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Amy Gillespie
Amy Gillespie was a candidate for Zone 2 representative on the Bentonville School District school board in Arkansas. Gillespie was defeated in the by-district general election on September 19, 2017.
Gillespie participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2017
One of the seven seats on the Bentonville School District Board of Education in Arkansas was up for by-district general election on September 19, 2017. In his bid for re-election, incumbent Brent Leas defeated challenger Amy Gillespie.[1][2]
Results
| Bentonville School District, Zone 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Brent Leas Incumbent |
71.83% | 510 |
| Amy Gillespie | 28.17% | 200 |
| Total Votes | 710 | |
| Source: Benton County Clerk, "Schoolboard Election," accessed September 19, 2017 | ||
Funding
Gillespie reported $4,101.27 in contributions and $4,101.27 in expenditures to the Benton County Clerk, which left her campaign with a $0.00 balance in the election.[3]
Endorsements
Gillespie was endorsed by NWACC board of trustees member Deanne Witherspoon.[4] Gillespie was also endorsed by a number of community members. Click here for a list of her supporters.
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Amy Gillespie participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[5] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on July 26, 2017:
| “ | I want to achieve fairness and flexibility in rezoning, work for equity in buildings and programs, build trust with the community through transparency and accountability, develop long term plans the public can depend on with a focus on responsible spending.[6][7] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Arkansas. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | These are all inportant topics for the school board and administration to tackle.[7] | ” |
| —Amy Gillespie (July 26, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes. While I do not favor any plan that takes money away from public schools, in Bentonville our district is growing faster than our infrastructure can. I believe charter schools can act as a pressure valve to relieve overcrowding in the short term. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should be involved in the district routinely. I believe the state and school district should work in partnership. There are large differences in needs among districts in this state and I believe we should work with the state to achieve our goals on a case by case basis rather than a one size fits all approach. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Standardized tests are one method to evaluate achievement but they are not perfect and should not be the only measure for either student achievent or teacher success. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Offer additional training options. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. I'm against any program that takes money away from public schools. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsions should be considered a last resort and used in cases of violence or danger to other students and staff. Alternative learning environments should be utilized as much as possible. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers Student/teacher ratio, curriculum, parental involvement, and administration are all important but Teachers have the ability to effect all areas via recommendations, reaching out to administration and parents, and adapting curriculum to best teach their students. |
Candidate website
Gillespie highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:
| “ | Re-zoning
Amy understands that with new schools boundary adjustments are needed. However, it can be done better. We need to re-zone only when it's absolutely necessary as demonstrated by data. We need to be thoughtful and not shuffle the same students back and forth time and again. We need to think outside the box to resolve population issues in the center of town. Families should have advance warning and not have a decision thrust upon them with no time to adjust. And we need some flexibility. Amy will advocate for a set of criteria to allow parents to appeal their child's planned move. Consideration needs to be given to special needs students and siblings and step siblings spread throughout the district. Equity Amy believes we need to do more to keep our older buildings on par with our new ones. But, we also need to address equity in programs. Programs like PE for Life at Cooper Elementary are helping those students succeed. Our district needs to look at implementing successful programs across the district instead of threatening to close them. Fiscal Responsibility Amy firmly believes in prioritizing spending to benefit the most students. How many students will benefit? How does this impact the quality of education? What do we have to sacrifice to pay for this? Amy will ask the tough questions. Long Term Planning Since 2014 Amy has been advocating for a 10 year plan. She was thrilled this year when the administration finally provided one, but dismayed when her opponent suggested reducing that to a 5 year plan. Not only do we need to have a long term plan now, Amy believes we need to continually review and update that plan to always look toward the future. Plans need to be based on all available data and facts. Those facts need to be communicated to the public and many possible solutions explored. Amy believes our current plan needs to be expanded with details such as where the next schools will be built, specifically what they will be (elementary, middle, or junior high), and how much each building is likely to cost. A dynamic checklist is needed so the public can easily see what steps need to be completed in advance of new buildings. When will road work begin? When will architectural designs be completed? The public is paying for the buildings. They should be able to easily see the progress and follow along as the district completes the steps along the way.[7] |
” |
| —Amy Gillespie (2017)[8] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Amy Gillespie Bentonville School District school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Benton County Clerk, "2017 Annual School Election Filing," accessed July 12, 2017
- ↑ Benton County Clerk, "Schoolboard Election," accessed September 19, 2017
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Taylor Jennings, Benton County & Probate Clerk’s Office Deputy Clerk," November 7, 2017
- ↑ Amy Gillespie for Bentonville School Board, "Endorsements," accessed September 11, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Amy Gillespie's responses," July 26, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Amy Gillespie for Bentonville School Board, "On the Issues," accessed September 11, 2017
| Bentonville School District elections in 2017 | |
| Benton County, Arkansas | |
| Election date: | September 19, 2017 |
| Candidates: | Zone 2: • Incumbent, Brent Leas • Amy Gillespie |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
