Tag Archives: school

Plan to save Birmingham’s Powell School on the table today

Powell School post fire. acnatta/FlickrSince we’ve already mentioned The Birmingham News earlier, today a story was posted to their website talking about a possible plan in place to save the historic Powell School building in downtown Birmingham from the wrecking ball.

According to the piece, the proposal currently on the table for consideration by the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee this afternoon would give the city’s oldest school building to the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation. The city would give them up to six months to secure a developer and stabilize the structure or else the building would be demolished.

Sam Frazier is presenting the proposal on behalf of the Trust and he’s got personal experience in saving historic structures. He serves as chairman of Birmingham’s Design Review Committee, the National Trust for Historic Preservation advisor from Alabama and a member of the Alabama Trust’s board.

Needless to say that many people in the city are hopeful that the building can be saved, especially when you see how many blog posts and photos exist across the web sharing that sentiment. This list includes the front page of the Alabama Trust’s Spring 2011 newsletter. The school was named for the first president of the Elyton Land Company, the real estate company responsible for the city’s existence.

Photo: Powell School post fire. acnatta/Flickr

edcamp Birmingham is coming!

edcampbham logo. Courtesy of official websiteThere may be some that believe teachers disappear on weekends and holidays, but many of us know that not to be true (or is that assuming too much?).

It’ll be safe to say that students of metro Birmingham, AL schools will know where to find some of their teachers in mid-April. A couple of educators are working on providing an opportunity for teachers to have access to “free, democratic, participant-driven professional development.” EdCampBham will take place on April 30 at Samford University.

It is currently the only unconference of its type planned for educators in the Southeastern United States. It would certainly not be the first unconference in the city; there’s already an annual BarCamp event.

Registration for edcampbham is already open. There’s also a Twitter account for those of you interested in following the progress that way.

Image: edcampbham logo. Courtesy of official website.