Mountain Brook Schools is a K-12 public school system serving the community of Mountain Brook, Alabama. Founded in 1959, the system includes six schools—four elementary, one junior high, and one high school—with around 4,400 students and over 770 employees. The district is managed by 26 administrators, including a Superintendent and various Department Directors and local school adminstrators, and is governed by a five-member Board of Education appointed by the City Council.
The community provides strong support, with high PTO involvement, generous donations to the Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation, and collaboration with All In Mountain Brook, a local organization supporting students and families.
Mountain Brook is a top-performing district, ranking among the top 100 STEM schools and the highest-performing non-magnet school in the state of Alabama. In 2022, 95% of MBHS seniors attended a four-year university of their choice and had an average ACT score of 26.7. The school also boasts 24 National Merit Finalists in the class of 2024 and more athletic state championships than any other school in Alabama (196). The district’s purpose is to provide an effective, challenging and engaging education for every one of our students.
Awards
Technology
A major effort in recent years to enhance an already strong system has been the infusion of technology into all of the schools and in all of the system’s day-to-day operations. All classrooms, media centers, offices, and computer labs, which house more than 2,200 computers/laptops, are connected to a Local Area Network. All six schools as well as the central office are connected with fiber optic lines to form the Wide Area Network. All computers are connected to the Internet and all have both internal and external e-mail capabilities.
In addition, each classroom is equipped with a telephone that serves as the school’s public announcement system and provides voice mail for each staff member. A district technology coordinator directs the efforts of six local school technology specialists and four district technical support specialists. All classrooms are equipped with a mounted data projector, document camera, sound enhancement system, and teaching computer; additional desktop computers are available in all elementary classrooms.
All schools have wireless networks for district-owned and personal devices. All schools have hardwired labs and wireless laptop labs as well as companion devices for teacher use and student use at a ratio of 1:1. All K-1 classrooms are equipped with mounted Promethean interactive whiteboards. Much more information regarding district technology can be accessed at the technology department page.
Staff and Services
A philosophy of our founding school was to hire quality teachers and maintain low class sizes. Mountain Brook Schools has followed this practice through its history. All elementary schools have a full-time media specialist, music, art, and physical education teachers, technology coordinator, counselor, reading coach, math coach, and Spanish teacher.
In addition, there are programs for children with special needs, and each elementary school has an enrichment teacher who works with academically advanced students. The system has an exemplary program for students who qualify for special education services. In spring 2012, our special education program was monitored by the Alabama State Department of Education. The program was given a Level One ranking – the highest possible rank.
The school district invests substantially in the professional development of all employees. One of the highest honors the district has achieved occurred in 2000 when the U.S. Department of Education recognized the Mountain Brook Schools Professional Development program as a national model. At that time, only 12 school districts had earned this award.
The City of Mountain Brook was incorporated in 1942. At that time, two elementary schools existed within the city boundaries that fell under the auspices of the Jefferson County school system. In June 1959, the Mountain Brook City Council decided to form a school system independent from the county system and appointed the first Mountain Brook Board of Education.
The Board of Education acquired from the Jefferson County system the two elementary schools within its city limits, Crestline Elementary and Mountain Brook Elementary, along with a third school, Mountain Brook Junior High, which had been completed in 1956.
As the population in the southern part of the city continued to grow, the decision was made to build a third elementary school, Brookwood Forest, which was completed in 1965. At the same time, the construction of a high school to serve the community was begun, and the doors were opened to its first students in 1966, with the first class of seniors graduating in 1968.
The sixth school in the system, Cherokee Bend Elementary, was completed in 1969.