Your monthly support provides voters the knowledge they need to make confident decisions at the polls. Donate today.
Marcelino Bedolla
Marcelino Bedolla was a candidate for at-large representative on the Howard County Public Schools Board of Education in Maryland. Bedolla lost in the primary election on April 26, 2016.[1]
Biography
Bedolla worked for 27 years in federal drug enforcement agencies before becoming a teacher. He was a high school teacher in Baltimore for 13 years prior to his retirement. Bedolla ran for a board seat three times between 1998 and 2010.[2]
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 | ||
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Marcelino Bedolla 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 5, 2016:
| “ | More transparency in the decision making process, facilitate freedom of information requests, develop a collaborative relationship with the superintendent.[3][4] | ” |
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 |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | These rankings are relative and can change according to the circumstances at any given time and in any given school system.[4] | ” |
| —Marcelino Bedolla (February 5, 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. Again, they too would undermine the public school system. |
| 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 only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. The state should not rubber stamp board decisions. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| It takes the scenic route to problem solutions |
| 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. Under performing teachers should not be moved from one school to another. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Merit pay is too dependent on evaluations which are not always objective in nature. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Such a plan undermines the public school system. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Judiciously |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers Teachers make the difference. |
Additional themes
In an April 2016 interview with The Baltimore Sun, Bedolla said that he filed for the election because of concerns that a majority of the board failed to question the superintendent's decisions or discuss issues in meetings.[2]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Marcelino Bedolla' 'Howard County Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
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, "Bedolla believes Howard school board can be more independent," April 1, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Marcelino Bedolla's responses," February 5, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 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 |
