Cheers to 30 years: Mountain Brook Schools Foundation celebrates green anniversary
The Mountain Brook Schools Foundation held a celebration marking its 30th anniversary on Nov. 3 at Mountain Brook Club.
Established in 1992 out of concern over the lack of state funding for public education, the foundation has awarded more than $9.3 million in grants to the school system, with $10 million currently in the fund.
At its inception, community leaders created an endowment fund to ensure the long-term protection of the city’s school system. Over the years, the foundation has continued its mission to mobilize community support and resources for academic enhancement in the six schools.
The fund focuses on providing technology to all the schools, professional development for teachers and library enhancements.
Over 180,000 hours of teacher training as well as summer stipends for professional development have been funded by the foundation, along with the school system’s annual summer learning conference.
Rachel Weingartner came on board in March 2022 as the foundation’s executive director. In her first year, the foundation raised more annual funds than ever before, totaling $508,534.
Superintendent Dicky Barlow, who has been with Mountain Brook Schools for 26 years, said one of the two most important things the foundation has done is creating a stop gap for funding, as state funding has been declining through the years, to make sure students did not have any loss of learning and opportunity.
“The second thing is it has encouraged innovation from our teachers and our school system and has funded innovation that has changed the way we think in our school system,” Barlow said. “We are able to allow teachers to experiment and be able to support them in that.”
Barlow said that the foundation’s contributions are part of what helped the Mountain Brook School System receive the 2016 Distinguished District Award from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
Key Hudson serves as president of the MBSF board and addressed the crowd during the anniversary event. She thanked the founders, administrators, lifetime donors and board members, saying the foundation would not be what it is today without them.
She also shared her unique perspective as an MBHS graduate.
“Because my parents gave to the foundation 30 years ago, I was able to benefit from it, but because it's an endowment, my children — their grandchildren — are also able to benefit from the original donation they made, right, because it contributes to this endowment spending.”
She said that while the future needs aren’t known, there will be a predictable source of income available to adapt to the needs at that time.
Barlow echoed her sentiments.
“Through the help of the foundation, there is approximately half a million dollars every year for us to innovate, help improve instruction, and improve students' learning throughout the years to come,” he said.