
Photos courtesy of PTO leaders
Top row from left: Riverchase Elementary PTO President Lauren Strickler, Rocky Ridge Elementary PTO Amberly Burrow and Shades Mountain Elementary PTO President Jeanell Irish. Bottom row, from left: South Shades Crest Elementary PTO President Holly Turner, Trace Crossings Elementary PTO President Mark Craig and Brock's Gap Intermediate PTO President Katie Mundie.
Here are the presidents of the parent organizations at each Hoover school and what they said about their goals and plans for the 2022-23 school year:
BLUFF PARK ELEMENTARY
PTA President: Fran Morris
Contact: bluffparkpta@gmail.com
Goals: Bluff Park Elementary started out strong this school year. We kicked off the year with our annual "yearlong sponsorship" fundraiser. It was a huge success with over 50 local businesses and families supporting our school. Many of our favorite events were able to be brought back this year, including our outdoor social in October. This is always a favorite event at our school and in our community. We had a successful and fun Class List Day, Outdoor Classroom Cleanup and Walk to School Day as well. We are looking forward to a great December. We are already working on our spring fundraiser, our beloved Panther Prowl. This is another big school event each spring that brings our community together. Our PTO mission is to support BPES through schoolwide initiatives, classroom projects, events and more. Through these efforts, we provide support to our teachers, students and staff, as well as fund enhancements to our school. It is our privilege to partner with BPES!
DEER VALLEY ELEMENTARY
PTO President: Liz Conboy
Contact: eaconboy@gmail.com
Goals: To begin this year, we were excited to have our annual coin drive, Change for Cheetahs, which through the wonderful generosity of DVES families was successfully completed in October. An additional important focus for this year is completing an upgrade to our outdoor classroom to include a shade structure. Beyond this goal, the PTO board wants to continually support our amazing staff, teachers and administrators. We are excited for all that can be accomplished in the 2022-2023 school year!
GREEN VALLEY ELEMENTARY
PTO Presidents: Lindsay Parker and Jennifer Schreiber
Contact: ptogves@gmail.com
Goals: One of our main goals is to help with an outdoor classroom at the school. We have a great outdoor space picked out for it, and we’re really excited to get started! We’re also hoping to freshen up the front of the school. After unveiling the new sign at the front of the school last year, we want to update the front awning with a fresh coat of paint. We’re looking forward to bringing back a favorite event for our community — Party on the Playground — and to continue supporting our amazing teachers and staff. Additionally, we’ve loved being able to provide food for our new STEAM Kitchen. Our students love getting to make different dishes in the kitchen, and we’re excited to be able to provide ingredients for their culinary creations!
GREYSTONE ELEMENTARY
PTA President: Susan Hays
Contact: greystonepta@gmail.com
Goals: Our year at Greystone Elementary has gotten off to a great start. This year we added a Serve Day component to kick off our Leave a Legacy fundraiser week and did lots of sprucing up around the school grounds. We were very excited to meet our fundraising goal and have started putting the funds to good use for the students and school. This year we were able to add a second check-in station to expedite the process for visitors at school events. We have been able to fund faculty grants and sponsor Kindness Week. Also, we have monthly lunches to show our teachers and staff how much they are appreciated. In the spring we will sponsor an Enrichment/Young Authors Week with fun activities for each grade level. We are so thankful for the support of parents and for our wonderful faculty and staff.
GWIN ELEMENTARY
PTO President: Rebecca Whittle
Contact: whittle.rebecca@gmail.com
Goals: Due to the amazing support of our families and community, we were able to raise the most we ever have at our annual Gwin Fun Run this year! We have already used some of that money to award a record amount of teacher grants, including classroom curriculum and needs, front office essentials and an author visit. We are excited that we will also be able to continue to help improve our school with noise absorption panels in the cafeteria, additional seating in our outside area with picnic tables and umbrellas, and contribute to a new school sign. I am so grateful for all of the incredible staff that pour into our children daily at Gwin. We truly have an amazing school!
RIVERCHASE ELEMENTARY
PTO President: Lauren Strickler
Contact: laurenstrickler@gmail.com
Goals: This year, the Riverchase Elementary PTO’s top priority is fundraising for a brand new playground. Supporting any initiative at RES is important, but the playground project is so much fun! The current playgrounds are original to the school, and while they have been well-loved over the years by many students, it’s time for an update. From Boosterthon to movie nights to golf tournaments and silent auctions, we are well on our way toward reaching our goal and securing the funding needed to make this dream a reality by the start of the 2023-24 school year. We are always so thankful for the support from our RES families, staff and the Riverchase community.
ROCKY RIDGE ELEMENTARY
PTO President: Amberly Burrow
Contact: rrespto@gmail.com
Goals: One of our main goals at Rocky Ridge this year is to revamp and improve our house system. Houses are such a fun way to build community (and a little friendly competition) among our students, and we really want to see the whole school excited about houses! We have several ideas that the kids will see come to life throughout this school year! Another area we are focusing on is our greenhouse. Last year through Boosterthon we were able to purchase a greenhouse for RRES. This year we will be purchasing all the things needed to let students plant, grow and learn through the greenhouse. We can’t wait to see all the beauty they create!
SHADES MOUNTAIN ELEMENTARY
PTO President: Jeanell Irish
Contact: smes.pto.president@gmail.com
Goals: Shades Mountain Elementary School is a small school with a great sense of community. One of our big goals for this year is to increase our community involvement. We believe that our SMES family would be even closer if we gave them the opportunities to get to know each other outside of school and fundraisers. We have already had two community events where we involved food trucks and games, and we plan to have two more fun events in the new year. Another goal of ours for this school year is to raise funds for new playground equipment. Our annual fun run raised over $34,000 this year! We are so proud of our students and families for that and cannot wait to provide them with more fun during their recess times. One thing we did last spring was provide each child in the school with $10 to use for the spring book fair. It was such a hit that we plan to do that again for our December book fair and the one that is held in the spring. We are very pleased to be able to financially provide each child with that again.
SOUTH SHADES CREST ELEMENTARY
PTO President: Holly Turner
Contact: sscpto@gmail.com
Goals: South Shades Crest is a sweet little school for sweet lil folks, and we are working hard to spread this sweetness to all of our staff and families this year. Volunteerism is a big focus, and we want our wonderful families to know that not only can they be involved with the school, but that we want them involved. There are so many opportunities this year, including carpool, library helpers, lunchroom volunteers and many more. A great way to participate in a child’s learning is to be involved, and we strive to help our families get connected with their children, with the school and with our amazing teachers. In addition to volunteerism, we are investing a lot of energy into fundraising. We’ve had a great start with a record number of sponsorships this year. The outside courtyard is getting a “makeover,” thanks to one of our sponsors who provided flower beds and umbrellas for the seating area. This is a great space for families to have lunch with their children and for STEAM projects. In addition to the courtyard, the reading nook will also receive a makeover. This area serves as both an individual and group learning area for our SSC children. It is a great spot for reading by themselves or working with a book buddy. The nook also supports group activities and collaborative learning. South Shades Crest — how sweet it is, thanks to amazing teachers, staff and families.
TRACE CROSSINGS ELEMENTARY
PTO President: Mark Craig
Contact: marcraig245@gmail.com
Goals: As always, our goal each year is to help support our teachers, students and parents throughout the school year. Moreover, the PTO is excited to help in two special projects for this school year. Trace is celebrating a special milestone as the school turns 30 years old! We look forward to being a part of the celebration this school year. We will also be raising funds this year to help with the playground replacement project. The original playground is set to be replaced, and we hope to raise enough money to enhance the playground with additional equipment. We look forward to a great year ahead!
BROCK’S GAP INTERMEDIATE
PTO President: Katie Mundie
Contact: kmundie84@gmail.com
Goals: We want to continue to support our amazing faculty and staff daily, in ways that are both practical and helpful. We have approved several grants this fall, allowing teachers to purchase new materials to further enhance their instruction. Our team has created a welcoming space for teachers to stop in daily, grab coffee or a treat, and just feel appreciated. We are also working to create several multi-purpose areas within the school — spaces that can serve as volunteer work areas, as well as small group instruction space.
BERRY MIDDLE
PTO President: Samantha Ferguson
Contact: smsferguson@gmail.com
Goals: The 2022 23 year of the Berry PTO is off to a great start this year with a brand new teachers and staff lounge that was funded by corporate donations. Before this year, the teachers didn't have a lounge. Now our teachers have a room where they could take a few minutes to relax, connect with other teachers and feel appreciated! We are currently working to build a list of community sponsors to stock the room during the school year. The teacher feedback has been incredible. They are enjoying the space and feel more equipped to return to the classroom refreshed. One big vision for this school year is putting into place community building activities. Our school population is large and spans a huge geographic region. Many parents do not get the opportunity to know other parents from different parts of town. We are working on adding more events that bring our parent and student population together from our different parts of Hoover. After taking time off during the COVID season, the teacher's grants program is back this year! The armchair fundraiser funds the teacher's grants to facilitate the educational programs that our teachers are passionate about for our students. I am excited to see the ideas our teachers have to supplement their lesson plans!
BUMPUS MIDDLE
PTO President: Jill Hunter
Contact: bumpuspto@hcs-students.net
Goals: This year we’ve already completed our big fundraising efforts by having a very successful Color Run. We are able to fully fund our budget and are working closely with the administration to address any additional needs with our excess funds. We will continue to raise money by selling spirit wear, hosting spirit nights and through PTO donations.
SIMMONS MIDDLE
PTO President: Sheli Phebus
Contact: shelip@hotmail.com
Goals: We are excited to welcome our new principal, Mr. Walter Womack, to Simmons and looking forward to continuing the transition with any help PTO can provide. SMS has such wonderful support from our families that we have met our fundraising goals for the last two years making it possible to fund many, many teacher grants and upgrades around the building. The upgrade PTO is most excited about is a completely new sound system for our football stadium with funds raised last year. As every year, Simmons PTO’s main focus is to support the students, faculty and staff with volunteers when needed while fostering a terrific working and learning environment. I consider myself beyond lucky to have this opportunity. My personal goal has always been to leave our fabulous school even better than the day before so everyone can go out there and be awesome. Because at Simmons Middle School, that’s just what we do!
HOOVER HIGH
PTSO President: Starla Wilkins
Contact: starladwilkins@icloud.com
Goals: This year our PTSO would like to focus on growing the number of members our organization has and getting the word out that we operate on dues and donations only (no fundraising). Donations will be used to provide special equipment, various classroom supplies, for sponsoring various class activities and staff recognition.
SPAIN PARK HIGH
PTSO President: Susan Walker
Contact: spainparkptso@gmail.com
Goals: This year the Spain Park PTSO is focusing on community engagement and communication. We have added two spirit liaisons to our board, focusing on fine arts and athletics, with the goal of making sure we are supporting all aspects of our school. We are also introducing a Lunch & Learn Series, which will allow parents to learn about various educational opportunities at SPHS. There is so much Spain Park has to offer our students, and we hope to educate our parents on those offerings. Lastly, we are already approving teacher grants and hope to fulfill them all. We would love to partner with companies to help fund these projects and more.