Education

As COVID Cases Rise, Emergency Leave Unavailable for Teachers

Most Alabama school teachers who are temporarily sent home this school year because they contract COVID-19, are exposed to it or are caring for their own children in quarantine will have to use their personal leave time to do it. A few weeks into the academic year, some schools have  had to move students temporarily to virtual learning as COVID-19 cases prevent in-person learning. The Alabama Education Association is asking local systems to extend paid emergency leave to staff. Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Dual Enrollment Scholarships for High School Students Increased

More scholarship money is available in the upcoming academic year for high school students who also want to earn college credits in math, science and engineering. The STEM scholarships are in addition to existing career technical education scholarships that have been available for several years. Lawmakers and Gov. Kay Ivey increased funding for dual enrollment in the 2022 education budget by $3 million to $21.1 million.  Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

State Board of Education Votes to Ban Teaching of Critical Race Theory

MONTGOMERY -- The Alabama State Board of Education on Thursday passed a resolution banning the teaching of critical race theory in public schools, a move that supporters said preserves intellectual freedom and opponents said will stifle how history is taught. The resolution doesn’t appear to have any enforceable power behind it, and state Superintendent Eric Mackey said he believes that no teacher in Alabama will be punished as a result of it. “We don’t think there is anything in our courses of study -- we’ve done a deep dive -- that will be in conflict with the current resolution,” Mackey said. “So it really has no effect on our current course of study.” Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Echoes of the Past as Overwhelmingly White Mountain Brook Debates Diversity

This summer, passionate voices clashed over a teacher anti-bias training program in Mountain Brook City Schools. But the debate rests on uncomfortable history in this white pocket of racially diverse Jefferson County. Read more.

by Kyra Miles, WBHM

School Protocols Have Key Changes for Masked vs Unmasked

Schools that require students to wear masks and follow certain COVID-19 protocols won’t have to send home children exposed to the coronavirus, according to recent guidance from the Alabama Department of Public Health. “That will make a huge change for us,” state Superintendent Eric Mackey said this week about the number of students who could potentially be sent home from school because another student was diagnosed with the virus. For schools that don’t require masks, protocol is to send home students who are exposed to a COVID-19 positive classmate. There are exceptions for those who have been vaccinated or contracted the virus within the past three months. Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

5 Things to Know About Alabama’s Back-to-School COVID Toolkit

Over the last several weeks, the hyper-contagious delta variant and surge in COVID-19 cases have pushed school districts to make last-minute changes to their plans for back to school. Many health officials and school administrators said they were waiting for the Alabama Department of Public Health to release its back-to-school guidance in order to make decisions about masking, social distancing and vaccinations for K-12 schools. Now, that 2021-2022 toolkit is here, and it has prompted some schools in Jefferson County to quickly update their COVID-19 protocols. The state guidance provides schools and guardians with checklists, testing guides and information on how to best protect students and teachers throughout the school year. Read more.

by Kyra Miles, Report for America Corps for WBHM

State Hiring Marketing Firm for Teacher Recruitment

The Alabama State Department of Education is upping its teacher recruitment efforts with a $3 million media and marketing contract with Big Communications in Birmingham. “We need to do a whole rebranding of the teaching profession and specifically teaching in Alabama,” Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey said Monday. Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Schools Opening Short on Teachers Because of an Increase in Retirements

Beadie Bell has been a teacher in the Bessemer City School system for 20 years now. As a pre-school educator, she has seen many teachers come and go over the years but said she has seen a particularly “surprising” number of educators who have chosen to retire this past year. According to 2020-21 numbers provided by Alabama’s Teacher Retirement System, 3,515 employees retired during the school year, the highest number since 2010-11. It’s a trend many school systems throughout the state have seen in the past year, and the number keeps growing. That trend has left many school systems looking for new teachers even as they begin opening their doors for the new school year. Jefferson County’s school system, for instance, has 63 open slots for certified teachers, counselors and coaches posted on the Alabama Department of Education’s site as the system nears its Aug. 10 opening date. Birmingham City Schools had 56 open teaching positions listed on the DOE site and 29 open sports coaching positions as schools started Tuesday. Read more. More on the upcoming school term: State Hiring Marketing Firm for Teacher Recruitment 5 Things to Know About Alabama’s Back-to-School COVID Toolkit

by Michelle Love

Some Schools Will Require Masks After Shift in CDC Recommendations

UPDATED AUG. 6: Leaders with several school systems in the area have decided that students, faculty and visitors must wear masks in school facilities. So far, Birmingham, Bessemer, Fairfield, Homewood and now Hoover schools have decided to require masks. Jefferson County Schools have decided to make masks optional in schools this year. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Gov. Ivey Advocates Push for Expanding Summer Learning

Gov. Kay Ivey and education leaders are stressing the importance of expanding summer learning throughout the state as educators seek to help students recover from learning loss sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ivey on Wednesday toured a program that is funded by Summer Adventures in Learning and helps pair community organizations with schools to create high-quality summer learning programs. Jim Wooten, chair of Sail, said Sail aims to reimagine what summer school can look like. He said easily 75% of Alabama students could benefit from summer learning. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News