South Shades Crest Elementary to get second pre-K classroom

The Hoover school system has received additional funding from the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education to add a sixth First Class pre-kindergarten classroom for the 2020-21 school year, Superintendent Kathy Murphy told the school board Tuesday night.

The additional pre-K classroom will be put at South Shades Crest Elementary School, which already has one pre-K classroom, Murphy said.

This past school year, Hoover received $600,000 in state grants to add one pre-K classroom for 18 students at each of five elementary schools: Green Valley, Greystone, Gwin, Rocky Ridge and South Shades Crest.

Demand was extremely high for the pre-K classrooms, and school officials were so pleased with the results that they sought new $120,000 grants to add two more pre-K classrooms at South Shades Crest and one additional pre-K classroom at both Green Valley and Greystone elementary schools.

The district also sought money to add a pre-K classroom at Shades Mountain and Trace Crossings elementary schools.

However, in the first round of grants for the 2020-21 school year, Hoover received funding for just the one additional pre-K class at South Shades Crest, Murphy said. There will be a second round of grants to come, so it’s still possible there could be one or more additional pre-K classrooms coming, she said. “Stay tuned.”

Still, South Shades Crest Principal Kara Scholl was excited to get a second pre-K class at her school, Murphy said.

Just because a pre-K classroom is at a particular school does not mean that only students from that school zone can attend. Hoover’s pre-K program is set up based on middle school attendance zones.

So any pre-K child who lives in the Bumpus Middle School attendance zone, including students who would be headed to Trace Crossings or Deer Valley elementary schools, could be eligible for selection for the pre-K classrooms at South Shades Crest.

However, space is very limited for the pre-K classrooms, with only 18 students in each.

This past year, parents of 386 children expressed interest, but there was room for only 90 pre-K students across the district. Students were selected in a random drawing.

The pre-K program was free the first year, but Hoover plans to charge tuition for the second year, as school officials indicated they would from the beginning. The tuition amount will be on a sliding fee scale set up by the state’s Office of School Readiness and will be based on household income and family size, Assistant Superintendent Tera Simmons said.

The $120,000 grants from the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education for a first-year pre-K classroom cover the cost of a lead teacher, auxiliary teacher, tables, cubby hole shelves, curriculum, field trips and parental engagement activities.

In other business Tuesday night, the Hoover school board:

• Agreed to pay $1.8 million to Daikin Applied, Alabama Controls and Trane to upgrade heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls.
• Agreed to hire Employment Screening Services to perform the school system’s student drug testing when there is reasonable suspicion that a student is using drugs. School officials also may scale back their random drug testing program some for the coming school year so they can lower the cost for high school students to park on campus due to financial pressures facing many families right now, Murphy said. Funds for random drug testing come out of parking fees.
• Amended the school system’s 2020 budget to reflect the actual amount of money the system had at the beginning of the fiscal year and a new projected balance at the end of the fiscal year. Originally, school officials expected to begin the year with $103.5 million and end with $88.5 million, Chief Financial Officer Michele McCay said. The district actually had $108 million at the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 and now is projected to have $92.9 million at the end of the year on Sept. 30, McKay said.
• Approved contract extensions for Spain Park High Principal Larry Giangrosso, Shades Mountain Elementary Principal Melissa Hadder, Hoover High Principal John Montgomery, Berry Middle Principal Chris Robbins, Bluff Park Elementary Principal Ami Weems and Gwin Elementary Principal Kimberly White.
• Rejected bids to replace windows at Bluff Park, Green Valley and Shades Mountain elementary schools because they came in over budget.
• Rejected bids to demolish part of the old Bluff Park School due to potential changes in the scope of work to be done. Questions about roof work could add more cost to the job, Murphy said.
• Heard a proposal for code of conduct changes, including a reduction in the amount of days a student must stay in the Crossroads Second Chance program when sent there for the first time from 45 days to 30 days. Murphy said the change is being considered because 45 days amounts to about a quarter of the academic year.
• Elected Deanna Bamman as president of the board and Amy Tosney as vice president for the coming year.