Mountain Brook City Council hears views on schools' diversity efforts
A large crowd of Mountain Brook residents turned out for the regular meeting of the Mountain Brook City Council on Monday, June 28, in order to express their views regarding recent diversity efforts by Mountain Brook Schools.
Numerous city residents, including parents of students attending the schools, have raised concerns in recent weeks about the activities of a Diversity Committee formed by MBS in 2020 following an anti-Semitic incident involving some students.
The City Council and Whit Colvin, the city attorney, stressed to attendees Monday night that the city has no control or authority over the schools.
However, council members said they had placed the item on the agenda to give citizens a chance to express their views and to answer some questions that had been raised recently — including by several attendees at the June 14 council meeting — about the city’s relationship to the schools.
The city appoints Board if Education members and they can approve taxes to help fund the schools, Colvin said.
“Other than that, school boards are on their own, and cities are on their own,” he said.
In addition, the city cannot “dictate what the school board does” and does not have the power to remove members from the board, Colvin said.
In 2020, MBS turned to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to help provide the diversity training for teachers and staff within the “No Place for Hate” framework.
MBS also said that it had provided anti-bias training for all faculty and staff. Provided by the ADL, the training was conducted virtually in small groups and focused on defining bias and establishing a culture of respect and safety in schools
Some parents at the June 14 council meeting complained that the ADL training was very politicized and reflected what they called an extreme left-wing viewpoint.
The council meeting Monday night drew numerous critics and supporters of the MBS diversity efforts, and the ADL was still a frequent target of people critical of the program.
Krissy Allen, who said she has five children in the schools, was highly critical of the diversity training program.
Until recently, she worked as an English and American studies teacher at Mountain Brook High and volunteered to take part in one of the first MBS diversity training sessions.
“Diversity is something I really value, appreciate,” she said.
However, she said she disagreed with the ADL approach, which she said encouraged teachers and students to constantly be on the alert for any remark that could be interpreted as biased or hurtful.
She said the ADL training urged that “teachers and student should be on the lookout for perceived ‘micro-aggressions’ as the ADL defines them.”
The ADL approach would not create “a place of mutual respect and understanding” for students, Allen said.
It could also have a negative effect on the educational climate of the schools, she said.
“It does not help discussion and freedom of thought in the classroom to tell students that they have to be walking on eggshells and scrupulously analyzing everything they say,” Allen said.
John Smith T, who said he had two children who attended Mountain Brook Schools, was also highly critical of the diversity efforts.
The school board has taken actions that are “frankly divisive” and could undercut the strong, long-standing community support for the schools.
He said he and his wife have been grateful for the high-quality education their children received and said he thought the Mountain Brook Schools are the best in the state.
This is true because ”school leaders have always focused on rigorous academic learning,” Smith T said.
The focus of the schools should not be trying to foster diversity, cultural sensitivity or social justice, he said.
One of 625 parents who signed a letter sent to MBS Superintendent Dickie Barlow, Smith T said that parents need more information about the Diversity Committees in the schools and how they will function.
Another resident who was critical of the diversity efforts said that “If you want your community to thrive, you don't put up with concepts like micro-aggression.”
“We don’t let kids be kids,” he said. “We try to micromanage everything the kids do.”
Because of this, some young people don’t know how to handle disputes, he said.
Another critic of the program was Scott Russell, who said that he had lived in Mountain Brook for 40 years.
“It is apparent the city or the citizens do not have control of the Board of Education,” he said.
However, the members of this council select the members of the board. “We need to make to make sure as a city who is on this city council and what they stand for,” Russell said.
Stephanie Davis said that many critics of the program were not troubled by diversity but by some aspects of the ADL approach.
She said parents were not “given a voice” in the process by the schools.
However, several residents spoke in favor of the MBS diversity push.
Frank McPhillips, who has lived in Mountain Brook for is one of the board members of local diversity group MB Listens, said he believes the diversity training in schools is needed.
He said that about 1,000 of his group’s 1,200 members — and all of is board members — live in Mountain Brook.
“We applaud the diversity efforts of the Mountain Brook Schools,” he said
“There is a silent majority in Mountain Brook that believes a strong, self-confident community is one that listen to all voices. one that does not shrink from challenges, one that does do shrink from diversity but embraces it,” McPhillips said.
He also defended the ADL, which he said “has a long history of fighting anti-Semitism and are experts on hate.”
Another supporter of the diversity training was Elizabeth Goldstein Shannon, who said she grew up in Mountain Brook and left for about 30 years before returning in 2013.
She said that as a Jewish child in Mountain Brook she was “submitted to a lot of anti-Semitism.”
That type of prejudice is also still happening” in the city, Shannon said.
“People who are Jewish in this community face prejudice all the time,” she said.
“We need diversity and equity and inclusion taught to our children and our grandchildren,” Shannon said.
A 35-year resident of the city, Susan Jones expressed support for the diversity efforts at MBS and said that bullying, anti-Semitism and prejudice against LGBTQ people have existed in the school systems in Mountain Brook and many other cities for a long time.
Fri., July 2, 2021, 11:15 a.m.: This article was updated to include some additional information and more comments from attendees.