Meet your candidates: District 3 board of education

Along with Birmingham’s upcoming mayoral race and election for city council, Birmingham City Schools is also holding elections for new Board of Education members. This year, there are 32 candidates in the running for a total of nine seats.

Of the current nine board members, four are seeking re-election: District 4 representative Daagye Hendricks, District 6 representative Cheri Gardner, District 7 representative Wardine Alexander and District 9 representative Sandra Brown. District 5 representative Randall Woodfin is not seeking re-election but instead running for the mayor’s seat.

District 3 includes Avondale Elementary School, EPIC School, Glen Iris Elementary School and Ramsay High School.  Elections are on Aug. 22.

Larry Contri

After acting as the interim superintendent for Birmingham City Schools until retiring on at the end of June, Larry Contri is seeking election as the District 3 representative for the Board of Education. He had previously served the system for a continuous 50 years, acting as a teacher, principal, area assistant superintendent, director of research and planning and IT officer at various points, as well as interim superintendent.

“I have always had the desire to occupy a seat on the Birmingham Board of Education, and what better time to see that seat than immediately following the nine months I served as interim superintendent,” Contri said. “I would like to be a strong historical resource for the superintendent as well as my fellow board members.”

If elected, Contri aims to assure sound financial management and accountability; provide parity and equity for all schools; provide a safe, secure and nurturing environment for all students, staff parents and visitors; and encourage greater parental and business involvement for all schools.

During his nine months as interim superintendent, Contri and staff developed and started several district-wide instructional initiatives for reading and math. “By working with the superintendent and fellow board members, I could see these initiatives expanded, evaluated and modified where necessary,” he said.

He also believes that the most important issues within the city’s school system are to provide equal educational opportunities for all students, allocate funds wisely for both students and teachers, develop a comprehensive strategic plan to provide an educational focus for the system, assure that every student graduates and is college or career ready, build stronger parental and business involvement and enhance a stronger communication network for the system.

“These must be worked on collaboratively with the superintendent and fellow board members,” he said. “I am a strong advocate of committee work with all stakeholders in the system being represented.”

To learn more about his campaign, contact his campaign manager, Brandy Duncan, at 587-0998 or Duncan_Brandy@outlook.com. Voters can also learn more by emailing Contri at contril@bellsouth.net or finding him on Facebook, “Dr. Larry J Contri.”

Mary Boehm

Mary Boehm attributes her choice to run for Board of Education to current representative Brian Giattina’s decision to not seek re-election.

“Over the last eight years, Brian Giattina represented District 3 well and spearheaded many needed changes,” she said. “It’s only because he decided not to run that I became a candidate.”

Widespread academic failure, constant leadership changes and a misuse of funds also prompted Boehm’s decision, she said.

Now, with her experiences she’s hoping to improve academic outcomes for the students of the Birmingham City Schools.

Boehm had three children in Birmingham City Schools, with each of her sons attending Epic School from K-5. While there, she was involved in “the typical support” of being a classroom mom and member of the school’s PTO.

She has also worked with BCS to provide support to over 200 Southeastern Asian refugee children when aiding them with resettling, while working with each of the nine superintendents from the last 20 years to improve outcomes for students. Boehm worked with the A+ College Ready program, as well.

“In my role with A+ College Ready, we partnered with BCS to provide a five-year grant to strengthen Advanced Placement (AP) courses in six of the seven high schools and provided training for 6-10th grade teachers that helped build a pipeline of students better prepared for the rigor of advanced courses and college level work,” she said.

Boehm said she has not previously served on a school board or held another elected position, but she has worked as a partner of the State Board of Education (ALSDE) to manage Alabama’s AP program in 171 high schools and their respective middle schools and collaborated with education leaders in nine southeastern states and within Alabama to lead education reforms.

“My most recent experience implementing AP programs in 171 schools led to Alabama’s number one ranking in the country in growth in AP qualifying scores,” she said. “I believe that my experience guiding change in other school districts can help improve academic outcomes for our students.”

If elected, Boehm would like to focus on academic failure, because she believes Birmingham schools are not preparing students for success in college and workplaces. She plans to expand the Pre-K program to prepare every student for grade three and hold teachers accountable for learning benchmarks.

She would also like to support the new superintendent while emphasizing academic improvement, since student enrollment in BCS has nearly halved since 1998, Boehm said.

Finally, Boehm wants to see more money spent on teachers, classrooms and at-risk students and less on “the city’s bloated administration.” Boehm said BCS is almost last among Alabama school districts in money spent on teachers and classrooms but at the top of districts that spends money on its administrators.

“The status quo in school board spending is completely unacceptable,” she said.

To learn more about Boehm and her campaign, visit boehmforbirmingham.com, facebook.com/boehmforbirmingham or send an email to boehmforbirmingham@gmail.com.

Editor’s note: This is an ongoing article that will be updated as more information becomes available.