Hoover council reappoints Amy Tosney to 2nd term on school board

The Hoover City Council on Monday night reappointed Amy Tosney to the Hoover school board, giving her a second five-year term on the board.

Tosney was one of two candidates to apply for the school board this year. The other was Keneisha Alford, an education consultant with more than 33 years in the education field.

Councilman Steve McClinton, chairman of the council’s Education Committee, said Alford was a fine candidate and a fine human being but said Tosney has done a great job on the school board the past five years and merited another term.

Tosney, who has an education background herself, really grew into her role on the school board and showed great leadership as president this past year, McClinton said.

The school board has had to deal with a lot of tough issues the past two years with the COVID-19 pandemic, and Tosney has shown that she can withstand public pressure and not let that dictate school board policies, McClinton said.

“She’s steadfast. She’s not swayed by popular opinions. She’s swayed by what’s right,” he said.

When many voices were calling for the school board to continue its mask mandate at the beginning of this school year, Tosney was one of only two school board members calling for the masks to be optional.

Three other board members — Kermit Kendrick, Amy Mudano and Craig Kelley — voted against Superintendent Dee Fowler’s first recommendation to “strongly recommend” masks and instead approved a second recommendation to require masks for at least the first 30 days of school.

Tosney voted against the mask mandate and said in her interview with the City Council this past Thursday she still believes she made the right call, even though she was in the minority at the time. The school board in February voted to end the mandate.

McClinton said he believes Tosney, who is vice president of an overhead door company run by her husband, brings the perspective of a small business owner to the school board. She very well understands the rippling impact of school board decisions, such as how virtual instruction often required either mom or dad to be off work to watch over the children, he said.

Tosney also has been a strong advocate for fine arts and understands the needs of the fine arts programs in the schools, McClinton said.

Tosney on Monday night said she was thankful to have another chance to serve on the school board because she feels like it is a natural fit for her as a former teacher and she still has unfinished work.

For example, she would like to see to completion the construction of a new theater at Hoover High School. She has been the school board liaison for that project and kept a close watch on its progress.

The school system should seek bids for the construction job in May, and officials hope to break ground on the theater in August or September, she said. “We’re on track.”

She also has enjoyed working with the superintendent and would like to continue learning from him, she said. In her role on the school board, she just wants to do what is best for the 13,000-plus students in the system, she said.

Tosney, 51, has a bachelor’s degree in education from Jacksonville State University. She began her career as a history and English teacher at Erwin High School in the Jefferson County system from 1993 to 1997.

She took a break to raise young children and later served as an interim librarian at Brookwood Forest Elementary in Mountain Brook, a kindergarten teacher at Hilldale Christian School in Center Point and a preschool and music teacher at Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover.

She took another break after having a third child and, since 2008, has worked with her husband, Joe Tosney, in their overhead door company called Magic City Door. She is the vice president and office manager.

The Tosneys have three daughters, one of whom is a 16-year-old at Hoover High School and two others who already graduated from Hoover.