This is an attempt to pull together the capital building renovation and addition history of Hoover City Schools.
November 2005 marks the last time the Hoover Board of Education and the Hoover City Council met publicly, with a quorum of each body, to discuss school-related issues.
Here is The Birmingham News’ coverage of the meeting:
November 7, 2005 – pre-meeting comments
November 9, 2005 – coverage of the meeting
November 16, 2005 – more coverage of the meeting
These are some of the documents Hoover school officials shared with then-Mayor Tony Petelos and other members of the Council at that meeting. These documents outline building history, the projected capital needs and other capital projects beginning with the formation of the school system. A full binder of materials, including enrollment, demographic changes, staffing and other indicators was shared with Council members attending the meeting.
Here is a timeline of buildings in Hoover City Schools:
Hoover City Schools formed in 1988.
Ownership of seven campuses (five elementary, one middle, one high) was transferred to Hoover City Schools from Jefferson County Schools:
Bluff Park Elementary School
Green Valley Elementary School
Gwin Elementary School
Rocky Ridge Elementary School
Shades Mountain Elementary School
Simmons Middle School
Berry High School
Hoover City Schools continued to build new schools to accommodate growth. The buildings and dates they were built include:
Trace Crossings Elementary – 1993
Greystone Elementary – 1995
South Shades Crest Elementary – 1995
Bumpus Middle – 2001
Crossroads School – 2001
Spain Park High – 2001
Central Office – 2002 (The original Central Office was housed in what is now the City of Hoover offices on Municipal Drive.)
Riverchase Elementary – 2004
The linked documents from that 2005 meeting list all renovations and additions. Hoover school officials were building new buildings or adding space and facilities nearly every year.
Approximately seven months after that November 2005 meeting, Andy Craig was appointed superintendent.
At the August 2007 board meeting, one of Craig’s first-recommended, and board-approved capital expenditures was to agree to pay off an indoor baseball practice facility that boosters originally agreed to pay for. Craig used district funds to pay that $350,000+ bill.
Memory fades, but additional smaller capital projects benefiting targeted populations have been paid for by Hoover’s taxpayers.
The Freshman Campus was constructed and opened in 2007, following recommendation of the Board of Education after a Community Planning Team was convened to address long-term growth and future capital needs for the district. Check this out for more information about that 2004-2005 Community Planning Team effort.
Shades Mountain Elementary underwent extensive renovations in 2008 and 2009 as a result of neighborhood efforts calling attention to needs that had been overlooked. Further improvements to Shades Mountain were completed in 2012, pushed, supported, and completed by the Shades Mountain community.
Multiple renovations have occurred at the old Berry campus location on Columbiana Road to fill needs of the system as they developed. A number of Central Office operations are located at that campus, but no information is publicly available.
In 2011, a realignment of grades was enacted. U.S. District Court documents outline the following changes:
In 2011, the Freshman Campus was transformed into Bumpus Middle School for grades 7 and 8.
The old Bumpus campus was transformed into Brock’s Gap Intermediate School for grades 5 and 6, resulting in the three feeder elementary schools, Deer Valley, South Shades Crest, and Trace Crossings, serving K-4 students.
32 classrooms were added to the Hoover High campus, opened in 2013.
A multi-purpose indoor practice facility was added to the Hoover High School campus in 2013 at a cost of $2.3 million, paid for entirely with local funds. Spain Park had an indoor practice facility on campus since December 2005.
Crossroads Alternative School was moved to the old Berry Campus for the 2011-2012 school year.
The old Crossroads campus was transformed into Hoover Hall, consisting of various course offerings and adding classroom capacity for the growing Hoover High population. Students are transported to and from Hoover Hall during the day to attend classes. Scroll down to “Hoover Hall” to read the description of how Hoover Hall serves students.
Please let us know if we have missed a significant development in Hoover City Schools.
Hoover City Schools Facts 