Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Marlena Brookfield
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Marlena Brookfield ran for election for an at-large seat of the Cincinnati Board of Education in Ohio. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2019.
Brookfield completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2019
See also: Cincinnati Public Schools, Ohio, elections (2019)
General election
General election for Cincinnati Board of Education At-large (3 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Cincinnati Board of Education At-large on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Eve Bolton (Nonpartisan) | 26.0 | 29,093 |
| ✔ | Carolyn Jones (Nonpartisan) | 25.4 | 28,344 | |
| ✔ |  | Ben Lindy (Nonpartisan) | 17.8 | 19,849 |
| Ozie Davis (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 11.9 | 13,327 | ||
| Heather Couch (Nonpartisan) | 9.9 | 11,079 | ||
 | Marlena Brookfield (Nonpartisan)  | 9.0 | 10,062 | |
| Total votes: 111,754 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Marlena Brookfield completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Brookfield's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
1) Re-build trusting relationships with all district stakeholders through active, ongoing dialogue and engagement.
2) Strengthen the role of student voice in school decision-making processes.
Fair funding for public education is the area of public policy I believe to be most critical. When our schools are forced to do more and more with less, students are the ones who suffer most. Ohio's state funding formula overrelies on local property taxes, and was deemed unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court on multiple occasions. Tax exemptions and incentives given away to those who can afford to pay their fair share increase the burden on those who have been paying in, and increases education inequalities among school districts across the state. I've been fighting for fair funding for a long time, and will continue to do so as a school board member.
Someone I'm proud to call a friend (and neighbor) is Sherese Slaughter-Haynes. We've both had similar struggles as young parents to make sure we're doing the best we can for our kids and ourselves. Every obstacle life has thrown at her, she's made it through because she is not only a strong, resilient woman, she also has a wide network of friends and family that love and support one another. She proves to me that good people are out there to lift each other up every day, and if either of us ever needs anything, we're just a couple houses away from each other.
Diane Ravitch's "Reign of Error" and Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals"; as a public education activist, these two books have provided me a wealth of information to combine concrete data on our schools with organizing for action. I believe in the power of everyday people to create long-lasting change.
Honesty, accountability, accessibility, authenticity, open-mindedness, creativity
I'm a product of Cincinnati Public Schools, and have a child who is a current student, which gives me insights on how the district has changed (for better or worse), and what work still needs to be done. Since deciding to run for school board, I've been a regular presence throughout the District, adding my voice as an appointed member to the CPS Strategic Engagement and Planning Committee, serving as a Parent Representative on a high school Local Decision-Making Committee, and making time to volunteer in our school buildings. I have a much deeper appreciation of the hard work it takes to make sure children are prepared for graduation and beyond, and I am fully committed to continuing it.
First and foremost, you must be someone who loves and cares about children. You must believe in their ability to reach high standards of excellence. Following that, you must then be knowledgeable enough about education policy and practice to support children in reaching these high standards. As with all elected offices, a school board member should act in good faith and be accountable for their actions/decisions, be accessible to constituents, and put school needs ahead of political wants.
You don't have to be a certain kind of person to run for office and win. Creative, out-of-the-box thinking is what we need to make sure "the way things work" is what works for everybody.
I was in kindergarten during the Persian Gulf War. I remember seeing images of oil wells on fire and collecting "Support Our Troops" stickers because the eagle on them looked like the picture of my elementary school mascot.
In my senior year of high school, I worked at Steak n' Shake as a Drive-Thru Attendant. I left after 3 months to concentrate on school, graduation, and preparing for my post-secondary education.
Boards of education are the governing bodies of a school district. Board members set the vision, mission, and goals for the district, and create policies to support them. Additionally, they are the ones who oversee the district's finances to make sure taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly.
All CPS district stakeholders; this includes our students and families, staff, community members, members of the local business community, and elected officials from all levels.
On the campaign trail, I offer my contact card and urge people to get in touch with me with questions, suggestions, and ideas, because I can't only rely on my knowledge to make appropriate choices on the school board. I recognize that there are a variety of reasons for lack of family involvement in schools, and that most of them are not because parents don't care. People have busy schedules and can't always take the time to get to a conference night or parent organization meeting. Just because we might not see you doesn't mean you shouldn't be heard. I will be accessible and share feedback with my colleagues on the Board, as well as maintain active, ongoing conversations by meeting people where they are, not requiring them to always come to me.
Yes; Representation matters, and having district staff that reflect the diversity of our student body helps improve positive school culture and academic outcomes. We need to be able to offer competitive salary/benefits packages to recruit, as well as retain high-quality educators from all walks of life, and promote teaching as a viable, lucrative career path to students to create a pipeline for future employment.
One of the greatest disservices done to American students was the push for "College or Bust". Vocational opportunities in public schools started to disappear, and with that were opportunities for students to gain experiences and skills they could transfer to well-paying careers that don't necessarily require 4-year degrees. The sentiment that if you don't go to college you're somehow less-than is still upsettingly pervasive, and is downright harmful when there are so many good jobs in skilled labor that go unfilled.
Fine Arts and Civics are also areas in which we should have stronger curriculum to highlight the benefits and real-world applications of public participation in democracy and the Arts.
Fine Arts and Civics are also areas in which we should have stronger curriculum to highlight the benefits and real-world applications of public participation in democracy and the Arts.
Citizen lobbying at all levels of government to keep the issue of fair funding on the front burner is critical, but also making sure schools are part of any conversation about community development. Great schools and great communities thrive together, not operating in isolation.
The right to a free, quality education is part of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". When students are afraid to go to school because of the threat of gun violence, it is trampling on this right and hurts responsible 2nd Amendment supporters. I believe in common sense gun legislation; arming teachers in classrooms is NOT a solution, and in fact, School Resource Officers around the country agree with this. Students these days have enough to worry about; fearing they may be a victim of gun violence should not be one of them.
Cincinnati Public Schools already has a vast array of partner organizations in mental health services, but what we need are additional school counselors who can help address student/faculty needs and refer them to appropriate service providers.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
