Metro Roundup: Vestavia Hills councilwoman denies playing 'political games' with school board

A Vestavia Hills councilwoman this week faced accusations and questions about whether she is using members of the city's school board to play "political games."

“We got confirmation this week that each one of you that is here is here because of your political views,” Katie Roach Dudley told the Vestavia Hills Board of Education at its Sept. 27 meeting. “You are being used as pawns in someone’s political game.”

The “someone” Dudley was referring to is Vestavia Hills Councilwoman Kimberly Cook, whose husband, Greg Cook, is running for the Alabama Supreme Court. Last week, Greg Cook appeared in an interview with Steve Flowers, and the video made its rounds on social media and on Greg Cook’s Facebook page.

In the video, Cook begins talking about Kimberly and her two successful runs for the Vestavia Hills City Council.

“She’s in her second term and decided to run for the City Council because she wanted to make sure our school board was conservative,” Greg Cook said. “Now we have five conservative school board members in Vestavia.”

Robert De Buys at Monday's board meeting cited the video, though he did not name Cook, and questioned if Greg Cook’s brand of “conservatism” was what was leading the board to rescind its mask mandate and reject the medical recommendations given by entities such as as UAB Hospital and the Alabama Department of Public Health.

“An Alabama Supreme Court candidate bragged about his wife appointing ‘conservatives,’” De Buys said. “Is this who we are? Is this the conservatism the judicial candidate was talking about?”

Both the City Council and the Board of Education are nonpartisan government entities.

COOK RESPONDS

Kimberly Cook, first elected in 2016, did not speak at the school board meeting but spoke to the Vestavia Voice on Sept. 28 about the controversy.

“I do not ask people their political party,” Cook said of board applicants.

Cook said she is just one of five council members, all of whom must vote on a board applicant before he or she is appointed to the board. While Cook, as the education liaison, coordinates interviews for board applicants and usually makes a nomination at council meetings, she does not have sole discretion to choose board members, and has, at least one time in the past three years, had two of her nominees not selected for the board.

Cook said it’s no secret that she herself is partisan. She and her husband are active in state GOP events, and she is outspoken about her politics, but she said that does not make a difference when interviewing or nominating potential school board members.

Vestavia Hills Board of Education President Steve Bendall said he would comment on agenda items but would not comment on comments made by residents.

Cook said the Board of Education is not a partisan group. “They’re just trying to provide the very best education possible,” she said.

The City Council does not have any power to tell the board what to do and does not control the board, Cook said.

While Kimberly Cook serves in a nonpartisan role, her husband is running as a Republican candidate to replace the retiring Alabama Supreme Court Judge Mike Bolin. However, Kimberly Cook said her husband does not speak for her, nor for the Vestavia Hills City Council or Vestavia Hills Board of Education.

“He believes, and I share this belief, that our schools should share the values of our community,” Cook said. “He might label it conservative. I wouldn’t.”

Cook said she would not label the community values as “conservative,” given how loaded that word is in such a tense and partisan age. Cook said she echoes the community values expressed in the school system's strategic plan and mission statement, which include, providing a "safe and nurturing environment, the courage to be creative" and "unparalleled community support," among other standards.

While she may be active in state and national politics, Cook said her political leanings don’t affect what she does at the local level.

“I never hesitate to talk with anyone who wants to talk to me in a civil way about our city,” Cook said. “It doesn’t matter that I’m a Republican. It doesn’t affect what I do locally.”

Before running for City Council, Cook unsuccessfully sought an appointment to the Board of Education four times, and after being rejected, she told the council she intended to run for their jobs, something Greg Cook referenced in his interview and Kimberly confirmed in an interview with a Vestavia Voice reporter.

Cook said she made the decision to run for City Council primarily because she wanted more open communications, analytics and better planning from the school board.

“I ran for City Council because I was frustrated; I didn’t think the Board of Education was leading in the right direction,” Cook said. “I care deeply about our schools. I still do. That’s why I am the liaison.”

Cook said she was “very proud” of Vestavia's school board members and has “faith in our [the City Council’s] process.”

The city of Vestavia Hills’ communications director, Cinnamon McCulley, issued the following statement to the Vestavia Voice:

“The process to appoint a member to any board, including the Board of Education, begins with submission of a standardized application, followed by candidate interviews that are conducted during a public work session. The council then votes in a public meeting to select the board member they feel is best qualified to represent the interests of Vestavia Hills residents. Each member of our five-person council casts one vote, and final selection is a majority vote – no one single council member’s vote outweighs another."

DEBATE OVER MASKS CONTINUES

Following Vestavia Hills Superintendent Todd Freeman’s lifting of the mask mandate beginning Sept. 20 and a return to “mask-optional” status within Vestavia Hills City Schools, people on both sides of the debate showed up Monday night to share their opinions with the board.

“We’re going to keep getting back to the same spot,” Dudley said. “You keep deceptively changing the game on our children.”

At the meeting, Freeman reported there were 16 students home with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis on Sept. 24, while 23 were at home due to a close contact. Those numbers represent a drop from Sept. 17, the last day masks were required in schools, a day in which 26 students were home with a positive test and 25 students were home due to a close contact. Sixteen students represent roughly 0.2% of the student body. Numbers of positive cases have dropped each Friday beginning Sept. 3, as has the number of students home due to a close contact.

Some parents said the declining numbers mean masks should stay optional.

“In my opinion, masking healthy children teaches them that being in a perpetual state of fear of potential sickness is not only OK; it is the loving thing to do,” Johanna Cosby said.

Monica Carroll noted that, as of late September, no “super spreader” events have occurred due to massive, fan-filled college football stadiums, many of which do not require masks. If those events do not spread the virus, neither will a 25-student classroom, she said.

Jen Vachris told people advocating for a mask mandate they should “be ashamed” of themselves.

“You have absolutely no idea what these children are going through,” Vachris said, noting cases where students with special needs or unique medical needs have bad reactions to masks.

“You should be ashamed for bringing in doctors who don’t even live in Vestavia,” she said. “If masks work so well, shouldn’t all of us who don’t wear a mask be dead by now?”

Richard Sturgeon said while he was taught as a Vestavia student to value expertise, the board is now rejecting medical experts.

“They [the experts] have begged you to follow recommendations, and you have refused,” Sturgeon said. “Your decisions should not go unchallenged. … You are sending the message that expertise does not matter."

Sturgeon said the board is “casting aside” regard for others when it is “inconvenient,” and said while there are those who believe the choice about whether to wear a mask lies with a parent or individual, the risk of not wearing one is borne by more than just that individual.

“As we look to regard liberty well, we should not forget life,” Sturgeon said.

Freeman also told the board the system is considering taking part in UAB’s Sentinel Testing program, which provides testing for COVID-19 at schools for students and staff. The tests, which would be voluntary, are for asymptomatic students or staff members, Freeman said.

The school system may also have a vaccine clinic through the Jefferson County Department of Health, Freeman said. Vaccines for students under 18 years old require parental consent.

OTHER BOARD BUSINESS 

The school board also heard a report from Patrick Martin, Vestavia's assistant superintendent of operations and services, on the school system's new strategic plan for its athletic department.

The plan has multiple emphasis areas that include different action items, Martin said.

The first emphasis area is “academic and athletic excellence, personal development and well being of student-athletes and students.” Some of the priorities include developing consistent academic standards and expectations across all sports, developing opportunities for students to get involved in sports by assisting professional staff and providing life skills resources to student-athletes.

The second emphasis area is facilities, which prioritized the creation of a master facilities plan to address needs, exploring the use of new technology and innovation specific to facilities and equipment and setting consistent expectations for facility maintenance.

Other emphasis areas include funding and external support; gender equity, diversity and inclusion; school and community engagement, marketing, support and collaboration; staffing, leadership and professional development of staff.