AN IDEA THE MOUNTAIN BROOK BOARD OF EDUCATION MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER
By David Sher
Birmingham is unique in that a significant portion of its most educated and wealthy individuals live in one single adjacent suburb.
One would think that with so many respected top corporate executives, physicians, and professionals, Mountain Brook would take great pride in setting an example not only for our Birmingham region, but for the rest of our country.
Earlier this month the Alabama Political Reporter wrote, “In the early 1940s, before the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal was inherently unequal, many of these executives and power players saw the writing on the wall. In 1942, the city of Mountain Brook was incorporated as an almost entirely white, affluent enclave, safely nestled ‘over the mountain’ and away from the grit, grime and racial integration of the city whose economy supported their paychecks.
To leave the industrial and impoverished city of Birmingham and cross over Red Mountain into Mountain Brook was to enter an ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ world of disparate wealth and privilege. Long, winding, mountain roads protected residents’ million-dollar mansions from the public eye, and from the political strife of Birmingham. There, steel executives and other Birmingham power elites sequestered their families from the upheaval of the civil rights movement that they nevertheless influenced through money and politics behind the scenes.”
Remarkably in the 80 years since the establishment of Mountain Brook, not much has changed.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau .4% of Mountain Brook’s population is Black or African American.
A series of unfortunate Mountain Brook incidents
In May 2020, a video was featured on Snapchat of some Mountain Brook students painting a Nazi swastika on another student’s back.
Then in January, 2022, a Mountain Brook High School history teacher invited his class to recite the Pledge of Allegiance while performing the Nazi salute.
After the Snapchat incident, the Mountain Brook School Board formed a diversity committee to hopefully head off future incidents. The committee then signed an agreement with the Anti-Defamation League to train teachers and staff on how to address diversity.
There was even a discussion of the possibility of allowing children of Mountain Brook school employees who live outside the district boundaries to attend its schools—a concept that has been embraced by every other school district in Jefferson County, including the other over-the-mountain school systems–but not Mountain Brook.
This makes it easier for teachers whose children attend a different school system and opens up a world of opportunity for employees doing essential work at the schools.
Since then the Mountain Brook Board
It’s just a matter of time
The above gives the appearance that Mountain Brook is defaulting to its past.
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It’s just a matter of time before the next embarrassing incident.
The time to be proactive is now when things are quiet—not after another outrageous event.
Mountain Brook’s next step should be to allow children of school employees to attend its schools.
According to Dana Thompson Dorsey, a professor at the University of South Florida, in an article in Birmingham Watch, “There is no way that we should be educating students to live in a world that looks like Mountain Brook when that’s not what the rest of the world looks like.
Research compiled by the Century Foundation shows that all students, regardless of their race or background, perform better in racially and economically diverse schools. They tend to have higher test scores and better social-emotional skills.
This is not about diluting the success of the children and their experiences in Mountain Brook. This is going to make Mountain Brook better.”
I recently heard a thought provoking speech by Dr. Ray Watts, President of UAB.
“UAB’s diversity,” he said, “is among the very highest of any tier one research university in America and we’re proud of that. We want our students to be around others who might seem different, but really aren’t. We are all much alike than different.
“This year,” he said, “we have 1,400 international students. That is not an accident. 80% or so of our students are from Alabama. Many of them have never been out of the country. How can they understand the culture on the other side of the world if they don’t have any interactions with them?
We can’t send them all around the world, but we can bring the world to them. So it gives them that experience so they understand others. Diversity matters.”
If UAB thinks it’s worth the effort to recruit students from around the world, it’s likely worth the effort for Mountain Brook schools to welcome a few students from across town.
Editor’s note: You might be interested in reading Mountain Brook could quell critics–benefit its children, parents, and community.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@amsher.com.