Volume 4 | Issue 7 | November 2016
VESTAVIA’S
Balancing act FRENCH (new)
School system, parents of Liberty Park and Pizitz students tackle the concept of ‘alignment’
LIBERTY PARK MIDDLE SCHOOL
LOUIS PIZITZ MIDDLE SCHOOL
GERMAN
GERMAN
(new)
GIFTED ENGLISH
GIFTED SCIENCE (new)
SPANISH
ADVANCED ALGEBRA
GIFTED SOCIAL STUDIES
FRENCH
GIFTED SCIENCE
SPANISH
(new)
Six houses sit on the block of Crosshaven Drive between Ridgely Drive and Valley Park Drive. Photo by Emily Featherston.
Business owner eyes Crosshaven land for communal gathering space By EMILY FEATHERSTON
C
By EMILY FEATHERSTON
ontext is key. That is what Vestavia Hills City Schools Superintendent Sheila Phillips got out of a series of meetings with parents over the past couple of months with regard to middle schools, student experiences and the word “alignment.” “We were saying the same thing — but not saying the same thing,” Phillips said. In early September, the Board of Education announced a series of public meetings about how the
See ALIGNMENT | page A30
The stretch of Crosshaven Drive between Ridgely Drive and Valley Park Drive in Cahaba Heights is currently populated by six houses, but a year from now, that location may look incredibly different. Jamie Pursell, a Cahaba Heights resident and the owner and operator of the Leaf & Petal garden shop at the back of the Summit, hopes to turn the roughly 2.5-area into a mixed-use development he said he thinks will create a gathering space for the entire community. Pursell said his goal is to “just create a place where people want to be.” The development would be comprised of three intertwined components: a new Leaf & Petal garden shop, a bagel shop and a Latin restaurant. The three businesses would be
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Tupelo, MS Permit #54
See SPACE | page A29
INSIDE
Sponsors .............. A4 News...................... A6
Chamber............... A11 Business ..............A14
Sports ................... B4 Events .................. B12
Opinion ................ B14 School House .... B25
Real Estate......... B29 Calendar ............. B30 facebook.com/vestaviavoice
Striking a Chord Students at Mason Music’s Rock Band League learn teamwork and life skills while living their dreams of becoming rock stars.
See page A24
See page B16