7 who file to run for TPS board include Ford
8/25/2007Seven people, including a former Toledo mayor, submitted petitions this week to run for the Toledo Board of Education.
Former Mayor Jack Ford was among those filing petitions at the Lucas County Board of Elections by Thursday's deadline. The others seeking to be on the ballot are:
•Richard Brown III, a staff auditor for Toledo City Council overseeing the city's sewer overhaul project.
•Cheryl Catlin, a graphic and Web designer who has been critical of the district's performance and test scores, especially among its African-American students.
•Ted Jobe, who retired in 2005 after 36 years as a social studies and history teacher at South Toledo's Libbey High School.
•Harold Mosley, a 27-year Toledo police veteran now assigned to the department's special victims unit.
•Chris Myers, a University of Michigan Web master who unsuccessfully ran for the board in November, 2005.•Lisa Sobecki, president of the Ottawa River Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization, chairman of the district's Parent Congress, and a member of the Point Place Educational Task Force.
The elections board is expected to certify the candidates' ballots within two weeks.
Two seats on the board are up for grabs in November: the seat vacated by Deborah Barnett, who resigned effective May 25, and that of Larry Sykes, who will not seek re-election.
With Mr. Ford in the race, the school board election is likely to attract a lot of attention, board member Darlene Fisher said.
Mr. Ford was appointed in June to complete the remainder of Ms. Barnett's term.
The candidates who have begun campaigning have stressed the need for change in the school system, which has lost thousands of students during the past decade and just recently was placed in "academic watch," the equivalent of a D grade in Ohio's five-tier rating system.
Mr. Ford was mayor from January, 2002, to January, 2006. He has a law degree and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Toledo.
He served four terms on Toledo City Council and became a state representative in 1994.
Within four years, Mr. Ford became the Democratic leader in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Ms. Fisher questioned Mr. Ford's decision to run for the board because, when applying for Ms. Barnett's seat, he said he would not run in November.
The board voted 3-1 to appoint Mr. Ford. Ms. Fisher cast the dissenting vote.
Meanwhile, four people filed petitions to run for the two Washington school board terms expiring at the end of 2007.
Incumbents Lisa Canales and David Hunter are seeking re-election. Others who filed are Thomas Ilstrup, who was appointed to school board in 2004 and ran unsuccessfully in 2005, and Ronald Levi, a Talmadge Road resident who has been chronically critical of the school system.
Those petitions also need to be certified by the elections board.
Contact Ignazio Messina at:
imessina@theblade.com
or 419-724-6171.