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School
Building History
2004-2005 Rezoning
Information - A
History
Zoning Considerations 2008
Possible Zoning Scenarios 2008 - UPDATED
HSCIN Surveys
Related to Zoning and Facilities
Building Capacity of
Hoover Schools
Third High
School Discussion 2000-2008
Parent Feedback E-Mail Address
Growth of Hoover City Schools
The City of Hoover has grown by leaps and bounds since inception of its school system in 1988.
The following are enrollment numbers for the years since Hoover City Schools were born:
|
School Year |
Enrollment |
Percent Increase |
| 1988 - 1989 | 5243 | NA |
| 1989 - 1990 | 5879 | + 12.1% |
| 1990 - 1991 | 6126 | + 4.2% |
| 1991 - 1992 | 6326 | + 3.3% |
| 1992 - 1993 | 6797 | + 7.4% |
| 1993 - 1994 | 7174 | + 5.5% |
| 1994 - 1995 | 7706 | + 7.4% |
| 1995 - 1996 | 8249 | + 7.0% |
| 1996 - 1997 | 8663 | + 5.0% |
| 1997- 1998 | 9013 | + 4.0% |
| 1998 - 1999 | 9310 | + 3.3% |
| 1999 - 2000 | 9463 | + 1.6% |
| 2000 - 2001 | 9792 | + 3.5% |
| 2001 - 2002 | 10296 | + 5.1% |
| 2002 - 2003 | 10724 | +4.2% |
| 2003 - 2004 | 11163 | + 4.1% |
| 2004 - 2005 | 11541 | +3.4% |
| 2005 - 2006 | 11771 | +2.0% |
| 2006 -2007 | 12064 | +2.5% |
| 2007-2008 | 12406 |
Source: Hoover City Schools, 2005, 2006, 2007.
School Building History of Hoover City Schools
Hoover City Schools was carved from the Jefferson County School System in 1988. The buildings that were bought from Jefferson County include:
Bluff Park Elementary
Green Valley Elementary
Gwin Elementary
Rocky Ridge Elementary
Shades Mountain Elementary School
Simmons Middle School
W.A. Berry High School
5243 students were educated at those buildings that first year. As Hoover continued to grow, the following buildings were built and/or converted or closed:
Trace Crossings Elementary - 1993
Hoover High School - 1994 (Berry was converted to a Middle School)
Greystone Elementary - 1995
South Shades Crest Elementary - 1995
Bumpus Middle School - 1998
Spain Park High School - 2001
Deer Valley Elementary - 2001
Crossroads School - 2001
Farr Administrative Building/Central Office - 2002
Riverchase Elementary - 2004
Berry Middle School - 2005
Former Berry Middle School closed - 2006
Building Capacity of Hoover Schools
|
ELEMENTARY |
CAPACITY | 07-08 ENROLLMENT |
| Bluff Park Elementary | 670 | 553 |
| Deer Valley Elementary | 940 | 789 |
| Green Valley Elementary | 600 | 456 |
| Greystone Elementary | 790 | 660 |
| Gwin Elementary | 670 | 580 |
| Riverchase Elementary | 750 | 565 |
| Rocky Ridge Elementary | 670 | 558 |
| Shades Mountain Elementary | 350 | 286 |
| South Shades Crest Elementary | 810 | 700 |
| Trace Crossings Elementary | 1020 | 544 |
|
MIDDLE |
||
| Berry Middle School | 1200 | 1041 |
| Bumpus Middle School | 1100 | 1020 |
| Simmons Middle School | 1100 | 802 |
|
HIGH SCHOOL |
||
| Hoover High - Freshman Campus | 1200 | 645 |
| Hoover High School | 2200 | 1744 |
| Spain Park High School | 1700 | 1380 |
The building capacity number is for reference and planning in general terms only. This number was derived by using an average for the following grade levels:
| Kindergarten through 1st grade |
16 per room |
| 2nd grade through 3rd grade | 20 per room |
| 4th grade through 5th grade | 22 per room |
| 6th grade through 8th grade | 24 per room |
| 9th grade through 12th grade | 24 per room |
There are several factors that can and often does change this capacity number at various schools. Those factors are: grade level breakdown (elementary), special education/instructional support space needs (all), course offerings (middle and high) and classroom counts.
SOURCE: All information other than current enrollment numbers were taken from information provided to the Hoover City Council by Hoover City Schools, November 2005. Current enrollment numbers are from The Birmingham News' article in August 2007.
With rezoning once again in the forefront to address the continued growth in Hoover City Schools, please take a moment to catch up on the history of the last rezoning, including the Board of Education's use of a Community Planning Process.
Documents from the 2004 Rezoning Process:
Original Presentation to Board of Education by McCauley and Associates
Values Developed by the Focus Groups and Telephone Surveys
Community Planning Team Selection Process
Adopted Zoning Plan February 2005
In addition, the HSCIN has posted a number of informative articles outlining the history of the most recent rezoning process on THE Hoover Forum. Click here to go to these articles. It is imperative to understand how we got where we are before we can move forward.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," - George Santayana, Philosopher, Reason in Common Sense
Possible Zoning Plans Presented by Superintendent Craig
We outline these plans here only to refresh the memories of those who attended the series of community meetings Mr. Craig held during February. It is extremely important to note that these plans are not "set in stone", rather they were presented to the community to gather input on what the different zoning scenarios meant to our Hoover school community.
Mr. Craig indicated that much study is still necessary to determine which path will result in the best use of finances and best fits our school community.
Scenario #1 - presented at Simmons Middle School February 4
Scenario #2 - presented at Simmons Middle School February 4 was deemed not feasible. It included removing the 6th grade from the Bumpus Middle School campus and housing them in Elementary School #11, which will be built south of Regions Park.
Mr. Craig presented a new series of zoning considerations at the Bumpus Middle School meeting on February 12. It included implementing zoning changes in two phases. Timelines for implementation were not given.
Phase I - presented at Bumpus Middle School February 12
Phase II, Option 1 - presented at Bumpus Middle School February 12
Phase II, Option 2 - presented at Bumpus Middle School, February 12
Phase II, Option 3 - presented at Bumpus Middle School, February 12
Other options were given that included having Trace Crossings Elementary attend Simmons Middle School for a period of time before opening the Freshman Campus as the fourth middle school, making Trace Crossings a K-6 school, and moving Trace Crossings 7th and 8th graders to the Freshman Campus. No detailed numbers were given for those options.
Phase I, Option 2 - presented at the Hoover Parent Teacher Council Meeting, February 14
Discussion of the Third High School, 2000-2008 - posted 05/01/08
Sources include The Birmingham News, City Council minutes, and Board of Education minutes.
HSCIN Surveys Related to Zoning and Facilities
The HSCIN has conducted surveys to gauge public sentiment regarding facility usage and thoughts about rezoning:
Survey #16 - Financial Soundness - January 11 through 25, 2008. These results will be given to Superintendent Andy Craig. One question asks if those in charge of planning for our school district have performed those duties well.
Survey #11 - Thoughts on the Third High School - May 3 through May 17, 2007. These results were presented to the Board of Education at the June 11 Meeting.
Survey #8 - What to Do with the Old Berry Campus? - March 16 through April 5, 2007. These results were given to Superintendent Andy Craig at the Monday, April 9, School Board meeting.
Survey #3 - Jefferson County 1% Sales Tax Revenue - November 29, 2006, through January 5, 2007. Of the 132 respondents who participated, they ranked "Building a third high school" as their number 2 priority behind "adding technology to classrooms".
Hoover Parents Hear Latest on Growth in System - February 20, The Birmingham News
Speak Out - Look at Old Berry Campus for Charter School - February 13, The Birmingham News
Board Gets Peek at Two Growth Plans - February 8, The Birmingham News
Parents Critique School Growth Plans - February 5, The Birmingham News
Work on Old Berry Could Begin Next Year - February 1, The Birmingham News
Superintendent Craig Sets Community Meetings - January 30, The Birmingham News
Hoover May Revive Berry Campus as Middle School - January 18, The Birmingham News
Superintendent's Letter Came Too Late - January 16, The Birmingham News
Berry School Offer Likely to Expire - December 21, The Birmingham News
Letter Regarding Berry Property - December 14, The Birmingham News
Is Hoover Willing to Pay for Berry Campus? - December 12, The Birmingham News
Hoover Seeks to Keep Using Berry Fields - December 8, The Birmingham News
Schools, City Eye Berry Field Use - December 7, The Birmingham News
Two Hoover Elementary Schools to Expand - December 6, The Birmingham News
Offer for Old Berry Includes May Deadline - November 22, The Birmingham News
Committee Forms to Address Growth - November 14, The Birmingham News
Joint Offer Made for Berry Site - November 9, The Birmingham News
Hoover to Buy Land to Block Apartments - November 6, The Birmingham News
Long-Range Planning Policy from Hoover City Schools
Click here to view Hoover City Schools Board of Education policy regarding long-range planning. The Policy states the the Board and Superintendent will involve the community in long-range planning for building and zoning for the district.
2004-2005 Rezoning
Information - A History
The most recent rezoning came about during the 2004 school year as a new middle school was set to open near Spain Park High School in August 2005.
The Rezoning Plan proposed by Central Office Administration was met with strong community opposition. A series of four public hearings were conducted, where community members were allowed to voice their concerns.
Members of the community recommended using a Task Force composed of community members as well as school personnel to determine the best zoning plan for the community. Mr. Tim Aho, an engineer for McCauley and Associates proposed a detailed plan that included phone surveys, focus groups, and the use of a Community Planning Team to determine which zoning plan best suited the values of the community. A copy of Mr. Aho's presentation to the Board of Education can be viewed by clicking here.
The Board of Education accepted Mr. Aho's proposal with one change: the Community Planning Team would be randomly selected, not chosen as Mr. Aho originally proposed.
The process began in Fall of 2004 with focus groups of parents randomly selected, but balanced demographically. Those focus groups' input was used to compile a list of values related to education. Telephone surveys of 309 households of persons with children in Hoover schools were then conducted to actually rate the Values developed by the focus groups. Those Values can be seen by clicking here.
At that point, a Community Planning Team was nominated. Click here to see how the Nomination Process was conducted. Names were literally drawn from a hat on December 1, 2004, at the Central Office, and members were notified they had been selected. The complete list of names is available here.
The Team met on eight separate occasions to develop a Plan that would meet the Values obtained from the Phone Surveys and Focus Groups. The Team was charged with staying within the framework of the Values set forth by the community. The entire Work Process can be seen by clicking here.
The Team made their recommendation to the Superintendent, who accepted their recommendation.
The Superintendent made the recommendation to the Board and it was unanimously approved on February 28, 2005. That Plan can be viewed by clicking here. The comments at the end of the Approved Plan are as follows:
"While this is certainly not the 'perfect solution', it is responsive to the 'voice of the community' in terms of the desire for students to remain on their current track in regard to middle school and high school attendance zones. It is our belief that the benefits outweigh the costs in fulfilling the wishes of the majority of the parents of our school district."
This was the first time any Community group was given a formal path for input when a Rezoning Plan was considered.
The Community Planning Team, in recommending the existing Berry campus be vacated, did not advocate selling the campus. In fact, they recommended that another group be convened to discuss what to do with the existing Berry campus.
To see the working documents of the Community Planning Team, click here (not yet available). It contains the matrices and other information the Team used to make their Recommendation to the Superintendent.
That was never done by the District. In May 2006, the Superintendent recommended that the Board of Education sell the Berry campus (on Columbiana Road) to Oxford Management for $13.3 million to allow them to lease the property to Shades Mountain Christian School. The Board voted 3-2 to allow the sale.
Pursuant to complications with ownership, Shades Mountain Christian School attempted to buy the campus outright. Their option to buy the property expired without Shades Mountain Christian School being able to raise enough money to purchase the property.
The property currently belongs to the Hoover Board of Education.
The Hoover School Community Information Network believes that community input is vital to the success of any school system. Our hope is that whatever the Board of Education decides to do at this point, it will adhere to the current Long-Range Planning Policy and consult the Community in a formal way to allow for input.
Quick Links
2004 Presentation to Board of Education by McCauley and Associates
2004 Values Developed by the Focus Groups and Telephone Surveys
2004 Community Planning Team Selection Process
2004-2005 Newspaper Articles Related to Rezoning (in reverse chronological order)
2005 Adopted Zoning Plan February 2005
2007-2008 Newspaper Articles Related to Current Rezoning/Capital Plans
Individual School Pages on HSCIN site
