Pamela Bowers was appointed to the Cincinnati Board of Education to fill an unexpired term in early 2019 and won her bid re-election later that year for her two-year term. Pamela’s children are graduates of the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) and she has served on decision making and strategic planning committees for the schools. As a member of the Strategic Planning Committee, Pamela seeks to implement strategies to grow the district. Pamela is the Director of School-Based Mental Health Services for the Central Clinic Behavioral Health where she provides outpatient mental health therapy and early intervention substance abuse counseling. As a Policy Committee member, she assisted in creating the district’s Anti-Racism Policy and will continue to make a change in the community.

Meet the Candidate

Can you tell our members a little bit about your journey to filing as a candidate?

I am completing a two year unexpired term. Therefore, as an incumbent Board of Education Member, I know that my mental health background and experience is most helpful in understanding the social emotional learning needs of children. I am committed to sustaining these supports in our district.

Tip O’Neill famously said that “all politics is local.” What are the top two issues your community faces today and how do you plan to address them?

One of the main top issue is how to sustain in-person learning for our students to work at decreasing learning loss as a result of the Pandemic. Our Board just passed a Vaccination Requirement Policy for all school staff and co-located partners. We seek to maintain a lesser contract rate while utilizing safety precautions we have had in place prior to the new policy, i.e, mandate of mask for everyone, as well as contact tracing protocols. The second main issue is that while we are focused on sustaining in-person learning, we have an interim Superintendent. We recently decided on a search firm assist us with this process. Lots of transition and moving parts, yet I am focused maintaining as much stability within our Board via re-election!

What stands out in our values as most important to you and your experience (or expected experience) in public office? Our values are:

∙      Economic empowerment

∙      Equity and independence

∙      Dominion over our bodies

∙      Access to education

∙      Safe communities in which to live and raise our families

Equity and Independence stands out most in the Matriots values for me. As a Mental Health clinician I understand the importance of customizing, in order to obtain a specific goal through empowerment and collaboration. Advocacy for equity may result in only one voice initiating this conversation yet will yield an independent thinker who is able to to be interdependent!

What does a Matriots PAC endorsement mean to you and your campaign?

Being endorsed by The Matriots validates my voice and encourages me to forge ahead because my voice is important!