Birmingham Teachers Union President ‘Shocked’ by Woodfin’s Critique of City Educators

By Keisa Sharpe-Jefferson The Birmingham Times Richard Franklin, president of the Birmingham American Federation of Teachers, said Wednesday he was “shocked” to hear Mayor Randall Woodfin, a former board of education president, criticize teachers. In a press conference on Tuesday at Birmingham City Hall, Woodfin called out “lazy” schoolteachers, asking them to resign, in response to the Alabama State Board of Education revealing its annual report card, in which the Birmingham school system received an overall “C” grade, or 72, on an A – F rating system. It’s a score that Woodfin called “unacceptable” for city schools. “My initial reaction (to the mayor’s comments) when I heard was that it’s not true” what he said about teachers, Franklin told The Birmingham Times. “…it just shocked me. He (Woodfin) used to be president of the [Birmingham] school board …. and knows what educators have to go through.” Franklin said the schools have shown progress, a point echoed by Mark Sullivan, Ed.D. superintendent of Birmingham City Schools. The superintendent said last week BCS doubled the number of schools receiving the grade of A and had nine schools to increase a full letter grade. Central Park Elementary School, for example, moved from a...