Doing the math on math students

The Piedmont, Alabama, city school system was tops in the nation in a comparison of its students math scores between 2019 and 2022, reports AL.com’s Trisha Powell Crain.

The report here is part of a series with the Education Reporting Collaborative.

The Piedmont district has 1,100 students and 7 out of 10 qualify for reduced lunch prices. The years in question, 2019-2022, were a peculiar time period given the education setbacks caused by COVID-19 and the related shutdowns and distance learning. Researchers believe that, nationally, students tend to be around a half-year behind in math.

Piedmont Superintendent Mike Hayes said he doesn’t think there’s any world-shattering secret to the success, but he and others point to the way they’ve made a priority out of gathering and analyzing student data. By making the school days a little longer, math teachers have spent more time pulling data and carving out “data days” to meet with each other and figure out areas of need. Then they spend more time zeroing in on areas where students need some extra focus.

Classic demands

The future of the Magic City Classic, the annual football game between Alabama State and Alabama A&M at Legion Field and the hub of a week’s worth of cultural events in Birmingham every year, is as murky as ever. The past year has included tense negotiating among the city, organizers and schools over future Classics.

Now AL.com’s Roy S. Johnson reports that Alabama A&M has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Alabama Sports Council, which oversees production of the Magic City Classic, demanding it not use the school’s trademarks or images of its mascot or players to promote the Classic.

Demands also include that A&M be able to inspect the books and records of revenue and compensation paid under an agreement with rival Alabama State.

Officials aren’t thrilled by the cease-and-desist.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said he’s reached out to Alabama A&M President Daniel Wims about his disappointment. “Timing is everything, and we are five weeks before Classic. This doesn’t fit the tenor of good faith or relationships.”

Hazing accusations

A lawsuit claims that hazing is back at Sigma Alpha Epsilon, the fraternity infamous for past hazing violence, reports AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz.

The suit was filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court by the parents of the pledge.

Almost a decade ago, Bloomberg News did reporting on 10 deaths linked to hazing, alcohol and drugs at fraternity events nationally between 2005 and 2013. Bloomberg called it “The Deadliest Fraternity in America,” and it banned hazing in 2014.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded at the University of Alabama in 1856. And it’s in Tuscaloosa where the lawsuit claims a pledge suffered a traumatic head injury while being hazed.

Defendants had not publicly commented on the claims. Note that a lawsuit represents only one side of a dispute.

Quoting

“It’s illustrative that we’ve got five clowns that don’t know what they want except attention.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Alabama, on members of his own party who blocked a measure to advance a military spending bill as a government shutdown looms.

By the numbers

4

That’s how many O’Charley’s restaurant locations remain in Alabama, reports AL.com’s William Thornton. The Nashville-based chain recently closed its Prattville location and now has Alabama restaurants only in Daphne, Decatur, Foley and Fultondale.

More Alabama news

Born on this date

• In 1970, John Copeland of Lanett, who played at Alabama and with the Cincinnati Bengals,
• In 1973, Ronald McKinnon of Elba, who played on those great ‘90s teams at North Alabama and later for the Cardinals and Saints.

Correction

Yesterday I listed off some of the best colleges in Alabama, according to U.S. News and World Report, and instead of rightfully including “South Alabama” typed “South Florida.” I’m going to blame it on talking too much college football over the weekend, if there can be such a thing.

So especially to my buddies who’ve played ball there: Go South, and I know y’all are Jaguars, and that’s no Bull.

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