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Merry Eisner-Heidorn
Merry Eisner-Heidorn was a candidate for the at-large seat on the Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland. She lost election against fellow challengers Edward Amatetti, Shebra Evans and Jill Ortman-Fouse in a primary election on June 24, 2014.
Biography
Eisner-Heidorn worked as a marketing communications consultant for Fortune 500 companies prior to starting a family. At the time of her candidacy, Eisner-Heidorn was working in marketing and operations for RTO Insider. Eisner-Heidorn has been a chapter president and area coordinator for Moms Offering Moms Support (MOMS) Club. She has also been the legislative director for Start School Later, Inc. and a member of three steering groups dealing with math education in district schools. She has two children.[1][2]
Elections
2014
Judy Docca ran against Kristin C. Trible in the November 4, 2014, general election. District 3 incumbent Patricia O'Neill sought re-election against Laurie Halverson. Newcomer Larry E. Edmonds ran against board member Mike Durso for the District 5 seat. The at-large race started with a primary election on June 24, 2014, featuring newcomers Edward Amatetti, Shebra Evans, Merry Eisner-Heidorn and Jill Ortman-Fouse. Evans and Ortman-Fouse advanced to the general election on November 4, 2014.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan |  Jill Ortman-Fouse |
34.1% | 28,871 | |
| Nonpartisan | Shebra Evans |
31.2% | 26,405 | |
| Nonpartisan | Edward Amatetti | 20.6% | 17,426 | |
| Nonpartisan | Merry Eisner-Heidorn | 14% | 11,860 | |
| Total Votes | 84,562 | |||
| Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Official 2014 Gubernatorial Primary Election results for Montgomery County," July 16, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Eisner-Heidorn did not report any contributions or expenditures to the Maryland State Board of Elections.[3]
Endorsements
Eisner-Heidorn earned endorsements from the Sierra Club and Montgomery County Public School Retirees Association prior to the primary.[2]
Campaign themes
2014
Eisner-Heidorn listed her themes for the 2014 race on her campaign website:
| “ | Merry believes that we are fortunate to have one of the best school systems in the United States. However, significant gaps remain, and we have a host of issues that need addressing (math assessment failure rates, the elementary school report card, ensuring gifted and talented students opportunities for placement within the new curriculum, shifting the focus from litigation to collaboration when addressing the needs of our special education students, etc.) Merry has identified three key focus areas for improvement – and believes that if the Board of Education works to enhance their performance in these areas, our issues stand a better chance of being resolved in a manner that works for all of the county’s stakeholders.
Time What does Merry mean by “time?” Every teacher talks about the time crunch. One of the first areas to take a hit when budgets were cut was planning and collaboration time. As MCPS has introduced new curricula over the years, and as the system continues to roll out the common core, the MCPS equivalent – C.S. 2.0 – and the new state assessments, time for teacher planning and collaboration is critical. A great deal of energy (including state legislation) has been focused on ensuring that teachers won’t be impacted by the new tests, but the PARCC assessments (the twice yearly tests developed by the Partnership for Readiness of College and Careers based on the common core curriculum) are very different from the tests our children have been taking. Thus even if the new tests won’t be used to “assess” a teacher’s performance next year, they will be used to assess student performance. If our school system truly believes that engaging all stakeholders is critical, MCPS might consider requesting time to ensure that everyone understands our new performance metrics before they are used to measure student achievement. Finally, time includes looking at our schedules in light of our system’s goals. The Board of Education has made our children’s health and safety a priority – yet high school bell times won’t be changed for two years. Our children are our future – issues that impact their health and safety should be given immediate extra attention. Talk What does Merry mean by “talk?” Many of us have participated in some sort of dialogue with MCPS. Perhaps you’ve attended a community night with Dr. Starr or a once-every-three-year cluster meeting with the Board of Education. Maybe you attended a book club, or advocated for your school at a budget hearing. But a lot of those experiences lack the feeling of a true dialogue. If you’re a special needs parent, or are requesting an IEP meeting, the conversation might not feel like a dialogue at all. The Board of Education should be doing all that it can to encourage participation from individual parents and diverse parent groups. It should serve as a representative and advocate for every stakeholder involved in the county’s education system. No group should feel that their input isn’t welcome, or that a particular issue isn’t worthy of discussion. No group should feel that their role is more important that any other, or that one group has an advantage over others. In a county as diverse as Montgomery County – where the objective of our Board of Education is to ensure the best possible outcome for all students – every voice should feel heard. Transparency MCPS creates a number of documents that are essential reading for parents if they want to understand how our school system works. These documents range from curriculum guides to the Capital Improvement Program (the allocation of budget dollars to school construction) to the Annual Operating Budget (the allocation of budget dollars to the day-to-day running of our school system). Given that all of these documents are public, Merry believes that it’s incumbent upon the Board of Education to request that MCPS provide them in a manner such that they’re transparent and easy to understand. Transparent documentation of MCPS actions can then be utilized to continuously engage stakeholder feedback (talk), as we take the time to ensure that all participants in this great school system remain on board with the school system’s decisions.[4] |
” |
| —Merry Eisner-Heidorn's campaign website, (2014) | ||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Merry + Eisner + Heidorn + Montgomery + County + Public + Schools"
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Merry for Board of Education, "About Merry," accessed May 2, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through e-mail from Merry Eisner-Heidorn on June 5, 2014.
- ↑ Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System, "View Filed Reports," accessed October 21, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Merry for Board of Education, "3 T's," accessed May 2, 2014
| 2014 Montgomery County Public Schools Elections | |
| Rockville, Maryland | |
| Election date: | November 4, 2014 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Edward Amatetti • Shebra Evans • Merry Eisner-Heidorn • Jill Ortman-Fouse District 1: • Judy Docca • Kristin C. Trible |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
