Amy Tosney for five-year term on Hoover school board

April 4, 2017 5:47 PM

The Hoover City Council tonight chose Amy Tosney to serve a five-year term on the Hoover school board.

Tosney, the vice president and office manager for the Magic City Door overhead door company and a former teacher in the Jefferson County school system, was one of three applicants for the school board this year. She and her husband, Joe, live in Lake Crest and have been in Hoover for nine years.

Councilman Curt Posey said Tosney impressed him because of her positive outlook and because she blew him away in her interview with her knowledge of the issues facing the Hoover school board.

The fact that she has experience in both education and the business world was a definite advantage for her, Posey said. As a school board member, “you have to have both,” he said.

Tosney taught history and English at Erwin High School from 1993 to 1997 and later served as an interim librarian at Brookwood Forest Elementary in Mountain Brook, a kindergarten teacher at Hilldale Christian School in Center Point and a preschool and music teacher at Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover.

Since 2008, she has served as vice president and office manager for Magic City Door in Trussville.

Both Posey and Councilmen Mike Shaw and Derrick Murphy said they also liked Tosney’s view that vocational education is important.

Tosney told the council tonight that she was humbled by their selection of her for the school board.

“I look forward to getting started to serve the schools in Hoover and all the students and faculty, and look forward to working with the superintendent and staff,” Tosney said.

Other candidates considered for the school board post were retired Simmons Middle School science teacher Susan Ogle and Shekinah Lee, a Miles College student studying to be a teacher.

Tosney in June will take the place of Stephen Presley, whose five-year term on the school board ends May 31. Tosney has three daughters, one of whom has already graduated Hoover High. The others are a 16-year-old at Hoover High and 11-year-old at Gwin Elementary.

In her application, Tosney said some of the critical issues facing the school system are addressing space needs as the city and school system continue to grow and the redrawing of school attendance zones, both now and in the future.