C. Douglas Brown

C. Douglas Brown

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C. Douglas Brown was a candidate for District 6 representative on the Albuquerque Public Schools school board in New Mexico. Brown was defeated in the by-district general election on February 7, 2017.

Elections

2017

See also: Albuquerque Public Schools elections (2017)

Four of the seven seats on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education were up for by-district general election on February 7, 2017. In his bid for re-election to District 3, incumbent Lorenzo Garcia defeated challengers Ali Ennenga, Amy Legant, and Charles White. District 5 incumbent Steven Michael Quezada and District 6 incumbent Don Duran did not file to run for re-election, leaving both seats open for newcomers. Four candidates—Annie Bell-Rahman, Rachel Gonzales, Kayla Marshall, and Candelaria Patterson—ran for the District 5 seat, and Patterson won the race. Six candidates—Abbas Ali Akhil, Elizabeth Armijo, C. Douglas Brown, Melissa Finch, Paula Maes, and Paul Sievert—ran for the District 6 seat, and Armijo won. The race for the District 7 seat featured incumbent David Peercy and challengers Ian Burch, William Steinberg, and Brian Tierney. Peercy won re-election to the board. A total of six candidates withdrew from the race before their names were put on the ballot: R. Jason Vaillancourt in District 3, Than-Lan Sena, Alex Villanueva, and Anne Young in District 5, Stephen Verchinski in District 6, and Sina-Aurelia Pleasant-Soul in District 7.

Results

Albuquerque Public Schools, District 6 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Elizabeth Armijo	53.27%	2,622
C. Douglas Brown	18.39%	905
Abbas Ali Akhil	13.04%	642
Paul Sievert	7.58%	373
Paula Maes	5.28%	260
Melissa Finch	2.44%	120
Total Votes		4,922
Source: Bernalillo County Clerk, "APS/CNM School Board Election February 7, 2017," accessed February 22, 2017 and Bernalillo County Clerk, "APS/CNM School Board Election was certified Friday, Feb. 10th, 2017," February 13, 2017

Funding

See also: Campaign finance in the Albuquerque Public Schools election

Brown reported $2,756.82 in contributions and $2,756.82 in expenditures to the New Mexico Secretary of State, which left his campaign with a $0.00 balance in the election.

Campaign themes

2017

Brown participated in a questionnaire provided by the Albuquerque school district. The district's questions are shown in bolded text, and Brown's answers follow below.

1. Why do you want to be a board member for Albuquerque Public Schools?

“	Because I am concerned about the situation in APS, with low graduation rates and with many graduates requiring remedial courses in college. This affects our entire community and state. It makes it difficult for students to get good jobs, and it affects employers who are having trouble finding qualified employees. I am retiring in March and want to give back to the community by serving on the APS Board now that I will have the time to do so.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

2. What is your interest in education?

“	I have a history of family involvement in education. My mother taught public elementary school. My wife taught pre-school and PE at a private school. My daughter is currently working as a mid-school band director at a Title I school in Colorado Springs. My grandchildren attend school out of state. I want to improve our educational system because it has such an impact on our society.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

3. In what ways will you support the mission and vision of the district?

“	I wholeheartedly support the mission and vision of the district. There are many things that can and should be done to ensure that students succeed. Some of the things I would do are: Implement a teacher evaluation process not based primarily on student test scores. Reduce or eliminate the dependence on computer-based standardized tests for the evaluation of schools and teachers. Examine the budget to see where more money can be directed to the classroom. Emphasize quality education focused on the basics of reading, writing, and math, not political correctness. Examine the curriculum and make any changes needed to ensure that students develop good basic skills in elementary school. Restore the independent internal auditing function in APS to ensure fiscal accountability.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

4. How will you work with the superintendent?

“	It is imperative that there be a good working relationship between the Board and the Superintendent in order to have a successful outcome in educating our students. The Board sets policy and approves the budget, whereas the Superintendent implements policy and provides information and recommendations to the Board.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

5. What is your past and current involvement with Albuquerque Public Schools?

“	My two children attended Chelwood Elementary and Jackson Mid-School and graduated from Manzano High School.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

6. What should be the relationship between the superintendent and Board of Education?

“	See answer to Question 4 above.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

7. What qualities and skills would you bring to the Board of Education?

“	I am a Senior Engineer at Sandia Labs serving as the Engineering Manager for a major DOE computer network. I oversee the work of about 30 engineers across the country and direct the work of about 10 engineers at Sandia. I manage an annual budget of $2-4 million. Some of the skills I have learned in my 40 years at Sandia are leadership, communication (speaking and writing), and financial management. I served as a line manager for seven years from 1993-2000. During the rest of my career, I have operated without formal authority and have managed to be very successful using persuasion and influence to accomplish shared objectives. I have served on the boards of a couple of organizations and am accustomed to working collaboratively in a group setting. I believe these will be valuable skills for serving on the Board of Education.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

8. What school or community volunteer activities have you participated in related to the community?

“	I served as the Sunday School Superintendent in two different churches over a 30 year period. I was responsible for recruiting teachers, organizing classes, and providing curriculum and materials. During that 30 years, I personally taught children in classes ranging from pre-school through mid-school. For the past ten years, I have taught adult classes. This experience on a small scale gives me an inkling of the massive issues facing an educational system as large as APS.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

9. How do you plan to work with constituents?

“	I am not sure who you are including in the term 'constituents', but I plan to take advantage of Board meetings, community forums, and other venues to receive input from parents, teachers, administration, and concerned citizens.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

10. What do you see as opportunities and challenges to the district?

“	The challenges are many. APS faces high drop-out rates, poor reading, writing, and math skills among many of our graduates, low teacher morale and a shortage of qualified teachers, and schools that are failing according the PARCC testing standards. I see an opportunity to turn this situation around and make APS an exemplary school system, if we take a fresh look and think out-of-the-box to identify new and better approaches.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

11. What do you think is the best way for the district to accomplish the three academic goals?

a. Early learning - Early learning begins with expecting parents, is nurtured as children develop language and number skills in elementary school, and grows with students as they mature in supportive classrooms becoming adept at using these skills in a variety of contexts.

“	We need to start with offering classes to parents to help them develop parenting skills long before their children reach Kindergarten, and even before birth. This does not all have to be done by APS. I believe we can involve community organizations and take advantage of volunteers to support this activity.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

b. College and Career Readiness - Students acquire skills which support formal and informal life-long learning to adapt and remain productive through changing economic and job market landscapes. All students will be prepared for postsecondary opportunities (college and/or career) without the need for remediation.

“	I think we need greater variety in our curriculum, especially in high school. Some students have a need to attend college and an interest in doing so. I was one of those students. But other students, probably the majority, have no interested in attending college and probably no need to do so; however, they do need good skills in reading, writing, math, and critical thinking. The one-size-fits-all approach of Common Core and the associated PARCC tests does not lend itself to the variety that is needed in the curriculum. I believe we need more programs in high-school that are oriented toward vocations, and perhaps there are opportunities to partner with CNM in this respect. If the students see their classes as relevant to success in life and as more interesting to them, they will be less likely to drop out.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

c. Developing the Whole Child - APS will ensure each child is safe, engaged, challenged and supported through programs and practices focused on removing social, emotional and physical barriers to learning and increased health literacy.

• Safe and welcoming environment
• Whole Child includes ... physical, mental, emotional, social, intellectual
• Remove barriers to learning
• Discover and develop individual gifts and talents
• Use skills to better the community

“	I have already addressed some of this in Section (b) above. I believe the teachers need to be given the flexibility to exercise their creativity to engage students in the learning process. Students learn in a variety of ways, and a good teacher is able to tailor their teaching methods to the needs to the students in their classroom. There are opportunities to partner with the community in meeting the needs of parents and students, as I have mentioned above. I particularly like the mentoring program in elementary schools that I heard about recently, and I know two men currently serving as mentors. I would like to see this program expended to take advantage of community volunteers to provide assistance and encouragement to struggling students.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

12. If elected, how will you work with the current board?

“	I have served on boards in the past, and I realize I will be just one of several board members. It is necessary to work together cooperatively and collaboratively, if we are to rise to meet the substantial challenges faced by APS.	”
—C. Douglas Brown (2017)

See also

• Albuquerque Public Schools, New Mexico
• Albuquerque Public Schools elections (2017)

External links

Suggest a link

• Albuquerque Public Schools
• Campaign website