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Corrie Beth Wikoff
Corrie Beth Wikoff was a candidate for District 5 representative on the Madison County Board of Education in Alabama. Wikoff lost in the general election on November 8, 2016.[1]
Biography
Wikoff earned her B.S. in applied discrete mathematics from Auburn University. She later received an MBA from Troy University. Wikoff is a senior manager of access management at EarthLink. She is also the co-owner of Fan Day Bling.[2]
Elections
2016
- See also: Madison County Schools elections (2016)
Two of the five seats on the Madison County Schools school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. A primary election took place on March 1, 2016.
District 4 incumbent David Vess (R) was running for another term, while District 5 incumbent Jeff Anderson did not file for re-election. Vess lost to challenger Dave Weis (R) in the Republican primary, and Weis won without opposition in the general election. Tyler McKinney (R) withdrew from the race in February 2016 making Shere Rucker (R) the Republican nominee in District 5. Rucker defeated Corrie Beth Wikoff (D) in the general election.[3][4]
Results
| Madison County Schools, District 5 General Election, 6-Year Term, 2016 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Shere Rucker |
64.15% | 8,257 | |
| Democratic | Corrie Beth Wikoff | 35.66% | 4,590 | |
| Write-in votes | 0.19% | 24 | ||
| Total Votes | 12,871 | |||
| Source: Madison County, Alabama, "2016 GENERAL & STATEWIDE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ELECTION," November 18, 2016 | ||||
Funding
Wikoff reported no contributions or expenditures to the Alabama Secretary of State as of October 24, 2016.[5]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Corrie Wikoff 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 15, 2016:
| “ | I hope be part of a team that works together to more effectively support our students, teachers and community. We can do this through better and more frequent communications with our community. We need an updated website, more feedback solicitations from parents on everything from "How's your students teacher doing?" to "What budget questions do you have?".[6][7] | ” |
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 Alabama. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| “ | Ranking these items is difficult as they all need improvement in our district.[7] | ” |
| —Corrie Wikoff (February 15, 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. I do not think the county systems can or should handle additional administrative work to approve charter schools. |
| 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. Standardized tests should never me the only metric for student achievement. They are helpful to identify potential gaps among peers, between grades and trends over time. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| Alabama's College & Career Readiness Standards were long over due. Helping our parents and community understand what they are and what they are not is critical. The Alabama Department of Ecuation has a FAQ found here. http://web.alsde.edu/general/ALCCS_The_Facts_About_Alabama_College_and_Career_Initiative.pdf |
| 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? |
| Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. I think it's important to have a clear understanding how a teacher would be classified as under-performing and how they would be evaluated. The School Board needs to be supportive in it's policies around mentoring programs and training opportunities. This support is working to include these items in the budget through funding for programs and supplements for teachers that mentor. Educating students is complex work and there is no quick way to ensure all teachers are performing at high levels at all times. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| For serious offensives that involve violence, deadly weapons or illegal activities. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers. Quality, caring, and engaged teachers are critical for the success of our class rooms. We are fortunate in Madison County to have a great teacher team. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Corrie Beth Wikoff' 'Madison County Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedmadison - ↑ LinkedIn, "Corrie Wikoff," accessed October 21, 2016
- ↑ AL.com, "GOP, Dems announce 2016 Madison County electoral qualifiers," November 10, 2015
- ↑ WHNT 19, "Madison Co. School Board candidate Tyler McKinney drops out," March 1, 2016
- ↑ Alabama Votes, "Alabama Electronic Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA) Reporting System," accessed October 5, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Corrie Wikoff's responses," February 15, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Madison County Schools Elections | |
| Madison County, Alabama | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District 4: Incumbent, David Vess (R) • Dave Weis (R) District 5: Tyler McKinney (R) • Shere Rucker (R) • Corrie Beth Wikoff (D) |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
