Alabama teachers

Today is our one-year anniversary of Quick-Fire Quips! To celebrate, host Baillee Majors sits down with a very special guest: her grandmother, Elaine Carmichael. At 92 years young, she's a retired teacher and principal at Goshen Elementary and former Troy Messenger writer and editor. She shares heartwarming stories of small-town life in Goshen— and offers her timeless wisdom on faith, family and what truly makes a community feel like home.

A Mobile teacher is the latest recipient of what some might call the “Oscars of Teaching.” Mary Travis, a fifth-grade math and science teacher at Gilliard Elementary School, is Alabama’s sole 2024-25 Milken Educator Award recipient.

Gov. Kay Ivey has announced that The CHOOSE Act now has a website. This site will allow education service providers and, eventually, Alabama families to prepare for the state’s new education savings account program.

Kicking off her Back-to-School tour, Governor Kay Ivey is traveling to DeKalb and Mobile counties this week to visit and offer encouragement to students as Alabama schools begin the new academic year.

Break out the school supplies and first day of school outfits. Summer break in Alabama is winding down with classes getting back in session for the 2024-2025 school year.

The Alabama Senate this week approved, and then killed, a bill that would give public school teachers eight weeks of paid parental leave. State Senator Vivian Davis Figures said it’s an example of the mostly male Legislature ignoring the concerns of women in the state.

The University of Alabama is being recognized for the Certified Academic Language Therapist program, billed as a transformative dyslexia education initiative. UA hosted U.S. Congress Members and dyslexia professionals for a roundtable to discuss the program.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, in collaboration with the city’s Department of Youth Services, is seeking 200 teachers and educators who are either retired or have flexible schedules to participate in an expansion of its Page Pals third grade reading initiative. The initiative is called Page Pals: SOS.

The Mobile-based nonprofit Alabama Coastal Foundation has awarded almost $3,000 to fifth grade teachers across the state for the 2023-2024 school year through its Alabama Coastal Kids Quiz program.

The Milken Educator Award started in 1987, and Alabama joined the program in 1998. Throughout the years, a total of $1M has been awarded to 40 Alabama recipients. This award is unique because it targets early-to-mid career educators, and it has awarded top educators nationally.