Efforts to ban books believed to be inappropriate for children and teens have seen a sharp uptick recently, but some libraries and bookstores are fighting back. Read more.
The future of a bill that would effectively mandate kindergarten in Alabama still faces an uphill battle, even as members of a state education commission said that they support the bill. Read more.
It’s not about Birmingham-Southern College; it’s about the residents of Birmingham. That’s what Birmingham City Council President Wardine Alexander said Tuesday in her dissent from passage of a resolution pledging city dollars to support BSC, a private college, if the institution is able to obtain additional funding from the state. Read more.
Alabama ranks 45th in the country overall for child well-being, according to the 2023 Kids Count Data Book issued this week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. That’s one slot higher than last year. But the “improvement” says less about progress in Alabama than it does about losses in other states, according to the report. Read more.
Fewer young people want to work in trade jobs than ever before, and that’s left a hole in the job market. One charter school in Birmingham is giving some young people skills needed to address that problem. Read more.
Gov. Kay Ivey Friday forced Secretary of Early Childhood Education Barbara Cooper to resign over a book designed to train teachers to be aware of the different backgrounds and challenges of their students. In a Friday afternoon news release, Gina Maiola, communications director for the governor’s office, said Ivey had accepted Cooper’s resignation after learning of a pre-K educator resource book that included “woke concepts.” The book is the National Association for the Education of Young Children Developmentally Appropriate Practice Book, 4th Edition. It focuses on teaching children up to age of 8. Read more.
Eric Mackey says label causes “frustration and problems in high poverty communities.”
The board of trustees of Birmingham-Southern College voted unanimously Wednesday evening to keep the college open. Late last year, college officials reported that the private liberal arts college could close as early as this spring due to old accounting errors, a drained endowment and years of financial stress. The college has asked government officials for bridge funding, with limited success. Its $200 million fundraising campaign so far has raised nearly $46 million from private donors. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council has allocated $805,000 toward increasing the Jones Valley Teaching Farm’s presence in Birmingham City Schools. The money will go toward the nonprofit's wide-reaching Good School Food educational program, which is intended to foster skills in and appreciation for farming and the culinary arts in BCS students. The new funding will expand the JVTF’s capacity to host field trips and weeklong camps and will expand JVTF’s internship and apprenticeship programs. Read more.
The steading rhythm of djembe drums envelops Emmitt Glynn’s classroom in Louisiana’s Baton Rouge Magnet High School. Today’s Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies lesson is on the evolution of African American music, so Glynn has brought in a group of music students to demonstrate how beats from the African continent made their way into
