School board honors middle school cross-country team

The Homewood Board of Education recently recognized the Homewood Middle School boys cross-country team for its impressive season, including capturing the 2023 Metro South championship.

Head coach Eric Swope accompanied the entire team to a school board meeting in October and spoke about the group’s accomplishments in the championship race, after spending most of the season in second place.

“The most exciting thing about the year was that we ended with a championship, because we were second all year long to Mountain Brook. So we knew going into it that we had to do something big,” Swope said. “It wasn’t even a close race. We beat them by a good margin, too, so it was pretty awesome.

“This whole year, there was just something special about this team,” he said. “The culture of our team was just dynamic. Every time we went to practice, it was a good time.”

While he enjoys teaching his classes during the school day, Swope said he most looked forward to coaching the cross-country team after the final bell.

“My favorite part of the day is the end of the day,” he said. “I love getting out running with these guys, having a good time.”

Homewood City Schools Superintendent Justin Hefner, who coached cross-country briefly as a student teacher, often ran with the team during training sessions and saw first-hand how the athletes responded to Swope’s leadership and character.

“I tell people all the time how great coach Swope is because we’ve had a lot of success in our track program at the high school, another boys state championship this spring, and I always point to coach Swope,” Hefner said. “What starts here, finishes the loop there.

“Coach Swope, you’re such a great relational teacher, which we value so much in our system,” he added. “ It’s just something that I wish I could replicate across the board.”

At the same meeting, the Homewood Board of Education approved a $60,000 contract for work on the baseball and softball fields at Homewood High School.

The board unanimously voted to award the contract to HNP Landscape Architecture for the installation of synthetic turf on each field, as well as other work related to the project, including drone surveys of the existing surface, design coordination, construction administration and other tasks.

In other business, the school board heard from Homewood High School senior Jack Roberts, who addressed the topic of adding non-voting student representation to the school board — an idea that is catching hold in other parts of the country, including school districts in New Hampshire, Maryland and Kentucky.

Lastly, during the public comment portion of the meeting, the school board heard from Kelly Connor, a Hall-Kent Elementary School parent who asked the board to consider returning the school’s beginning drop-off time to 7:10 a.m., rather than 7:25 a.m., in order to accommodate work schedules, families with children attending multiple schools and other needs.

“The drop-off timed at 7:10 last year worked far better for many families in the area who have to be at work by 8 or earlier, or even work outside of the greater Birmingham area,” Connor said.

She added that staff at Hall-Kent are allowed to bring their own children or the children of friends and neighbors at the time of their arrival, which she says is unfair to other Hall-Kent parents who have had to adjust their work schedules due to the change.