Mary Boehm
Mary Boehm is the current District 3 representative on the Birmingham Board of Education.
She was elected to the Birmingham Board of Education in the 2017 Birmingham municipal election. Since serving on the Birmingham Board of Education she has voted on four charter school applications, voting in favor of two charter school applications and opposed to two applications, despite the Superintendent's recommendation to deny all four applications.
Charter Schools
On January 24, 2019, the Birmingham Board of Education denied charter school applicant i3 Academy. The board voted 8-1 to accept Superintendent Lisa Herring’s recommendation to deny the application during a special-called meeting. Board member Mary Boehm cast the sole vote against the recommendation. On January 27, 2020, Birmingham School Board members voted to reject two charter school applications. First the school board voted unanimously to reject the application for Knowledge Unlimited Public Charter School, also known as Knowledge U. The review committee said the application doesn’t meet requirements necessary for approval under the guidelines of Birmingham city Schools. The second charter school vote in January was for the Magic City Acceptance Academy. Birmingham’s review committee, which is responsible for reviewing charter school applications, recommended board members deny MCAA’s application due to its lack of detail when it comes to educational program design, an operations plan and financial plan. The board accepted the review committee’s request for denial with a 5-3 vote, with Mary Boehm voting in opposition to the review committee's recommendation.
References
- Jan 24, 2019, Trisha Powell Crain, "Birmingham school board denies charter application" https://www.al.com/news/2019/01/birmingham-school-board-denies-charter-application.html (AL.com)
- Jan. 28, 2020, Randi Hildreth, "Birmingham School Board denies charter school applications" https://www.wbrc.com/2020/01/29/birmingham-school-board-denies-charter-school-applications/ (WBRC)
- Jan 29, 2020, Jonece Starr Dunigan, "Birmingham board denies state’s first LGBTQ charter school application" https://www.al.com/news/2020/01/birmingham-board-denies-states-first-lgbtq-charter-school-application.html (AL.com)