W.J. Christian K-8, 725 Mountain Drive: pre-K to eighth grade, 549 students on the 2024-25 state report card, which graded it an A with 94 points.
Last checked Oct. 17, 2026. Sources: the school’s website, principal page; Birmingham City Schools’ Zoning and Feeder Patterns page, feeder chart (PDF), Find My Zone, specialty schools page and 2026-27 calendar (PDF); the Alabama State Department of Education’s state report card for 2024-25; the federal NCES school directory for 2024-25.
W.J. Christian K-8 School is a Birmingham City Schools K-8 school at 725 Mountain Drive. Its kindergarten to fifth grade classes serve a neighborhood zone; its sixth to eighth grade program is a specialty program that students apply to. Alabama graded it an A, with 94 points, on its 2024-25 report card.
Who to call
- Front office: 205-231-5250, 725 Mountain Drive
- School website: bhamcityschools.org/o/cs
- Enrolling a new student: the district’s registration page (PowerSchool)
- Applying to a specialty school: the district’s specialty schools page
- Buses: Transportation, 205-231-9305, and the bus stop finder
- Central office: 205-231-4600, 2015 Park Place N.
| Address | 725 Mountain Drive, Birmingham, AL 35206 |
| Phone | 205-231-5250 |
| Grades (state report card) | Pre-K to 8 |
| School hours | 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| District | Birmingham City Schools |
| State school code | 114-0130 |
Principal
Principal Mario Lumzy, according to the school’s website.
The school was built in 1961 in the Roebuck Springs neighborhood, according to its About Us page. Students in kindergarten to fifth grade attend by zone; sixth to eighth graders must apply and are selected on their most recent state test scores and other criteria, the page says.
Enrollment and teachers
- State count: 549 students on the 2024-25 Alabama state report card, down from 552 on the 2023-24 card.
- Federal count: 574 students in the 2024-25 school year, with 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 18 students per teacher.
State report card
Alabama grades every public school from A to F each year. The grade comes from a 100-point score built from students’ achievement and growth on state tests in English language arts and math, chronic absenteeism (the share of students who missed 18 or more days), progress in English language proficiency and, for high schools, graduation rate and college and career readiness, according to the Alabama State Department of Education’s report card rules. Alabama does not use CCRPI, the Georgia score.
2024-25 grade: A, 94 points. The 2023-24 card gave W.J. Christian K-8 an A with 92 points. Birmingham City Schools as a whole earned a C, with 77 points, up from 74.
| Indicator | 2024-25 score |
|---|---|
| Academic achievement (ELA and math tests) | 85.99 |
| Academic growth | 100 |
| Chronic absenteeism (lower is better) | 1.41% of students |
The full report card, with results by student group, teachers and spending, is on the state’s report card site.
Attendance zone and admission
Birmingham City Schools runs five specialty schools: EPIC Alternative Elementary, Princeton Alternative Elementary, J.H. Phillips Academy, W.J. Christian K-8 and Ramsay I.B. High, according to its specialty schools page. Students apply and are selected on their most recent state test scores and other criteria. The page says applications for new students open Nov. 13, 2026, through the PowerSchool parent portal.
The admissions page on EPIC’s website sets out the shared rules: a separate application for each specialty school, two teacher recommendations and the latest report card. Applicants for kindergarten to fourth grade and for high school take an entrance test. Families do not have to live in Birmingham, the page says.
For kindergarten to fifth grade, W.J. Christian K-8 is a zoned school. On the district’s feeder chart (PDF), its zone students go on to Huffman Middle for sixth to eighth grade and then Huffman High.
The neighborhoods the district’s feeder document, drawn up in its 2018-2020 zoning revision, lists in W.J. Christian K-8’s kindergarten to fifth grade zone: Liberty Highlands, Roebuck Springs and South East Lake (part). Zones do not follow neighborhood lines exactly, so check one address in Find My Zone.
More on the area in our Roebuck guide.
Bell times
Birmingham City Schools’ Find My Zone listing gives W.J. Christian K-8’s hours as 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Calendar
W.J. Christian K-8 follows the Birmingham City Schools 2026-27 calendar (PDF). Coming dates:
- Friday, Oct. 23: e-learning and parent conference day
- Friday, Oct. 30: fall break
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, no school
- Nov. 23-27: Thanksgiving break
- Friday, Dec. 18: last day of the first semester, early dismissal
- Dec. 21-31: winter holidays; students return Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2027
- March 22-26, 2027: spring break
- Thursday, June 10, 2027: last day for students
More
- The school’s website
- Every public school in Birmingham, with zones and report cards
- Our Birmingham schools guide for the district calendar, registration and the Board of Education
- Huffman High, the zoned high school
Frequently asked questions
What grades does W.J. Christian K-8 serve?
W.J. Christian K-8 serves pre-K to eighth grade, according to Alabama’s 2024-25 state report card. Sixth to eighth graders attend a specialty program they apply to; the zone covers kindergarten to fifth grade.
What is W.J. Christian K-8’s state report card grade?
W.J. Christian K-8 earned an A with 94 points on Alabama’s 2024-25 state report card, after an A with 92 points on the 2023-24 card. Alabama grades schools A to F; it does not use Georgia’s CCRPI.
Which high school does W.J. Christian K-8 feed into?
Huffman High, according to the district’s feeder chart.
What time does W.J. Christian K-8 start?
School hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to Birmingham City Schools’ Find My Zone school listing.
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