year who are newly promoted from assistant principal jobs.
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney
Kim Hauser retired after 11 years as principal at Vestavia Hills Elementary West and has been hired to serve as a mentor for other principals.
The Alabama Legislature in 2023 passed the Alabama School Principal Leadership and Mentoring Act, which requires that people hired as principals on or after July 1 of this year must have an official mentor for at least two consecutive years.
The state provides some funding to pay for those mentors, but Freeman and the Vestavia Hills Board of Education have decided to have mentors for all Vestavia principals, not just new ones, to help all principals continue to grow as leaders.
Other principal mentors recently hired by the Vestavia Hills Board of Education are Charles Mason, a former Mountain Brook superintendent who served as Vestavia Hills’ interim superintendent from September 2017 to March 2018, and Tonya Rozell, who just retired as principal at Vestavia Hills High School.
Additionally, the school board hired former Vestavia Hills High School Assistant Principal Jennifer Brown, who retired this summer, to serve as a mentor for assistant principals and instructional support personnel and teachers going through the process to be certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Photos courtesy of Vestavia Hills City Schools
The Vestavia Hills Board of Education hired several longtime educators to serve as mentors for administrators. From left are former Mountain Brook Superintendent and later Vestavia Hills Interim Superintendent Charles Mason and retiring Vestavia Hills High School Principal Tonya Rozell. Also, former Vestavia Hills High School Assistant Principal Jennifer Brown, who recently retired, was hired to mentor assistant principals and work with teachers.
