Hoover school board approves Burke as new Bumpus Middle principal
The Hoover Board of Education this morning approved the appointment of Donna Burke as the new principal of Bumpus Middle School.
The board also approved two principals switching positions. Simmons Middle School Kevin Erwin is moving to Shades Mountain Elementary School, and Shades Mountain Principal Melissa Hadder will take Erwin’s place at Simmons.
Burke has been an assistant principal at Bumpus for 10 years and is replacing Tamala Maddox, who left to become the middle school principal for the I3 Academy Charter School in Birmingham.
New Superintendent Dee Fowler said there were more than 60 applicants for the Bumpus principal job, and Burke was the No. 1 choice of a five-person interview committee. He also personally interviewed her.
“I enjoyed hearing about her experiences in her time at Bumpus. Also hearing about challenges that were overcome at Bumpus,” Fowler said. “She also had a glowing recommendation from former Principal Dr. Maddox. All signs were pointing to Ms. Burke. Her experience at Bumpus was one of the things that took her over the top.”
The Alabama Association of Secondary School Principals in 2018 named Burke the Assistant Principal of the Year.
Burke said Maddox did a great job of training all of her assistant principals to be ready to move up to a principal job. “She’s a great leader and a great mentor,” Burke said.
Burke spent her first seven years at Bumpus overseeing the eighth grade and the past three years working with the seventh grade. She also has overseen custodians, lunchroom workers, physical education teachers and elective teachers.
“I’ve tried to get my feet wet in a lot of different areas,” she said.
She’s eager to hire someone to replace her to work with the seventh grade, but she and the other administrators at Bumpus have been busy preparing for Bucs Day this Thursday. That’s the day when students and their parents are invited to tour the school and get their lockers.
Because parents were not allowed in the building last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that means two-thirds of this year’s parents likely have never been in the building, Burke said.
“It’s important to really reach out and get our community in there, especially since we are a neighborhood school,” she said.
Burke started her career teaching physical education in 1988. She spent a year at Highlands School in Birmingham and a year at Donoho School in Anniston before she was hired as a physical education teacher at Simmons Middle School during former Hoover Superintendent Robert Bumpus’ first year, she said.
She worked nine years at Simmons and 10 years at Hoover High. She also served as a volleyball coach at Hoover High for 20 years, including 17 years with the varsity team. In 2010, she spent about six months as an assistant principal at Deer Valley Elementary School before coming to Bumpus in 2011.
Fowler said he was excited to see Bumpus’ other two assistant principals present at this morning’s meeting to show support for Burke.
PRINCIPAL SWAP
Regarding Erwin and Hadder trading jobs, Fowler said the principals requested the moves. A lot of times, administrators need new challenges and new ventures, he said. It’s a great opportunity for a middle school principal to get experience at the elementary level and a good chance for Hadder to get experience leading a middle school.
“Both are very excited about the new opportunities,” he said.
Efforts to reach Erwin and Hadder this morning were unsuccessful.
Erwin has worked at Simmons for 22 years, the past two as principal. He started in 1999 as an eighth-grade social studies teacher and football, basketball and track coach. In 2012, former Principal Brian Cain hired him as an assistant principal, and when Cain had to take medical leave in January 2019, Erwin was asked to step in as acting principal. He became the full-time principal in the summer of 2019.
Hadder has been principal at Shades Mountain Elementary for three years. She started as a K-2 music teacher for three elementary schools in Pike County in 1992. Since then, she has worked in four other school districts as a band teacher, counselor and assistant principal before coming to Hoover City Schools as an assistant principal at Spain Park High School eight years ago. She came to Shades Mountain in the summer of 2018.