Booz Announces Candidacy for School Board

Kelly Carmichael Booz officially announced her candidacy for Alexandria School Board in District B on Wednesday through a media release.

“Alexandria public schools have implemented some effective, fresh approaches to improve educational outcomes, but more needs to be done,” Booz said in a statement. “We need a top-to-bottom review of our schools to build on what is working here and multiply the impact. Alexandria should be leading educational performance results in Northern Virginia, not lagging. We must do that through credible, transparent and school-centered leadership that expects and inspires excellence.”

The six-year Alexandria resident currently serves as the director of civic education at the Center for the Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange, Va., working with public school students, teachers and administrators throughout the state. She works from her home in Del Ray two or three days a week, she said.

Prior to her current job, Booz taught civics and government to middle and high school students and developed curriculum at the Close-Up Foundation in Alexandria.

Booz and her husband, a public school teacher with 13 years of experience, are expecting their first child in November. Booz said she intends to enroll her child in ACPS kindergarten in 2018.

A Minnesota native, Booz holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia and earned her undergraduate degree from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. She is also a graduate of the University of Virginia Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.

“If we want Alexandria to lead the way in Virginia in terms of education, the School Board and City Council must be in lock-step with each other,” Booz said in the release. “The future of our children is at stake and I know we all want to give our students the best chance to succeed.”

Booz announced herself as a Democrat despite School Board being a nonpartisan race. She said she wasn’t trying to make a statement but that she’s not shying away from being a Democrat.

“I am a Democrat, I tend to vote for Democrats and am happy to be a member of the Alexandria Democratic Committee,” Booz said. “More than being a Democrat, civic education is my focus and you need nonpartisan thinking. We want to educate students to be critical thinkers.”

for School Board in District B in April.