Photo courtesy of Mary Biggs.
Mary Biggs with her Homewood PTO newsletter. Biggs has volunteered with Homewood City Schools for over 13 years, keeping the wheels turning and parents informed behind the scenes.
For more than 13 years, Mary Biggs has been a quiet force behind the scenes of the Homewood City Schools system.
What began as a desire to be involved at Edgewood Elementary — where her children, Patton and Audrey, attended — grew into a long-running commitment to every school her kids moved through. From kindergarten classroom parties to high school PTO communications, Biggs stayed one step ahead of what parents needed.
“I really just wanted to be able to be inside the school, be able to really get to know their teachers and the children that they were in class with,” Biggs said. “And I mean, it’s crazy, because I watched these kids from the time they were in kindergarten. They have all just graduated.”
Both of her children are now students at Auburn University.
At Edgewood, Biggs was involved in creating the school’s memory book, chronicling the year’s happenings. “Mary hand drew every page in a book and made sure that every child was represented so they all got to be excited about their memory book,” said Jason Biggs, Mary’s husband. “When you think about it that way, how many parents that don’t even know Mary’s name were touched by the work that she did? And that’s just one example.”
Through middle school and high school, Mary launched social media accounts for the schools and helped answer questions directly from confused parents. “I get the most random — like I got a message just the other day from somebody I hadn’t talked to in years,” she said. “And they were like, ‘You probably know the answer to this.’”
As a PTO president and communications lead, Biggs helped manage events, raise funds and — most notably — revive the high school’s weekly newsletter. She wrote and distributed it every weekend, even while on vacation, because “people relied on it so much.”
“Just the depth and breadth and quality of information that was shared was really profound,” said Homewood High School Principal Joel Henneke, “so she really just took that whole newsletter to a whole new level.”
Henneke first worked with Biggs while he was at Homewood Middle School, where he spent four years as assistant principal and one as principal. They moved to the high school together four years ago when Biggs’ daughter became a freshman and Henneke became the school’s principal.
“She sort of matriculated with me, and I cannot tell you what a blessing that was,” said Henneke. “Just her heart or passion for being a part of the community and making sure we’re all in the know and up to speed on what’s going on and where we need to have our kids or what’s on the calendar has been very helpful, and I will miss her deeply.”
When her daughter Audrey graduated in May, Biggs officially stepped back — though not before helping train her successor and leave behind a template.
As for what comes next, Biggs has already launched a Facebook group for Auburn’s Class of 2029.
“I can’t not be in the know — or help people be in the know,” she said. “That’s what I do.”
