School officials unveil proposal for Riverchase Middle School

Hoover school officials on Tuesday night unveiled a preliminary proposal and gathered community input in regard to the future use of Riverchase Middle School during a meeting at Hoover High School.

Currently, the Hoover school board is in the process of acquiring the 41-acre Riverchase campus from the Pelham Board of Education for $4.25 million. 

Hoover Assistant Superintendent Ron Dodson opened the meeting by presenting Hoover schools' proposal for the property, which would be named the Riverchase Center for Career Innovation. It would be open to students from both Hoover and Spain Park high schools, and it would offer a variety of potential programs geared toward the skilled trades. 

These could include building construction, computer science, culinary arts and hospitality, emergency and fire services, industrial automation systems and landscape management. The idea to include a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program was also pitched. Dodson said this list was not intended to be exhaustive and will probably expand as school officials gauge student interest.

According to the proposal, the center would also offer more conventional course options like English, math, social studies, workplace Spanish and small business management -- all of which would be taught in a career context.  

Dodson cited a curriculum gap in the skilled trade areas, along with overpopulation in the middle and high schools, as factors contributing to the need for a career innovation center. 

"This is a huge opportunity for our school district to solve some problems and to create some new opportunities for kids," Dodson said. 

Under the proposal, students would attend Riverchase in half-day shifts, with transportation to and from the campus costing one period a day. The goal, Dodson said, is to open the center by the start of next school year. Initially, it is projected to accommodate 200 students per half-day shift, but Dodson said the 90,000-plus-square-foot facility will eventually be capable of accommodating 750 to 800 students per half-day shift. 

After Dodson concluded his presentation, a number of trade industry representatives voiced their support for the center's inception. Whether they had backgrounds in construction, information technology or hospitality, each representative highlighted the overwhelming need for skilled workers -- both male and female --  in their respective fields. 

"There's never been a greater need for workforce development," said John Garrison, owner of Garrison Steel Erectors in Pell City. 

Garrison graduated from Hewitt-Trussville High School in 1969 before starting a career in the construction industry. He began his own company in 1992, and he said it now employs 200 people and does $30 million of business each year.

Hoover Councilmen Mike Shaw and Derrick Murphy, along with City Administrator Allan Rice, also expressed their support for the center's creation. Rice spoke on behalf of the Hoover Fire Department and said it is especially enthused about the idea of Hoover having its own technical school.

Rice said the Fire Department has all the equipment needed to teach students the basics of firefighting. It even has a spare firetruck that it is willing to donate to the program.

"We would much rather grow our own firefighters from within our Hoover residents at the high school level and have them for their entire career than go out and recruit and try to attain people from somewhere else," Rice said. 

A number of parents with children in the Hoover school system attended the meeting. Some expressed concerns about the center's potential interference with current academic programs and extracurricular activities. 

Many, however, seemed to embrace the idea. Kathy Claypoole was among them. 

Claypoole has three children in Hoover schools -- two at Hoover High and one at Bumpus Middle -- and said she has come to learn that different types of students need different educational experiences. 

"I am so excited about this," Claypoole said. "The idea that, if I have a child that may not have any desire to go to college, this just seems like a wonderful, wonderful opportunity." 

Hoover school officials are slated to host another community meeting Tuesday, Oct. 3, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Spain Park High School.