‘Momma Lisa’ Yancey named schools’ Employee of Year

It’s not in her job description, but Lisa Yancey is known to make calls to shelters for homeless mothers, arrange food delivery for poor families and personally pick students up and take them to school until permanent transportation can be arranged.

And she does it all with a smile — and sometimes a needed hug of assurance for a crying mother, said Wayne Smith, coordinator of student services for Hoover City Schools.

Yancey, the office manager for the department, does whatever needs to be done to help families, Smith said.

It’s that loving touch that helped earn Yancey the title of 2016-17 Hoover City Schools Employee of the Year. Yancey was honored recently at the November Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.

Yancey has been with the Hoover school system for about 16 years. She spent about 11 years as the registrar at Hoover High School and has been in her current role with the student services department nearly five years. She helps manage things such as enrollment, zoning, and court and custody issues regarding students.

The student services department deals with a lot of students and families that are struggling with various issues, including homelessness, poverty, hunger, a lack of transportation and changing family dynamics, such as a grandparent taking custody of a grandchild.

Yancey follows the school district’s policies and procedures to make sure issues are handled legally, but she does so with a heart of compassion and care for the individuals involved, Smith said.

She is a calming force in times of crises and can turn tears into laughter, he said.

“She never gets angry. She never gets frustrated. She never gets stressed out while working in the most difficult situations,” Smith said.

When parents get through dealing with Yancey, she has a way of making them feel like their child is the No. 1 priority of Hoover City Schools, he said.

“I could not imagine having to do my job without Lisa,” Smith said in a nomination statement. “I depend on her every day all day long.”

She probably gets 100 calls a day from people outside the school system, but she also is a go-to person for district administrators when they need data and reports, Smith said.

Yancey also volunteers with the Crossroads alternative school program and works with students who need some “Momma Lisa” from time to time, he said. And she goes into various schools to assist the office staff when times of crisis hit. “She is truly a go-to person,” Smith said.

Yancey said she finds it rewarding to be able to help people. It’s sad seeing some of the difficult situations that people have to face, she said. But her job also can be fun when she gets to help people relocating to Hoover from another state, she said.

“I get to tell them about our great city and our great school system and kind of feel them out to help them find what they’re looking for,” Yancey said.

Each Hoover school has its own personality, and Yancey likes helping match people with their desires and explaining which neighborhoods are zoned for particular schools, she said.

Yancey grew up in the McCalla area and graduated from McAdory High School. She received a computer programming degree from Bessemer State Technical College and worked for AmSouth Bank for 15 years before coming to the Hoover school system.

She and her husband, Ronnie, have lived in Hoover for 28 years and have two grown children. She also is a member of the Regular Runners of Hoover group and an active member of Southcrest Baptist Church.

Other finalists for 2016-17 Employee of the Year were Andre Brown, a technology specialist who works at four Hoover schools, and Marc Hutchinson, the lead custodian at Spain Park High School. Brown has been with Hoover City Schools 13 years, while Hutchinson has been with the district about four years.