By Megan Scarano | WBMA
Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School is a charter school in Bessemer. The school opened in 2022. Now, the school hopes to open a second campus in the Magic City.
Mauri Robinson is the Director of Operations in Finance. He says he hopes the data they have, gains the support of the Birmingham Board of Education.
“The original vision was to have the school in Birmingham. Unfortunately back in 2020 when we first petitioned we were unsuccessful. We definitely understand why Birmingham denied us at that time, we didn’t have any data. But we are proud to say right now to date, we have approximately 200 students. Our inaugural graduating class will be May of 2025, and so we are excited to say we have three students who are going to graduate highschool with a private pilot’s license. Multiple students will have aircraft maintenance certification.”
Robinson said the school is reaching capacity at the location in Bessemer. The school is in the process of the moving to the Bessemer Airport, and has no plan to close their location in Bessemer even as they hope to open a campus in Birmingham.
The school has two potential sites for their second location. One is the on the campus of Birmingham Southern, the other is Kirby Middle School. Kirby has been vacant for more than a decade.
“It has the bones and structure that a school like us could come in, and we are committed to finding the resources and putting the resources, allocating the funds to renovate it.”
Robinson said the school had a letter of intent with one of the bidder’s for BSC, while that didn’t work out he hopes to have an opportunity with whoever does purchase the property. Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School would lease space on the campus. Robinson said the demand for careers in aerospace and aviation is growing.
“As most Americans know there is a pilot shortage. The industry is looking for what we are doing,” explained Robinson. “We are filling that gap.”
If approved the campus would open in Fall of 2026. The public hearing held was the next step in the petition process. The Birmingham Board of Education will vote on the charter school at a meeting in January. If denied, the high school can appeal to the state commission for approval.
