By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

HOOVER—Community support and involvement is important to any school system. The Hoover City Schools Foundation is looking to strengthen community engagement through a new initiative, Hoover + Ready, launched on Sept. 15.

Hoover + Ready focuses on the school system’s strengths, such as quality educators, rigorous academics and student success. Community support is key in order to uphold these strengths, especially in the face of another deficit budget, Hoover City Schools Foundation Executive Director Janet Turner explained.

“(Hoover + Ready is) showcasing what sets our school system apart… what it means to be educated by Hoover City Schools and what it means to be Hoover ready,” Turner said. “If we want our schools to continue to be great, we all must step up.”

Founded in 1992, the Hoover City Schools Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports Hoover schools through classroom grants. Last year, the foundation distributed $22,000 in grants throughout Hoover schools, Turner said.

“The Hoover City Schools Foundation leads the way in funding creative and innovative projects,” Turner said.

In the past, Turner said the foundation has funded an iPad initiative, which developed into the system’s current one-to-one device program in third through 12th grade, and several robotics programs.

“We’re all in it together… It takes the school district doing its part (and) it takes everybody in the community,” HCS Superintendent Dr. Kathy Murphy said. “We are so grateful the Hoover City Schools Foundation has the heart for what they do in their mission.”

The Hoover + Ready initiative is not only geared at increasing parent support and involvement, it is also directed at all members of the Hoover community.

“It’s not just about parents, it’s about all stakeholders,” Turner said. “We are trying to reengage (the community)… 75 percent of Hoover residents don’t have a child in Hoover City Schools.”

Hoover City Schools enjoys connections with local businesses through the system’s career academies, and Turner said she hopes Hoover + Ready will expand these connections while also strengthening ties with others, such as alumni.

“I never cease to be amazed, it is so awesome,” Murphy said of the Hoover community and its support of the school system. “There’s an energy in our community that not many communities get to experience.”