A year into state intervention, a Bessemer school board member is questioning whether the takeover is helping students and staff improve.

A state takeover is supposed to clear through local personnel and financial issues and get a district back on track. But in a community meeting Thursday evening, Margie Varner – the only local board member to vote against the takeover – along with faculty and parents, claimed that issues aren’t being solved.

“For me, it’s a failing scenario,” Varner told an overflowing room full of parents and staff in Bessemer, west of Birmingham.

“Should we even be under intervention?” Varner asked. “And do you feel that we should ask for our system back?”

Bessemer City Schools is one of three Alabama districts under state intervention, which means state-appointed leaders, rather than the local school board, are able to make key decisions about district policy. The district has struggled with low test scores and declining enrollment.

In July 2024, State Superintendent Eric Mackey threatened a takeover if the district couldn’t resolve major concerns about board governance and finances. The board voted in August to let the state intervene, saying they needed some assistance to get the district back on track.

But in recent months, tensions have heightened over the state’s involvement.

At the state’s request, the board hasn’t met since April and won’t convene again until it finishes intervention training in the fall. Meanwhile, parents have complaints about longstanding maintenance issues. The head of the local teachers union says staff are being let go while administrators who didn’t get their contracts renewed are still working in schools.

Alicia Miles, a lunchroom manager at Westhills Elementary School, suggested merging small, outdated schools. Bessemer operates seven schools. It’s common for districts under state takeover to consolidate facilities, but so far there have been no plans to close any locations.

“Why would a child want to come out of a warm environment and into a cold environment?” she said. “It just seems like nobody cares. Why are we holding on to a 100-year-old building? Tear it down. Our kids deserve better.”

Emotions swelled when one resident said the schools were too “crappy” to attract star athletes or effective leaders.

“It’s pettiness and ignorance,” said Edith Hunter, a longtime alternative school principal who retired in January.

Hunter said she ultimately left because her building was falling apart and she couldn’t get help from the maintenance director. She also said that over the years, board members had sabotaged opportunities that could have put the district on the map.

“If we can’t get all of this ignorance settled and work together as a group, our children are going to suffer,” she said.

Mackey has repeatedly claimed that Bessemer’s board was too dysfunctional to operate on its own. In his letter to the board last summer, he cited multiple cancelled meetings and suggested leaders had failed to comply with bid law and did not turn in key documents on time. A state audit found the district had underpaid employees and violated numerous financial procedures in the months leading up to intervention.

Mackey and Daniel Boyd, who was appointed by the state to lead local intervention efforts, did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

In March, Mackey told reporters that he still had concerns about school board members.

“They still are not getting along well, not working well with Dr. Boyd, and so we’re going to continue to get through that,” he said.

Varner pushed back on those claims Thursday. She said some meetings had been scheduled even though the board president knew there wouldn’t be a quorum. She also placed some blame on the former superintendent, Dana Arreola, who left the district in the spring, and central office workers for not following hiring protocol or keeping up with maintenance issues.

Reginald Mitchell, the system’s maintenance director, questioned the board’s decision last fall to delay roofing updates and HVAC repairs before the start of school.

Varner said there needs to be more accountability and documentation throughout the system, so that the board can better understand how resources are being used.

“Money has been allocated, and money supposedly has been spent for years,” she said. “All of these projects come up over and over again, but you’ve got the same problem – and then I have a problem.”

Varner said she is struggling to get answers about the state’s current plan, how staff will be impacted and how long efforts might take.

Meanwhile, Erika Hughes, president of the Central Alabama Federation for Teachers, said state leaders have been withholding personnel documents and transferring staff out of the district without the board’s knowledge.

She asked parents to “do your homework and get involved.”

“It’s time that everyone in Bessemer understands what’s going on behind closed doors,” she said. “Demand answers and don’t stop.”