Mayor Frank Brocato
The older I get, the shorter and shorter summers seem to become. I wonder if it feels that way for our school children. Well, ready or not, it’s time for them to return to class, and one of the things I love to brag about most is the excellent education we offer in Hoover.
I am proud to say that education isn’t just for our children, but our teachers and administrators as well. This summer, several of them took part in what was a first for our city — a joint tabletop exercise that included staff from the city, the Hoover Police Department, the Hoover Fire Department, the Hoover E-911 Center and leaders within the Hoover City Schools system. This included the superintendent, other central office staff and several principals and nurses.
One of the exercises involved an active shooter scenario at two of our schools; the other involved a major weather event that impacted several schools. The goal was to bring all of these organizations together to participate in and get training on these hypothetical scenarios so that we are prepared to work together in case anything like this were to happen in our city. It was a very successful training exercise.
We pray nothing like either of the two scenarios mentioned ever happens in our city — or anywhere else, for that matter. But unfortunately, we see more and more of it every day. It is imperative that we be ready, and I feel like we are. I commend our leaders for being proactive in providing such training, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Also, please keep in mind that a number of our students will return to class leaving behind tough situations at home. For some, that means not having enough food to eat on a daily basis. Being hungry can make it extremely difficult to learn throughout the day. Fortunately, we have a wonderful organization in our city that works directly with the schools to provide food and other items to children in need. It’s called Hoover Helps, and it operates off of donations and contributions from the community. I’m sure they’d love some assistance from you this year. To learn more, go to hooverhelps.org.
I hope this is a successful, fun, safe school year for all our students. I look forward to seeing you all at various games and events throughout the year.
