Photos courtesy of Vestavia Hills City Schools
Three Vestavia Hills principals received raises Monday due to having educational specialist degrees. They are, from left, new Vestavia Hills Elementary East Principal Cindy Echols, new Vestavia Hills Elementary West Principal Susan McCall and Vestavia Hills High School Freshman Campus Principal Bill Mann.
The Vestavia Hills Board of Education on Monday approved $2,500 raises for three principals who earned their educational specialist degree.
The principals are new Vestavia Hills Elementary East Principal Cynthia Echols and new Vestavia Hills Elementary West Principal Susan McCall (both of whom now will see their pay rise from $114,694 to $117,194 a year) and Vestavia Hills High School Freshman Campus Principal Bill Mann (whose salary jumps from $123,420 to $125,920 a year).
The school board also on Monday voted to hire two mentors for the district’s principals. A new state law requires mentoring for principals with less than two years of experience, but the Vestavia Hills school district has decided to hire mentors for all of its principals Superintendent Todd Freeman said.
The school board approved contracts for Charles Mason, a former Mountain Brook school superintendent who served as Vestavia Hills’ interim superintendent between Sheila Phillips and Todd Freeman from September 2017 to March 2018, and Tonya Rozell, who is retiring this summer as principal at Vestavia Hills High School.
The district will pay Mason and Rozell $100 per hour. Rozell’s contract is for one year, and Mason’s contract is renewable for up to three years.
“They’re two seasoned, accomplished administrators,” Freeman said. “The whole idea for all of us is to lift our leadership capacity and growth and become even more effective than our current principals already are, so this is exciting.”
The school board also on Monday:
- Agreed to pay Bama Utility Contractors an extra $58,000 to complete drainage and driveway improvements leading to a recreational field at Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge. The contractor ran into more rock than it anticipated when making the improvements, so the total job now should cost $244,424 instead of $184,449.
- Agreed to pay Knox Pest Control $15,360 for pest control services throughout the district.
- Approved a new technical theater teacher position. Freeman said having that position will enable the school to better rent out its facilities, producing income to cover the cost of the position.
