Carlos Gonzalez (Colorado)

This page was current at the end of the official's last term in office covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Carlos Gonzalez

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Widefield School District 3 school board At-large

---

Report an officeholder change

Education

Bachelor's

Excelsior College, 2011

Graduate

Webster University, 2014

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army

Years of service

1988 - 2015

Personal

Birthplace

New York, N.Y.

Religion

Christian

Profession

Insurance Agent

Carlos Gonzalez was an at-large member of the Widefield School District 3 school board in Colorado. He assumed office in 2019. He left office on December 4, 2023.

Gonzalez ran for election for an at-large seat of the Widefield School District 3 school board in Colorado. He won in the general election on November 5, 2019.

Gonzalez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Gonzalez was born in New York, New York. He graduated from Excelsior College in 2011 with an undergraduate degree and earned a graduate degree from Webster University in 2014. As of 2019, Gonzalez worked as a State Farm insurance and financial services agent. He also held property, casualty, life, and health insurance licences and a Series 6 securities license.

Gonzalez served in the U.S. Army from 1988 to 2015.

Elections

2019

See also: Widefield School District 3, Colorado, elections (2019)

General election

General election for Widefield School District 3 school board At-large (2 seats)

Carlos Gonzalez and incumbent Neil Nelson defeated Victoria Latrell and Edward Mouchette in the general election for Widefield School District 3 school board At-large on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carlos Gonzalez (Nonpartisan)	36.9	4,383
✔		Neil Nelson (Nonpartisan)	31.7	3,758
	Submit photo	Victoria Latrell (Nonpartisan)	29.8	3,540
		Edward Mouchette (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	1.6	185

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,866
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Carlos Gonzalez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gonzalez's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a small business owner (Carlos Gonzalez State Farm Agency), the Founder/Director of True North Empowerment Services, Inc., and a 26 year veteran of the United States Army. I retired at the rank of First Sergeant.

I deployed in support of Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

I have 30 years of effective leadership experience and have been blessed with the ability to bring people together for a common goal.

I am married with 5 children. I have one daughter and 3 grandchildren who attend District 3 schools.

I earned A Master of Arts in Human Resource Management, 4 Colorado State insurance licenses, and a Series 6 Securities License.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• The safety of the District students and staff is the number one priority.
• Our students deserve the best possible education.
• The way to provide the best possible education is to attract & retain the best possible educators and support staff.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am personally passionate about empowering students, educators, and support to become the best possible version of themselves.

We need to hold our teachers to a high standard of performance and compensate them accordingly. They prepare youth, our greatest resource, to successfully compete in a global economy.

A District's report card should be graded by how prepared the students are to enter life after high school.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to Ms. June Walker of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Ms. Waller has dedicated her life to public service here in Colorado. She is a fearless woman who does what is right no matter how unpopular it may be.

I would like to be as strong an influence on people and policies as she has been in the last 50 years.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Strong leadership skills. The ability to listen. The ability to bring people together.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Better prepared students to compete in a global economy.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

To keep the students and staff safe in every aspect of district operations.

Who are your constituents?

All students, staff, and thier families.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

I would support thier needs by identifying each need and creating an action plan to meet those needs. We have to stay open minded when dealing with each individual.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

I will build relationships through consistent contact throughout the community.

I would ensure a strong relationship with the district staff, students, and thier families.

What will you do to build a better relationship with parents in the district? What plans do you have to be inclusive of parental involvement?

Parents/guardians must be involved with thier students education. School staff can not do it all. I do realize that we live in an age where parents work so many hours to support thier family, that they may not be able to be as involved as they would like. We need to leverage relationships with nonprofit organizations to create a pool of trusted adults who can assist hard working families with student involvement.

I will take every opportunity to be in the community and listen to concerns. I will bring these concerns to the board and address them in a timely manner.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

I believe that we need to recruit with diversity in mind, but the best possible candidates must be chosen. There are hiring methods to ensure both.

We need to ensure recruitment from many sources/areas if the United States.

What issues get in the way of quality education? How would you address these obstacles?

I believe over-crowded classrooms and standardized tests get in the way of a quality education.

Additionally, the common core methods of instruction appears to be a hindrance in teaching/learning. I understand the need to develop critical thinking skills, but I believe the method is too tedious to use in an already over-crowded classroom.

What constitutes good teaching? How will you measure this? How will you support advanced teaching approaches?

The ability to make lessons digestible to ANY student constitutes good teaching.

Teachers need to be closely supervised (not micromanaged). Supervision is for coaching and me mentorship.

Teachers should be allowed to be as innovative as necessary. This is how we make lessons digestible to everyone.

What type of skills should students be learning for success in the 21st century?

Students need to be taught skills which help make them confident and resilient.

Students need to learn interpersonal communication and problem solving skills.

Students need to be taught discipline in every aspect of thier lives.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2019 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic