Photos courtesy of Amy Tosney and Keneisha Alford.
The two 2022 applicants for the Hoover Board of Education are current school board President Amy Tosney, at left, and Keneisha Alford, who has more than 30 years in education.
The Hoover City Council has two applicants for a spot on the Hoover Board of Education this year.
Current school board President Amy Tosney is reapplying for a second five-year term, and another Hoover resident with more than 30 years experience in education, Keneisha Alford, has applied as well.
Both women have education backgrounds.
AMY TOSNEY
After getting a bachelor’s degree in education from Jacksonville State University, Tosney began her career as a history and English teacher at Erwin High School in the Jefferson County system from 1993 to 1997.
She took a break to raise young children and later served as an interim librarian at Brookwood Forest Elementary in Mountain Brook, a kindergarten teacher at Hilldale Christian School in Center Point and a preschool and music teacher at Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover.
She took another break after having a third child and, since 2008, has worked with her husband, Joe Tosney, in their overhead door company called Magic City Door. She is the vice president and office manager.
During her term on the school board, the board has dealt with numerous difficult issues, including the departure of Superintendent Kathy Murphy and hiring of new Superintendent Dee Fowler.
The school board publicly interviewed five superintendent finalists identified by the Alabama Association of School Board but chose not to hire any of them and instead hired Fowler, a former deputy state superintendent, who did not apply for the job or go through the public interview process.
Tosney was a staunch opponent of requiring students to wear masks at school when this school year started, saying people ought to be allowed to make up their own minds. She initially was in the minority, but board members voted unanimously in February to end the mask mandate.
Tosney also has been a vocal supporter of the arts, leading the school board’s plans to build a new theater at Hoover High School and upgrade the theater at Spain Park High.
Tosney is out of the country this week and was unavailable for comment Tuesday concerning her application for reappointment.
She has three daughters, two of whom already have graduated from Hoover High and a third enrolled there now.
KENEISHA ALFORD
Alford has more than 33 years in education. She received her bachelor’s degree in early childhood and elementary education from the University of Montevallo in 2000, a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2002, an education specialist degree in curriculum and instruction from UAB in 2010, a master’s degree in education leadership from UAB in 2014 and a doctorate in education leadership from Samford University in 2020.
She began her career as a teacher at West Hills Elementary in Bessemer City Schools for four years and then spent 12 years teaching at McAdory Elementary in the Jefferson County system and four years as a district curriculum specialist for Tuscaloosa City Schools.
Alford then launched her own education consulting company called the Ascension Education Group, working with the Birmingham and Decatur city systems and Hale County system for about six years. She then worked a year as a fourth grade teacher at Trace Crossings Elementary in Hoover and about 15 months as a reading specialist in Jefferson County.
In 2017, she started working for The Achievement Network, where she is director of schools and advising. In that role, she provides leadership support to superintendents, principals and school teams as they align policies and curriculum with the goal of increasing student achievement and ensuring equitable outcomes in achievement.
Alford said she would like to serve on the Hoover school board because she believes she has excellent leadership skills and has worked in eight school districts in six states to advance the work of equity in decision making for curriculum and instructional outcomes for students.
She said she has a critical eye for developing and motivating others toward results by building trusting relationships and providing credible and useful partnerships. As a published educational researcher, she said she also thinks strategically and analytically to assess multiple data points and stays abreast of education trends in policy and curriculum, which she said will work in concert with the superintendent’s strategic plan.
In her application for the Hoover school board, Alford said the five most critical issues facing Hoover schools are: equitable instruction for all students; the social-emotional health crisis facing educators and students; capital improvement projects to sustain a balance of increasing student capacity and needs; retaining teachers and increasing salaries for certified and non-certified employees; and developing a strategic post-pandemic instructional roadmap.
Her husband, Michael Alford, is a former principal in the Tuscaloosa city and county school systems and spent three years as a teacher at Brock’s Gap Intermediate School and the past four years as the student services coordinator for Hoover City Schools. They have a 15-year-old child who is a sophomore at Hoover High.
SELECTION PROCESS
Hoover Councilman Steve McClinton, who is chairman of the council’s Education Committee, said he is now asking the public to submit questions for Tosney and Alford to answer. Those questions can be submitted here through Wednesday, April 6.
The council will narrow down the question list for Tosney and Alford, adding in some of the council’s own questions, he said. The answers will be made available for the public to review, he said.
The council plans to publicly interview Tosney and Alford on Thursday, April 14, and will record and share the interviews, McClinton said. The plan is to appoint one of them to the school board on Monday, April 18. The new five-year term starts June 1.
