La'ila Hamilton tells Hoover City Council she would prioritize safety, equity and expanding career-technical programs if appointed to school board

La'ila Hamilton, an applicant for a seat on the Hoover City School Board, told the Hoover City Council during an appointment interview that her top priorities are student safety — including social and emotional supports — proving the district is meeting requirements of its desegregation obligations, and expanding career-technical education at the district’s RC3 campus.

Hamilton told Councilor McClinton and other councilors that “if we are just very intentional and we make sure that we don't show any differences between race or learning style, that eventually we will find unitary status,” referring to steps the district must show to federal and civil-rights monitors. Hamilton said equity should be guided by data and by providing “exactly what [students] need to achieve academic excellence.”

Hamilton said physical safety remains important and she supports continuing the district’s partnership with the Hoover Police Department, and that emotional and social safety is increasingly urgent. She described a proposal she discussed with Terry Coleman, whom she identified as “the director of all of the student counselors,” for a universal screening tool by Renaissance to identify students needing academic or emotional intervention. Hamilton said Coleman estimated the screening platform might cost about $100,000 and that the platform provides assessment data plus step-by-step intervention plans.

On career-technical education, Hamilton said she favors expanding the existing RC3 campus rather than building a second RC3 campus if space can be found on the current site. She cited existing programs at RC3 — cyber tech, trades, culinary, fire college, cosmetology and planned automotive — and suggested adding trades such as plumbing, construction inspection and aviation mechanics.

Hamilton described how Hoover’s mix of community funding and local fundraising supports the schools and told councilors she would support giving Hoover residents an opportunity to vote on an ad valorem tax increase if additional local funding becomes necessary. “I would hope that they would vote to increase because we want to protect our schools,” she said, noting federal funding is limited and some COVID-era funds have been exhausted. Hamilton told the council she believed the district had used COVID funds to support roughly 16 part-time interventionists and that the district had since hired another “12 or so,” remarks she prefaced as her belief rather than a formal district count.

When asked how she would handle individual parental complaints, Hamilton said parents should first seek help through school administrators and then escalate to the superintendent if needed. She said she would not promise to make decisions on the spot and that board members must base policy decisions on data rather than emotion.

Hamilton recounted a family’s experience who moved to Hoover after the family’s adopted daughter, who did not initially speak English, received targeted supports and an IEP in Hoover that the parents said they had not been able to obtain elsewhere. Hamilton said the child’s progress — removed from an IEP after several months — was an example of the district’s capacity to support students with language and learning needs.

No formal action on the appointment, including votes or motions, is recorded in the portion of the transcript provided.

The council’s interview continued after Hamilton’s closing remarks; the transcript excerpt ends after she thanked the panel.