Birmingham City Schools Enrollment Shows Slight Increase For First Time In Decades
Something happened in Birmingham schools this year, that hasn’t happened in more than three decades – the system didn’t have a drop in enrollment.
Birmingham City Schools showed a slight increase in enrollment with a total of 24,290 students. That’s three more than the year before — a shift for a school system where steady enrollment declines in previous years had forced cuts in staff and services.
Newly elected Birmingham School Board President Wardine Alexander says this milestone can benefit the district.
“By increasing the number of students that increases the funding we get from the state. It also gives us an opportunity to provide more programs,” she says.
Kindergarten and primary grades account for the strongest enrollment in the system with more than 2,000 students in each grade from pre-K to Third, according to data from the State Department of Education.
Alexander says the school system has increased the number of pre-K programs and hopes strong enrollment there and in primary grades will fuel future growth.
Pakistan-Afghanistan border closures paralyze trade along a key route
Trucks have been stuck at the closed border since October. Both countries are facing economic losses with no end in sight. The Taliban also banned all Pakistani pharmaceutical imports to Afghanistan.
Malinowski concedes to Mejia in Democratic House special primary in New Jersey
With the race still too close to call, former congressman Tom Malinowski conceded to challenger Analilia Mejia in a Democratic primary to replace the seat vacated by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
A daughter reexamines her own family story in ‘The Mixed Marriage Project’
Dorothy Roberts' parents, a white anthropologist and a Black woman from Jamaica, spent years interviewing interracial couples in Chicago. Her memoir draws from their records.
FBI release photos and video of potential suspect in Guthrie disappearance
An armed, masked subject was caught on Nancy Guthrie's front doorbell camera one the morning she disappeared.
Reporter’s notebook: A Dutch speedskater and a U.S. influencer walk into a bar …
NPR's Rachel Treisman took a pause from watching figure skaters break records to see speed skaters break records. Plus, the surreal experience of watching backflip artist Ilia Malinin.
In Beirut, Lebanon’s cats of war find peace on university campus
The American University of Beirut has long been a haven for cats abandoned in times if war or crisis, but in recent years the feline population has grown dramatically.
