19-04-2025
Pinson City Council presents $60K to local schools
The following is a story by Nathan Prewett for the Trussville Tribune:
PINSON, Ala. (Trussville Tribune) — The Pinson City Council presented their usual round of $60,000 to the local schools during a meeting that was held on Thursday, April 17.
Speaking first was Stephanie Floyd, who is vice president of the Jefferson County Board of Education, and represents District 3, which Pinson Valley High School falls under as a feeder pattern.
'I wanted to come and make sure that, you know, that we are here to help support you all in anything that you do to help support the schools is critically important for us,' she told the council. 'You know it takes a village. No one person can raise children. It does take a community.'
She highlighted chronic absenteeism as an issue for schools in the past, but said it has improved in recent times. She also mentioned Pinson Valley High School Principal Michael Turner being selected for the role of interim superintendent for Bessemer City Schools and congratulated him.
'It's going to be really difficult to fill the shoes of Mr. Turner,' she said. 'He was extremely vocal and vital to the community, so he will be missed.'
Afterwards Johnson Elementary School Principal Brandi Wilson spoke.
'I've enjoyed my years at Johnson and I'm so proud of the progress that we've made,' Wilson said and added that chronic absenteeism has improved, decreasing from 16% to 9% in 2024.
'We've just done a lot of mentoring with our students on why they should be at school everyday and the importance,' she added. 'So, all of those efforts did show.'
She expressed her gratitude to the council after the school was able to purchase playground equipment using the last round of grants last year.
Following her was Gerolyn Woodruff, principal of Rudd Middle School. She also expressed gratitude to the council and said that recently the school awarded several students for perfect attendance, as well as for good grades.
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She added that the school celebrated with a 'Gaming Day Experience' in which 52 arcade games and other video game machines were set up in the gym for the students to enjoy. Additionally, the school also wrapped up its 'ACAMP' initiative to improve math and reading scores.
'We're going for level four gold, which is the highest,' she said. 'And we're just trying to increase our math scores and our reading scores at Rudd Middle School, and our state report card; we had a 75 so we're aiming for a B status for the upcoming year.'
During the pre-council meeting, Scott Ragsdale gave an update on his proposed Veterans Honor Park first mentioned in a January meeting.
At that meeting the council gave a preliminary approval for the park, which would display six, 20-foot tall concrete columns, each representing a branch of the armed forces along with an American flag, a plaque displaying the Oath of Enlistment, and an Arlington burial cross representing soldiers who died overseas or died after returning home.
The original plan had the entry of it going into Bicentennial Park. However, after consulting with engineers it was found that the location would cause flooding concerns and an exorbitant cost to address it.
And so he began looking for an alternative location and proposed that it be constructed at a section of Triangle Park at the intersection of Pinson Boulevard, Roddam Road, and Pinson Main Street.
'That is the staple point for the city of Pinson,' he said. 'I've been here all my life, except for the time I was in the service, and that is just like the main intersection that belongs to the city of Pinson.'
He said that he has letters of commitment from multiple contractors to provide labor but now needs an area to construct the project.
The matter will be revisited in the future.
In other business the council:
Approved an annexation request from a property owner on Ridgewood Drive,
Designated Councilor Clinteshia Irvin as the primary delegate to the Alabama League of Municipalities, with Roberts being the first alternate and Councilor Glenda Kirkland being the third alternate, and
Approved $25,000 for Turkey Creek.
Pinson City Council meets on the first and third Thursdays of every month at City Hall on 4410 Main Street. Live-streamed meetings can be seen on the city's Facebook page.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@
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