Vestavia Hills City Schools Board votes to transfer principal over parents' objections

Video provided by a livestream of the Vestavia Hills Schools Board of Education.
Despite protests from a packed crowd, Vestavia Hills City Schools officials voted unanimously May 2 to transfer principal Lauren Dressback to a local alternative school.
Dressback is still listed as a principal on Cahaba Heights Elementary’s website. But according to parents and a series of social media posts that emerged this weekend, she hasn’t set foot in the school since February.
District officials have yet to disclose a reason for Dressback’s absence. Instead, they called a special meeting Thursday to reassign her to the district’s alternative school. Kim Polson, the school’s assistant principal, will take her place.
At a board meeting Monday, residents and school alumni claimed Dressback was placed on administrative leave shortly after she discussed her sexual orientation with school staff.
“This is not a promotion, this is not glorifying her, you are sending her a message that in Vestavia Hills it is not OK to be LGBTQ,” Rev. Julie Conrady of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham, told board members Thursday evening.
Dressback became the school’s principal in 2022. Her contract was renewed in 2023. She has more than 20 years of experience in education.
Many other community members packed the board room Thursday, with some holding signs and many wearing green in support of Dressback. Several questioned the board about why they would not share any reasoning for the decision - and why they wouldn’t hear out concerns before making a vote.
Lifelong educators spoke to Dressback’s legacy as a teacher and school leader, and pressed the board to give more details. One said homophobia had pushed her out of a nearby school district, too.
Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, also made an appearance. The state’s only openly gay legislator said he drove straight from Montgomery to attend the meeting.
“You’re not just signaling to your other teachers, your other principals, your other staff here,” he said. “You’re signaling to your students who might be LGBTQ-identified that they don’t matter.”
An attorney for Dressback declined to comment on the vote.

[@clichepepycan7370]

45th in education… it really shows

[@abbeyskipper970]

They will rue the day they ruled in favor of this and their children and grandchildren will be ashamed of what they have done.