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Negative Findings Removed from Report on Birmingham Schools

Birmingham – The Birmingham Board of Education Tuesday placed Superintendent Stan Mims on administrative lead during an investigation into claims he altered a report critical of the school system before providing it to the public.

Several pages of negative findings in a report on Birmingham city schools were removed when copies were given to the public at a school board meeting.

The Birmingham News reported yesterday that pages were renumbered to hide 20 findings in a think tank's report. The comments included: "no evidence of coordinated planning," "no sense of urgency or energy," "middle management bulge," and "inadequate financial analysis and reporting."

Superintendent Stan Mims said that he was told not to make public the findings in the report.

Michael Casserly is executive director of the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools, which conducted the review at the school board's request.

He said no one in his organization told school officials to delete about four of the report's 24 pages. He said school board members received the full report, which was also posted on his organization's Web site.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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