Hoover School Board Approves Rezoning Plan

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2016/03/20160307_175523-scaled.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:6:{s:5:"width";i:2560;s:6:"height";i:1440;s:4:"file";s:34:"2016/03/20160307_175523-scaled.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:14:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-336x189.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:189;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-771x434.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:434;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-768x432.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:432;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"1536x1536";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"20160307_175523-1536x864.jpg";s:5:"width";i:1536;s:6:"height";i:864;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"2048x2048";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:29:"20160307_175523-2048x1152.jpg";s:5:"width";i:2048;s:6:"height";i:1152;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:25:"20160307_175523-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-553x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:553;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-470x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:470;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:27:"20160307_175523-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}s:14:"original_image";s:19:"20160307_175523.jpg";}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Sherrel Wheeler Stewart
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => WBHM 90.3
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:2002616;s:14:"optimized_size";i:290195;s:7:"percent";d:85.510000000000005;}s:5:"sizes";a:9:{s:4:"full";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:55:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:1805875;s:14:"optimized_size";i:164295;s:7:"percent";d:90.900000000000006;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:63:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523-140x140.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:6426;s:14:"optimized_size";i:4826;s:7:"percent";d:24.899999999999999;}s:6:"medium";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:63:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523-336x189.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:15030;s:14:"optimized_size";i:11105;s:7:"percent";d:26.109999999999999;}s:5:"large";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:63:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523-771x434.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:55071;s:14:"optimized_size";i:32173;s:7:"percent";d:41.579999999999998;}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:63:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523-600x338.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:37084;s:14:"optimized_size";i:23569;s:7:"percent";d:36.439999999999998;}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:63:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523-300x300.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:19911;s:14:"optimized_size";i:12984;s:7:"percent";d:34.789999999999999;}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:63:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523-553x311.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:32527;s:14:"optimized_size";i:20841;s:7:"percent";d:35.93;}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:63:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523-470x265.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:25284;s:14:"optimized_size";i:16358;s:7:"percent";d:35.299999999999997;}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:63:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/03/20160307_175523-125x125.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:5408;s:14:"optimized_size";i:4044;s:7:"percent";d:25.219999999999999;}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

)
1637572897 
1457513169

The Hoover City Schools has been trying for more than two years to come up with a rezoning plan that addresses growth and changing demographics while also passing muster with federal authorities. The school board approved the plan Monday night and hopes it makes the grade.

Approval by the Hoover school board sends this proposal for rezoning on to the next level – the federal courts. School officials say the plan already has received nods from the Department of Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Hoover schools have to clear these hurdles because they’re still under a desegregation court order.

During the Monday school board meeting, Hoover Superintendent Dr. Kathy Murphy explained: “I realize that this plan does not meet the satisfaction of all in our community, and I do regret that there is no perfect plan.”

About a dozen speakers took to the mic to oppose the plan, including Highland Crest neighborhood parent Trent Cowsert.

“I am concerned that the Simmons Middle School and those feeder elementary schools in the central part of town are being disparately impacted by the number of poverty students that are going into those schools,” Cowsert says.

He says he fears test scores will be negatively impacted by the large number of students in poverty assigned to his kids’ schools — Simmons Middle and Gwin Elementary.

Cowsert says most minority students are being pushed toward central Hoover while white students remain primarily in the wealthier east and west.

“It’s almost like segregation instead of desegregation,” says Cowsert. “It does not seem to flow with the spirit of the original desegregation case.”

Murphy, however, says all of those issues were taken into consideration.

“We studied demographics of this school district. We looked at free and reduced lunch students. We looked at special needs students,” Murphy says. “So this has been no simple task with lots of moving parts and pieces.”

The plan now goes to a federal judge for approval, School officials want to the rezoning in place for the start of the next school year.

 

 

United Nations nuclear agency again condemns Iran for failing to fully cooperate

The resolution comes after the agency said Iran has defied demands to rein in its nuclear program and has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Alabama carries out nation’s 3rd nitrogen gas execution

An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's third execution using nitrogen gas.

Trump names former Florida AG Pam Bondi as his new pick for U.S. attorney general

After former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration, President-elect Donald Trump named Pam Bondi, a former attorney general of Florida, as his next pick for U.S. attorney general.

Police report gives details, timeline of the sexual assault claim against Pete Hegseth

The woman who accused then-Fox News host of sexual assault in 2017 said that she "remembered saying 'no' a lot," according to a police report. Hegseth is President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of Defense.

Alabama Black Belt’s sewer crisis a tougher fix for residents in manufactured homes

Poor sanitation has long plagued residents in Alabama’s Black Belt. For people with manufactured houses, finding a solution has been more challenging.

In Birmingham, Black men’s groups work to save young men from the cycle of gun violence

As the city inches closer to its homicide record, community members are trying to address a sense of fatalism and lack of opportunity felt by some young men.

More Education Coverage