Hoover schools have $500,000 in water damage from heavy rains

Hoover school buildings experienced an estimated $500,000 worth of damage from recent heavy rains, the system’s chief financial officer told the Hoover school board Tuesday night.

The damage occurred in kindergarten rooms and the computer server room at Rocky Ridge Elementary and conference rooms, office and workroom at the school system’s operations building, as well as at Berry Middle School, Green Valley Elementary School and the Riverchase Career Connection Center, Chief Financial Officer Michele McCay said.

Some of the expense of repairs will be borne by the insurance company of one of the school system’s contractors, and some of it will be covered by the Hoover Board of Education’s insurance company, McCay said.

In total, insurance payments should cover half to two-thirds of the cost, but the rest will have to come out of the school system’s general fund, she said. There was no money in the budget for these emergency repairs, she said.

However, the school system did have $122 million in its reserve fund as of the end of August, which is enough to cover more than eight months’ worth of operating expenses, McCay said.

In other business Tuesday night, school board attorney Carl Johnson informed the board that he looked into an allegation made at the school board’s September meeting that school board member Amy Mudano had violated the state ethics law by voting in favor of a mask mandate.

Her accuser claimed Mudano’s vote was a violation of the ethics law because she is employed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which has been a strong proponent of people wearing masks.

Johnson said he studied the matter extensively and doesn’t believe Mudano violated the ethics law or school board policy because there is nothing in the law or school system policies that prevents school board members from voting on policies just because they are affiliated with an organization that has its own position on those policies.

The ethics law actually acknowledges that people in legislative positions have a duty to vote on matters that may be controversial in nature and notes that nothing in the ethics law should be used as a tool to keep decision makers from fulfilling that duty, Johnson said.

The school board on Tuesday night also:

• Approved a change order in a construction contract with Blalock Building Co. for a 13-classroom addition at Berry Middle School that opened this school year, reducing the roughly $7.1 million contract by about $28,000.
• Agreed to let school system employees roll over up to five days of unused vacation time from this year to the next year. Superintendent Dee Fowler said COVID-19 conditions prevented many employees from using all of their vacation.
• Agreed to allow 64 Hoover math and science teachers to switch over from tenured positions to contract positions as part of a new program for teachers with advanced degrees. Hoover teachers make up 15% of all teachers in the state who qualify for the program, Fowler said.
• Approved a revised agreement with Jefferson State Community College regarding dual enrollment programs. One change will require Hoover teachers involved in the programs to attend professional development and staff meetings with Jeff State, but Jeff State will compensate teachers for their time spent doing so, Fowler said.
• Selected new Hoover school board member Alan Paquette as the school board’s voting representative at the Alabama Association of School Board’s upcoming conference in December.
• Honored 11 Hoover High students and three Spain Park High students for being named National Merit Semifinalists this year and three Hoover High students and one Spain Park High student for being chosen for the College Board’s National African American Recognition Program. The Hoover High National Merit Semifinalists this year are Christopher Cheng, Kenneth Curlings, Shayaan Essani, Carys Gonzalez, Rotimi Kukoyi, Sreekiran Nataraj, Adnan Porbanderwala, Samuel Temple, Connor Varwig, Sarah Xin and Jeffrey Yuan. The Spain Park National Merit Semifinalists this year are Riley Luthin, Michael Wolkow and Joseph Mudano. The College Board chose Hoover High’s Nena Kimble, Rotimi Kukoyi and Kaylei White and Spain Park’s Shelby Millender for the National African American Recognition Program.