Author: Maggie Andrews
Public Access to Information: Score: 40.6 Grade: F Ranking: 33
“Highly Qualified.” What Does That Label Mean for an Alabama Teacher?
What does it mean to be a “highly qualified” teacher for Alabama fifth-graders?
That question made headlines Monday when Alabama Teacher of the Year Ann Marie Corgill resigned her teaching job at a Birmingham school. The Alabama State Department of Education ruled she didn’t meet the “highly qualified” standard.
Teacher certification presents complicated questions with unsettled answers for public education policy-makers. What are the rules to be “highly qualified”? Do they apply to everybody? Why are they especially important for schools in lower income neighborhoods?
Alabama Teacher of the Year Leaves Classroom. Here’s Her Story.
Six months ago, Ann Marie Corgill was standing next to President Obama celebrating being named a National Teacher of the Year finalist, intent on finding a job teaching in an inner-city school after years in Alabama’s richest district.
On Sunday afternoon, Corgill officially resigned after two months in Birmingham’s Oliver Elementary School, intent on never stepping foot in a classroom again. In a statement Monday, she reopened the door to future teaching but the resignation from Oliver stood.
Assignment Birmingham: Build on City’s Assets to Create Innovation Powerhouse
Start with distinctive assets like UAB, Southern Research Institute, Railroad Park, and historic downtown buildings. Decide collectively how to use those to help transform Birmingham into one of the country’s centers for innovation. Market that innovative city to the nation and world.
That was the assignment put on the table for people who can make things happen in Birmingham by Brookings Institution Vice President Bruce Katz, an influential Washington, D.C.–based policy expert who recently spent two days in Birmingham.
Status of Historic Preservation Tax Credits for Projects Across Alabama
This list contains projects that have been approved for tax credits and the amounts received, approved and requested for each project.
“No guarantee” for Future Tax Breaks to Help Rescue Historic Birmingham Buildings
An economic development tool credited with facilitating more than $170 million in development in Birmingham faces an uncertain future after being pushed aside by lawmakers preoccupied with the state’s budget battle.
An effort to renew Alabama’s historic preservation tax credit was derailed in the spring and has been expected to be renewed early next year. But a leading opponent said he may move to block renewal of the credits even if a state study concludes that they are effective.
State Sen. Lee Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, is waiting for completion of a state study of the law’s effectiveness before taking a formal position, he said, but his opposition to the use of tax credits in general may lead him to try to block renewal of the incentive regardless of the findings.
Alabama Cities Act Quickly, End Deals with Company Criticized for Collection Tactics
About half of the 100 Alabama cities that once contracted with a private probation company, JCS, have cancelled their agreements for the company to collect city debts.
The cancellations come after the Southern Poverty Law Center in June settled a lawsuit with Clanton, Ala, which had used JCS. The SPLC told officials there, and in about 100 other municipalities, that JCS contracts are illegal and that the company’s fine-collection tactics can amount to extortion.
The quick reaction by local governments around the state makes less likely stories like that of Sakeena White, a single mother of three.
Parents Drive National Momentum for Children and Marijuana-based Treatments
In room 716 of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 12-year-old Hannah Pallas is motionless, but for an occasional turn of her head and the blink of her eyes, following a series of life-threatening seizures. On the same day, 5-year-old Sydney Michaels is down the hall in room 749, waiting to be discharged after 15 grand mal seizures within 36 hours.
At UAB, Carly’s Law Leads to Trial of Cannabinoid Drug to Treat People Suffering From Seizures
By BARNETT WRIGHT, BIRMINGHAMWATCH:
More than 50 patients, including adults and children, are now enrolled in UAB studies to test the safety of a marijuana derivative that has shown promise as a treatment for severe epileptic seizures, according to university officials.
High-Stakes Dealing Down South
By CODY OWENS, WELD FOR BIRMINGHAM: The man’s phone rang. Someone on the other end wanted to buy a gram of hashish from him (hashish is a condensed product of cannabis with a high concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol, otherwise known as THC). The man said it’s good.
