Yea!  Northeast Branch’s Endorsed Candidate for the Ohio State Board of Education Wins

We congratulate and celebrate Meryl Johnson for winning a seat on the Ohio State Board of Education representing District 11, which is made of up three senate districts: District 2/Sen. Sandra Williams, District 23/Sen. Michael Skindell, and District 25/Sen. Kenny Yuko. Now retired, Meryl has been a strong supporter of public education throughout her 40-year career teaching English in the Cleveland Public Schools and serving the teacher’s union as director of community engagement and as an executive board member. Meryl’s platform was summarized by the acronym, “KIDS: Keep standardized testing at a minimum; Include teachers and students’ voices in educat
ional decisions; Demand charter school accountability; and Students are my priority.”

Defending public education is a top AAUW public policy priority. Since we are permitted to endorse candidates in nonpartisan races such as the state board, three area branches voted to endorse Meryl Johnson for the State Board of Education, District 11, including our branch as well as the Heights-Hillcrest-Lyndhurst and Cleveland branches. We then jointly brought a resolution to the floor at the AAUW Ohio Convention’s business meeting on April 9 asking the state to also endorse Meryl. The resolution passed by the three-quarters majority required.  Jackie Evangelista, Northeast Branch public policy chair, spoke for the motion. We will keep you posted on Meryl’s work on the state board.

District 11 includes Willoughby, Willowick, Wickliffe, Ward 4 of Mentor, Mentor-on-the-Lake, Fairport Harbor, Grand River, Painesville, Eastlake, Timberlake, Beachwood, Bedford, Bedford Hts., Bratenahl, Brooklyn, Brook Park, Brooklyn Hts., Cleveland, Cleveland Hts., Cuyahoga Hts., East Cleveland, Euclid, Garfield Hts., Highland Hills, Lakeline, Lakewood, Linndale, Maple Hts., Mayfield Hts., Middleburg Hts., North Randall, Orange Village, Parma Hts., Pepper Pike, Richmond Hts., Shaker Hts., South Euclid, Lyndhurst, University Hts., and Warrensville Hts.