Cincinnati Public Schools: Why so many candidates this year?
Hannah K. Sparling
Two years ago, it went like this: Three people wanted to be on the school board. There were three open seats. They ran for them. They got them. It was uncomplicated and easy.
This year, it’s a 13-way battle for four open spots on the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education. Three incumbents are trying to keep their seats, and 10 newcomers are trying to claim one.
This is the most crowded CPS school board race since at least 2000, according to Hamilton County Board of Elections records. The 2009 race came close, with 12 candidates gunning for four seats, but no other race compares.
The candidates have been marching in parades, canvassing door-to-door, putting up yard signs, hosting huge fundraising parties and squaring off regularly in candidate forums. It’s been eye-opening, said Renee Hevia, a former teacher and principal making her first run for public office
"I’m sure that no one ever dreamed that a school board (race) could be so intense,” Hevia said. “I’ve never filled out so many questionnaires in my entire life.”
The 13 candidates all claim the same overarching reason for running: Each wants to better CPS, and each thinks he or she is uniquely qualified.
But then, there are other factors driving the competition.
Some were sparked to activism by last year’s presidential election. They were enraged by Donald Trump or one of his appointees, and they decided to fight back by running for local office.
First-time candidate David Brenner falls into that camp. It hit him the day Trump’s new education secretary, Betsy DeVos, was confirmed.
“I was at the board of elections office the very next day,” said Brenner, a strategic planner and father of four CPS students. “I’m just really concerned that they’re going to strip away funding. They’re going to strip away standards. They’re going to move to change everything into a charter school, and that doesn’t serve our children.”
Some candidates may be trying to use the school board as a stepping stone to City Council or state office. Each disavows that as a personal motivation, but several said they suspect their competitors of higher political aspirations.
Others are mad at the current school board or simply think they could do better. There’s a common refrain among non-incumbent candidates: The current board lacks transparency and is awful at community engagement.
Incumbents rebuff that notion, saying that while they could always improve, they’ve taken great strides toward transparency the past several years. But challengers cite anger at how the school board managed the takeover of the Clifton Cultural Arts Center building and how community leaders in Walnut Hills learned about a new CPS school in their neighborhood from news articles.
"You can’t just have a meeting and expect folks to come. And if they don’t come say, ‘Well, we engaged the community,'" said challenger Marcia Futel. "We have to do things differently, and do things that meet the needs of the people versus what’s convenient.”
CPS is the third-largest school district in the state. At more than $568 million a year, the district budget is much bigger than the city’s $395 million annual budget. So, school board members have the power to affect true change on the city.
The incumbents this time around are pushing for stability. The school board already has one new member – after Chris Nelms died in September, Lannis Timmons was appointed to replace him. There’s a new superintendent this year, too, and too many new board members could mean a shaky transition, incumbents say.
The challengers, though, are pushing for change. CPS has a lot going for it, but it also has a lot of long-standing challenges that aren’t going away. It’s time, challengers say, for new blood on the board.
In the running
There are 13 candidates up for election, and voters get to choose four. The election is Nov. 7.
Jacqueline Amos, College Hill
Incumbent: No
About Amos: She is a 1967 Taft High School graduate and a former CPS teacher.
Top priorities: Improve the district’s performance on the state report card, reduce bullying and increase transparency.
What she says: “Having great love for the district, Cincinnati Public Schools, and a deep appreciation for how I’ve been blessed by the district, I wanted to give back.”
Melanie Bates, East Walnut Hills
Incumbent: Yes
About Bates: She is the longest-serving board member and the current vice president. Bates first joined the school board in 2002. Prior to that, she served for six years on the Ohio State Board of Education.
Top priorities: Improve academic achievement and ensure equity of access and resources for each of CPS’ schools.
What she says: “Overall, the district is on the upswing. I want to make sure, after all the work that I’ve put in, that I leave this district in great shape.”
David Brenner, East Walnut Hills
Incumbent: No
About Brenner: He is a Walnut Hills High School graduate, a strategic planner and father of four CPS students.
Top priorities: Increase communication and community involvement in decision making. If Brenner is elected, he wants to pass a new policy that ensures board members visit every school, community council and parent-teacher organization at least once a year.
What he says: “As a product of CPS, my wife and I bought our house in the district specifically because of CPS. I want to make a difference for my children, and everyone’s children, by bringing my professional experience in problem solving and strategic planning to the board.”
Ericka Copeland-Dansby, Roselawn
Incumbent: Yes
About Copeland-Dansby: She is a Walnut Hills High School graduate, and her son is a 2016 grad of the same school. Copeland-Dansby is the current board president and the executive director of Wesley Community Services, which promotes and supports independence for senior citizens.
Top priorities: Increase academic performance and look beyond state indicators to best serve students.
What she says: “It’s my moral obligation to serve our students and our families. I’ve seen major strides in the district. I’m so pleased that the community has trusted me.”
Gary Favors, Avondale
Incumbent: No
About Favors: He is a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Gulf War. Favors is also a current CPS teacher, which means if he is elected, he’ll have to quit his job to avoid a conflict of interest. That would mean a huge pay cut, since the board stipend is capped at $5,000 a year. But Favors is confident it’s the right thing to do.
Top priorities: Get the proper teachers and principals to bring about systemic change. Favors thinks that might mean changing the pay scale to attract more talent or introducing a signing bonus for teachers.
What he says: “My whole focus has been education; that was my ticket out of the inner city. … I’m walking away from a good job to serve again, just like when I went into the military.”
Christine Fisher, Mount Lookout
Incumbent: No
About Fisher: She has spent the past 12 years working in finance for Procter & Gamble. Her oldest child is set to start kindergarten at Kilgour School next fall.
Top priority: Increase financial transparency. Fisher thinks that in order for taxpayers to continue to support CPS, there needs to be better communication about why the money is needed and where it is going.
What she says: “As I learned more about the issues facing children in our city, I became committed to doing my part to help address the issue of children living in poverty. With my business background, I know that I can be of service to the board and bring a different perspective than is currently represented.”
Marcia Futel, East Walnut Hills
Incumbent: No
AboutFutel: She is a Chicago native but has lived in Cincinnati her entire adult life. Her three children all went to CPS, and now Futel has a granddaughter in the district. She works in financial services.
Top priorities: Improve communication with the community and figure out, aside from state report cards, how to evaluate what’s going well and what isn’t at CPS.
What she says: “I believe that a high-quality public education is the great equalizer for our students and should be available and accessible for all children so that they are prepared to become productive and contributing citizens.”
Renee Hevia, East Hyde Park
Incumbent: No
About Hevia: She is a former teacher and principal with 31 years of experience in public education. Hevia grew up in a bilingual home, and if elected, two of her first steps would be to visit every school and guest teach a Spanish class.
Top priorities: Increase transparency and ensure equity among schools, eliminating the gap between magnet and neighborhoods schools.
What she says: “The current board has not really functioned in the spirit of the sunshine laws. … That would have been different if I had been on the board. You’ve gotta listen. We are elected people. The voters put trust in us, so we have to make sure we keep the public trust.”
Ryan Messer, North Avondale
Incumbent: No
About Messer: He is a father of three who plans to sign up his middle child for CPS preschool on Nov. 23. Messer has spent the past 20 years with Johnson & Johnson, where he is currently a region business director.
Top priorities: Ensure the district is in growth mode as enrollment increases, promote a positive perception of the district and public schools and ensure resources are equitably used.
What he says: “I think it’s wonderful when we have people willing to step up to leadership for their community for a generally unpaid position that will impact 35,000 children a year. … These schools you walk into will have a great impact on your life, on the future you will have. That’s an awesome responsibility for that board.”
Daniel Minera, College Hill
Incumbent: Yes
About Minera: He is an immigrant who came to the U.S. from Guatemala when he was a child. Minera is a father of four, the director of Spanish outreach for City Gospel Mission and a pastor at La Viña, a Hispanic church in Cincinnati.
Top priority: Advocate for immigrants and English Language Learners at CPS.
What he says: “I’m very bold about this: My faith is what drives me. I feel that (being on school board) is a calling. I feel like there is a part of the community that is being underrepresented, and education is a big factor.”
Kareem Moffett, Avondale
Incumbent: No
About Moffett: She is a mother of three, two of whom graduated from Withrow University High School and one who is a junior at Withrow. Moffett teaches math at Cincinnati State, but in the past, she taught at Withrow, John P. Parker and South Avondale schools.
Top priorities: Increase CPS’ performance on the state report card, increase transparency and offer better workforce development for students who do not plan to go to college after graduation.
What she says: “I think we need to do something different to get a different result. We can identify the barriers, but are we willing to go over them?”
Mike Moroski, Downtown
Incumbent: No
About Moroski: He runs UpSpring, a nonprofit dedicated to helping homeless students. Moroski is a former teacher. In 2013, he was fired from Purcell Marian High School after he came out in support of gay marriage.
Top priorities: Increase community engagement and help students and families dealing with poverty to cut back on the effect it has on education.
What he says: “Only when children have equal access to opportunity can they achieve their dreams and goals. I believe that the public school board has a great deal of power to make significant change for kids in our city.”
Kathy Young, North Avondale
Incumbent: No
About Young: She is a lifelong Cincinnati resident and a CPS graduate. She taught in the district for 35 years, and she now has eight grandchildren attending CPS.
Top priorities: Improve scores on the state report card and increase programming and opportunities for students who don’t plan to go to college.
What she says: “We can all talk a good game, but your actions speak louder than all the words that you can put out there.”