By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A former Meadow View Elementary School teacher and current assistant principal in Hoover will return to lead the school, after the Alabaster Board of Education voted to hire her for the position during a May 13 meeting.

School Board members voted unanimously during to hire Michelle Brakefield as the school’s new principal. She will take over for current MVES Principal Rachea Simms, who will retire at the end of this school year after nearly 30 years in education.

Brakefield previously spent several years as a teacher at MVES, and has spent the past school year serving as the assistant principal of Gwin Elementary School in Hoover.

“Thank you, (ACS Superintendent) Dr. (Wayne) Vickers and Board of Education. I just wanted to take a minute to tell you that I’m so appreciative of this opportunity,” Brakefield said. “I want to say to the faculty and staff, the parents and the students at Meadow View that I vow to make this transition easy, and that I am dedicated to them. Not only will I be their mentor, but I will be their advocate.”

Brakefield is a graduate of Thompson High School and the University of Montevallo, and lives in Alabaster with her husband, Scott, and their three children. She holds bachelor’s degrees in elementary education and early childhood education, and holds a master’s degree in elementary education.

“Mrs. Brakefield, welcome back. It’s good to have you back home,” Vickers told Brakefield. “I know you’ll do an outstanding job.”

Vickers and School Board members thanked Brakefield for her willingness to obtain her administrative certification and spend the past year getting experience as a school administrator at Gwin Elementary.

“Mrs. Brakefield, welcome home. We could not be happier that you’re home, and we look forward to great things at Meadow View,” said School Board member Jamia Alexander-Williams.