Ericka Ellis-Stewart
Ericka Ellis-Stewart was a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education At-large in North Carolina. Ellis-Stewart assumed office in 2011. Ellis-Stewart left office on December 11, 2019.
Ellis-Stewart ran for re-election to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education At-large in North Carolina. Ellis-Stewart won in the general election on November 3, 2015.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released a report showing North Carolina's teacher turnover rate tripled from 2010 to 2015. Following the state-wide trend, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district lost a 12-year high of 16.5 percent of their teachers in 2015.[1]
Biography
Ellis-Stewart is the donor relations specialist for Mental Health America of Central Carolinas. She formerly worked as the executive director of Right Moves for Youth and the Johnston YMCA. She has also served on various nonprofit boards and has been a volunteer in the district's schools. She serves on the board for the Council of Urban Boards of Education. McCray earned her bachelor's degree from Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina.[2][3]
Elections
2019
Ericka Ellis-Stewart did not file to run for re-election.
2015
Three of the nine seats on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education were up for election on November 3, 2015. The seats represent the district at-large.
The seats of incumbents Ericka Ellis-Stewart, Mary T. McCray, and Timothy Morgan were up for election. Morgan did not run for re-election. Ellis-Stewart and McCray won re-election to their seats. Newcomer Elyse Dashew won the open seat left by Morgan. The other six candidates—Angela Ambroise, Janeen Bryant, Larry Bumgarner, Levester Flowers, Jeremy Stephenson, and Amelia Stinson-Wesley— were defeated in the election.[4][5][6]
Results
| Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, At-Large, 4-year Term, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Ericka Ellis-Stewart Incumbent |
18.3% | 36,922 |
| Elyse Dashew |
14.9% | 29,955 |
| Mary T. McCray Incumbent |
13.8% | 27,709 |
| Jeremy Stephenson | 11.8% | 23,701 |
| Larry Bumgarner | 10.9% | 21,964 |
| Janeen Bryant | 10.6% | 21,270 |
| Amelia Stinson-Wesley | 7.4% | 14,979 |
| Angela Ambroise | 6.3% | 12,775 |
| Levester Flowers | 5.7% | 11,530 |
| Write-in votes | 0.23% | 453 |
| Total Votes | 201,258 | |
| Source: North Carolina Secretary of State, "11/03/2015 Official General Election Results," accessed November 30, 2015 | ||
Funding
Ellis-Stewart reported $17,780.80 in contributions and $12,619.71 in expenditures to the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, which left her campaign with $5,161.09 on hand as of October 26, 2015.[7]
Endorsements
Ellis-Stewart received an official endorsement from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Educators Association.[8]
Campaign themes
2015
Ellis-Stewart highlighted the following priorities on her campaign website:
| “ | Student Achievement Provide each child with a quality education that prepares them to become productive citizens who graduate on time and are prepared to successfully pursue higher education or compete in the global marketplace. Equity & Academic Excellence Ensure that every school within CMS is equipped to be a school of excellence and desirable to students and parents regardless of its location. Talent Acquisition, Development & Retention Focus on learning by ensuring that each classroom has a well trained, highly effective teacher and that every school has a team of prepared and engaged administrators (i.e. principal, assistant principal, counselors, etc.) Operational Effectiveness Require efficient, equitable and transparent budget decisions that meet the operating and capital needs of a large urban/suburban school district.[9] |
” |
| —Ericka Ellis-Stewart's campaign website (2015), [10] | ||
What was at stake?
2015
Election trends
- See also: 2013 school board elections
The 2015 school board race saw more candidates per seat than the district’s last election in 2013. The 2013 election had 12 candidates running for six seats, averaging two candidates per seat. The 2015 election had nine candidates for three seats, raising the rate to three candidates per seat. With one new member joining the board in 2015, a third of the members had joined the board since 2013. The other two-thirds of the members had an average of six years of experience as a board member as of 2015.
Issues in the district
Jones appointed to empty seat on board
Board member Joyce Waddell resigned from her District 3 seat on the school board when she was elected to the North Carolina State Senate in November 2014. The board was required by law to appoint a new member to fill the empty seat. The board originally split their votes 4-4 between possible appointees Pat Martinez and Levester Flowers. After two votes with the same result, the members decided to reconvene the next week to vote again. The third vote resulted in a 5-3 vote in favor of Ruby Jones over Pat Martinez. Flowers received no votes in the third round of voting.
Jones worked in education in various roles for over 40 years. She previously worked in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district as a teacher and an administrator. At the time of her appointment, she worked as an adjunct professor at Central Piedmont Community College. Jones finished Waddell's term and was up for election in November 2017.[11][12]
| Comparitive statistics on teacher attrition in North Carolina[13] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Total Teachers | Teachers Leaving | Leaving with Career Status | Turnover percentage |
| State Average | 1,887.3 | 276.7 | 200.7 | 14.3 |
| Northampton County Schools* | 155 | 52 | 28 | 33.55 |
| Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools | 8,609 | 1,420 | 858 | 16.49 |
| Graham County Schools** | 87 | 5 | 5 | 5.75 |
| *Highest turnover percentage **lowest turnover percentage | ||||
Teacher turnover hit 12-year high
North Carolina saw the number of teachers leaving the state triple over a five-year period, according to a 2015 report by the state’s department of public instruction. In an effort to retain more teachers, the General Assmebly approved a starting salary increase from $33,000 to $35,000 for new teachers. While the state's school districts saw some of the largest teacher salary increases in the country in 2015, districts like Charlotte-Mecklenburg still fell below the national average for teacher lifetime earnings when salaries were adjusted for cost of living. The report also showed an increase in teachers who left the profession entirely. In 2015, approximately 1,200 teachers reported leaving North Carolina school districts for a different profession. That number was 366 in 2010.[1]
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District saw a teacher turnover rate of 16.5 percent in the 2014-2015 school year, compared to the state average of 14.8 percent. That was the highest rate for the district in 12 years. Over 48 percent of teachers cited "personal reasons" as their reason for leaving the district. The district had the 31st-highest turnover rate of the 115 school districts in North Carolina between 2010-2015. It also had the fourth-highest turnover rate of the 14 school districts in the Charlotte metropolitan area in 2015.[14][13]
| The graph above displays the teacher turnover percent in 2015 for the ten largest schools by enrollment in North Carolina. The table below shows 2015 teacher attrition data for the 39 North Carolina schools that are included in the largest 1,000 schools by enrollment in the country. Click [show] on the right to expand the table.[13] |
| North Carolina teacher attrition full data, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District name | Total teachers | Teachers leaving | Leaving with career status | Turnover percent |
| Alamance-Burlington Schools | 1,507 | 231 | 166 | 15.33 |
| Brunswick County Schools | 805 | 120 | 94 | 14.91 |
| Buncombe County Schools | 1,672 | 217 | 163 | 12.98 |
| Burke County Schools | 847 | 79 | 78 | 9.33 |
| Cabarrus County Schools | 1,895 | 264 | 206 | 13.93 |
| Caldwell County Schools | 838 | 63 | 52 | 7.52 |
| Catawba County Schools | 1,050 | 124 | 105 | 11.81 |
| Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools | 942 | 175 | 133 | 18.58 |
| Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools | 8,609 | 1,420 | 858 | 16.49 |
| Cleveland County Schools | 1,115 | 144 | 117 | 12.91 |
| Craven County Schools | 948 | 167 | 115 | 17.62 |
| Cumberland County Schools | 3,650 | 641 | 483 | 17.56 |
| Davidson County Schools | 1,204 | 112 | 86 | 9.3 |
| Duplin County Schools | 643 | 92 | 62 | 14.31 |
| Durham Public Schools | 2,389 | 488 | 326 | 20.43 |
| Gaston County Schools | 1,906 | 247 | 190 | 12.96 |
| Guilford County Schools | 4,984 | 745 | 534 | 14.95 |
| Harnett County Schools | 1,370 | 266 | 158 | 19.42 |
| Henderson County Schools | 921 | 121 | 98 | 13.14 |
| Iredell-Statesville Schools | 1,300 | 191 | 155 | 14.69 |
| Johnston County Schools | 2,292 | 321 | 230 | 14.01 |
| Lee County Schools | 636 | 118 | 66 | 18.55 |
| Lenoir County Public Schools | 581 | 75 | 48 | 12.91 |
| Lincoln County Schools | 789 | 81 | 68 | 10.27 |
| Moore County Schools | 833 | 144 | 114 | 17.29 |
| Nash-Rocky Mount Schools | 947 | 174 | 128 | 18.37 |
| New Hanover County Schools | 1,686 | 212 | 176 | 12.57 |
| Onslow County Schools | 1,589 | 246 | 163 | 15.48 |
| Pitt County Schools | 1,638 | 286 | 196 | 17.46 |
| Public Schools of Robeson County | 1,511 | 240 | 162 | 15.88 |
| Randolph County Schools | 1,193 | 153 | 116 | 12.82 |
| Rockingham County Schools | 881 | 93 | 71 | 10.56 |
| Rowan-Salisbury Schools | 1,300 | 183 | 144 | 14.08 |
| Union County Public Schools | 2,567 | 401 | 312 | 15.62 |
| Wake County Schools | 10,144 | 1,355 | 1,057 | 13.36 |
| Wayne County Public Schools | 1,218 | 142 | 106 | 11.66 |
| Wilkes County Schools | 631 | 63 | 39 | 9.98 |
| Wilson County Schools | 747 | 124 | 88 | 16.6 |
| Winston-Salem/Forsyth Schools | 3,826 | 472 | 364 | 12.34 |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Ericka Ellis Stewart Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC, "More Teachers Leave North Carolina To Teach In Other States," October 2, 2015
- ↑ Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, "Ericka Ellis-Stewart," accessed July 27, 2015
- ↑ Vote Ericka Ellis-Stewart for School Board At-large, "About," accessed October 15, 2015
- ↑ Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, "Board of Education," accessed June 26, 2015
- ↑ Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, "Candidate Listing," accessed July 20, 2015
- ↑ North Carolina Secretary of State, "11/03/2015 Unofficial Municipal Election Results," accessed November 3, 2015
- ↑ Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed February 2, 2016
- ↑ The Charlotte Observer, "CMS teachers group endorses three in school board election," October 13, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Vote Ericka Ellis-Stewart for School Board At-large, "Priorities," accessed October 15, 2015
- ↑ The Charlotte Observer, "Ruby Jones named newest Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member," February 10, 2015
- ↑ Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, "Ruby M. Jones," accessed October 20, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, "2014-2015 Annual Report on Teachers Leaving the Profession, S.B. 333 Teacher Attrition Data," accessed October 5, 2015
- ↑ Charlotte Observer, "CMS teacher turnover hits 16.5 percent, a 12-year high," October 1, 2015
| 2015 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Elections | |
| Mecklenburg County, North Carolina | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Ericka Ellis-Stewart • Incumbent, Mary T. McCray • Angela Ambroise • Janeen Bryant • Larry Bumgarner • Elyse Dashew • Levester Flowers • Jeremy Stephenson • Amelia Stinson-Wesley |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional measures on the ballot |
