Vestavia Hills BOE Recognizes Award-Winning Teachers

VESTAVIA HILLS, AL - The Vestavia Hills Board of Education this week night took time at the beginning of its regular meeting to acknowledge several award-winning teachers in the school system. In addition to the annual system-wide award winners, the BOE also recognized teachers in the system who won state-wide and national awards.

The Vestavia Hills City Schools District Teachers of the Year were named in October, and the recipients of this award were selected from the district’s eight school Teachers of the Year, who were each nominated by their peers at the schools.

The two District Teachers of the Year will now be considered for Alabama Teacher of the Year honors, which will be announced in the spring.

• Elementary Teacher of the Year is Heather Parrish, Vestavia Hills Elementary Liberty Park.
• Secondary Teacher of the Year is Mary Busbee, Vestavia Hills High School.

• Kayla Underhill - Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights
• Kate Donaldson - Vestavia Hills Elementary Central
• Shannon Kirby - Vestavia Hills Elementary East (might not be in attendance due to travel)
• Maggie Widman - Vestavia Hills Elementary West (see Whit for pronunciation)
• Lisa Williams - Liberty Park Middle School
• Leah Seng - Louis Pizitz Middle School

Also honored this week were:

Stanley Woodall, math teacher at Vestavia Hills High School, was named Teacher of the Year by the Alabama Council of Teachers of Mathematics earlier this month at the Council’s annual forum in Birmingham. Mr. Woodall has been a math teacher at Vestavia Hills High School since 2012.

Celia Stewart, gifted teacher at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights, was honored in October with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Gifted Education by the Alabama Association for Gifted Children. The award is given to teachers who have dedicated at least 20 years of their careers to gifted education. Ms. Stewart has taught at VHECH for more than 30 years.

Heather Hurt, fifth grade teacher at Vestavia Hills Elementary Central, was recognized in October with the 2018 Milken Educator Award. Hurt was the only teacher in Alabama to receive this award this year, and will be one of no more than 40 educators nationwide to receive the award this year. The Milken Educator Award is known as the “Oscars of Teaching” and comes with an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize.

(For more updates on school news and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Patch morning newsletter.)

Photo via Vestavia Hills City Schools