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Boulos Haddad
Boulos Haddad was a candidate for at-large representative on the San Bernardino City Unified School District school board in California. Haddad was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Haddad participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2017
Three of the seven seats on the San Bernardino City Unified School District Board of Education in California were up for nonpartisan general election on November 7, 2017. In their bids for re-election, incumbents Barbara Flores, Abigail Medina, and Danny Tillman defeated challengers Mayra Ceballos, Robert Fick, Boulos Haddad, Anthony Jones, Pam Montana, and Eduardo Alberto Valverde.[1][2]
Results
| San Bernardino City Unified School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Danny Tillman Incumbent |
19.36% | 4,504 |
| Abigail Medina Incumbent |
19.17% | 4,460 |
| Barbara Flores Incumbent |
17.64% | 4,104 |
| Pam Montana | 16.27% | 3,785 |
| Anthony Jones | 10.03% | 2,334 |
| Robert Fick | 9.57% | 2,227 |
| Mayra Ceballos | 3.58% | 832 |
| Eduardo Alberto Valverde | 3.16% | 734 |
| Boulos Haddad | 1.22% | 283 |
| Total Votes | 23,263 | |
| Source: San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Final Certified Election Results," accessed November 28, 2017 | ||
Funding
Haddad filed an exemption form detailing he would not spend or receive more than $2,000 for this campaign. Because of this, he did not have to file additional campaign finance reports.[3]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Boulos Haddad participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[4] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 19, 2017:
| “ | If elected to school board, I hope to create an environment that gives students the opportunity to succeed. To me that means: safer schools, better student to student learning opportunities, at home technology aided study, and a clearer career or education path after high school.[5][6] | ” |
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 California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| “ | As a district we have to give all students the same opportunity to succeed. Background should not equate success.[6] | ” |
| —Boulos Haddad (September 19, 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. Charter schools are critical to innovating in our district. We need to be able to adapt to student needs and charter schools give students that flexibility. |
| 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? |
| Yes. Standardized tests are only one metric of student achievement, albeit an important one. They give us a perspective on how students are doing compared with others in different districts. As a result, it helps us gauge where our district may be lacking. |
| 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. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. A teacher should not be measured to how well they tailor to a test. Rather, teachers should have a comprehensive score that includes merit as only one factor - and not the principle one. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. The state should pay the same amount of money for students whether they are in private school or in public school. If a family feels that they would like their children to attend a private school, the average cost of educating a child in a public school should be used to assist in paying for the tuition. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be used as a last means resort to expel students who are harmful to others' learning. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers. A teacher who has the right resources can create an environment for students that enriches learning. Although all of these factors are critical, the teacher - student relationship is the most central to student advancement. |
Candidate website
Haddad highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Technology Technology has fundamentally changed how the world operates in the 21st century. We need to empower students by making technology work for them and bring new forms of learning to the modern classroom. School and the Careers After Bullying Budgeting Meals After School Tutoring |
” |
| —Boulos Haddad (2017)[7] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Boulos Haddad San Bernardino City Unified School District school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- San Bernardino City Unified School District, California
- San Bernardino City Unified School District elections (2017)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ San Bernardino County Elections, "2017 Consolidated Election - November 01, 2017: Candidate List," accessed August 15, 2017
- ↑ San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, "Final Unofficial Election Night Results," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ San Bernardino County Voter Registration, "Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed September 29, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Boulos Haddad's responses," September 19, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Boulos Haddad, "Issues," accessed October 25, 2017
