Montgomery Public Schools to require masks for fall classes
The district is providing an option for each student to receive online or in-person classes.
Steve Flowers: Hot political summer in the city of Montgomery
It has been a long hot summer in Montgomery, and I do not mean at the Capitol or Statehouse, but in the City of Montgomery itself. There is a heated and pivotal mayor’s race. It has been considered a foregone conclusion that Montgomery will elect their first African American mayor this year. It is probably about eight years later than expected. Montgomery has been a majority minority city for a decade. It is well over 60 percent today. A good many Montgomery citizens have moved to suburban enclaves, like Prattville, Wetumpka, Millbrook, and now Pike Road. Most of the young families with school age children have fled for a school system. However, there are still a significant number of older people living in the Capitol City. It is a tried and true fact that older folks vote. These older Montgomerians probably will not vote for a black person for anything, much less for the mayor of their beloved city. Essentially, a very weak school system is the main ingredient for the death of a city. It is the driving force for real estate values. Montgomery home values have dropped in the last decade as much as any city its size in America. The racial division in Montgomery is also more pronounced than other cities in Alabama because of the decades long feud between former mayor, Emory Folmar, and longtime African American and AEA/ADC and former City Councilman, Joe Reed. This daily racial media battle raged for years with both men feeding their popularity in their communities by the barrage of racist rhetoric. The demise of the school system has been enhanced by the abysmally low local property tax. They do not have the funds to have a decent school system if they even wanted one. Therefore, Montgomery is slowly dying. The mayoral candidates will all talk about the education and crime problems in the city, however, the problems are probably too pronounced to resolve. All of the candidates are well-qualified. They are all male. This is surprising since the largest group of voters in the city are black females. Artur Davis, the former congressman, is making his second run for mayor. He ran against current mayor, Todd Strange, four years ago. Veteran Montgomery County Commissioner, Elton Dean, is offering to move from Chairman of County Commission to Mayor. However, his campaign seems lackadaisical and he may be ambivalent about making an almost lateral move. J.C. Love is a young Montgomery attorney who is running a sophisticated modern-day social media campaign. He is attracting millennials. Unfortunately, young people do not vote. Retired General, Ed Crowell, is a distinguished erudite gentleman that the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce crowd would like to see lead Montgomery. They believe, and rightfully so, that Crowell would project a good image for Montgomery. The aforementioned Joe Reed’s son, Steven Reed, is the current Probate Judge of Montgomery County. He is quieter and more deliberative than his father. Most political observers point to young Steven Reed as the front runner in the race. Montgomery Businessman and television station owner, David Woods, is a white candidate who is giving the race his full commitment. He is spending a good amount of his personal money and as I said earlier, the older folks vote. This probably assures him a place in the runoff. My guess is that when the votes are counted on August 27, David Woods and Steven Reed will be pitted against each other in an October 8 runoff. Ironically, on the day of the August 27 Montgomery mayoral primary, there will be a runoff vote for the State Legislative seat in Montgomery held by the late Dimitri Polizos. House seat 74 in the City of Montgomery has been vacant since the death of the popular restaurateur, Polizos. Former school board member, Charlotte Meadows, and Montgomery attorney, Michael Fritz, are headed for a runoff on that same day. Charlotte Meadows led the six-person field in the first primary garnering 44 percent of the vote to Fritz’s 24 percent. She is expected to waltz to victory. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Montgomery Public Schools accreditation status changed to ‘under review’
It’s been a tumultuous year for the Montgomery County Board of Education. On Wednesday, they received a report from AdvancEd, a non-partisan organization that accredits the school system, that found the school system “needing improvement” after conducting a special review in late March. The report, conducted by a six-member team of educators, thus resulted in the change the status of Montgomery Public Schools (MPS) from from “accredited” to “accredited under review.” AdvancEd rated MPS in 31 areas within three categories: leadership capacity, learning capacity and resource capacity. The results were reported in four ratings: Needs Improvement: Identifies key areas that need more focused improvement efforts Emerging: Represents areas to enhance and extend current improvement efforts Meets Expectations: Pinpoints quality practices that meet the Standards Exceeds Expectations: Demonstrates noteworthy practices producing clear results that exceed expectations MPS received the lowest possible ranking, ‘needs improvement,’ in an overwhelming 19 areas, ’emerging’ in 11 area and ‘meets expectations’ in only one area. For now MPS has not lost its accreditation. The team presented MPS with six improvement standards that they will return in December to access and track the progress made by MPS. What state officials are saying New State School Board Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey said it’s one of the worst reports ever released by AdvancEd. “It is one of the worst reports that AdvancED has ever done, and they cover multiple states throughout the southeast and beyond,” he said. “And so it’s not a good reflection on where we are in our community.” Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange encouraged Montgomery residents to vote Tuesday for a more unified school board. “The vote you make Tuesday, in the local board of education, is our future,” commented Strange. View the full report below:
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.
Alabama Education Association files lawsuit to block sale of Georgia Washington Middle School
The Alabama Education Association (AEA) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of three Montgomery Public Schools (MPS) employees aimed at halting the sale of Georgia Washington Middle School to the neighboring Pike Road school system. AEA filed the lawsuit on Friday — against interim State Superintendent Dr. Ed Richardson, Pike Road Mayor Gordon Stone and Chief Administrative Officer Reginald Eggleston — claims does not have the legal authority to sell the school and questions whether or not the sale is a conflict of interest for Richardson who was previously involved with Pike Road Schools as executive director of the Pike Road Leadership Council. The lawsuit requests a temporary halt of the sale until the legality of Richardson’s involvement in the sale is resolved. Richardson issued a statement in response to the suit explaining his only concern is the children of Montgomery County. “My concern is now, and has always been, the children of Montgomery County. My resolve is to make sure the students who attend Montgomery Public schools get a quality education. The student achievement in Montgomery’s non-magnet schools are some of the lowest in the state,” said Richardson. He continued, “In more than 50 years of education experience, and having been involved in numerous school interventions all across this state, I have never witnessed this kind of dismal student achievement. It is wrong, deceptive, and dishonest to sit by and continue to watch young people, who are full of potential, graduate from high school with reading and math scores that are unacceptable and don’t even approach Alabama’s average – much less other states. My primary concern is the proper education of children – not inconveniencing adults.” Richardson announced the sale of the school earlier this month during a press conference when an intervention plan of the Montgomery Public School System was released. He said if the school isn’t sold, layoffs will have to be made. “If Georgia Washington is NOT sold, we anticipate approximately 200 MPS teachers and 75 support staff will have to be laid off in order for MPS to meet its financial obligation,” Richardson added. A hearing for the lawsuit will take place Monday, Feb. 26 at 9 a.m. The plaintiffs are Edwards Simms, a Robert E. Lee High School teacher with a child at Georgia Washington, Chisholm Elementary Child Nutrition Program manager Edwina Relf and Tislam Ellis, a Sidney Lanier High School teacher.
Ed Richardson says major changes are ahead for Montgomery Public Schools
Interim State Superintendent Dr. Ed Richardson says major changes are ahead for Montgomery Public Schools (MPS), else the district might lose its accreditation. It’s a ominous thought, but an assessment he’s made before. Consider the state’s takeover of Birmingham City Schools in 2012 of which Richardson was appointed to oversee. According to Richardson, the Birmingham City Schools and Montgomery Public Schools share similar issues: financial chaos, low test scores, student retention rates, and what Richardson considers improper influence of the board members have all attributed to the system’s possible surrender. Richardson’s current plan of action is similar to the plan he executed to turn the Birmingham City Schools around. Richardson says his plan would keep teachers in their classrooms, and he would advise the sell of vacant properties and possibly consolidation of the system to strengthen financial resources. Birmingham’s board took Richardson’s advice in 2013 and voted to close schools while the district’s accreditation was on the fence. AdvancED, closely monitored the Birmingham City School takeover and will be visiting Montgomery Public Schools later this month per Richardson’s request. “[AdvancED’s] not coming to say you’re in trouble right now,” Richardson said of the visit to Montgomery Public Schools. “He’s coming to identify what the formal review of Montgomery will consist of, which will be the next school year.” Montgomery Public Schools Board of Education submitted their budget to Richardson for approval at the end of December 2017. “I gave them the opportunity, but I’m submitting my own (budget),” said Richardson. Not on the agenda in Richardson’s mind are teacher cuts. “Theirs included cutting (114) teachers and a number of paraprofessionals, which is certainly not compatible with improving instruction. There will be major changes, but I assure you it is my intention that teachers in the classroom will not be affected.” Richardson will be presenting his plan of action to the Montgomery Public Schools Board of Education on January 26.
