The Birmingham Times
All seats for Birmingham Board of Education (BOE) have been decided except for those in Districts 2, 8 and 9.
Sherman Collins (District 1), Derrick Billups (District 4), and Leticia Watkins Harvell (District 6) all won their races comfortably on Tuesday. Mary Boehm (District 3), James Sullivan (District 5) and Walt “Big Walt” Wilson (District 7) were unopposed.
In the District 2 race, Terri Michal received 1,177 votes or 48 percent and incumbent Neonta Williams received 642 votes, or 26.2 percent.
In the District 8 race, Antwon Bernard Womack received 1,910 votes or 44.8 percent and Pamela Bass, received 1,865 or 43.8.
In District 9, Yamika Foy received 1,781 votes or 39 percent and Eric Hall received 1,625 or 35.6.
A candidate must receive 50.1 percent of the vote before being declared the winner. In races for which no candidate reaches that threshold, a runoff election will be held on October 7.
District 2
Michal is a former member of the Birmingham Board of Education, representing District 2 from 2017 until 2021. Elected in a closely contested race in 2017, she served a four-year term before being unseated by Williams in the 2021 election. During her tenure, Michal was an advocate for public education, opposing the expansion of charter schools in Birmingham and promoting increased investment in mental health resources, social-emotional learning, and workforce development programs within the school system.
A Birmingham native, Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Miles College and a master’s in public administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her career includes service in the U.S. Army, roles in public health and corrections, and leadership positions in educational advocacy organizations such as the Black Alliance for Educational Options and Nashville Rise.
District 8
As a first-time candidate, Bass said she was both humbled and energized by the support she received. “The results affirm that our community is ready for new leadership that puts students first,” she said. “I’m grateful to the residents of District 8 who believed in my vision, and I look forward to continuing this important conversation with even more families and school administrators as we move toward the runoff.”
Over the next six weeks, Bass said her campaign will continue to listen and engage with the community “and I plan to double down on that grassroots approach,” she said. “I will remain visible in our neighborhoods, attend community meetings, knock on doors, and meet with parents, teachers, and students,” she said.
If elected Bass, a mother of Birmingham City Schools (BCS) graduates, said her priority is to “ensure that every child in BCS has access to a safe, supportive, and high-quality education. That means focusing on strengthening literacy and math outcomes, advocating for resources that support both students and teachers, and creating stronger partnerships between schools, families, and the community,” said Bass.
Womack said he was ecstatic by Tuesday’s results.
“We worked hard,” he said. “We reached out, we canvassed, but overall people already knew who I was because I have always been an advocate for public education. Being a neighborhood officer was definitely a big part of it,” said Womack, president of the Ensley Highlands Neighborhood Association.
Leading up to the October 7 runoff, the candidate said he plans “to remind people of where I come from, what I have presented before them and make sure that we keep our reading and our math scores up, make sure that we keep all of our district 8 schools off of the state’s failing list.”
Womack is a graduate of the Birmingham City Schools’ Dropout Recovery Program who went on to earn degrees in business administration from Columbia Southern University and now works as a freelance paralegal. If elected, he would become the first openly gay Black man to hold public office in Alabama.
District 9
Foy has a background in public housing and serves as an Assistant Asset Manager at the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District, where she interprets and administers HUD regulations and PHA policy.
Hall is a Birmingham native and graduate of Jackson-Olin High School, Hall served in the U.S. Army and Alabama National Guard, including deployment during Operation Enduring Freedom. He serves as an associate minister at Peace Missionary Baptist Church and has held roles such as outreach director for the Alabama Voter’s Coalition and community liaison for the Birmingham City Council. He is co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Birmingham chapter.
