Kelly Carmichael Booz's Statement on Serving as the Vice Chair
- Kelly Carmichael Booz
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Statement read on June 12, 2025, at the final School Board meeting for the 2024-2025 school year.
As we wrap up our final School Board meeting of the school year, I want to take a brief moment to share a few personal reflections.
Our next meeting will be our reorganization meeting, and I want to share that I’ve chosen not to run again for Vice Chair.
This has not been an easy decision. Serving in this role has been an incredible honor—one I’ve taken seriously, and one I’m deeply grateful for. Working closely with Chair Rief and Dr. Kay-Wyatt has been an absolute highlight for me. With many calls, Zooms, and in-person meetings, some multiple times a day, I’ve gotten to know them closely over the last two years. While it’s been a lot of work, we’ve created a great team along the way. I see the countless hours of work these two leaders put in every single day and I am so grateful for them.
But as many of you know, my work with the American Federation of Teachers continues to grow, and the demands on that front have increased. We are in a national fight for the very same values we uphold here in Alexandria: a strong public education system, an educated citizenry, and a deep commitment to equity, equality, civics and democracy. And above all, a belief in our Constitution and our Rule of Law. It’s all connected.
From the very beginning when I started serving again on the board in 2022, I strongly argued that we should have a regular transition in leadership with one member rolling off and one member rolling on to build continuity, institutional knowledge, and leadership. For that reason, I am grateful that Chair Rief is interested in running for Chair again to help with continuity during this transition and to keep building on the so many processes that we’ve worked on together with Dr. Kay-Wyatt.
I also want to add my thanks to this Board. From day 1, this board jumped right in, ready to work, ready to collaborate, and ready to ask tough questions. This is now the third board I’ve served on, going on my 7th non-consecutive year on the school board. Each board is different with different dynamics, quirks, strengths, and culture. I want to say that if our first 6 months together is a snapshot of what’s to come, then I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together over the next 2.5 year.
As we look ahead, I also hope we can build on the momentum created during redistricting—particularly around how we communicate as a board to the community. I’d love to see us more regularly share updates or blogs with the community on major topics from our collective and individual voices as a board. I’m committed to continuing to help with that effort.
And finally, I want to challenge us this fall to push for a long-overdue structural change: shifting our election model to four-year, staggered terms. Continuity and Institutional knowledge is critical to strong governance, and we all know the costs—practically and relationally—when it resets every three years. I would argue that this transition was much easier since we did not have a majority of board members change. But like to Dr. Kenley said earlier, it’s important to be clear in our language and not lead things to chance. For that reason, we need to work with Council this fall to move election reform forward based on our resolution from this past December. Council willing to seek an Alexandria city charter change within that same three-year window, and a General Assembly willing to vote to support a city charter change before a new election structure can take place.
So while I’m stepping back from this particular role, I remain fully committed to this board, to our mission, and to our kids. Thank you for the trust, the collaboration, and the shared commitment to moving our division forward.
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