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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Allison Dolan, the librarian at Bluff Park Elementary, helps third graders Katherine Deer, left, Elizabeth Austin and Lucas Keppley find books on Jan. 9. Dolan was named the Elementary Teacher of the Year for Hoover City Schools.
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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Gerri Kimble, an International Baccalaureate business and marketing instructor at Hoover High School, reacts as she’s recognized by school and district administrators as the Secondary Teacher of the Year for Hoover City School on Dec. 14.
When most people think about Teachers of the Year, they don’t typically think about school librarians.
It’s usually the classroom teachers who win those awards. But this year, Bluff Park Elementary School chose its library media specialist, Allison Dolan, as its Teacher of the Year, and Dolan went on to win Elementary Teacher of the Year for the entire Hoover district, chosen from among 11 Teachers of the Year at each elementary or intermediate school.
Gerri Kimble, a business and marketing teacher at Hoover High School, was named the Secondary Teacher of the Year, chosen from among top teachers at the middle and high schools.
Elementary Teacher of the Year
For Bluff Park first grade teacher Katie Collins, it makes perfect sense for Dolan to be Teacher of the Year.
“Allison is incredible in her craft,” Collins said in a nomination letter. “Allison is constantly collaborating with teachers, reviewing standards and grade level scopes and sequences to incorporate fresh and new ideas into her library lesson plans that generate a love for all curricula.
“On many occasions, I go to ask Allison for guidance in curating resources for students,” Collins wrote. “Allison always comes through and provides resources that are not only educational, but are engaging for students.”
Dolan actually taught 12 years in a classroom before making a change and becoming a librarian.
She taught fourth and fifth graders at Trace Crossings Elementary School from 2005 to 2011 and then helped open Brock’s Gap Intermediate School in 2011 and taught there for six years.
Dolan said she has a deep love for reading and for children’s literature and is good at finding books that connect with particular children. A colleague once told her she would make a good librarian, and that planted a seed in her heart, she said.
She later decided to make the jump to librarian and went back to school to get her master’s degree in library media, finishing in 2018. She was offered the librarian job at Bluff Park Elementary that same year and made the switch.
Bluff Park is a great fit for her because she grew up in the area and attended Bluff Park Elementary, Simmons Middle School and Hoover High School, she said. She loves the entire Bluff Park community because it’s so supportive, she said.
Every class at Bluff Park Elementary comes to the library at least once a week, she said. She does lessons with the students, reads books aloud to them, talks about different authors, has a visiting author two to three times a year and helps children find books they like.
She remembers story lines and characters well and works hard to get to know students to find out their interests, she said.
She loves seeing children become so engrossed in books that they don’t want to put them down and loves seeing the excitement in a child when they finish their first chapter book, she said.
Her desire is to build a love of reading and learning that continues to grow as they become adults, she said. “I’m trying to prepare them for the real world.”
Dolan said it’s also important to her to make the library a safe and inviting place where children want to come. She also has worked to diversify the literature in the library, so that every child can see themselves in book characters and so that children can be exposed to other cultures.
Collins said Dolan is great at collaborating with teams of teachers. When the first grade classes did a project on fairy tales, Dolan created a fairy tale slideshow for the students and welcomed the fairy tale ball into the library.
She collaborates with a new classroom for students with disabilities by finding adaptive ways to read, sing and incorporate learning, researching each child’s abilities and purchasing items that might bring them success, Collins wrote.
Last year, she hosted a book club for kids who have a disability or have siblings with a disability.
Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Allison Dolan, the librarian at Bluff Park Elementary, helps third grader Katherine Deer find a book to check out from the library on Jan. 9. Dolan was named the Elementary Teacher of the Year for Hoover City Schools.
Dolan said part of what led her into education in the first place is that she has a sister with special needs and grew up with a lifestyle of helping, teaching and being patient.
“It just seemed really natural to me,” she said. “It just brings so much joy, … fills my bucket.”
Dolan also leads weekly Bluff Park Basics classes that focus on character and enhance academic skills that need boosting, collaborating with reading and math coaches to make the classes highly engaging for students, Collins said.
She has book clubs that meet weekly, conducts each class spelling bee and the schoolwide spelling bee, leads a Girls Engaged in Math and Science group and organizes a vocabulary parade day each spring with the reading coach.
Dolan also collaborates with the Hoover Public Library to get children involved in the library’s summer reading program and helped start a summer reading program called Books on the Bluff, which included weekly meetings at a nearby apartment complex with snacks and take-home books.
“The greatest takeaway about Allison Dolan is she is willing to go above and beyond to help our students to grow academically and emotionally,” Collins said.
Dolan last year served as a mentor to a new counselor at the school and this year has done some mentoring with all new staff members to help them feel at home. She also formerly was the diversity and equity committee chairwoman for Bluff Park and served on the school district’s diversity and equity committee for two years.
Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Gerri Kimble, an International Baccalaureate business and marketing instructor at Hoover High School, reacts as she’s recognized by school and district administrators as the Secondary Teacher of the Year for Hoover City School on Dec. 14.
Secondary Teacher of the Year
Kimble didn’t start out as an educator. She received her bachelor’s degree in computer information systems from Alabama State University in 2004 and worked a year in marketing for a medical supply company before she realized she wanted to be a teacher.
She enrolled at Auburn University to get a master’s degree in business education, and just a few months into the program she was offered a job as a business education teacher at Hoover High.
Her new husband, Danny, had just been hired as a defensive football coach at Hoover, and the school called her while they were on their honeymoon to offer her a job. She took it and now is in her 18th year at Hoover High.
Kimble teaches International Baccalaureate business management, digital marketing and marketing principles for students in grades 10-12.
For more than 10 years, she co-sponsored an award-winning chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America, and now she is one of advisors for Hoover High’s award-winning career and technical education student organization called DECA, which has about 330 members.
She facilitates a team of six business teachers and serves as the group’s liaison with school administrators, and she has served in various school leadership roles focusing on overall school improvement and diversity.
Kimble also has been very active with the Alabama Business Education Association. She was named the group’s Teacher of the Year in 2013 and has served in a variety of leadership roles, including president in the 2019-20 school year. She also has served on several committees of the National Business Education Association and leads professional development sessions all across the country.
She serves on the educator advisory board for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Global Youth Program and currently is helping the College Board (which oversees the SAT college entrance exam and Advanced Placement program) write a new business course.
Hoover High Principal Jennifer Hogan said Kimble is strong in her content and strong with people skills — someone who just has the “it” factor.
“She builds incredible relationships with her students,” she said. “Not only does she pull for her students, but she pulls for the adults in the building, too.
“She has a great team around her, and they work really well together. Together, they have just taken this Business Academy leaps and bounds with what they have done with those students,” Hogan continued.
Kimble said she loves career and technical education classes because they help students learn how to carry the strengths they have in the classroom into the real world and allow students to explore those areas as potential careers.
She took career and technical education classes at Talladega High School and quickly learned that health sciences were not for her after doing an internship in a nursing home.
She loves to teach business and marketing and wants her students to leave with the ability to build relationships, network and give back to their community, she said.
Most of her students go on to study business in college but some venture into other areas such as science, technology, engineering, medicine or law, she said. She hopes to provide them with a solid foundation.
“Business runs the world, no matter what field you go into,” she said. “Having a business background gives you the competitive advantage.”
Sara Hancock, a four-year member of DECA, said in a nomination letter that of all the high school teachers she has had, Kimble is the most passionate, dedicated and enthusiastic about her work.
“Everyone has a teacher that is fully invested in them, and Mrs. Kimble is that teacher for anyone who has had her. Her compassion and willingness to understand her students shows,” Hancock said. “She inspires her students to believe in themselves, and she teaches them that their dreams are attainable.”
Becca Mercer, another teacher in the Business Academy, said in a nomination letter that Kimble has been a mentor for her.
“I always joke with her that when I grow up, I want to be her,” Mercer wrote. “She is able to inspire her students to a level of excellence that is awe-inspiring to me. … She has high expectations for each of her students, which in some classrooms can make students feel anxious, but in Gerri's classroom, she has built such positive relationships with each of her students that they know her expectations of them are achievable. Her students feel motivated to learn because of how much she cares for them, spending time getting to know them and what makes them unique.”
Kimble said the Business Academy’s success at Hoover is due to teamwork of the faculty and dedication of the students. The faculty members have different backgrounds and personalities, “but we work absolute magic together.”
Her students are amazing and keep her going, she said. “They make me laugh. They’re so hard-working. … They’re impressionable. They want to learn from you. … They bring joy every day.”
Hoover 2023-2024 Teachers of the Year
- Elementary: Allison Dolan, Bluff Park librarian
- Secondary: Gerri Kimble, Hoover High business & marketing teacher
Other Teachers of the Year in Hoover schools:
- Deer Valley Elementary: Brittany Thomas
- Green Valley Elementary: Nancy Reaves
- Greystone Elementary: Kimberly Carns
- Gwin Elementary: Brittany Smith
- Riverchase Elementary: Brennan Bernard
- Rocky Ridge Elementary: Meredith Barker
- Shades Mountain Elementary: Madison Furio
- South Shades Crest Elementary: Alison York
- Trace Crossings Elementary: Jamisa McCall
- Brock's Gap Intermediate: Ashley Knighton
- Bumpus Middle School: Tramine Pryor
- Berry Middle School: Logan Greene
- Simmons Middle School: Matthew Chambless
- Spain Park High: Danelle Cash
- Riverchase Career Connection Center: Kelli Parramore
