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Michelle Q. Guffey News staff writer October 12, 2001 The Mountain Brook school system has joined the constitutional reform bandwagon. The city's Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution this week encouraging a rewrite of the 1901 state constitution. The aging constitution restricts adequate funding for public education, said Mountain Brook school Superintendent Charles Mason. The Mountain Brook City Council approved a similar resolution in August. That resolution endorsed the rewriting of the constitution to provide for adequate property taxes to finance education and health reform and to provide for home rule for all cities and counties without depriving local governments of local revenue sources. Many metro-area cities have passed similar resolutions, as has the Jefferson County Mayors Association. The school board also heard a report from Jackie Simons, its director of instruction, about last year's student test scores. Mountain Brook students scored better than the state average on every test they took and often better than other over-the-mountain schools, according to Ms. Simons' report. The state-mandated tests included the Stanford Achievement Test, the Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing and the Alabama High School Graduation Exam. The optional tests included the Scholastic Assessment Test, the American College Testing exam, the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test and Advanced Placement exams. The SAT and ACT are used for college applications, and the PSAT prepares younger students for the SAT test. Students take AP exams to get college credit for courses they have taken during high school. In other business, the board congratulated Mountain Brook High School career technology teacher Margaret Clark on obtaining a $4,000 grant from the Birmingham-Jefferson Tech-Prep Consortium. Ms. Clark will use the grant to implement True Colors, a computer program that helps students pick careers based on their personality traits. The board also recognized 13 students who were commended by the National Merit Scholarship Program. These students do not continue in the national competition. Mountain Brook has 22 students who are semifinalists in the competition. The commended students were Charlie Adams, Catherine Cooper, Thomas Cooper, Ashley Foster, Ethan Gore, John Harris, Andrew Mirelman, Emily Murdock, Anne Garland Neel, Beth Smith, Keith Robe, Bryce Roberts and Jessica Steinkampf. Return to: Editorials Index |
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| Alabama Citizens for
Constitutional Reform Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 34 Montgomery, Alabama 36101-0034 E-mail: accr@constitutionalreform.org |
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