Alabama School Connection

Our Mission

The Alabama School Connection (ASC) is a nonprofit organization committed to providing consistent, high-quality media coverage of K-12 education in Alabama.

Our goal, simply put, is to propel public education into Alabama’s everyday conversations.

We are devoted to shining a light on the Alabama K-12 public education system in an effort to inform discussion about our schools among parents, teachers, students, educational administrators, policymakers and legislators. We believe that providing the platform (this web site) to allow all stakeholders to speak a common language and stay informed about issues surrounding and facing our public schools, our public education system will continue to improve.

Our Vision

Education is at a crossroads of extreme change in Alabama and across the nation. Many political forces are at work in the battle to improve our schools and strengthen the outcomes for our children.

The changing landscape of all forms of media coverage has resulted in less of a focus on providing the basic information folks need to engage in real discussions about how to improve the education of our children. We will cover the stuff in between the extremes of the bad and the good in our public schools. We will not take any positions on any particular issue.

We will expand coverage by expanding our staff to include writers with the institutional and contextual history to breathe life into the information shared on our site.

Our Executive Director

Trisha Powell Crain transitioned from volunteer-in-chief to Executive Director in June 2014. She has solely produced all of the information on the ASC site since 2009.

A lifelong resident of Alabama, she believes that people make good decisions when given factual information. She also believes that our schools are made stronger when the entire community has a seat at the table. The information she provides on the ASC site is designed with that goal in mind.

Trisha has three children in college in Alabama and lives in the house in which she grew up in Hoover. She spent the first half of her life as a mother, photographer, and advocate for public schools. She earned her Master of Public Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in May 2013.

Our Board

The three members of our board are dedicated to the mission of the ASC and believe wholeheartedly that the information provided on our site fills a void that is desperately needed in order to have the conversations needed about public education in Alabama.

Our President, Dr. Ginger Hamilton, opened her law practice in 2010. She spent nearly 30 years as a teacher, administrator, and hearing officer in an Alabama school district. Her passion and dedication to improving the lives of children is evident every day in the clients she serves and the skills she brings to the table.

Our Treasurer, Dr. Joan Burroughs, has spent her entire career in art education, specifically in the field of dance. Her experience in both high school and post-secondary education is invaluable in advising and reminding us of the importance of arts in the world of public education.

Board member Gwendolyn Brown has been a peer advocate at Disability Rights and Resources since 2011. She has extensive experience working in public education in various capacities. She recognizes and advocates for parents and community members to step up and improve our own lives in our communities and in our schools.

How the ASC Is Funded

We are completely dependent upon contributions at this time. A complete list of all supporters will be maintained and updated quarterly.

Donors giving $50 or less will have the option to opt out of having their name published.

We seek supporters who value the free press, nonpartisan coverage, and who believe the dialogue created through information being shared widely is the key to improving our public schools.

To donate in a few clicks online, click this link, or click on the “Support Us” image on the right side of this page.

Or you can mail a check to:

Alabama School Connection
P.O. Box 360483
Hoover, AL 35236

We Need You and Want to Hear from You!

Please drop us a line and let us know what you’re interested in learning about by e-mailing us at asc@alabamaschoolconnection.org.

Feel free to use anything you read here. If you use original material from this site, attribution is appreciated.

ASC in the News

Michelle Holmes, Vice President of Content, Alabama Media Group, presents award to Trisha Powell Crain, October 22, 2014. Photo credit: Frank Couch, al.com

Once-powerful education lobby reorganizes after political shift, March 16, 2016

WBHM (public radio): Grading teachers on student test scores? Trisha Crain on “PREP Act”, March 1, 2016

Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal (television): Spotlight on Education, January 21, 2016

WBHM (public radio): Trisha Powell Crain on Top Education Stories of 2015, December 30, 2015

WBHM (public radio): Trisha Powell Crain talks money, politics, and more in Alabama education, November 3, 2015

Alabama Attorney General’s Office tells Hoover school board it must release employee compensation by name, April 6, 2015

Anti-tax myth? School levies pass in Alabama more often than not, March 28, 2015

Decades of attorney general opinions support release of public agency payroll records, March 19, 2015

WBHM (public radio): Alabama Supreme Court Ruling on Alabama Accountability Act, March 3, 2015

Federal judge orders Hoover school board to file integration status reports for previous years, November 24, 2014

Alabama School Connection Executive Director Trisha Powell Crain Selected as One of 20 Women Who Make a Difference, October 22, 2014

WBHM (public radio): Trisha Crain on Alabama’s Low Ranks on ‘Nation’s Report Card’, July 22, 2014