Mountain Brook Schools make exams optional due to rising COVID-19 cases

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of chaos for Mountain Brook Schools in recent months, said Superintendent Dicky Barlow.

“This is a crazy time and a crazy world, and we are having to pivot, it seems, every time we get new data,” Barlow told the members of the Board of Education at their regular monthly meeting on Dec. 14.

The very day of the meeting, MBS officials had been forced to pivot once again.

Due to rising COVID-19 case numbers in the district, officials decided to make final exams for the first semester optional for all students at Mountain Brook Junior High and Mountain Brook High School.

Exams take place this week, Tuesday through Friday, Dec. 15-18.

MBS sent out a letter on Dec. 14 notifying parents and teachers of the decision.

“In the last week or two weeks since Thanksgiving, we have seen a sharp increase in COVID-related activity related to holiday gatherings, or we assume it’s holiday gatherings,” Barlow said.

Students choosing to take the exams will follow the same examination schedule.

For students choosing not to take the exams, their final grades will be the average of their grades for the first and second 9-week periods, Barlow said.

“We think it’s a prudent decision to make exams optional,” he said.

“We felt like this was necessary to do at the last second,” Barlow said.

The superintendent also expressed concern over the possible impact of the Christmas holidays on case counts.

“One can only assume that during the holiday period, where traditionally there are many parties and get-togethers and family gathering, which are all good, if those continue in large groups there’s no telling what could happen at the beginning of the year,” Barlow said.

“We are asking that parents and students be wise about who they meet with, and when they meet and the number of people they meet with,” he said.

“We do think that will have a direct effect over how we do school come January,” he said.

School resumes on Wednesday, Jan. 6, according to the MBS academic calendar.

That will be “a really important week,” Barlow said.

“We are looking at all students coming back,” he said. “That will allow us to evaluate how many teachers, how many staff members and how many students we have come to school.”

Then MBS officials can make “announcements about how we move forward,” he said.

For updates on Mountain Brook Schools and COVID-19, click here.