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Carl Blumenstein
Carl Blumenstein was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Charles County Board of Education in Maryland. He lost election against incumbents Jennifer S. Abell and Michael Lukas along with 17 other candidates in a primary election on June 24, 2014.
Biography
Blumenstein is a network engineer with BAE Systems. He and his wife have five children who have attended district schools.[1]
Elections
2014
Carl Blumenstein ran in the June 24, 2014, primary against 19 other candidates. Board members Roberta S. Wise, Maura H. Cook, Patricia Bowie, Pamela Pedersen and Donald Wade did not file for re-election.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan |  Jennifer S. Abell Incumbent |
10.1% | 10,806 | |
| Nonpartisan | Michael Lukas Incumbent |
8.5% | 9,124 | |
| Nonpartisan | Virginia McGraw |
8.1% | 8,701 | |
| Nonpartisan | Victoria Talley Kelly |
8.1% | 8,659 | |
| Nonpartisan | Margaret T. Marshall |
6.2% | 6,579 | |
| Nonpartisan | Barbara Palko |
6% | 6,434 | |
| Nonpartisan | Robert Michael Pitts |
5.4% | 5,818 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mark Crawford |
5.2% | 5,582 | |
| Nonpartisan | Melissa Pascarella |
4.2% | 4,436 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jason Henry Sr. |
4% | 4,290 | |
| Nonpartisan | Michael A. Wilson |
4% | 4,262 | |
| Nonpartisan | Lorina Harris |
3.9% | 4,153 | |
| Nonpartisan | Stephen Ziegler |
3.8% | 4,062 | |
| Nonpartisan | Karla M. Kornegay |
3.7% | 3,909 | |
| Nonpartisan | Richard Wallace | 3.6% | 3,807 | |
| Nonpartisan | Derrick Terry | 3.6% | 3,798 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jocelyn Mann Denyer | 3.3% | 3,527 | |
| Nonpartisan | Betsy Marie Eubanks | 3.2% | 3,440 | |
| Nonpartisan | Marcus Tillman | 3.1% | 3,273 | |
| Nonpartisan | Carl Blumenstein | 2% | 2,169 | |
| Total Votes | 106,829 | |||
| Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Official 2014 Gubernatorial Primary Election results for Charles County," July 16, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Blumenstein did not report any contributions or expenditures to the Maryland State Board of Elections.[2]
Endorsements
Blumenstein did not receive any official endorsements in this election.
Campaign themes
2014
Blumenstein's campaign website listed his themes for the 2014 race:
| “ |
Redistricting Just like any other county in America that encounters growing pains, Charles County is not the exception to the rule. Our school system continues to struggle with overcrowding yet the only solution we seem to come up with is redistricting. I'm not saying that I know the answer but I feel that we can find creative ways to relieve overcrowding in our schools without redistricting. One thing that does come to mind is we need to stop building houses in the county and start focusing on finding other sources of revenue. If we do have to redistrict then lets look at what other systems have implemented successfully. Mr. Brian Meshkin, Board of Education member for Howard County, has some creative common sense ideas. One idea being "Open Enrollment" by allowing the parents to determine which school their children should attend. Another idea is to empower parents through social media to contribute redistricting ideas and to vote on them. Last but not least put students first! To read Brian's ideas visit his blog by clicking on the link located in the news section. We need not be original nor re-invent the wheel. Common Core While the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) may be a solution to the present problems of our nation's declining rank in the global Program for International Student Assessment. I do not see its advantages in its implementation in our schools. What I see is an increase budget due to its implementation, undue stress on our teachers, possible negative effect on our minority and low-income students, and unnecessary data collection by the federal government. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), also known as Common College and Career Ready Standards, began when the National Governors Association and a group of people started work on a set of standards in the areas of Math and English. CCSS is not a Federal Government creation; they are recognized as the accepted standard in the Race to the Top initiative, which is a federal program in which states receive grant money if they implement CCSS. CCSS, is in fact, copyrighted by the NGA Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officer and is licensed to each state's Department of Education, which means changes to the standards are not controlled by states or even the federal government. If you do a little research, you will find that the initial motivation for CCSS was part of the American Diploma Project or ADP. ADP and the ADP Network is the creation of Achieve, which is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization created by a group of governors and business leaders. Achieve produced a 2004 report titled "Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma That Counts", which stated that the current high-school diploma fell short of employer and college demands and that the American high school system is not providing high school graduates with the skills and knowledge they needed to succeed in college and careers. The report also said that the diploma itself lost its value because graduates could not compete successfully beyond high school, and that the solution to this problem is a common set of rigorous standards. For the record, I have a high school diploma, I have no college degree, I am a Network Engineer and I have been in the IT field for over 22 years. |
” |
| —Carl Blumenstein's campaign website, (2014) | ||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Carl + Blumenstein + Charles + County + Public + Schools"
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Maryland Community News Online, "Board of education candidate looks to involve community," April 18, 2014
- ↑ Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System, "View Filed Reports," accessed October 20, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Carl Blumenstein for Charles County Board of Education, "On the Issues," accessed May 8, 2014
| 2014 Charles County Public Schools Elections | |
| La Plata, Maryland | |
| Election date: | November 4, 2014 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Jennifer S. Abell • Carl Blumenstein • Mark Crawford • Jocelyn Mann Denyer • Betsy Marie Eubanks • Lorina Harris • Jason Henry Sr. • Victoria Talley Kelly • Karla M. Kornegay • Michael Lukas • Margaret T. Marshall • Virginia McGraw • Barbara Palko • Melissa Pascarella • Robert Michael Pitts • Derrick Terry • Marcus Tillman • Richard Wallace • Michael A. Wilson • Stephen Ziegler |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
