Metro Roundup: Vestavia Hills superintendent shares future plans

The last several years in Vestavia Hills City Schools have seen rezoning and the addition of Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge and the new Pizitz Middle School campus. Now, Superintendent Todd Freeman says it’s time to invest in facilities and opportunities for Vestavia Hills students.

The 1Rebel 1Future plan seeks to add new facilities and renovate others, as well as add and expand program offerings, Freeman said. The plan was first introduced at the July 25 Board of Education meeting, where Freeman said he would be asking Vestavia Hills voters to approve an ad valorem tax increase. As of press time, the amount of the requested increase is not known.

“We have limitations on our ability to provide our students with an opportunity to learn without limits,” Freeman said.

The plan centers on two initiatives: to invest in “profound learning experiences” and create “safe and dynamic facilities,” Freeman said.

While Vestavia Hills is highly regarded for its school system, there is always room for improvement, and the areas in need of improvement now include STEM and world languages, Freeman said. Right now, STEM classes are available for middle- and high-school students, and this proposal would add it as a “special” for elementary students, Freeman said. Specials are classes held once a week and currently include things like art, music and a day in the library, Freeman said.

“This is a meaningful path for them,” Freeman said.

There are currently five world languages taught at the high school and three languages at the middle school level. Similar to the proposals with STEM, Freeman said he wants to add world languages as a “special” at the elementary level. Teachers and course resources would need to be added for those classes, and the school system is still developing what particulars would look like.

The 1Rebel 1Future plan also seeks to upgrade the system’s facilities, making them not only safe and secure, but energy efficient and able to meet the needs of students, Freeman said. There are many aging facilities throughout the system, Freeman said, and system leaders are thinking about spaces that will be needed to meet the needs of expanded academic offerings. Freeman said it’s also important for campuses to be comparable to each other. While Vestavia Hills Elementary East and West have large student populations, they have the smallest gyms and don’t have the meeting spaces other campuses do, Freeman said.

We have limitations on our ability to provide our students with an opportunity to learn without limits.

Todd Freeman

The existing gym at West would be turned into new classrooms for art, music and meeting space, with the existing Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce building being turned into gym space, as chamber offices will move to the new Vestavia Hills Civic Center. There would also be office space and community meeting space in that building as well, Freeman said.

Each elementary school in the plan would have a gym that has the capacity to expand, Freeman said.

At Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge, the kitchen would receive a much-needed expansion, Freeman said, and East would receive an expanded gym.

At the middle school level, Liberty Park Middle School would receive an auxiliary gym. While that school has fewer students than Pizitz Middle School, it has the same number of teams and programs and needs more space. Pizitz would receive more dressing room space, Freeman said.

Vestavia Hills High School would receive the bulk of the changes in the plan, and is set to receive upgrades in the areas of arts, STEM and athletics. Choir would move into the existing band space, with a black box theater moving into the existing choral space. The band would move, along with dance, into a new space, with STEM and arts classes moving into existing spaces that would be renovated, Freeman said. The band space would also include a new kitchen and expanded cafeteria and would connect to a new plaza area that goes into new arts and athletic spaces.

A new indoor facility, located in the open field behind the competition gym, would include 50 yards of artificial turf that could be used by athletic teams and the band, and it would also include a new weight training area for all sports, a new locker room and a new wrestling area.

Athletic Director Myra Miles said these changes represent real needs, not wants. Existing facilities are “so far behind” in giving students the best they can be given, she said. One of the most reputable programs, for example, is wrestling, but they have what might be the worst facilities, Miles said.

The school system’s space for athletic training is a quarter of the size of other over-the-mountain schools, Miles said. There is also a need for more storage space.

“You can never have enough storage,” Miles said.

Miles said the possibility of these changes and the new, privately funded jumbotron make it an exciting time for Vestavia Hills athletics.

“We can take a big step forward,” Miles said. “These kids deserve to have the best.”

Oliver Aaron, who oversees the boys’ tennis program, said he thinks it will be a good thing for the system.

“Any time you can get facilities is going to be a good thing,” Aaron said.

The new tennis facilities will include six courts and a center court. They will complement the city’s addition at Wald Park, he said.

Having the center court will allow the program to have exhibition matches and get finished more quickly, Aaron said. Being able to be done earlier is a big help for tennis players, many of whom are high-achieving academic students.

The new facility would also allow the city to host tournaments, something that has never happened in Vestavia Hills.

To make room for these changes, parking would be eliminated between the band door on the side of the school and Thompson Reynolds Stadium. But the lost parking would be recouped in the hills where some student parking already exists, as more spaces would be created, Freeman said. There would also be more parking spaces added where the tennis courts are now, as the courts would move behind the former Vestavia Hills Elementary Central campus, added to the Shawntel Dixon Jones Memorial Track. More parking would also be added at the track, making parking safer in that area.

We can take a big step forward. These kids deserve to have the best.

Myra Miles

Funding

Freeman said he’s aware of the economic pressures facing everyone right now, and it’s important to acknowledge that. Inflation has also impacted the school system, leaving them unable to raise salaries as much as they wanted to, Freeman acknowledged in a previous board meeting. Inflation has also caused the system’s insurance and utility costs to rise by 25% and 10%, respectively.

The amount of the proposed property tax increase will be released later this year, with the hopes of an election held in late spring 2023, Freeman said. He previously said the amount would not be 10 mills, the amount raised in Mountain Brook for similar projects.

The 1Rebel 1Future plan is an attempt to move the system forward by making a long-term investment, Freeman said.

“It’s about the value we give our kids,” Freeman said.

Freeman plans on providing board reports each month, taking a deeper look at parts of the plan. There will also be some community input meetings later this fall, he said.

The proposed tax increase would be the first ad valorem increase since 1990. If it isn’t approved, Freeman said the system would continue to use the existing level of funding to the best of its ability and would prioritize pieces of the plan incrementally.

If the plan is passed, the system wants to be “aggressive” in completing the projects and, while they would have to be phased in such a way as to not interfere with the learning process, Freeman anticipates a three- to four-year schedule for new construction.