A look ahead: Rezoning takes effect, career connection center to open

Big changes are coming for Hoover City Schools in 2018, including a long-anticipated redrawing of school zone lines, a new career center for high school students and a new band facility for Hoover High.

Some parents had begun to wonder if U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala was ever going to make a final decision regarding the rezoning plan presented to her by Hoover school officials in April 2016.

Haikala finally answered that lingering question Dec. 14 by giving approval for the plan and ordering it to take effect in August 2018.

Some parents are happy with the rezoning, which school officials estimate should send 1,900 to 2,200 students to new school zones. They hope it will provide relief at crowded schools, take advantage of available space at others and return some students to schools closer to their homes.

Other parents bemoan the idea of their children having to switch schools, and real estate agents already are appealing to those who may want to move so they can stay in their current school zone.

Still others, while they may not like the rezoning, are glad to finally get a decision one way or the other so they can begin to prepare for the changes.

Of course, it has been so long since rezoning plans were submitted that some parents have forgotten whether their children will be impacted directly or don’t know if tweaks in the plan along the way changed the outcome for them.

Hoover school officials put new attendance zone maps on their website the day after the judge’s order came but took them down after some errors were discovered and were working to get the corrections made at press time.

Much work is ahead before the new school year starts, including making physical changes at Brock’s Gap Intermediate School as it switches from a school serving grades 5-6 to one serving grades 3-5. For example, school officials are planning to adjust the heights of cafeteria serving lines and add playground equipment more suitable for younger children.

The federal judge also ordered Hoover officials to:

► Revise their student transfer policy to take into account racial desegregation goals.

► Seek waivers from the Alabama Department of Education to provide school bus transportation for students from minority and low-income families who, because of rezoning, are being moved within two miles of their school and would otherwise lose bus service.

► Hire a discipline consultant within 60 days to help the district identify trends or racial disparities in the district’s administration of student discipline and to consider the underlying causes of any disparities.

► Provide professional development for faculty and staff to reduce the use of punitive and exclusionary discipline practices, facilitate socio-emotional learning and model positive behavior.

► Make sure disciplinary rules are consistent throughout the school district.

► Complete and implement enrichment programs for students at Trace Crossings, Green Valley and Gwin elementary schools, which have higher concentrations of students from low-income families.

► Make sure students who receive gifted or enrichment instruction currently also get such instruction at their new school and review the referral process for providing gifted and enrichment services.

► Develop a transition plan to help students and parents move into their new schools and communicate that information clearly.

Riverchase Career Connection Center

Superintendent Kathy Murphy said the system also plans to open the former Riverchase Middle School as a career connection center for high school students from both Hoover and Spain Park by August 2018.

The career school will start with four programs: culinary, building and construction trades, computer science and fire service, Murphy said.

School officials are working with the Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood architectural firm to design a renovation plan, she said. The culinary program will use the school cafeteria, while the building and construction trades program will use the gymnasium, she said. Regular classrooms should accommodate computer science courses, but some type of bay may need to be constructed to hold the fire truck being provided by the Hoover Fire Department, she said.

The superintendent said she hopes to have a director for the facility hired by January, and that director then can begin to build the rest of the staff. Hoover firefighters likely will lead the fire service program, she said.

Money for renovations and start-up operations for the career center should come from a recent $9.1 million contribution from Jefferson County, Murphy said.

The other big project for 2018 is the construction of a new 34,000-square-foot band suite at Hoover High. It will include a central room large enough to seat 600 people and will be surrounded by practice rooms for smaller groups and storage space for instruments and equipment, said Tracy Hobson, the operations coordinator for the school system.

Once the Alabama Building Commission issues a notice to proceed, construction should take about 10 months, Hobson said.