I was startled when I received the following e-mail from a young Mountain Brook friend…
“How do you think it would go over if I suggested an alternative proposal to direct the proposed Mountain Brook property tax increase to Birmingham City Schools?” Continue reading Has my Mountain Brook friend lost his mind?
ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.
Today’s guest blogger is Charlotte Conaway. If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here.
82% of Birmingham City School children cannot read at grade level. I know this is shocking, but we have found a way to help.
I have mixed emotions about publicizing our efforts.
I’m afraid it might appear I’m writing this article to feel important or to promote my company. Or that I am ‘putting down’ Birmingham City Schools. Continue reading A shocking statistic–and what we’re doing about it
The City of Birmingham could be the next Homewood.
Homewood is one of the most livable and popular cities in Alabama.
Young folks are flocking into Homewood.
Young folks also are flocking into Birmingham.
But Birmingham has a problem…
Continue reading Birmingham: the next Homewood?
Fewer people are employed in our Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area today than in 2007.
Meanwhile cities like Nashville, Charlotte, and Austin are growing jobs exponentially.
What is wrong with us? Why can’t we compete? Continue reading Mtn. Brook & Vestavia don’t have to give up their schools for a better Birmingham
Oh no! It’s happened again.
Birmingham City Schools lost another superintendent.
Kelley Castlin-Gacutan was fired after 16 months—the 8th superintendent in 17 years.
How can one school board after another continue to make such bad hiring and/or firing decisions?
Continue reading What’s wrong with Birmingham School Board and City Council?
Every editorial I read about hiring a new superintendent for Birmingham City Schools says it’s critical we recruit the right candidate. The future of Birmingham Schools and possibly the City of Birmingham may be at stake.
Unfortunately, our next superintendent has virtually no chance of being successful.
Every time we employ a new superintendent we think he/she’s the one. Continue reading Our next Superintendent’s not going to save Birmingham Schools
ComebackTown is published by David Sher to begin a discussion on a better Birmingham.
Today’s guest blogger is Laura Gallitz. If you’d like to be a guest blogger, please click here.
David Sher’s provocative title “I’ll do anything to help B’ham schools except send my kids there,” appeared in my Facebook feed. It worked. I clicked. I read. I started reading comments, and I was compelled to comment as well. Sher wrote, “If people are serious about helping our inner city children, then they should invite those children into their school systems…Or they should send their children to Birmingham schools and then fight like hell to make them better.”
I wanted to take a moment to say that some of us are doing exactly that. Continue reading I send my daughter to Birmingham Schools—and love it
On March 1st I attended a TEDxBirmingham event at the Alys Stephens Center. Fifteen speakers gave passionate speeches with the common theme to rediscover the magic of Birmingham. Quite frankly, it was an event I will never forget.
One of the speakers, Victoria Hollis, who’s the Program Manager at the Birmingham Education Foundation (ED), urged the audience to take ownership of Birmingham Schools. She gave the analogy of a small child falling down on the playground. She said even though the child wasn’t yours, you would still rush over and pick the child up. At the completion of her talk, the audience gave her an enthusiastic standing ovation.
A friend, who was sitting next to me, tapped me on the shoulder and implored me to go home and write a blog for ComebackTown about Victoria and her talk.
This is that blog. But it’s not the blog my friend thought I would write. Continue reading I’ll do anything to help B’ham schools except send my kids there