Riverchase's Jeremy Vice is leading candidate for Hoover school board

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Riverchase resident Jeremy Vice is the recommended candidate to replace Kermit Kendrick on the Hoover Board of Education.

The Hoover City Council is scheduled to vote on the appointment at Monday night’s council meeting following interviews with six candidates that took place on April 10, and Vice’s name is on the resolution for appointment in the council’s meeting packet.

Vice, 51, has worked for Prime Therapeutics since 2010 and for the past four years has been an assistant vice president of the company, which is a pharmacy benefit management company.  He also spent 11 years with CVS Caremark, giving him a total of 26 years in health care and pharmacy management.

In his interview with the City Council on April 10, Vice said he believes his employment experience will benefit the school board — from his experience in budget and financial planning to implementing new products and services and balancing customer needs with the realities of the organization.

At Prime Therapeutics, he leads a team that manages more than $21 billion in spending, he wrote in his school board application.

He wants to be a team player and work with the other school board members to creatively figure out ways to meet the school system’s needs, he said.

Vice, who has lived in Hoover 27 years, also serves as vice president of the Hoover Parks and Recreation Board, is a board member for the Riverchase Residential Association and member of the Leadership Hoover Class of 2024. He has one son who graduated from Spain Park High School and is now at Troy University and two more sons currently at Spain Park. If he is appointed, that will mean four of the five board members have ties to Spain Park.

During his interview, he was asked what he believes is the most important issue facing the Hoover school system. Vice said it’s making sure the system stays well-positioned to continue to attract and hire talented people and providing the resources and training that employees need, whether they are teachers, administrators or support personnel.

Councilman Sam Swiney asked the school board candidates their thoughts about building a third school, and Vice said school officials should make sure they are maximizing the existing capacity they have in schools before building a third high school.

“We have to be good stewards of the resources we’ve been given,” he said.

When asked what he would do to help get the Hoover school system removed from a decades-old desegregation lawsuit, Vice said the school board needs to do all it possibly can to make progress on the issues identified in the lawsuit and demonstrate that progress to the federal court.

Councilman Derrick Murphy asked each candidate what they think about regulating books and materials in K-12 libraries, and Vice said it’s important to make sure that materials are age-appropriate for the students who would have access to them.

Murphy also asked candidates what they think about the potential elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. Vice said that could create some opportunities at the state level, but he would need to do more research on that topic. Similarly, when asked whether he would be in favor of the Hoover school system allowing students from outside Hoover to attend Hoover schools through means allowed through a school choice bill that passed the Legislature, Vice said he sees some of the merits of what that law is attempting to accomplish, but he would need to study it more and carefully weigh the pros and cons.

Councilman John Lyda asked Vice if he believes the school system has adequate funding and is meeting the needs of Hoover students, and if not, where would he advise the school board turn for additional funding.

Vice said his experience has been that Hoover is meeting the needs of students, but the school system also is facing increasing pressure on its budget due to special education needs and other areas of programming and curriculum. The school system does have a partnership with the city of Hoover in regard to funding, but there might be other opportunities for private partnerships the school system could explore for funding, he said.

Vice, like most of the candidates interviewed, said he had not yet attended any school board meetings, but he has watched a couple of them online.

Councilwoman Khristi Driver asked how he would handle criticism and disagreements in public meetings that sometimes can get emotional. Vice said he sits on some other boards and has been a part of meetings that got emotional. He said it’s important to be able to listen to and respect people’s opinions but also important to maintain decorum in meetings and make sure meetings don’t get out of control.

If there were disagreements among board members about the best course of action, he would advise listening to one another and trying to work together to come up with the best solutions to solve problems, he said.

Driver also asked him what he would do if his personal convictions conflicted with the needs and values of the school system. Vice said he would try to remain true to himself and his beliefs, but he also believes that sometimes you have to compartmentalize some personal preferences and work toward the greater good of the school system and make sure the school system is creating the same opportunities for every student in the system.

“We have such an amazing city and such an amazing school system,” he said.

He’s proud of the accomplishments of the school system to this point and all the people who have worked to make it what it is today, and he looks at this as his opportunity to give back to the community he loves, he said.

“This is home. This is where we work. This is where we play. This is where we shop. This is the center of our universe as a family,” he said. “There’s no better place to plug in and serve. I’m absolutely committed to being true to the values and the mission statement of the school board.”

Others interviewed for the school board seat this year were Charles Crump, Paul Dangel, Brian Hamilton, Layla Hamilton and Vetrica Hill. Each of their interviews are available for viewing on the city of Hoover’s YouTube channel.