Bryan Powell

Bryan Powell

Education

Bachelor's

Texas A&M University

Graduate

University of Texas, Dallas

Personal

Religion

Christian

Profession

Engineer

Contact

Personal website

Bryan Powell was a candidate for the Place 5 seat on the Frisco board of trustees in Texas. He was defeated in the general election on May 6, 2017.

Powell previously ran for the Place 3 seat but was defeated in the general election on May 9, 2015.

Biography

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Powell is an engineer and has worked as a principal at Westwood Professional Services, a national engineering and surveying firm. He has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Dallas. He and his wife, Meridith, have three children.

Elections

2017

Two of seven seats on the Frisco Independent School District board of trustees were up for at-large general election on May 6, 2017. Incumbent Anne McCausland defeated challengers Asanga Jayatilaka and Jeff Snowden in the race for Place 4. In Place 5, incumbent Debbie Gillespie defeated challengers Bryan Powell and Grace Wang in the race.

Results

Frisco Independent School District, Place 5 General Election, 3-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Debbie Gillespie Incumbent	52.72%	7,865
Bryan Powell	30.20%	4,506
Grace Wang	17.08%	2,548
Total Votes		14,919
Source: Collin County, Texas, "Election Summary Report," accessed August 22, 2017

2015

See also: Frisco Independent School District elections (2015)

The general election on May 9, 2015, in the Frisco Independent School District featured three seats up for election. Place 7 incumbent John Hoxie defeated two challengers, Carlos Gallardo and Rajesh Singh, to retain his seat. In the Place 6 race, incumbent John Classe, who previously represented Place 3, ran unopposed and won re-election to the board. Incumbent Chris Todd did not file for re-election in Place 6. There were three challengers for the one-year term in Place 3: Srikanth Gurrapu, Bryan Powell and Chad Rudy. Rudy won election to the board.

Results

Frisco Independent School District, Place 3 General Election, 1-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Chad Rudy	46.6%	2,107
	Nonpartisan	Bryan Powell	39.3%	1,775
	Nonpartisan	Srikanth Gurrapu	14.1%	635
Total Votes				4,517
Source: Collins County, Texas, "Election Summary Report," accessed June 16, 2015 & Denton County Elections Administrator, "Official Election Results," accessed June 16, 2015

Endorsements

Powell was endorsed by the Metroplex bureau of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.

Campaign themes

2015

Dallas Morning News voter guide

Powell participated in a candidate questionnaire administered by The Dallas Morning News. The full questionnaire can be found here. Select questions and his answers are below:

“	Why are you running for this office? "I am running for the FISD Board to further serve the community of Frisco. The District will encounter many challenges over the next several years due to growth and budget constraints. My skill set and professional background provide a unique perspective not currently represented on the board or by my opponent. I would like to bring this perspective to the board, while working with the other members, to govern and strategically develop a plan to address the challenges of tomorrow. As a business leader, I have led teams that have successfully addressed and navigated many of the challenges the District currently faces such as growth, budgets, strategic planning, operations, development of new infrastructure, etc." Why should voters choose you over your opponent? "I bring a fresh perspective to the board as a business leader who has successfully built a business encountering many of the same challenges FISD has to navigate. In my professional career, I lead a business that creates jobs and designs infrastructure to serve the public and accommodate community growth. I also bring a unique skill set as a professional engineer and business leader that is not represented by current board members or my opponent. My background and experience will compliment and add to the skill sets represented on the board by the other members." If elected, what two issues should be given the most attention and resources during your term in office? "One item that would be given my attention is the strategic plan that is currently being worked on by the board. Developing a strategic plan that successfully addresses the challenges of tomorrow is not a onetime process. A strategic plan is based on assumptions so the experience of the folks making those assumptions is crucial. The strategic plan will only be as good as the assumptions it is based on. We live in a diverse world where outside forces are constantly changing and this impacts the strategic plan and assumptions it is built on. The strategic plan has to be revisited for its relevance to current outside factors and adjusted to navigate those challenges while ultimately mapping out the vision for tomorrow. I have extensive experience developing and implementing strategic plans to address many of the same issues the District faces. I will bring this experience to the board as we continually evaluate and update the strategic plan to adjust for unforeseen outside forces. I will also focus on redistricting and working with the board and citizens of Frisco to come up with common sense solutions to address growth, new school development and the redistricting that is a result of this grown and school development." Should teacher and principal pay be linked to school performance? "Yes. We have great teachers and principals in Frisco and they should be rewarded when their students and schools achieve. Conversely, teachers and principals that do not perform should not be rewarded in the same manner. Performance is a driver for compensation in other industries and is one of the things that has allowed American businesses to excel and lead in the world." Do you support or oppose charter schools in your school district? "I support giving parents and citizens a choice in how they want to educate their children. If the local system is not working then other options should be available." How would you rate parental involvement in your school district and how would you seek to improve it? "I believe Frisco ISD has great parental involvement. People want the best education for their children and one way to do this is to partner with local PTA's by getting involved and volunteering. I would continue to promote the involvement of parents through my relationship with PTA's and the Watch DOGS program." What would you do to improve your school district's communication with parents, including those who do not speak English? "I would continue to promote transparency especially around the decision making process. As a business leader, I understand it is difficult to accommodate everyone's request and that there are times that you have to make decisions that are for the greater good. However, listening to folk's perspective and educating them on how and why you derived at a solution, even if they disagree, goes a long way toward building trust. I would continue to promote this as a member of the board." What is the most crucial issue facing this district that the school board and superintendent aren’t addressing, and how would you recommend this issue be addressed? "I would rather focus on the advantage of diversifying the representation on the board so that we have a team of folks with different perspectives that will provide unique insight and solutions to addressing the challenges we face. We have some significant challenges that we have to overcome due to the growth Frisco is experiencing. Diversifying the team and representation will only make us better equipped to solve these challenges."	”
—Bryan Powell's questionnaire responses (2015)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Bryan Powell Frisco Independent School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Bryan Powell - Google News

See also

• Frisco Independent School District
• Frisco Independent School District elections (2017)
• Frisco Independent School District elections (2015)

External links

Suggest a link

• Frisco Independent School District
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page