Hello all,
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brad Sykes and I'm running as a write-in candidate for the Columbus Board of Education in the general election this November.
I know what you're thinking - write-in candidates have no chance of winning. You would be right, if this were an election like any other. But, luckily for me, extreme ineptitude on the part of standing Columbus BOE members has guaranteed that at least one write-in candidate will win election to the board this fall. There are 3 official ballot candidates running unopposed for FOUR open board sports. This means that one candidate will have to be elected as a write-in. I figured, why not me?
I mean, I am 31 years old, a life-long resident of Columbus and proud graduate of the Columbus Public School system (Centennial High School), and have wanted to get into public service for years. This seemed to be the perfect storm to formally begin my career, so why not give it a shot?
I plan on mainly grass-roots campaigning as I have very, very few monetary resources to go all out, so I will try to hit up all of the festivals this summer with some sort of print material with my name splashed all over it. Flyers, stickers, etc are all in the works. I also hope to have a table at all of the Gallery Hops leading up to the election. I will need a posse to do said campaigning, so any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I am also hoping to have a meet and greet happy hour (ok, maybe several happy hours) at a bar/restaurant in the Short North in the near future.
My platform is built mainly on rebranding the image of Columbus Public and gaining the trust of district residents that the system is not decrepit, obsolete, and a lost cause. I have designs on instituting new systems for evaluating teachers and students alike (including focusing on STEM education for students and doing away with standardized testing), as well as cutting spending on outsourcing/consulting and re-investing that into extracurricular activities (mainly focusing on arts programs). I have lots of progressive ideas and sincerely hope that I can have your support going forward.
I started a Facebook group last week, which has a little more information on my platform and some other stuff. If you would join and tell any of your friends about it, it would be greatly appreciated:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=80306187295&ref=mf
Thank you for your time,
Brad Sykes




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