City Council To Address Concerns Over School Diversity Initiative

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL — After a heated Board of Education meeting a week ago in which Mountain Brook residents expressed concerns over the school system's diversity initiative, the Mountain Brook City Council will address the issue at Monday night's meeting.

Mountain Brook Schools announced June 14 its intentions to move forward with some of the recommendations of its newly formed Diversity Committee, but after input from parents, the system has opted to change some of its plans moving forward.

Many Mountain Brook parents expressed concern over the Mountain Brook Board of Education's plans for its diversity initiative, namely the system's association with the Anti-Defamation League.

Related: Mtn. Brook Schools To Disassociate With Anti-Defamation League

"The discord surrounding the resources has become a significant distraction, and we believe that we can more effectively continue our work independently of the ADL," superintendent Dicky Barlow said in a statement Thursday. "MBS has opted to develop its own framework to address our goal of honoring diversity with the involvement of students, parents, teachers, and administrators at the local schools."

Barlow had already said prior to last week's board meeting that the school system would not teach Critical Race Theory in its schools, but that issue remained a concern among parents.

Literature from an unknown source was distributed within the community criticizing the ADL and stating, "Why would our leaders establish a partnership with a contentious organization to train our teachers and attempt to implement a CRT-based program with our children requiring mandatory incident reporting at a national level?"

Monday's City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. Seating capacity at the meeting is expected to be approximately 45. Should attendance exceed seating capacity, persons may not be allowed into the Council room. Anyone turned away at the door may tune into the meeting by way of the Zoom app (re: Meeting ID 801-559-1126, password 06282021). Unvaccinated attendees are asked to mask. N95 masks will be available at the door.