The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Elementary principal dives into state politics
After guiding local students, a Lorain principal hopes to use her experience guiding state policy makers in Columbus.
Chantelle C. Lewis, principal of Lorain’s Larkmoor Elementary School, has joined the campaign of Bill O’Neill, the former Ohio Supreme Court justice who is running for governor as a Democrat.
“We’re the two candidates that have a growth mindset to change the world,” Lewis said.
As his running mate, Lewis aims to become the next lieutenant governor of Ohio — depending on the outcomes of the primary election in May and the general election in November.
Lewis, 42, has worked 19 years in education. She earned her two master’s degrees before turning 30.
At age 29, she ran for the school board in East Cleveland but did not make it. She was appointed to that district’s state oversight commission, then ran successfully for the school board.
She ran for East Cleveland City Council, won and became vice president of that board.
In 2008, Lewis served as a delegate for then candidate Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention.
O’Neill, who lives in Chagrin Falls, was considering an educator as a running mate, Lewis said. The two met and found they had similar ideas about the future of Ohio, she said.
“I decided to join him on this venture to be his education czar,” Lewis said.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has a cabinet of advisers, but none dedicated to the education of children, she said. O’Neill wants to make education a priority for PREK through college, Lewis said.
“How are policy makers making decisions for educators?” she said. Ohio has regulations in place for professionals such as doctors and lawyers, but Ohio policy makers do not order them how to treat illness or give legal advice, Lewis said.
“We’re the only profession, I feel, as educators, that we don’t get our just due,” she said.
Lorain schools is operating under House Bill 70 to overcome the academic distress rating, Lewis said.
But Lorain is different from Youngstown and Cleveland, which face their own academic difficulties, Lewis said. Ohio has 619 school districts and they are not all the same, she said.
“We need to come up with a better plan and you need to have all stakeholders involved,” Lewis said. “You can’t just say, hey, I’m a policy maker, I’m going to make this change. No, you’ve got to have the community involved. It takes students, it takes parents, it takes teachers, all involved in order for it to be successful.”
Juggling her work for Lorain City Schools and the gubernatorial race is possible,
Lewis said.
Lewis recalls her experience from 2009, as a Cleveland school principal, East Cleveland school board vice president and East Cleveland city council candidate. She described herself as “very organized,” which helps.
“I’m not saying I’m Super Woman, but I’m organized enough to know how to do it,” Lewis said. “This is not my first rodeo.”
If educators are going to teach students to follow their dreams, then educators themselves must do the same, she said.
“You do anything your mind tells you to do and I tell my students this: You have to think big,” Lewis said. “I think that’s a small thought, when people say, how are you going to do that? I can do anything that my mind sets me to do, so I don’t limit myself.”
As for the campaign trail, Lewis encouraged voters to consider O’Neill’s plan.
Their platform, posted at oneillforgovernor.org, features several main points:
• Legalization of marijuana for medicine and as a job and revenue producer
• Reduce Ohio’s prison population of nonviolent marijuana offenders
• Establish a “world class network” of regional mental health hospitals to treat drug addiction
• Establish high speed rail from Cleveland to Cincinnati
• Mandate solar panels on government buildings
• Reduce the cost of college by 10 percent a year
• Set Ohio’s minimum wage at $15.