Board of Education

Board members are appointed by the City Council for five-year terms, with one position vacated each year. All positions are at-large, not districted. Anyone is eligible to be appointed. Resumes are taken by the Education Committee of the City Council in February and March of each year. The City Council conducts public interviews. The Education Committee recommends their appointee to the full Council typically in the month of April.

What EXACTLY is the role of the five-member Board of Education? What jurisdiction do they have over what areas within our school system? What is "micromanaging"? What jurisdiction do they have over personnel decisions?

The HSCIN is working to produce a complete document outlining the role of the School Board and its members. Until then, here are a few links you may find interesting and helpful:

Role of School Board in Facilities Planning. From the National School Board Association. Recommends that School Board members NOT be involved in details regarding construction of facilities and facilities planning.

Unique Role of School Boards. From the National School Board Association's conversation with the National PTA President in 1998. Stresses keeping the public in public education and that school boards must remember they are accountable to the public they serve.

School Governance. American School Boards Journal. Many great articles available to help school board members govern their systems more effectively. Series on "micromanaging" is good reading

What is the Role of School Boards? From the Society for Quality in Education in Canada. Short article on the dangers of school boards' micromanaging and where it can lead in terms of student achievement.

Following is a sampling of documents discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each. These documents are presented to encourage discussion regarding which form of school governance best suits our Hoover community. You will find documents supporting and opposing each form. Happy reading!

Survey #9 - Board of Education Appointment - March 30 through April 2, 2007. The HSCIN conducted a survey asking whether our Hoover City School Board should be elected or appointed, along with other questions.

If you have a document or other information you'd like to share regarding appointed or elected school boards, please send them to HSCIN@HSCIN.org.

Ronald Jackson, Executive Director of Citizens for Better Schools, and Mrs. Gladys Coleman, a Fairfield resident, sued the Fairfield Board of Education last summer for violating the state's Open Meetings Laws by failing to provide proper notice of the meeting in which the Board appointed their Superintendent, Dr. Anthony Greene.

Attorney Donald Sweeney, also Hoover City Schools' Legal Counsel, represented the Fairfield Board of Education in this case.

The ruling resulted in the decision made during that meeting being nullified. However, the Board of Education simply called another meeting and provided proper notice and eventually appointed Dr. Greene as Superintendent of Fairfield City Schools.

Citizens for Better Schools went back to court to seek attorney's fees in the case. Judge Eugene Verin ruled in their favor and awarded $29,000 in legal fees payable by the Fairfield Board of Education.

The HSCIN applauds Mr. Jackson and Mrs. Coleman's efforts to hold the Fairfield Board of Education accountable to the public they serve.

Mrs. Suzy Baker, President
Contact information: e-mail - bksu2@bellsouth.net
Term ends May 31, 2009

Mr. A.W. Bolt, Vice President
Contact information: e-mail - awb@boltlaw.com
Term ends May 31, 2011
Mr. Bolt has a law practice, Bolt Law, in Hoover. He and his wife, Kelly, have had four children graduate from Hoover City Schools. They currently have a son and daughter attending Spain Park High School.

Mrs. Donna Frazier
Contact information: e-mail - asburycottage@aol.com
Term ends May 31, 2010
Mrs. Frazier is the sole proprietor of her interior design business, Asbury Cottage. Her daughter attends Spain Park High School.

Mr. Bill Veitch
Contact information: e-mail - veitchb@jccal.org
Term ends May 31, 2012
Mr. Veitch is currently an Assistant District Attorney for Jefferson County. His wife, Jill Ganus, is a District Court Judge in Jefferson County.

Mr. Earl Cooper
Contact information: e-mail - eacooper3@gmail.com
Term ends May 31, 2013
Mr. Cooper is a Major Accounts Manager at Alabama Power. His wife, Dr. Kay Cooper, is a professional educator and Assistant Principal at Vestavia East Elementary; He has two children: a son who is a rising senior at Hoover High and a daughter who graduated from Hoover High and is a senior at the University of Alabama.

The links below will take you to full-text articles and editorials written by reporters and editors from The Birmingham News regarding the appointment of the Board of Education since 2002. Also included are letters from community members regarding these appointments that were published in The Birmingham News. We thank The Birmingham News for allowing us to provide our Hoover School Community with this bit of history.

You can research archived articles from The Birmingham News with your library card! Go to www.bplonline.org (the Birmingham Public Library's website), click on "Databases", then use the pull-down menu to select "The Birmingham News". At that point, you have to enter your library card number. At the next screen, click on the image of Alabama in the United States map, and you can then use keywords to research anything you wish. The database contains articles beginning in April, 1993.

The Board of Education Meeting is held at the Central Office Building on the second Monday of the month at 5:30pm. The Work Session is held the Thursday prior to the meeting at 5:30 p.m. Occasionally the Work Session is held somewhere other than the Central Office. Public attendance is encouraged at both the Work Session and the Board Meeting.

If you would like to be notified of Board Work Sessions, Meetings, and the Agenda items, write to MPowell@hoover.k12.al.us, and request to be placed on the Notification List.

BOARD MEETING AND WORK SESSION SCHEDULE
2008 – 2009

Work Sessions – 5:30 p.m.                 Board Meetings –5:30 p.m.
(Thursdays prior to Board meeting) ( Second Monday of the month)
July 10, 2008                                          July 14, 2008
August 7, 2008                                        August 11, 2008
September 4, 2008                                September 8, 2008
October 9, 2008                                    October 13, 2008
November 6, 2008                                November 10, 2008
December 4, 2008                                December 8, 2008
January 8, 2009                                     January 12, 2009
February 5, 2009                                   February 9, 2009
March 5, 2009                                       March 9, 2009
April 9, 2009                                         April 13, 2009
May 7, 2009                                           May 11, 2009
June 4, 2009 (combination work session/Board meeting)
July 9, 2009                                           July 13, 2009

Anyone wishing to address the Board may do so. You must provide written notice to the Board through Mary Jo Powell at MPowell@hoover.k12.al.us at least 5 days prior to the Board meeting to be allotted time on the Agenda.

It is possible to address the Board on shorter notice if the Board President grants you permission.

Click here to view page 35 of the Policy Manual outlining Public Participation guidelines.

The Hoover Board of Education issues directives through the policy it creates. The Policy Manual is available for viewing by clicking here. Pay attention to the way the document is organized in order to better obtain information from it.

Policy may be changed at the Board's discretion, but must be recommended by the Superintendent in order for the Board to vote on the change.

The Hoover Board of Education, upon recommendation by the Superintendent, revises the Salary Schedule as needed. Click here to see the current Salary Schedule, updated in August 2007.

The Academy offers Levels of Achievement for School Board Members as they accumulate hours of School Board Member Training.

Level 1 requires 25 hours. Level 2 requires 50 hours. Level 3 requires 75 hours. Level 4 requires 100 hours, including all eight core curriculum courses.

The AASB issued a Progress Report in 2007 outlining which AASB activities Board of Education members have participated in. There was no report for Mr. Defnall.

Mr. Veitch has earned 19 hours of credit in the School Board Member Academy. He needs 6 hours to reach Level 1 of four Levels available.

Mrs. Frazier has earned 24 hours of credit in the School Board Member Academy. She needs 1 hour to reach Level 1 of four Levels available.

Mrs. Baker has earned 18 hours of credit in the School Board Member Academy. She needs 7 hours to reach Level 1 of four Levels available.

Mr. Bolt has earned 17 hours of credit in the School Board Member Academy. He needs 8 hours to reach Level 1 of four Levels available.

Core Curriculum Courses Available to our Board of Education Members through the School Board Academy

Currently there are no standing committees that serve the Board of Education. Look for an upcoming HSCIN report on how other Boards of Education are successfully using Committees to share decision-making with their communities.

Research supports the use of Standing Committees as a way for Board members to better govern the school system they serve. In an article entitled "Governance by Committee" in the American School Board Journal, Doug Eadie states, that "standing committees are one of the preeminent keys to doing the kind of high-impact governing work that makes a significant difference in district affairs".

Textbook Committees are currently the only often-used committees by the District, and those are created when needed and abolished when the textbook has been selected. Board member Bill Veitch brought up the possibility of creating committees at the April 2007 Board meeting. No consensus was reached on that issue.

The Parent and Community Member Advisory Committee to the District School Improvement Committee first met in September, 2006. This Committee was designed to give input on Parental Involvement Issues related to School Improvement.

Strategic Planning is currently underway, and many committees have been put together to develop that plan.

School Governance. American School Boards Journal. Many great articles available to help school board members govern their systems more effectively. Series on "micromanaging" is good reading.