Mountain Brook is a suburb southeast of Birmingham with a population of 20,821 according to the Census Bureau 2005 estimate.  The number of households is almost 8,000.  Of these households about 37% have children under the age of 18.  The per capita income as of the 2000 Census was $59,085 with a median household income of $100,483.  Mountain Brook is the best educated city in Alabama with 77% of the adults possessing a baccalaureate degree or higher.

The City provides its residents with excellent police and fire departments.  It is governed by a Mayor and City Council who serve without compensation.  The day-to-day operation of the city services is delegated to a professional City Manager employed by the City Council.  Several villages (e.g. Crestline Village, English Village, and Mountain Brook Village) which feature shops and restaurants lend a small town atmosphere to the community.

Interested, committed parents provide the leadership in sponsoring youth recreational opportunities.  So that children can participate in various activities prior to the age when school sponsored activities begin, organizations such as Mountain Brook Athletics and Mountain Brook Soccer provide a host of sports activities for several hundred young people.  The City, the Board of Education and these parent groups have worked closely together for many years to provide the athletic fields and the necessary maintenance for the fields.

Even though the community has many of the advantages of a small town (neighborhood schools, convenient shopping, etc.), it is located only a few miles from the renown medical facilities of the University of Alabama Birmingham.  UAB not only provides excellent medical resources (along with a number of other outstanding hospitals in the vicinity) but also provides outstanding educational resources as a major metropolitan university.  An excellent private college, Samford University, is also located very close to Mountain Brook.

Due to its proximity to downtown Birmingham, the citizens of Mountain Brook are able to enjoy numerous cultural opportunities.  Mountain Brook residents hold many leadership positions in organizations such as the Museum of Art, the Alabama Symphony, the Alys Stephens Center, the McWane Science Center, the Botanical Gardens and numerous other civic endeavors that enable residents in the metropolitan area to enjoy amenities provided normally in much larger cities.

Mountain Brook Schools, founded in 1959, includes six schools—four elementary, one junior high, and one high school. The enrollment currently is 4,334 with school enrollment as follows:

             The school system has 587 employees with 424 being certified teachers or other professionals.  The other 163 employees are support staff in such positions as secretarial-clerical, bookkeeping, maintenance, custodial, and lunchroom workers, along with teacher aides.   

             The six schools have 15 administrators (6 principals and 9 assistant principals).  In addition an administrative staff of 10 supports the school system from the central office level.  These positions include: Superintendent of Schools, Director of Instruction, Assistant Director of Instruction, Personnel Director/Director of Community Education, Chief School Financial Officer, Facilities Director, Director of Technology, Special Education Director, Director of Child Nutrition, and Student Services Director.

            A very small number of graduates enter the work force or the military upon graduation.  Since the vast majority of students will attend college, our school system does its best to provide a high quality of preparation for the collegiate experience. 

The only “feeder schools” with whom the school system has an ongoing relationship are the pre-school programs operated in the area primarily by various churches.  We correspond with about 20 pre-school programs so that reliable kindergarten numbers can be compiled prior to the entrance of the community’s 5-year olds into the system.

We also collaborate with the private pre-school programs in our area by providing educational services for three-to-five year olds who need special services.  These students, who are referred by the pre-schools or by their parents, need assistance in the areas of cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, social/emotional, or communication skills.  In most years 24 children in the community benefit from this program.  Our staff members also provide in-service training and consultation with the pre-school programs in our area who wish to avail themselves of this service.  Two pre-school programs are available – one at Brookwood Forest Elementary and one at Mountain Brook Elementary. Each of these pre-schools is staffed by a certified special education teacher and a speech pathologist along with three aides.  The usual enrollment is 50% “typical” children and 50% who have disabilities.

The school system is governed by a five member Board of Education whose members are appointed by the City Council of Mountain Brook for staggered five-year terms.  This group formulates the policies that govern the system. The day-to-day operation of the school system is entrusted to the Superintendent of Schools who is appointed by the Board of Education. The school system also must comply with regulations of the State Board of Education, a body of eight elected officials, which oversees state educational policies.  Since the school system receives about 2% of its annual revenues from the federal government, there are certain program and paperwork requirements that must be met in accordance with federal guidelines.  However, since the system does not qualify for funds for some federal programs and chooses not to participate in others, any federal requirements imposed upon the system have been minimal to this point in time.

The school system enjoys a high level of community support.  An extremely high percentage of the parents choose to join their local PTA organization.  Schools never lack for parent volunteers and parents are called upon not only for financial support but also in assisting with a variety of support activities. 

            The Mountain Brook school district is one of ten in Jefferson County.  Two systems are large (Jefferson County and Birmingham City) with the remaining seven ranging in size from about 1,000 to 12,000 students.  The school system must constantly seek to improve upon its historical record of accomplishment due to the competition from strong public and private schools in the area.  Neighboring public systems such as Vestavia Hills, Homewood, and Hoover consistently are ranked among the top systems in the state.  In addition excellent private schools such as Altamont, Briarwood Christian, Highlands, Indian Springs, and John Carroll Catholic are attractive alternatives for parents to consider.  Of course, the tuition requirements of private schools make many parents thankful that the public systems in our area are strong.

            The Board of Education is appointed by an elected City Council but it is granted total autonomy in operating the school system.    Since 1959 the Board of Education has employed only three superintendents which has given the system a large measure of stability.  Since 1992 the Board has had in place a strategic plan which is updated annually.  The strategic plan outlines 14 key goals for the system.  These are as follows:

1. Develop and implement an effective, challenging, and engaging curriculum which promotes the highest level of academic excellence and personal growth for each student.
2. Ensure that each individual is prepared to become an independent, lifelong learner.
3. Effectively integrate the use of technology into all instructional and support programs.
4. Assist our students in gaining admission into the college of their choice.
5. Promote an environment free of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
6. Provide a climate that recognizes diversity and encourages respect for all persons.
7. Recruit, hire, and retain the most effective personnel.
8. Design, implement, and support an exemplary professional development program for all staff.
9. Design, implement, and support an exemplary performance evaluation program for all staff.
10. Empower all staff as leaders, enhancing site-based and shared decision-making.
11. Communicate effectively and efficiently with parents, students, community, and school personnel.
12. Effectively interface with governments at all levels.
13. Secure financial resources necessary to achieve our goals and use the best management information practices to ensure fiscal responsibility.
14. Build, operate, and maintain facilities which will accommodate all programs and curricula of the school system.

            As the population in the southern part of the city continued to grow, the decision was made to build a third elementary school, Brookwood Forest, which was completed in 1965.  At the same time construction of a high school to serve the community was begun and the doors were opened to its first students in 1966 with the first class of seniors graduating in 1968.  Finally the sixth school in the system, Cherokee Bend Elementary, was completed in 1969.

            The citizens of Mountain Brook have chosen from the inception of the school system in 1959 to tax themselves at the highest rate in the state of Alabama to fund the school system and to support other city services.  At present a local property owner pays 99 mills of assessed value with 52.9 mills going to the support of the local schools.  The overall percentage of funds allocated to operate the Mountain Brook system has been about 55% local funds and 42% state funds.  In Alabama, however, the average school system receives about 70% of its revenues from state funds and only 19% from local funds with the remaining 11% coming from federal funding.  The per pupil expenditure for the school system for the 2006-07 school year was $7,922.  Even though the local tax rate is high by Alabama standards, figures from the National Center for Education Statistics indicate that the national average per pupil expenditure for 2002-03 was $8,044 (latest available figure).  We believe that Mountain Brook is providing a much higher than average performance for average expenditures nationally.

            A major effort in recent years to enhance an already strong system has been the infusion of technology into all of the schools and in all of the system’s day-to-day operations.  All classrooms, media centers, offices and computer labs, which house almost 2200 computers, are connected to a Local Area Network.  All six schools as well as the central office are connected with fiber optic lines to form the Wide Area Network.  All computers are connected to the Internet and all have both internal and external e-mail capabilities.  In addition, each classroom is equipped with a telephone and has DVD/VCR players.  A district technology director oversees the efforts of six local school technology specialists and four district technical support specialists.  In the past few months all elementary classrooms have also been equipped with a mounted data projector, a document camera, a sound enhancement system, and an Inter Write School Pad.  At the secondary level almost all classrooms are equipped with this same equipment with the exception of the sound enhancement systems which are currently installed in about 25% of the classrooms.  Much more information in regard to the area of technology in the district can be accessed from the district’s home page at www.mtnbrook.k12.al.us and clicking on the link labeled “Technologies”.

            The Mountain Brook system has consistently led the state on academic performance measures.  For example, on the 2007 Stanford Achievement Test administered to all public school students from grades 3 through 8, Mountain Brook students led the state at every grade level and in every subject area tested.  The system, would, of course, be expected to score well with the advantages of talented students, hard-working teachers and supportive parents. A recent analysis of statewide scores on the Stanford indicated that Mountain Brook students’ actual scores exceeded their predicted scores at a rate higher than that of any other system in the state.  Several charts and graphs indicating the most recent achievement levels of our students can be found on the school system home page at www.mtnbrook.k12.al.us and under Announcements clicking on the link labeled “2007 Standardized Testing Report”.

            One of the primary reasons for the school system’s success can be attributed to the emphasis our system places on high quality professional development.  Professional development has become an integral part of our school system and local schools.  The system and local schools devote an enormous amount of time and resources to ensuring that all staff members have access to meaningful professional development. One of the highest honors the district has achieved occurred in 2000 when the U.S. Department of Education recognized the Mountain Brook Schools Professional Development program as a national model.  At that time only 12 school districts in the nation had been given this award.  The abstract written to qualify for this award can be accessed on the system web site under the “Community Relations” link and then by clicking on the “Achievements” link.

MBHS 
Class of 2003

National 
Sample 

Very Well

55%

18%

More Than Adequately

27%

23%

43%

10%

3%

3%

Another benchmarking study compared the achievements of students in our high school with high schools across the country which had been identified as “top public high schools in the nation” by such publications as Money, Parade,  Redbook, and Newsweek magazines.  Statistics were gathered in regard to SAT and ACT scores, Advanced Placement scores, and percentages of graduates attending four-year colleges and universities.  We believe the chart displayed on the pages following this profile will demonstrate that Mountain Brook students compare very favorably when measured against students from the top public schools across the country.

            Additional evidence of success has been the large number of National Merit Scholarship Finalists who have attended Mountain Brook High School.  Since the school’s founding in 1966, 502 of its students have been recognized in this national scholarship competition.  Three Rhodes Scholars have also graduated from the high school.  The high school was also recognized in 1983 and in 1992 by the United States Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School.   In 1998 Brookwood Forest Elementary received the Blue Ribbon designation followed by Mountain Brook Junior High in 2000 and by Crestline Elementary in 2001.

     In addition to the strong academic program, the school system has a well-rounded co-curricular program in such areas as drama, debate, music, and athletics.  For example, the debate team through the years has received a number of national awards and the athletic program at the high school has had 119 state championship winning teams in its history, more than any other public school in the state. 

        Several other school system accomplishments may be accessed from the system’s website at www.mtnbrook.k12.al.us and clicking on the homepage link labeled “Community  Relations” and then clicking on the link labeled “Achievements”.

Comparison of Outstanding Public High Schools 2007