Amy M. Blanchette
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Amy M. Blanchette was a candidate for at-large representative on the Fall River Public Schools school board in Massachusetts. Blanchette was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Blanchette participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Biography
Blanchette began working as a note taker for the Office of Disability Services in September 2016 and as an office assistant for the Guardianship Program at Fall River Family Services Association in August 2017. She earned a degree in general studies from Bristol Community College and began studying political science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in 2017. Blanchette became a master certified writing tutor, Newman's Civic Fellow, and a Toastmaster Competent Communicator. She also earned a Global Leadership Certificate. She has served as vice president of the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, as secretary of the Toastmasters International Fall River Innovators Club, as secretary of Lafayette-Durfee House, as treasurer of the Flint Neighborhood Association, and as a member of HealthFirst, Dream Out Loud, and Our Revolution Fall River MA.[1]
Elections
2017
Six seats on the Fall River Public Schools School Committee in Massachusetts were up for general election on November 7, 2017. Incumbents Paul Coogan, Mark Costa, and Joseph Martins won their re-election bids along with challengers Kevin Aguiar, Joshua Hetzler, and Thomas Khoury. Challengers Amy M. Blanchette, David Cowen Jr., Susan Gancarski Dunse, Kristen Gauvin, Crystal Stone, and Jessica Wong were defeated in the general election on November 7, 2017. Challenger Sean Connell was defeated in the primary election on September 12, 2017.[2][3] Wong unofficially withdrew from the race in October 2017, but her name still appeared on the ballot.[4][5]
All seven seats on the school committee were up for election. The seventh seat was held by the mayor of Fall River, but was not covered by Ballotpedia as the city fell outside of municipal elections coverage.[2]
Results
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Paul Coogan Incumbent |
13.91% | 7,393 |
| Mark Costa Incumbent |
11.68% | 6,208 |
| Joseph Martins Incumbent |
10.90% | 5,795 |
| Kevin Aguiar |
10.53% | 5,598 |
| Joshua Hetzler |
9.91% | 5,269 |
| Thomas Khoury |
9.60% | 5,099 |
| Kristen Gauvin | 8.47% | 4,503 |
| Amy M. Blanchette | 6.61% | 3,511 |
| Jessica Wong | 5.50% | 2,924 |
| Crystal Stone | 5.49% | 2,919 |
| Susan Gancarski Dunse | 4.50% | 2,394 |
| David Cowen Jr. | 2.84% | 1,510 |
| Write-in votes | 0.04% | 19 |
| Total Votes | 53,142 | |
| Source: Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Elizabeth Camara," December 2, 2017 | ||
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large Primary Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Kevin Aguiar |
13.12% | 4,106 |
| Paul Coogan Incumbent |
12.84% | 4,018 |
| Joseph Martins Incumbent |
11.47% | 3,592 |
| Mark Costa Incumbent |
11.23% | 3,515 |
| Joshua Hetzler |
8.74% | 2,737 |
| Thomas Khoury |
8.47% | 2,650 |
| Kristen Gauvin |
6.34% | 1,986 |
| Amy M. Blanchette |
6.09% | 1,908 |
| Jessica Wong |
5.57% | 1,743 |
| Crystal Stone |
5.10% | 1,598 |
| Susan Gancarski Dunse |
4.28% | 1,339 |
| David Cowen Jr. |
3.43% | 1,073 |
| Sean Connell | 3.32% | 1,040 |
| Total Votes | 31,305 | |
| Source: Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Elizabeth Camara, Fall River Elections," October 6, 2017 | ||
Funding
The City of Fall River does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Endorsements
Blanchette was endorsed by the Coalition for Social Justice for the general election.[6]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Amy M. Blanchette participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[7] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on August 26, 2017:
| “ | First and foremost, I want to create in the Fall River Public School System, a fair, equal, education system where children feel safe, are able to learn, a productive and uplifting environment where parents and teachers can effectively communicate with each other, to achieve satisfactory, quality public education[8][9] | ” |
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 Massachusetts. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Arts Rating- I am in very much in favor of arts and humanities expansions and believe it is important.[9] | ” |
| —Amy M. Blanchette (August 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.) |
|---|
| No. |
| 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 defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. I think standardized tests are hurting our education system |
| 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? |
| 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. Private schools should be responsible for their own fiscal management though tuition and means, just not taxpayer's dollars. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| We need to find alternative measures to student displine, taking the child out of school where they are not learning at home, and removing them from the situation at hand, does nothing to further the child's education, or teach them right from wrong. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Student-teacher ratio. |
Candidate website
Blanchette highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:
| “ | My name is Amy Marie Blanchette and I am excited to announce my candidacy for Fall River School Committee.
I am a single parent of a child in the Fall River School District in 7th grade and have been active in his education since his first day. Spending many days before I decided to go to back to school, in his classroom helping out where needed. I am a recent graduate of Bristol Community College, a current full-time student at UMASS-Dartmouth, and work for a local non-profit community-based Association here in Fall River. As many of you might know, I am an avid volunteer in the community and am extremely passionate and committed to not only the community but also a strong advocate for both public education and public higher education. While attending Bristol Community College, I was very active on campus and could be found helping other students on a consistent basis. Whether it was helping my fellow students find a textbook, due to the high costs associated with the purchase of one, running a meeting as student senate president, advocating for my fellow students in one of the several committees I served on, or speaking out at the statehouse in regards to student debt and the high costs of tuition and fees. Access issues such as hunger, homelessness, transportation, and textbook fees have always been an important component to a student having access to the tools needed in order to obtain their education and I feel it is no different with a child in the Fall River Public School System. I am known to be a fighter when it comes to the needs of not just my child, or myself, but of everybody. Whenever I am in a board meeting or committee meeting, I always make sure to bring the conversation back full circle and help people see the bigger picture, so that when it comes time to vote, they know that we are not voting based on our own agendas or issues. I find that it is hard for people to make decisions based on situations and circumstances that they have never had to experience. I see this missing today in a big way, not everyone has your best interest at heart, and it bothers me. I recently had a discussion with a recent graduate of Resiliency Preparatory School. During this discussion, they confided to me, that their mother does not have a car and works two jobs. If this student missed the bus, it was too far a distance for them to walk and he was then marked absent. After being absent six times, this student who had a significantly high GPA and at one point was in the Upward Bounds program at Bristol Community College, was then marked as failing at school and gets an automatic F. They were then forced to attend RPS, where they were able to graduate. While it is great that this student was able to graduate, it was not the clear intended path the student planned to take and they are now penalized by not graduating with their class, and losing the high GPA they had worked so hard for. This is an access issue, and automatically failing children out of school, without questioning their reason behind it, or offering support or help does nothing to help the betterment of this student. As a single parent, I know first-hand just how debilitating this can be, it can change the entire course of a child’s future. Why are we allowing things like this to continue? It’s time we get the parents more involved, yes! But we also need to remember to respect the parents and have a genuine concern for where they are coming from, we are all struggling in some way, and no one should be categorized or put into a tiny little box segregating them for their economic hardships. Parents do not feel as if they have a voice or feel as though their voice does not matter. We need to work to start changing some of these policies, and one of them is giving parents the innate ability to go before the school committee and be heard. Of course with stipulations, such as time restraints, but nonetheless, I do support this and feel it is imperative that we step up and start making some real change. Students would bloom in a way we have never seen before if we decided to elect people who share this genuine concern and are ready to advocate on behalf of all students and parents. In return, teachers are able to teach instead of focusing on all of these issues, whether it be social services, mental health, trauma, or IEP assistance.[9] |
” |
| —Amy M. Blanchette (2017)[10] | ||
Political philosophy
Blanchette submitted the following political philosophy to Ballotpedia:
| “ | Education is the most important issue facing this country. I am the only parent running for school committee, and historically single parents are not represented in the school system.[9] | ” |
| —Amy M. Blanchette (2017)[1] | ||
She also added:
| “ | It's imperative that we focus on the social emotional learning of our students. We need to change with shifting demographics of the population of the city.
Vote Blanchette, New Leadership for a Brighter Future.[9] |
” |
| —Amy M. Blanchette (2017)[1] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Amy M. Blanchette Fall River Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Information submitted on Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form on August 26, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Herald News, "Final day to file: Preliminary Fall River school board election is a go," August 8, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Results of Fall River preliminary election," September 12, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Wong removes herself from consideration for Fall River School Committee," October 17, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Fall River City Election results 2017," November 7, 2017
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with [mailto: blanchetteamy@gmail.com Amy M. Blanchette]," October 2, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Amy M. Blanchette's responses," August 26, 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Amy Marie Blanchette for Fall River School Committee, "Home," accessed September 7, 2017
| Fall River Public Schools elections in 2017 | |
| Bristol County, Massachusetts | |
| Election date: | Primary election: September 12, 2017 • General election November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Paul Coogan • Incumbent, Mark Costa • Incumbent, Joseph Martins • Kevin Aguiar • Amy M. Blanchette • Sean Connell • David Cowen Jr. • Susan Gancarski Dunse • Kristen Gauvin • Joshua Hetzler • Thomas Khoury • Crystal Stone • Jessica Wong |
| Important information: | What's at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
