Category: Education
Forward Ever Day Is Different This Year at BSC as Closure Looms
“Forward Ever” is the motto of Birmingham-Southern College, which for 168 years educated students and prepared them for a future beyond the Hilltop.
But the liberal arts college’s days are numbered with the recent announcement that BSC will close on May 31. That announcement has left students, faculty and staff feeling like they’ve experienced a death in their family.
“We are all grieving,” said Virginia Gilbert Loftin, the school’s vice president for advancement and communications.
Today is Forward Ever Day at BSC. Annually, this is the day alumni and friends of the college are urged to give in support of the school. But Forward Ever Day has a somber feel this year as friends of the college will give in an effort to make the final days of students, faculty and staff as good as they can be. Read more.
Neighbors Worry About Future of BSC Land as Officials Discuss Redevelopment Options
The mood was somber in the auditorium at A.H. Parker High School Monday night as neighbors of Birmingham-Southern College expressed their concern about the announced closing of the liberal arts college as of May 21.
State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, hosted a town hall to field questions about the school. Of particular concern was what will happen to the 192-acre campus. More than one compared BSC to the old Carraway Hospital property, which deteriorated for years north of downtown. Read more.
Miles Might Consider BSC Property as Other Universities Express No Interest
UPDATED — Miles College may have interest in the campus of Birmingham-Southern College, which announced this week that it will close at the end of May.
“At this time, we do not have a formal plan to pursue the BSC campus,”
Miles College President Bobbie Knight told BirminghamWatch. “As a Miles College community made up of faculty, students and families, our primary focus has been to support and address the needs of the BSC community.
“Now that a resolution has been reached regarding BSC,” Knight said, “we look forward to a dialogue regarding the future of the campus.” Read more.
What Closing of Birmingham-Southern College Means to Residents in Surrounding Communities
If anyone knows the importance of Birmingham-Southern College, it would be Joanice Thompson, president of Bush Hills Connections, a nonprofit organization to pool resources and forge partnerships to benefit their neighborhood. One of the neighborhood’s biggest achievements, the Bush Hills Community Garden and Urban Farm, came about with the help of BSC students, she said. Read more.
Read more about BSC’s closing.
Birmingham-Southern College Closing After 168 Years Educating Students
Birmingham-Southern College Closing After 168 Years Educating Students
Birmingham-Southern College is closing its doors May 31 after a nearly 18-month fight to overcome its financial shortfalls. The BSC board of trustees met Tuesday and decided to close the school after learning that a bill to lend the college $30 million from a state higher education loan fund was unlikely to pass the Legislature this year. Read more.
Learning Loss: Alabama ACT Scores Climb but Still Down From Pre-Pandemic Levels
ACT scores for Alabama’s Class of 2023 have improved in the past two years but still have not reached the levels scored before the learning loss of the pandemic, a new report from the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama shows. Progress depends on several factors, one of which is economic instability. Read more.
Birmingham Mounts Full Court Press to Get Third Graders Up to Reading Level
Birmingham City officials are beginning a full court press to get all third graders reading on grade level or proficiency by the end of the year. “This is it everybody,” said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin in an interview last week. “The test is less than 90 days away, and every third grader in the state of Alabama, including the 1,300-plus third graders in Birmingham City Schools will take this test.” Read more.
How Birmingham City School Students Recovered Pandemic Learning Loss
Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Mark Sullivan expected to see reading scores decline after the pandemic. When he saw the first results in coming out of the pandemic, he was relieved to see student reading did not fall as much as he expected.
“But the math scores plummeted,” he said.
The next steps Birmingham officials took may have helped turn them around. Read more.
A Call to Call: BSC Alumni Again Urged to Appeal to Legislators to Save Their School
Alumni of Birmingham-Southern College have again received a call to contact state legislators, this time to seek a rewrite of last year’s legislation that had been designed to provide a reprieve from the college’s possible closing. Read more.
What Experts Recommend to Encourage Childhood Literacy at Home
Alabama has been trying to raise the literacy scores for younger readers in the state through legislation and support from the Alabama State Department of Education. The Alabama Reflector asked experts in the state what parents and guardians should be looking for and doing for their own children’s literacy. Read more.
