Meet the Candidate: Leslie Kornreich, 40

Leslie Kornreich knows a thing or two about running for the Board of Education.

In 2010, for a seat on Howard County’s school board and came up 1,500 votes shy of winning—a margin of 0.6 percent.

“It was extremely close in 2010,” said Kornreich, who said that for most of 2011 she wasn’t sure whether she would run again.

After the 2010 race, Kornreich said she was increasingly interested in the board’s activities.

“You really pay attention to what is going on with the board, [and] the effects of the decisions they make,” she said. “I am seeing a cascade of decisions that I don’t think are made in the best interest of our students.”

Her two children are among those students: Ellie attends  and Nathan is at Howard High School. She’s a member of the PTA at both schools.

Kornreich also sees the classroom from the head of the class. For more than a decade, she has been a substitute teacher in Howard County.

“As a substitute teacher in the Howard County Public School System [HCPSS], I see a lot of what goes on in our classrooms, not just in my kids’ schools but in other Howard County public schools,” said Kornreich.

Before having children, Kornreich was a full-time Spanish teacher in Georgia. She received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Virginia and her master’s in education from Georgia Southern University. She's instructed at the elementary, middle and high school levels and has taught Spanish at Anne Arundel Community College.

“I think it’s a great combination to have been a teacher and to be a parent of kids who are currently Howard County public school students," said Kornreich. “The more points of view you have to bring to an issue as a board member, the better.”

Another inside perspective Kornreich has is that of a special needs student’s parent; her son has autism.

She said other parents of special needs students have approached her since learning of this during the last election cycle. “I’m hearing from a lot of parents that the supports are not there,” said Kornreich, who is a member of the Howard County Autism Society. 

“The problem is the same exact resources are given out to every school, regardless of its individual needs and its students’ individual needs. It’s a very one-size fits all model for education." She emphasized that she wants to improve education for all students, stating: "I don’t want to marginalize myself by advocating only as [someone interested in] special education."

There is no question that Kornreich advocates for other causes. She has testified before the Board of Education countless times in the past few years.

On several occasions, she has spoken out against , the school site on Coca Cola Drive. In November, she hand-delivered a letter to the county executive's office with at least 70 signatures on it asking Howard County to find an alternative site.

In spite of her and about Oxford Square's potential proximity to an intermodal terminal, the it is moving forward with its plans.

Does that mean she won't testify again? Not a chance.

“I do it because I feel like somebody has to,” said Kornreich. “There are some times I feel like if I don’t get up there, no one else will and [the board] won’t hear anything from anybody—and that’s a green light for them to assume that there are no opinions out there.”

Taking action sets an example as a parent, she said. “Having had children for 15 years now, it’s a lot more productive…to do something about it than to just let it affect me and not try to fix it."

She also testified before the Howard County delegation about , where she voiced her support for the idea of electing candidates by district.

“I feel like there should be somebody up there from the eastern part of the county. I believe part of the reason we are in the overcrowding situation we are [in] is because our position has not been advocated by anybody,” said Kornreich, who lives in Hanover, in a phone interview with Elkridge Patch.

“We have so many elementary schools between 110–125 percent capacity in the northeast. All four of our middle schools are at or above 115 percent capacity. I'm not an urban planner but those numbers tell me those kids are going to need somewhere to go to high school..." said Kornreich, who would like HCPSS to build a high school in the Elkridge area.

In addition to speaking out on issues near to her, Kornreich has been listening to others around Howard County.

Although Elkridge schools weren’t involved in the 2012 redistricting, she attended the hearings to get a sense of what was going on.

"Being a second-time candidate, I know a lot more from talking to people about ways in which a lot of kids are not having their individual needs met," said Kornreich.

"When you don’t see something firsthand, it’s very difficult to advocate for it," added Kornreich. “There are parts of Columbia and parts of the southeast that no one on the board actually lives in, and you’ll find those to be the places with the most achievement issues, overcrowding issues. Coincidence? I don’t know.”