The Alabaster Board of Education has chosen the man it believes can lead the fledgling Alabaster School System as it launches a new chapter in local education.

Dr. Wayne Vickers, currently the Saraland City School System superintendent, was chosen out of 16 applicants to replace current Interim Superintendent Dr. Phillip Hammonds.

Vickers carries a huge responsibility. The city of Alabaster has invested a tremendous amount of time, money and resources into its new school system, from making the decision to break apart from Shelby County Schools in late 2011 to hiring Vickers to start July 1 of this year. Everything the city has worked for now rests in the hands of Vickers and the Board of Education.

Fortunately, those hands look like capable ones.

Vickers is a 23-year veteran of education. In his time at Saraland, since taking over as superintendent in July 2009, the Saraland system has seen a double-digit increase in test scores across the board, according to Alabaster School Board member Adam Moseley.

Vickers’ Saraland experience will also be instrumental in leading the Alabaster system because the city of Saraland chose to split from the Mobile County School System in 2008 — much like Alabaster has done with the Shelby County School System. Vickers has first-hand knowledge of how to lead such a school system — he’s done it before, with impressive results.

Vickers has big plans for the Alabaster system, including developing a school capital improvement plan, addressing safety measures in Alabaster schools and eventually making the Alabaster system one of the top-five school districts in the state.

We applaud Vickers for his vision, and we encourage the city of Alabaster to get behind him to help make his vision come true. Vickers’ hiring is an important step in making Alabaster’s system one that can hold its own with our other local award-winning school systems.

We think the Alabaster Board of Education made the right move with Vickers, and we look forward to seeing how the system grows under his watch.

The We Say is the opinion of the Shelby County Reporter editorial board.