mayor woodfin press conference — Mayor Woodfin celebrates the Birmingham City School system’s progress, but there is still room for improvement. (Bham Now)

Last Thursday, the Department of Education released the scores for the Alabama state report card—an annual evaluation of the district’s academic achievement, attendance and graduation rate, among other metrics. In a recent City of Birmingham press conference, Mayor Woodfin addressed the district’s performance and proposed some potential ways to improve.

Birmingham City School system receives a “C”

Of the 16 City of Birmingham schools whose scores have improved since last year, 9 have increased by a whole letter grade. Some of the schools with the biggest improvements were Huffman High School, Carver High School and Central Park Elementary School—which went from an F to a C in only one school year. Schools that received an A include EPIC Alternative School, Phillips Academy, W.J. Christian, and Ramsay High School.

Here’s a breakdown of the Birmingham City School system’s scores, which averaged to a 72 overall:

Academic growth—89.04
Graduation rate—82.98
College and career readiness—59.46
Academic achievement—38.30
Progress in English language proficiency—35.70
Chronic absenteeism—23.35

As the evaluation reports, the district has made big progress in metrics like graduation rate and academic growth but still has room to improve in literacy and attendance.

“There is no time to blame teachers. There’s no time to blame students or parents or any adults. We’re all accountable. If you’re an adult, in this committee, we are all responsible for educating our children. And we should not accept D’s and F’s and we should not be comfortable with C’s. Because these are our children. As far as I’m concerned, if a current school is at a D or F level, we should move with a sense of urgency.”
Mayor Randall Woodfin, City of Birmingham Press Conference

Woodfin went on to say that any teachers who are not dedicated to the improvement of schools should just quit.

“If you are a teacher in the Birmingham City Schools, and you are lazy, and you’re doing the bare minimum, and you don’t care anymore about the children that come to your class, please resign. Please retire. Please leave. We don’t want you. That’s pretty direct. Some people may get mad at me for saying that, but it needs to be said.”
Mayor Randall Woodfin, City of Birmingham Press Conference

Mayor Woodfin proposes solutions to chronic absenteeism

While Mayor Woodfin applauded the progress made in the last year, he hopes to raise the standard for issues like chronic absenteeism (18 or more days absent from school, excused or unexcused.)

“We should be trying to move the needle. Because months ago, I told y’all there was already an absentee problem. The state grades are not just predicated on testing—absentees are factored into it. We have schools that have between 20-30% chronic absentees. I’m not just talking about high schools; I have elementary schools where adults are too comfortable with 6, 7 and 8-year-olds, missing school unexcused. If there’s just one thing that we as adults in this community can get right, it’s just the ability for kids to go to school.”
Mayor Randall Woodfin, City of Birmingham Press Conference

Additionally, Mayor Woodfin proposed an incentive to tackle the attendance issue: a raffle system in which households have the chance to receive a month of paid rent. To be entered, your child must have perfect attendance for the month.

According to WVTM 13, BCS schools like Huffman are also combatting absenteeism by providing incentives like free tickets to games, gift cards and movie tickets. More importantly, the school has begun to offer more exciting courses designed so that students will be excited to come to school.