ClassAct and founder Anne Vella recognized by Mobile County Public Schools
Since opening in 1990, the school within the hospital has served more than 35,000 children. Anne M. Vella, Ph.D., founder of ClassAct, is retiring at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
By Casandra Andrews
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ClassAct, the school within USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital, and founding teacher Anne M. Vella, Ph.D., were honored at Mobile County Public Schools’ Learning Leading Awards Ceremony on April 17 at Murphy High School.
Described as one of the most compassionate programs in Alabama’s largest school district, the dedicated staff of ClassAct ensure that students — whether from public, private, or out-of-county schools — can continue learning while hospitalized.
As part of the hospital’s Mapp Child & Family Life Program, the school system’s dedicated teachers provide instruction at a child’s bedside or in its bright, welcoming classroom, offering both education and comfort.
It is the only such hospital school in the region where a staff of six certified schoolteachers serve the educational needs of up to 1,200 students each year.
Since opening in 1990, the school within the hospital has served more than 35,000 children, thanks to the vision of Vella, who wrote the original grant. One of six educators for the school, the beloved teacher recently announced her retirement.
During the awards ceremony held at the Lois Jean Delaney Auditorium last week, a video was shown celebrating Vella’s legacy and the continued dedication of Principal Stephanie Maddox and the entire ClassAct team.
“We are so proud of Anne and the dedicated staff who continuously meet the educational needs of our pediatric patients throughout the school year,” said Debbie Browning, MSN, RN, chief executive officer at Children’s & Women’s Hospital. “Having ClassAct here for the past 35 years is a true blessing to our children and their families who are often going through some of the most challenging times of their lives.”
For hospitalized children and teenagers, the familiar routine of attending school can offer refuge from the pain of needles, the fear of swallowing pills, and the lost autonomy that comes from enduring numerous procedures they have no control over.
The history of the hospital school dates back more than 35 years to the late 1980s, when a determined young teacher – Vella – and University of South Alabama professor Cathy O’Keefe with the group Helping Hands for Children asked the school board to make sure hospitalized children had access to learning opportunities when they were unable to attend their regular schools.
Armed with research that clearly demonstrated better outcomes for sick and injured children whose hospital stays included an educational component, Vella and O’Keefe eventually received approval for the school.
Now 35 years later, ClassAct has grown from a rolling cart to a small room with a single teacher – Vella – to a nationally recognized program that includes six teachers, an administrator and continuous support from a talented team of child life specialists and recreational therapists within the Mapp Child & Family Life Program at the hospital.
“It is just the best teaching job in the world,” said Vella, who earned two doctoral degrees, one in education and another in community counseling, during her career. “Each day you have a chance to make a difference in a child’s life. But more importantly, each child makes a difference in my life. I walk out of here every day not deflated, but invigorated, because I have been with a group of precious angels who are hard workers and eager to learn.”
