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HOOVER – The Hoover City School District will honor the newest Teachers in the Trenches Award recipients this month.

“We know that all of our teachers have gone above and beyond the call of duty these past 11 months,” read a Feb. 2 post on the Hoover City Schools Facebook page. “They have risen to the challenge and have all been ‘Teachers in the Trenches.’”

The Robert O. Finley Committee gives the Teachers in the Trenches Award annually to a teacher on the elementary, middle and high school level.

The following teachers were selected as this year’s award winners:

• Russell Sirmans, Bluff Park Elementary School
• Kristin Snowden, Simmons Middle School
• Jennifer Johnson, Spain Park High School

The winners will be honored at a small, socially distanced ceremony on Feb. 16.

In other district news, high school students who chose the in-person learning option will return for five days of face-to-face instruction starting on Feb. 11.

After seeing success with elementary and middle school reopenings, along with COVID-19 positive cases going down across the district since the beginning of January, officials felt it was appropriate to make this decision, according to an HCS press release.

“I appreciate your continued flexibility and patience as we strive to do what’s best for the safety of our students and faculty,” Interim Superintendent Dr. Tera Simmons said. “Educating students in a safe learning environment is our No. 1 goal. Although these plans are subject to change, we are delighted to have high school students back for five days of in-person instruction.”

The district will continue to follow the guidance provided in the Alabama Department of Public Health’s Back to School Toolkit. 

Nothing has changed from the ADPH in regards to close contact tracing or the 6/15 rule. Those who are identified as a close contact to a COVID-19 positive case at school will be sent home to complete the close contact quarantine period of 10-14 days.

Parents are asked to keep their student home if they have any symptoms of illness and contact their healthcare providers as needed.

Administrators will continue to look at the data within the schools in the event a class, grade or campus needs to be shut down.