By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Alabaster Board of Education members showered the city’s school superintendent with praise during an April 14 meeting while voting to extend his contract by two years.

During the meeting, the Alabaster School Board voted unanimously to extend Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers’ contract by two years through June 30, 2019. Vickers’ original contract was set to expire on June 30, 2017.

School Board President Adam Moseley said Vickers received a “favorable performance evaluation” when assessed by the School Board, and said Vickers has played a key role in getting the new Alabaster City School System off the ground.

“We are a lot farther along than any of us could have imagined,” Moseley said to Vickers. “We’d like to have you a few extra years.”

According to the contract extension approved by the School Board, the city school system “has made substantial progress toward attaining its short- and long-term goals,” and the “system’s prospects for continued progress will be enhanced by maintaining continuity and stability in the superintendency.”

The Alabaster School Board voted to hire Vickers as the Alabaster School System’s first full-time superintendent in May 2013. Vickers previously served as the Saraland City School System, and was chosen out of a pool of 16 other candidates who applied for the spot.

Vickers received a standing ovation from the about 50 in attendance at the March 14 meeting.

“I will tell you, I’ve never been happier in my life,” Vickers said after the School Board approved his contract extension. “There are so many things we are going to accomplish together as a family.”

Vickers has children at Thompson High School and Thompson Middle School, and said he is “very proud they are Warriors.”

“Our best days are yet to come,” Vickers said.