Phillip Holley grew up in the city, attended Mountain Brook Elementary and the junior and senior high schools and spent 19 years teaching there before moving into administration in 2016.By Anne Ruisi
You could say Mountain Brook High School Principal Philip Holley has spent much of his life in Mountain Brook City Schools.
He grew up in the city, attended Mountain Brook Elementary and the junior and senior high schools and spent 19 years teaching there before moving into administration in 2016.
Now, Holley is retiring at the end of this school year.
“I could not be more thankful to the community of Mountain Brook along with the students, teachers and staff members I’ve been blessed to be around for the majority of my career in education,” Holley said.
Holley has been the high school’s principal since 2018. He was the school’s assistant principal from 2016 to 2018 and taught biology at Mountain Brook Junior High for 11 years before moving into administration.
During his time at the high school, the school has been continuously rated as the top public high school in the state of Alabama and among the top 1% of public high schools in the country. Holley has also helped oversee the two-phase renovation project of Mountain Brook High School from 2021 through 2023. This undertaking added 43 classrooms, a band room, a counseling suite and a dance studio, among other improvements.
“The first thing people notice about Philip Holley is his kindness and his love for Mountain Brook and its school system,” Mountain Brook Superintendent Dicky Barlow said. “Philip’s story consists of a student, a teacher, and then the principal at MBHS. His insight and understanding of all things Mountain Brook helped us grow as a community. I will always be grateful to Philip for his commitment and concern for the students, staff and the community of Mountain Brook.”
Holley said what he has most appreciated about his career as an educator has been the ability to influence the lives of countless students.
“The thousands of students I’ve been able to teach, lead and even learn from have been such a blessing in my life. I will always value my time in education and am especially thankful for my career in Mountain Brook,” he said.
That the high school is so great is due to the students, teachers and community as a whole, Holley said.
“I’ve made so many amazing friendships and worked with great people,” he said.
“To be principal and to lead my former high school has been a lot of fun,” Holley added.
Among the personal highlights of his career was presenting high school diplomas to two of his three children with his wife, Jennifer. His daughter, Ryann, received her diploma in his first year as principal and his son, Harrison, graduated last year. His youngest child, Meg, is a fourth grader at Brookwood Forest Elementary.
Holley took his first job in education in 1995, when he taught at Erwin High School. He stayed there for four years, then he taught at Shades Valley High School for another four years, then moved to Mountain Brook Junior High School, where he taught for 11 years. He worked as assistant principal at Riverchase Elementary in Hoover for one year and then Vestavia Hills High School for a year as assistant principal. Then he went to Mountain Brook High when an assistant principal’s job came open.
Holley, an Auburn graduate with master’s degrees in secondary education and educational leadership from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will be 53 this summer. He said he’s not exactly sure what he’ll do in the future.
“I’m excited for whatever comes next,” he said.
English (US)