It is a pivotal election for the board that appoints Cincinnati Public Schools’ superintendent and treasurer and serves as the public face for the district. There are four open positions on the seven-member board. Among the 13 candidates, there’s a wealth of experience in education as well as enough thoughtfulness and varying perspectives to tackle some of the district’s biggest challenges.
[Related: As CPS board candidates pitch to voters, the district’s community engagement struggles take center stage.]
With three decades of public school experience at CPS and other local districts, Renee Hevia is endorsed by the Hamilton County Democratic Party, the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO. She receives high marks from the Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition, a group that advocates for educational equity and supports public schools over charters. Among other priorities, Hevia wants to increase investment in the district’s Community Learning Centers.
Retired educator Jacqueline Amos began teaching at CPS in 1973 and has served there and at other public school districts. Amos says she’s focused on making neighborhood schools every bit as attractive and high-performing as their more attention-grabbing magnets. Amos gets high marks from the Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition and she scored an endorsement from the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers.
First-time board candidate Kareem Moffett has some fresh ideas to address CPS’s struggles with community engagement. She has taught math at Cincinnati State for the past four years and has also taught math and science classes at CPS. Moffett got an endorsement from the Greater Cincinnati branch of Our Revolution.
A former teacher and head of UpSpring, a nonprofit dedicated to removing hurdles to education faced by homeless children, Mike Moroski is endorsed by the Hamilton County Democratic Party. He has promised to work to improve the district’s lottery system for its in-demand magnet schools, help create and implement a new community engagement plan driven by goals and metrics and push the district to hire more teachers.
Related: The Election Issue
CityBeat endorses Yvette Simpson for mayor.
CityBeat endorses Derek Bauman, Tamaya Dennard, Michelle Dillingham, Lesley Jones, Greg Landsman, David Mann, Chris Seelbach, P.G. Sittenfeld and Wendell Young for City Council.
CityBeat endorses NO on Issue 1, YES on 2, YES on 3, 4, 5 and 24.
Incumbent Melanie Bates has served on the Cincinnati Public School board since 2002 and is currently the board’s vice president. She has also held a number of other administrative roles, including the State Board of Education from 1995 to 2001. Bates strongly supports Vision 2020, an effort to get all public schools in Cincinnati up to the high performance levels its magnet schools enjoy.
Coming from outside the education field, David Brenner has more than three decades of experience in management, including seven years at Kroger and 11 at Fidelity Investments. Brenner wants to change the way Preschool Promise and the district’s magnet school lottery are implemented to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
Current Cincinnati Public School Board President Ericka Copeland-Dansby, a non-profit administrator, has served on the board since 2014. She is endorsed by Democratic Party and Charter Committee. During her tenure on the board, the district saw increasing enrollment, the implementation of its lottery program for magnet school enrollment and the passage of Issue 44, the school tax levy increase that included Preschool Promise.
Special education teacher Gary Favors has been with CPS for 21 years. If elected to the board, Favors says he’d push for more policies that closely monitor the progress of Preschool Promise to make sure it is being effectively implemented. He’d also like to hold board meetings in neighborhood schools and regular public forums on the state of CPS.
Another candidate from the business world, Christine Fisher has worked in finance at Procter & Gamble for the last 12 years. She’d like to bring her financial and analytic chops to the Cincinnati Public School Board by carefully monitoring the implementation of the district’s magnet school lottery and Preschool Promise. Fisher is endorsed by the Charter Committee.
Financial services professional Marcia Futel wants to improve accountability and communication between CPS and its stakeholders, especially when it comes to magnet school enrollment. Before her 12-year career in finance, Futel spent two decades in information technology. She is endorsed by the Charter Committee.
A regional business director at Johnson & Johnson, Ryan Messer has also served two terms as the president of the Over-the-Rhine Community Council and other public service roles. He’s pledged to bring to improve CPS’ communication and transparency with the communities it serves. Messer won high marks from the Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition as well as an endorsement from the Cincinnati Teacher’s Federation and the Hamilton County Democratic Party.
Incumbent Daniel Minera works for City Gospel Mission as its director for Hispanic outreach and is a pastor for Amigo Ministries. He’s seeking his second term on the CPS board, where he’d like to improve the district’s transparency and communication and work to better serve its increasingly-diverse student population.
Retired CPS teacher Kathy Young spent 35 years teaching special needs students in the district. She says she’s focused first and foremost on improving CPS’ neighborhood schools through the district’s Vision 2020 initiative. She’s won endorsements from the Friends of the Sentinels, Cincinnati’s black police union, as well as Equality Cincinnati PAC and the Cincinnati Women’s Political Caucus.
This article appears in Oct 25 – Nov 1, 2017.
