By Kaitlin Candelaria During Ron Pence’s 20-year tenure as the Homewood High band director, the band has continued its tradition of excellence. The largest high school band in the state, it has won countless awards, marched for millions across the country and swelled its ranks to unprecedented levels. In the past year alone, band members have traveled to Pasadena, … [Read more...]
School Board Drops Bus Fee Plan
By William C. Singleton IIIHoover parents whose children ride buses to school won’t have to pay for bus service after all.The five-member city school board unanimously voted to rescind its April 2014 decision to cut free bus service and require families to pay for their children to ride buses to school on Aug. 3. Free bus service was scheduled to stop at the beginning … [Read more...]
Finding Home: International Families Find Their Place in OTM Schools and Communities
By Kaitlin Candelaria And Emily WilliamsMohamad Karassi is a typical teenager. A junior at Hoover High School, he enjoys his newly acquired driver’s license and working at his part-time job. But until recently, his life was anything but typical for a suburban teen.Karassi immigrated from Syria in 2013. His parents and sisters moved to the United States first, leaving … [Read more...]
Mountain Brook Board of Education Names Sklar as President
The City of Mountain Brook Board of Education named Brad Sklar president during its meeting on June 16. Sklar has served on the Mountain Brook school board for the past four years. He is a board member and shareholder at Sirote & Permutt law firm.“We are privileged to have Dicky Barlow as a great superintendent in addition to energetic board members,” Sklar said. “We … [Read more...]
Dad Takeover: Dads and Kids Plan Rally to Improve Hoover School Campuses
By Kaitlin CandelariaOn Aug. 1, Hoover schools will be overrun with daddies of all kinds.The Hoover City Dad Brigade, the brainchild of Board of Education President Derrick Murphy, encourages fathers and other male role models to come out with their children to help improve the campuses of Hoover’s city schools.Murphy, himself a father of three, worked with other … [Read more...]