Anne Arundel County Board of Education member Michelle Corkadel, who has served on the aboard since 2018, has been sworn in as the new president of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE).
Corkadel, who will remain a member of the Anne Arundel Board while serving in her new leadership role at MABE, took the oath of office earlier this week during the association’s annual conference in Annapolis. She succeeds Joseph Goetz of Kent County in the role with MABE.
“I am confident that collectively we have the power to achieve the highest possible level of outcomes for each and every student in Maryland. We just need to be very smart in our planning and priority setting, and astute in our actions,” Corkadel told MABE members after being sworn in. “It is in times like these that our fellow educators and students need our leadership more than ever.”
Corkadel said she would focus her advocacy efforts during her year as president on full implementation funding for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, fewer unfunded mandates and regulations, more innovation and flexibility, and local agency control.
She said she also will work to restore public trust in school boards, particularly given how confidence in leadership eroded during the pandemic.
“This may be one of our most difficult challenges, because the great responsibility of professional and ethical conduct rests squarely on our shoulders,” she said. “We cannot delegate it or relegate it to others. The ultimate decision on who and what we are as individual board members and as a team is ours alone to make.”
Corkadel was elected to represent Councilmanic District 7 on the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County in November 2018 and began a six-year term on December 3, 2018. She served as president of the Board from December 2019 through December 2020.
At MABE, Corkadel has served as treasurer and president-elect. She has also been active on the board’s budget, educational equity, federal advocacy and legislative committees.
MABE has served schools and students across Maryland as a public education advocacy group since 1957. More information about the organization can be found here.