Hoover schools superintendent finalist Jeter says she is 'invested' in the city

Autumm Jeter is the only one of the five finalists for Hoover City Schools superintendent who currently has children in the school system.

Jeter and her husband, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Reginald Jeter, have lived in Hoover 15 years and have a ninth-grader at Hoover High School and a fifth-grader at Brock’s Gap Intermediate School.

“I’m invested in the city,” she told the Hoover school board in her interview last week. “Hoover is home. We’re not moving.”

Jeter has been in education for 20 years and worked as the director of curriculum and instruction for Hoover City Schools from 2018 through the end of 2019 until she was appointed superintendent for Bessemer City Schools.

The decision to leave Hoover and go to Bessemer was difficult but it has been beneficial for her, Jeter said. She is well supported in Bessemer but believes she can make a bigger impact in Hoover City Schools, she said.

She has been a superintendent for a year now and “being a superintendent will grow you up in a heartbeat, especially being a superintendent through COVID,” Jeter said. Jeter said she’d like to be a superintendent for at least another 10 years. She was a principal for 12 years and would like to either match or beat that length of time as superintendent, she said.

“I’m not itching to do anything else,” she said. “I really want to plant my feet, and this is the place for me to do that.”

She can relate to parents in the district because she is one, she said. She and her family have had to live with the consequences of decisions, such as having school attendance zones redrawn, just like everybody else, she said. Her youngest son had to change elementary schools because of rezoning, so she understands what it’s like to have to go through that, she said.

Jeter said she already has a good relationship with Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, knows many of the City Council members and looks forward to getting to know the other council members better. She also knows all the administrators in the school district, except those who have been hired in the past year or so, she said.

“It will be a seamless, easy transition for me to just jump right in,” she said. “There will be a little bit of a growing pain because I have to learn what we’ve been doing since I’ve been gone and obviously I wasn’t superintendent when I was here, but it will be easy.”

Jeter said she’s a hard worker, is an advocate for public education, understands curriculum and feels comfortable working with state legislators on education issues.

Jeter said she also understands the importance of providing an equitable education for all students regardless of race and is familiar with what the Hoover school district is doing to prove that it is doing so.

Her children have been in Hoover schools since they were in kindergarten, and she has not experienced problems with inequity, she said.

“All districts have work to do with equity and diversity, but it’s not what others think” in Hoover, she said.

Jeter said she wants to reach out to Huntsville to see how that school district has met federal court expectations in certain areas regarding desegregation, to help Hoover get released from federal court supervision in that area. It’s not just a matter of checking off boxes; it’s a matter of ratifying that good business is being done in Hoover schools, she said.

“It’s going to make Hoover City Schools a better school district, a better system for all students, for all races, for all cultures,” she said.

Jeter said she also, while director of curriculum and instruction for Hoover City Schools, was a small part of the effort to recruit minority teachers to Hoover.

“There are tons of minorities who want to work in Hoover,” she said. “We want the best and not just hire anyone because they’re this. We want high-quality teachers, but in particular look for high-quality minority teachers as well.”

Hoover schools need to do a better job of promoting themselves so people understand it’s a welcoming system for all cultures when it comes to faculty and staff, she said.

Jeter said one of her top priorities as superintendent would be to make sure Hoover schools are providing a rigorous education, both in person and virtually, during the ongoing pandemic.

Another priority would be to figure out how to keep a balanced budget when Hoover pays for so many of its employees without help from the state. Every time the state Legislature mandates a raise for teachers and other employees, it hits Hoover hard because so much of that money is coming out of local revenues, and Hoover pays its employees more than the state minimum.

“To recruit the best, you have to offer great salaries,” Jeter said.

Before reducing the number of employees, Jeter said she would review whether there are any programs that could be cut to save money. Then, if the number of employees has to be reduced, she would try to do so through attrition as people retire or leave for other reasons, she said. She wants to aim for the least amount of job cuts as possible, she said.

When asked about the possibility of finding additional funding, Jeter said the next step for finding additional funding would be increasing Hoover property taxes by another 2.4 mills.

“No one wants to hear the dreaded word, and I won’t say it,” she said in her interview.

Jeter described herself as a visionary leader who believes in collaboration but knows how to be authoritative when necessary. She would work to align her vision for the school district with the vision of the school board, she said.

It’s the school board’s job to set policies, and it would be her job to carry out those policies and manage the day-to-day aspects of the school system, she said.

“I trust you all to guide me as you trust me to lead the district,” she told the school board.

She believes in listening to the people around her to make good decisions, she said.

“There will be no decision that I make solo,” she said. “I don’t pretend to know everything, and I need the team. … I believe in strong professional relationships with my colleagues.”

Most of all, she considers herself a servant leader, she said. She’s not going to ask anyone to do anything she wouldn’t be willing to do herself, she said.

Jeter said she also would work to promote engagement with all the district’s stakeholders. Hoover already has good frameworks in place for parental involvement through the various parent groups and Hoover Parent Teacher Council, she said. She would work with those groups and other advisory boards that include parents but also would try to get more parents involved as substitutes and mentors for students, she said.

She also seek to secure financial partnerships with companies that want to support education through grants and having their employees come into the schools as guest speakers, she said.

It’s also important to hear from students when making decisions, Jeter said. They can have some good ideas, especially when it comes to controversial matters, she said.

Hoover school board President Deanna Bamman said the school board hopes to select a superintendent by March 1 and have a new superintendent in place by April 1 if possible.

Videos of interviews with the five superintendent finalists are available on the Hoover City Schools website.

Also, here are summaries of the interviews with Michael Barber, Bart Reeves and Holly Sutherland. A summary of the interview with Randy Wilkes will be coming soon.