Montgomery — In his Dec. 11 report to the Alabama State Board of Education, Superintendent Doctor Mackey highlighted two work-session items and explained the timetable for textbook review.

Mackey told the board to expect a new-format higher education report card and said the teacher paperwork reduction committee would deliver its first report to the board this month. "We have two very important things today to discuss. One's the higher education report card ... and then we're gonna have a discussion on the teacher paperwork reduction committee. This will be their first report to the board," he said.

On textbooks, Mackey said the topic would return for board consideration no earlier than the February work session, noting staff need additional time to review materials. "There's been a lot of questions about textbooks ... but it will come back no earlier than the February work session," he said.

Mackey also reminded members that the Jan. 8 meeting will be held in Mobile at the University of South Alabama and briefly recognized staff who worked on recent course-of-study efforts. He thanked instructional services staff and named several colleagues present at the meeting.

The superintendent closed his report with informal announcements, including the birth of a staff member's child (Rexford Jackson Moore) and congratulatory remarks for a Milken award event several board members attended. No formal votes resulted from the report; follow-up items were directed to Instructional Services for implementation planning and to board staff for calendar publication.