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Columbus school board race
Clintonville resident Paul Carringer is going to be a write-in candidate in the Columbus school board race.
Former CAC member to seek school board seat
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 6:20 PM
By GARY SEMAN JR.
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Clintonville resident Paul Carringer, a neighborhood activist and doctoral candidate, has decided to run for the Columbus school board.
Carringer, a former member of the Clintonville Area Commission, said he would be a write-in candidate this fall. He will seek the seat currently held by Bryan Steward, who withdrew a petition last week to run for the unexpired term to which he had been appointed.
It is unclear whether Steward will seek a write-in candidacy. Carringer said he filed the appropriate paperwork last week; a spokesman for the Franklin County Board of Elections hadn't received those documents yet.
Three others are running unopposed: board member Ramona Reyes and candidates Hanifah Kambon and Mike Wiles.
"First of all, I don't think it's good for a city to have a race for this and have no one run," Carringer said. "It's a billion-dollar (school) budget. I have kids in the system. I think it's important for people to choose."
Carringer is an assistant professor at Columbus State Community College and owner of CaringDirect Marketing. He is in the candidacy stage of the doctoral program in human-resources education at Colorado State University.
He has never sought an elected position. Although members of the Clintonville Area Commission are elected, they are officially appointed by the mayor. He has sought appointment to Columbus City Council and once screened with Franklin County Republican Party to run for a council seat but was not endorsed.
Carringer, 51, said he brings three things to the race: being a fiscal conservative, communicator of positive news in the district and advocate for parents and teachers. He said he will not use the seat as a launching board for higher office.
"I like to do things for the community, for the students we have in the school system, and I think, from a board perspective, promote the things that make our system work, that make it good, positive," he said. "For me I don't think being a politician is the way I want to go."
Former CAC member to seek school board seat
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 6:20 PM
By GARY SEMAN JR.
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Clintonville resident Paul Carringer, a neighborhood activist and doctoral candidate, has decided to run for the Columbus school board.
Carringer, a former member of the Clintonville Area Commission, said he would be a write-in candidate this fall. He will seek the seat currently held by Bryan Steward, who withdrew a petition last week to run for the unexpired term to which he had been appointed.
It is unclear whether Steward will seek a write-in candidacy. Carringer said he filed the appropriate paperwork last week; a spokesman for the Franklin County Board of Elections hadn't received those documents yet.
Three others are running unopposed: board member Ramona Reyes and candidates Hanifah Kambon and Mike Wiles.
"First of all, I don't think it's good for a city to have a race for this and have no one run," Carringer said. "It's a billion-dollar (school) budget. I have kids in the system. I think it's important for people to choose."
Carringer is an assistant professor at Columbus State Community College and owner of CaringDirect Marketing. He is in the candidacy stage of the doctoral program in human-resources education at Colorado State University.
He has never sought an elected position. Although members of the Clintonville Area Commission are elected, they are officially appointed by the mayor. He has sought appointment to Columbus City Council and once screened with Franklin County Republican Party to run for a council seat but was not endorsed.
Carringer, 51, said he brings three things to the race: being a fiscal conservative, communicator of positive news in the district and advocate for parents and teachers. He said he will not use the seat as a launching board for higher office.
"I like to do things for the community, for the students we have in the school system, and I think, from a board perspective, promote the things that make our system work, that make it good, positive," he said. "For me I don't think being a politician is the way I want to go."
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Andy Resnik on -
Although only three names will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot for Columbus City Schools' board of education, seven residents have been approved to run as write-in candidates.
7 write-in candidates seek board seat
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Permalink Reply by Andy Resnik on
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Write-in candidate will fill two-year school board term
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:37 PM
By DAVID J. CROSS
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Columbus voters need to remember not only the platforms of school board candidates, but also the spelling of some of their names.
There are two races related to the Columbus school board on the Nov. 3 ballot. Six candidates are running for three four-year terms. In addition, three residents will run for the two-year unexpired term left open by the resignation of former school board president Terry Boyd.
A write-in candidate will fill the unexpired term because no one was certified for the ballot in that race. The write-in candidates are current school board president Carol Perkins, former Clintonville Area Commissioner Paul Carringer and Lemuel Harrison Jr., PTA vice president at Columbus Alternative High School.
Although all three write-in candidates supported a levy approved by voters last year, Carringer disagreed with the board's promise not to return to the ballot for four years.
"What happens if all of a sudden a contract was written that makes it so the district goes bankrupt?" he asked. "I don't think the board should make a promise like that. I think they should make a promise that they should manage the money as best as they can."
Voters approved a levy that raised $77-million to extend the school day, purchase new buses and reduce the student-teacher ratio for kindergarten through third grade, among other things.
Both Perkins, 58, and Harrison, 52, agreed with the board's promise that if the issue passed, it would not seek another levy for four years.
"I think one of the reasons why we were successful is that we made promises to the community and we were able to show we kept those promises," Perkins said.
Carringer, 51, said it should be up to voters to decide whether a levy is warranted.
With multiple seats up for grabs on the school board, each of the write-in candidates offered different reasons for seeking a partial term instead of a full term.
Perkins, the director of mobility services for the Central Ohio Transit Authority, initially sought a full term but fell 56 names short of the 300 she needed to be certified for the ballot. When current board member Bryan Steward, who also was not certified for the ballot, chose not to seek the partial term, Perkins decided to enter that race as a write-in.
"I knew that I was going to run as a write-in candidate, I just didn't know which (race) it would be," Perkins said.
Harrison, an attorney and administrator for the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, said he had considered running for the board previously but wanted to make sure he could handle the responsibility.
Harrison saw the two-year term as a way to test if he wanted to eventually seek a full term.
"I went for the two-year term and if everything works out I will go forward," he said.
Harrison said he is running to show parents they do not need to pay for an education for their children to be successful.
"I would like to be a member of the board so that message is disseminated widely," he said.
Carringer, an assistant professor at Columbus State Community College and owner of CaringDirect Marketing, said he decided to seek the two-year term after learning no names would appear on the ballot.
"Once it was apparent that no one else was on the ballot, I thought we've got to have someone," he said.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Frontz on -
Andy Resnik said:Columbus voters need to remember not only the platforms of school board candidates, but also the spelling of some of their names.
Having never done a "write-in" before, I'm wondering how painful it is-- has anyone ever "written-in" a candidate using Franklin County's voting machines? How's it work? Can you do a "write-in" for more than one race?
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Permalink Reply by Andy Resnik on
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Those are good questions. I'll check into assigning a reporter to write a story explaining how this works.
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Permalink Reply by Andy Resnik on
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Here are the answers, I hope, to your write-in questions:
In Franklin County, 15 write-in candidates seek votes
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Permalink Reply by Andy Resnik on
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Reyes retains CCS seat; Kambon, Wiles elected
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 2:33 PM
By DAVID J. CROSS
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Columbus voters elected Hanifah Kambon, Ramona Reyes and Mike Wiles to full terms on the city's board of education Tuesday.
According to unofficial results from the Franklin County Board of Elections, Reyes received the most votes, followed by Kambon and Wiles. Write-in candidates who were seeking the three four-year seats -- Tracy Broaddus, Bill Buckel and Thomas Ruff -- received a fraction of the votes.
In addition, there was a second race to fill an unexpired term left open by the resignation of former school board president Terry Boyd. However, no names appeared on the ballot, meaning the seat went to a write-in candidate.
Write-in candidates who sought the unexpired term were current board president Carol Perkins, Paul Carringer and Lemuel Harrison Jr. Perkins received the most votes (7,858) for the unexpired seat, followed by Carringer (2,380) and Harrison (213).
Reyes was appointed to the board in January to replace W. Carlton Weddington, who was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. She is a human resources specialist at Nationwide.
With all 438 precincts reporting, Reyes received 42,459 votes, about 33 percent of the total votes cast.
Kambon, a former district teacher, ran on the slogan "connected to be effective," and wanted to increase community involvement in schools.
Kambon received 39,580 votes, or about 31 percent of the votes cast.
Wiles is a truck driver and frequent board candidate. He said he wanted to create an education commission for each school that would act as an advisory council.
Wiles received 37,638 votes, or about 29 percent of votes cast.
The three write-in candidates seeking full terms received 8,678 of the votes cast, or fewer than 7 percent of the total.
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