Montgomery Public Schools receives $1.4 million reimbursement
A school system in Alabama has a received $1.4 million reimbursement for money that was wrongly sent to another school system in 2016. Al.com reports that the state Department of Education reimbursed the funds to Montgomery Public Schools after improperly sending money to the Pike Road system. The Alabama Education Association made the announcement. “We are happy that these funds will finally be where they were supposed to go in the first place – Montgomery Public Schools,” AEA Associate Executive Director Theron Stokes said in the press release. Montgomery Public Schools Interim Superintendent Ann Roy Moore said the funds have already been deposited. The misdirected money was mentioned in a lawsuit that the AEA filed last month against Interim Superintendent Ed Richardson to block the sale of Georgia Washington Middle School to the Pike Road system. Richardson is overseeing an intervention of Montgomery Public Schools by the state for financial and academic reasons. He announced plans to sell Georgia Washington Middle School to Pike Road to help shore up finances for the Montgomery system. The plan also included closing Chisholm, Dozier and Floyd elementary schools, selling unused property, eliminating 17 central office positions and other steps. Michael Sibley, spokesman for the Department of Education, said Richardson’s plan to sell Georgia Washington came after the Montgomery County BOE initially voted to sell the school. In the AEA lawsuit, filed on behalf of three Montgomery school employees, the AEA claimed that Richardson had no authority to sell the school and was not acting in the best interests of Montgomery schools, noting that he had worked as a consultant for Pike Road when it separated from the Montgomery system. In response, Richardson said his goal was was to address what he described as “dismal student achievement” in Montgomery’s non-magnet schools. Theron Stokes said Montgomery Public Schools received the $1.4 million through mediation in the lawsuit. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Mental health commissioner Lynn Beshear calls for action in schools
Alabama’s Department of Mental Health Commissioner Lynn Beshear called for mental health prevention and intervention to ensure school safety in an op-ed Saturday. Beshear said the state must focus on identifying behaviors that trigger school violence and proactively treating mental health. The state’s school-based mental health services put clinicians into schools to counsel students. Only 36 school systems in Alabama have the services and Beshear advocated for expanding it to the other 106. One in five U.S. children experience a mental, emotional or behavioral disorder, the American Institutes for Research reported. Mentally ill children often drop out of school and end up in the juvenile justice system, according to the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice. Gov. Kay Ivey’s newly created school security council will review mental health. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
‘Lets debate’ gubernatorial candidates join forces to call out Kay Ivey
Several gubernatorial candidates have joined in on Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle‘s invitation to debate Gov. Kay Ivey. Battle sent his request via e-mail to Ivey’s team on Tuesday, and although they acknowledged they received the invitation, as of Friday Ivey’s team had yet to deliver a response. Other candidates have joined Battle’s call on Ivey, “I’m ready to debate anytime, anywhere,” Semmes- Republican Sen. Bill Hightower told AL.com. “I’ve got some great ideas I want to tell Alabama about. So everybody’s talking about it but I’m ready to do it…I will do it on my own if nobody else does it. I think I’ve got the best ideas…I’ve been in Montgomery for only a few years but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see we haven’t had leadership.” “Everyone says they want a debate,” evangelist Scott Dawson said in the same report. “So if you say you’re going to debate, then the next step is actually debating.” “We do not have an elected governor at this stage. We have a selected governor because our previous governor was removed. So I think all of Alabama deserves to hear all four candidates on the platform to share their ideas and their vision instead of being dictated by other people.” Battle, Hightower and Dawson all agreed that debates would be good for the state. However, no actual debates have been formed. Ivey’s campaign told The Associated Press last month that she would be “happy to discuss her record” in a debate setting. Battle has committed to attend the following events, and hopes that Ivey will also attend: April 12 – 7 a.m.: A debate hosted by the Birmingham Business Journal April 12 – 7 p.m.: A debate hosted by NBC 13 in Birmingham April 14 – 8 a.m.: A candidate forum hosted by the Mid Alabama Republican Club in Birmingham May 9 – 2 p.m.: A candidate forum hosted by the Association of Builders and Contractors in Huntsville May 10 – 11:30 a.m.: A candidate forum hosted by the Moody Area Chamber of Commerce
