Hoover council honors educators who were integration pioneers
The Hoover City Council tonight, as part of Black History Month, recognized two of the first black teachers to teach in Hoover area schools during integration efforts nearly 50 years ago.
At the beginning of its meeting, the council welcomed Charles Whatley and Marilyn Jones, both of whom came to Berry High School in about 1970 as science teachers and taught there for decades.
Whatley said he stayed until about 1994 when Hoover City Schools opened Hoover High School as Berry’s replacement. He later taught 10-12 years at the Ketona School in Jefferson County and retired in 2008 from Birmingham City Schools, he said.
Just three years after coming to Berry, the predominantly white student body voted Jones as the school’s Teacher of the Year, Hoover Councilman Derrick Murphy said.
“That just goes to show it’s not about the color of your skin, but about the content of your character,” Murphy said.
Jones went on to win the Finley Award for outstanding character and to serve as an eighth-grade principal at Simmons Middle School. She retired around 2001, Murphy said.
Murphy thanked both Whatley and Jones for helping forge a path of integration that helped make Hoover the diverse community it is today. He also thanked the white people of Hoover who have welcomed that diversity and wanted integration to be successful.
Jones, who had two children graduate from Hoover City Schools, said the city of Hoover has been a big part of her life. She always had great camaraderie between herself, her colleagues and the Hoover community at large, she said.
“I continue to be astounded at the evolution and continued progress of this school system,” she said.
The fact that Hoover keeps having to build more schools attests to the fine job being done in education, she said.
She and Whatley received a standing ovation at tonight’s City Council meeting.
The council also tonight recognized:
- Al Castillo Jr., a retired U.S. Army combat veteran and two-time Purple Heart recipient, for creating the Alabama Veteran organization that helps veterans work their way back into civilian life successfully.
- Students from Bluff Park Elementary, Brock’s Gap Intermediate, Deer Valley Elementary, Gwin Elementary, Prince of Peace Catholic School and Shades Mountain Elementary who created art sculptures made of reclaimed materials to represent coral reefs. The artwork was displayed at the 12th annual Moss Rock Festival in The Preserve in November.
- Students from Hoover City Schools who are involved in an effort to combat bullying and spread kindness.