Barnes reappointed to school board

Nicky Barnes will serve another five-year term on the Mountain Brook Board of Education beginning this June and extending through 2025. 

The Mountain Brook City Council approved her reappointment on April 27 at the unanimous recommendation of her fellow board members: Tommy Luckie, Brad Sklar, Jeffrey Brewer, and Jenifer Kimbrough.  

Barnes, the current school board president, said she is looking forward to helping guide the school system as it heads toward an exciting future. 

“I want to continue serving the board because I feel like I am just now getting really familiar with how things work,” Barnes said. “I definitely see a long-term view/picture of Mountain Brook Schools, which by the way is really bright and hopeful, so I wouldn’t want to quit now.”

Barnes began her first term on the school board in 2015 after years of involvement with Mountain Brook Schools. She is a former PTO president at both Crestline Elementary (2009-10) and Mountain Brook High School (2013-14) and is a longtime Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation board member.

Barnes and her husband, Mack, have four sons who attended MBS. Their youngest, Elijah, will graduate this May in the Class of 2020. 

“I’m tremendously excited that Nicky will continue serving on the board,” MBS Superintendent Dr. Dicky Barlow said. “She possesses intelligence, experience, and dedication that enhance our schools and the people they serve. She really is an asset.”

Barnes originally joined the board because she wanted to give back to the school system in an even greater way than she already had. Plus, she knew she would be working with a group of amicable, respected leaders in her fellow board members and Barlow. 

“The most rewarding thing for me has been having a front-row seat for watching an entire system of dedicated and committed professionals,” Barnes said. “It is amazing how much thought and love and grit go into every decision that is made for the students of Mountain Brook.”

Barnes began serving as school board president last June and will maintain that role during the 2020-21 academic year. It will be one that MBS enters having gained new perspective through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We are all excited to get back to ‘in-school’ instruction in the fall, but I’m looking forward to seeing our school system grow philosophically and share all our newfound insight and wisdom with our students and the rest of the educational world,” Barnes said.