Corey Andrews
Corey Andrews was a candidate for at-large representative on the Howard County Public Schools Board of Education in Maryland. Andrews lost in the primary election on April 26, 2016.[1]
Andrews was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Howard County Board of Education in Maryland. He lost election against 12 other candidates in a primary election on June 24, 2014.
Biography
Andrews graduated from Howard High School. At the time of his candidacy, Andrews was attending Howard Community College and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.[2][3]
Elections
2016
A dispute over the Howard County Board of Education's decision to renew the contract of Superintendent Renee Foose in February 2016 defined the race for three out of seven board seats. All three seats up for election in 2016 were held by board members who approved a four-year contract for Foose. The superintendent faced scrutiny from local groups and state officials over a perceived lack of transparency into district decisions. A swing of all three seats from incumbents to challengers interested in reforming board policies created a majority that does not favor Foose's proposals.
The general election was held on November 8, 2016. A primary election was held on April 26, 2016, with the top six vote recipients advancing to the general election. Incumbents Ann DeLacy, Ellen Flynn Giles, and Janet Siddiqui filed for re-election. They faced challengers Corey Andrews, Marcelino Bedolla, Kirsten Coombs, Vicky Cutroneo, Christina Delmont-Small, Mavis Ellis, Robert Wayne Miller, and Pravin Ponnuri in the primary. Siddiqui, Coombs, Cutroneo, Delmont-Small, Ellis, and Miller ran in the general election. The primary resulted in losses for DeLacy and Giles, opening board seats taken by opponents of Superintendent Foose in November 2016. Coombs, Delmont-Small, and Ellis won election with Siddiqui finishing in fourth place.[1]
Results
| Howard County Public Schools, At-large Primary Election, 4-Year Terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Kirsten Coombs |
17.59% | 34,200 |
| Christina Delmont-Small |
15.25% | 29,654 |
| Mavis Ellis |
12.64% | 24,571 |
| Janet Siddiqui Incumbent |
12.12% | 23,564 |
| Vicky Cutroneo |
8.85% | 17,200 |
| Robert Wayne Miller |
7.16% | 13,916 |
| Corey Andrews | 6.73% | 13,087 |
| Ann DeLacy Incumbent | 6.25% | 12,158 |
| Ellen Flynn Giles Incumbent | 5.84% | 11,355 |
| Pravin Ponnuri | 4.71% | 9,157 |
| Marcelino Bedolla | 2.85% | 5,548 |
| Total Votes | 194,410 | |
| Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Unofficial 2016 Presidential Primary Election results for Howard County," accessed April 26, 2016 | ||
2014
The June 24, 2014, primary ballot included incumbents Sandra H. French and Cynthia L. Vaillancourt as well as challengers Bess I. Altwerger, Corey Andrews, Tom Baek, Zaneb K. Beams, Olga Butler, Allen Dyer, Maureen Evans Arthurs, Dan Furman, Leslie Kornreich, Christine O'Connor and Mike Smith. French, Vaillancourt, Altwerger, Beams, Dyer, Furman, O'Connor and Smith faced off in the general election on November 4, 2014.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Cynthia L. Vaillancourt Incumbent |
13.5% | 15,851 | |
| Nonpartisan | Sandra H. French Incumbent |
12.5% | 14,688 | |
| Nonpartisan | Bess I. Altwerger |
10.9% | 12,733 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dan Furman |
10.1% | 11,880 | |
| Nonpartisan | Zaneb K. Beams |
8.6% | 10,042 | |
| Nonpartisan | Christine O'Connor |
7.2% | 8,477 | |
| Nonpartisan | Allen Dyer |
6.6% | 7,724 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mike Smith |
5.7% | 6,730 | |
| Nonpartisan | Leslie Kornreich | 5.4% | 6,388 | |
| Nonpartisan | Olga Butler | 5% | 5,849 | |
| Nonpartisan | Maureen Evans Arthurs | 4.9% | 5,752 | |
| Nonpartisan | Corey Andrews | 4.9% | 5,744 | |
| Nonpartisan | Tom Baek | 4.7% | 5,482 | |
| Total Votes | 117,340 | |||
| Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Official 2014 Gubernatorial Primary Election results for Howard County," accessed October 18, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Andrews began the race with an existing account balance of $0.44 from his previous campaign. He reported no contributions or expenditures to the Maryland State Board of Elections, which left his campaign with $0.44 on hand.[4]
Endorsements
Andrews did not earn any official endorsements in this election.
2012
Andrews ran unsuccessfully for a board seat in 2012 while finishing his senior year at Howard High School.[2]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Janet Siddiqui Incumbent |
14.6% | 12,054 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ann DeLacy |
10.4% | 8,612 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ellen Flynn Giles Incumbent |
9.4% | 7,819 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jackie Scott |
9.1% | 7,500 | |
| Nonpartisan | David Gertier |
9% | 7,451 | |
| Nonpartisan | Bob Ballinger |
7.7% | 6,391 | |
| Nonpartisan | Patricia S. Gordon | 7.5% | 6,173 | |
| Nonpartisan | Allen Dyer Incumbent | 6.6% | 5,423 | |
| Nonpartisan | Leslie Kornreich | 4.5% | 3,711 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mary Jo Neil | 4.4% | 3,663 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jim Adams | 4.2% | 3,514 | |
| Nonpartisan | Olga Butler | 4.2% | 3,509 | |
| Nonpartisan | Corey Andrews | 3.9% | 3,228 | |
| Nonpartisan | Owen Hanratty | 2.6% | 2,153 | |
| Nonpartisan | Kelly Casey Van Horn | 1.9% | 1,550 | |
| Total Votes | 82,751 | |||
| Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2012 Presidential General Election Results," November 28, 2012 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Corey Andrews participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on February 4, 2016:
| “ | I want to be part of a Board of Education that's accountable to the public and it stakeholders. As a Board member, I will respect the public and its right to take part in our public education system. I will respect teachers and their needs, rights, and values. And I will embrace the diversity of race, culture, and ideas in Howard County.[5][6] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Maryland. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | I care about all of these issues a great deal. I'm not a fan of having to rank them of importance, as they are all important to me.[6] | ” |
| —Corey Andrews (February 4, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. We do not need charter schools in Howard County. There have been modest successes with charter schools in impoverished urban areas, and I'm not totally opposed to a highly-regulated used of them there, but this is not the case in Howard County. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Simply, no. Standardized tests have too many factors that make them a poor use of time in our education system. Test scores should not be an outcome, they should be used to help students. They shouldn't be used to ranks our students and our schools, but instead they should be used to improve each child's education. Teachers are forced to teach to the test, and aren't able to provide the well-rounded education that they're trained to provide. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| Common core is a situation where the intention was good, but the result was bad. A set of basic national standards in education would create a situation that would allow for some level of "standards" between states. However, Common Core is a set of specific standards, that has created a situation that ties our educator's hands into teaching in ways that are less than ideal. It has also led to more standardized testing and evaluation with the PARCC tests. Therefore, I am opposed to Common Core. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Teacher evaluations are often not a good indicator of teacher performance. "Underperforming" teachers are often not actually underperforming. Unless their is gross neglect of duty, we should not be punishing educators. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. It would be impractical to pay teachers based off performance. Test scores would most likely be used to make the "merit" evaluations, and we know they can be incredibly unreliable and not indicative of a teacher's performance. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Public money directed towards education should be spent on public education. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Traditional expulsion and suspension should be eliminated. Totally removing a student from their original learning environment and either sending them to another school or sending them home interrupts their education. The goal of student discipline should be to correct inappropriate behavior, allow them to reflect on their actions. It should not be a "death sentence" to that student's education or an opportunity for them to stay home from school. Students that are subject to traditional expulsion or suspension are more likely to get in trouble again. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers All of these factors are important, but teachers are the lifeblood of our school system. Well-trained teachers shape our children's thinking and their futures. There's not one person that can't name a teacher that inspired them. |
Additional themes
Andrews' campaign website listed the following themes for 2016:
| “ |
Educators Diversity Public Accountability Testing A Well-Rounded Education Adequate Facilities |
” |
| —Corey Andrews (2016), [7] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Corey Andrews' 'Howard County Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Howard County Public Schools, Maryland
- Howard County Public Schools elections (2014)
- Howard County Public Schools elections (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Maryland State Board of Elections, "Howard County 2016 Presidential Primary Election Local Candidates List," February 10, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Baltimore Sun, "Howard grad ready for second run at Board of Education," May 7, 2014
- ↑ Kristen Smith, "Email exchange with Corey Andrews," accessed February 22, 2016]
- ↑ Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System, "View Filed Reports," accessed October 20, 2014
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Corey Andrews's responses," February 4, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Corey Andrews for Board of Education, "Platform," accessed April 15, 2016
| 2016 Howard County Public Schools Elections | |
| Howard County, Maryland | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: Incumbent, Ann DeLacy • Incumbent, Ellen Flynn Giles • Incumbent, Janet Siddiqui • Corey Andrews • Marcelino Bedolla • Kirsten Coombs • Vicky Cutroneo • Christina Delmont-Small • Mavis Ellis • Robert Wayne Miller • Pravin Ponnuri |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
| 2014 Howard County Public Schools Elections | |
| Howard County, Maryland | |
| Election date: | November 4, 2014 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Bess I. Altwerger • Corey Andrews • Tom Baek • Zaneb K. Beams • Olga Butler • Allen Dyer • Maureen Evans Arthurs • Sandra H. French • Dan Furman • Leslie Kornreich • Christine O'Connor • Mike Smith • Cynthia L. Vaillancourt |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
