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Ernest Ni'A
Ernest Ni'A was a candidate for District 6 representative on the Racine Board of Education in Wisconsin. Ni'A ran for the seat in the primary election on February 16, 2016. He was defeated in the primary election.[1]
Biography
Ni'A earned his B.A. in business administration from Shaw College. He later received his M.A. in religious education from SS. Cyril & Methodius Seminary. Ni'A is the pastor at Wayman A.M.E. Church.[2]
Elections
2016
The 2016 election for all nine seats on the Racine Unified School District was the district's first using a by district system rather than electing members at-large. A primary election was held on February 16, 2016, for Districts 6 and 7 with the general election on April 5, 2016. Board candidates were required to live in their election districts. The change was enshrined in state law through legislation sponsored by State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R) and State Rep. Tom Weatherson (R), who represent districts that include Racine. The election districts approved by the school board on October 27, 2015, led to three races in 2016 where three incumbents were assured defeat because they faced fellow board members.[3][4]
Candidates backed by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO won seven of the board's nine seats in 2016. Michelle Duchow in District 1 was not endorsed due to her unopposed race and District 9 winner Robert Wittke was endorsed by The Journal Times as a candidate who would stand up to unions.
District 1 candidate Michelle Duchow was the only unopposed candidate in the race. Dennis Wiser defeated fellow incumbent John Koetz in District 2, while incumbent Michael Frontier ousted fellow board member Pamala Handrow in District 3. Julie McKenna defeated Kim Plache to take the District 4 seat. Challenger Steven Hooper defeated incumbent Chuck Goodremote for the District 5 seat. Newcomer Matthew Hanser narrowly defeated board president Melvin Hargrove in District 8. Incumbent Don Nielsen finished first in the District 7 race against challenger Brian O'Connell. Nielsen and O'Connell defeated Adrienne Moore in the primary. Three newcomers were guaranteed to join the board after this election with no incumbents running in Districts 1, 6 and 9. John Heckenlively defeated Jim Venturini for the District 6 seat, while Robert Wittke defeated Kurt Squire in District 9.[4] Ernest Ni'A was defeated by Heckenlively and Venturini in the District 6 primary. Bryn Biemeck was removed from the ballot in District 6 following a Wisconsin Government Accountability Board appeal by the Racine Education Association.[5]
Results
| Racine Unified School District, District 6 Special Primary Election, 2-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 John Heckenlively |
40.28% | 201 |
| Jim Venturini |
32.67% | 163 |
| Ernest Ni'A | 25.85% | 129 |
| Write-in votes | 1.2% | 6 |
| Total Votes (100) | 499 | |
| Source: Racine County Elections, "4th Unofficial Election Results 02-16-2016," accessed February 16, 2016 | ||
Funding
Ni'A reported $3,541.56 in contributions and $800.00 in expenditures to the Racine Unified School District Clerk for School Board Elections, which left his campaign with $3,491.56 on hand as of February 15, 2016.[6]
Endorsements
Ni'A received no official endorsements in this election.
Campaign themes
2016
Ni'A provided the following responses to questions about the 2016 election to The Journal Times:
| “ |
Last year, the School Board was divided for months on the district’s employee handbook. What role should administrators, unions and the board have in future handbook changes? First of all, we need to understand the effects Act 10 had on the handbook. It is my understanding that Act 10 restricts certain bargaining and countering that was permitted historically. The state has also restricted “employment action” and prohibited strikes, which make it very difficult for workers to see an even playing field. However, I believe in a “win-win” method of old-fashioned talk, discussion and compromising to get things done, and that my friend, we still have at our disposal. The district recently entered into a tentative agreement to buy the Sturtevant Sportsplex for $5.2 million, and the district is studying how to use and pay for the complex before the board’s May 10 deadline to approve the deal. If you are elected, under what conditions would you support the district buying the Sportsplex? The bean counter in me will have to respond by insisting that everything we do must have a benefit that equals the cost. Although not everything we do can be adequately measured in dollars and cents, this is an area I believe we can. Therefore I will enter the discussion asking: “How can the Sportsplex pay for itself?” As the district implements block scheduling in high schools next year in preparation for new career academies, some have criticized the district for moving ahead on the change too fast, most notably employee unions. Should the district go ahead with block scheduling next year? Why or why not? I believe the “block schedule” concept is a good thing because it allows the teacher more time to learn the student and vice-versa, but timing and implementation is equally important. Therefore, I cannot give an intelligent answer without more data on both sides. Over the last year, the villages of Caledonia, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant have been weighing whether to fund a study of leaving the Racine Unified School District. Would you support these communities breaking away from Unified? Why or why not? The new School Board districting that has been imposed should solve the problem. We have three districts that will assure representation of these municipalities, particularly Caledonia and Mount Pleasant. Therefore, I do not support breaking away, rather, I encourage working together. If elected, what is the most pressing change you would push for the district to make? I am campaigning on more than one issue. However, if I have to pick one, it would be the Chromebooks. One of the two committees of the school district I presently serve on regards Chromebooks and Internet access. We are in the age of technology and can no longer afford any of our students not to be completely computer-literate and technologically savvy. |
” |
| —Ernest Ni'A (2016), [2] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Ernest Ni'A' 'Racine School Board'. 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 namedlist - ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Journal Times, "Three newcomers vie for 6th District seat on Unified School Board," February 13, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednewmap - ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Journal Times, "Election filings, Racine County school boards," January 6, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbiemeck - ↑ Nick Katers, "Email exchange with Patricia Meyer," February 12, 2016]
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
