By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Members of the Alabaster Board of Education typically heap praise on the school system’s students, teachers and administrators during their regular meetings, but several students and principals flipped the script on Jan. 11.

As part of School Board Appreciation Month, representatives from each school took control of the meeting to express their gratitude to the five-member School Board. Many of the schools also made donations to the Alabaster School Foundation in the board members’ honor.

“Your school system is only as good as the five people on your board,” Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers said. “And the five people we have on our board are outstanding.”

During the meeting, principals and students from Creek View Elementary, Meadow View Elementary, Thompson Intermediate School, Thompson Sixth Grade Center, Thompson Middle and Thompson High schools presented gifts and shared their thanks for the board members.

Alabaster’s Board of Education consists of Board President Adam Moseley and board members Linda Church, Ty Quarles, Dr. John Myrick and Derek Henderson. All members have earned some level of state school board certification by attending training sessions over the past few years.

“Thank you so much for all you do,” CVES Principal Charissa Cole said before CVES students presented BOE members with the day’s edition of the Creek View News broadcast. “It’s a privilege and an honor to have a child in Alabaster City Schools, and it’s an honor to work alongside so many great people every day.”

CVES, MVES and TIS each made $125 donations to the city’s School Foundation, which supports teachers’ classroom needs, in the board members’ honor. TIS Student Council members invited board members to a breakfast in their honor on Jan. 20.

Several students presented the BOE members with handmade gifts, such as posters and items made in THS art classes.

“The Lord has really and truly blessed us with the leaders and the vision that helps us sit here tonight,” THS Principal Wesley Hester said. “We are the ones who are truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of individuals leading us.”