Darrell Toland
Darrell Toland was a candidate for District 4 representative on the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors in Washington. Toland was defeated in the by-district primary election on August 1, 2017.
This candidate participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to view his responses.
Biography
Toland's professional experience includes working as a user interface and motion designer.[1]
Elections
2017
- See also: Seattle Public Schools elections (2017)
Three of the seven seats on the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors in Washington were up for at-large general election on November 7, 2017. A primary election for all three seats was held on August 1, 2017, because more than two candidates filed for each seat. Although the general election was held at large, the primary election was held by district.
Eden Mack was the District 4 winner, defeating fellow challenger Herbert Camet Jr. in the general. The two fended off Sean Champagne, Jennifer Crow, Megan Hyska, Lisa Melenyzer, and Darrell Toland in the primary. In District 5, Zachary DeWolf was victorious over Omar Vasquez. They both defeated Alec Cooper, Andre Helmstetter, and Candace Vaivadas in the primary. District 7 board member Betty Patu successfully defended her seat against challenger Chelsea Byers. They both defeated Tony Hemphill in the primary.[2]
Results
| Seattle Public Schools, District 4 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Eden Mack |
70.47% | 18,954 |
| Herbert Camet Jr. |
7.75% | 2,084 |
| Lisa Melenyzer | 6.11% | 1,643 |
| Jennifer Crow | 4.84% | 1,302 |
| Darrell Toland | 4.65% | 1,250 |
| Megan Hyska | 3.58% | 963 |
| Sean Champagne | 2.14% | 576 |
| Write-in votes | 0.46% | 125 |
| Total Votes | 26,897 | |
| Source: King County, "2017 Results," accessed August 15, 2017 | ||
Funding
Toland opted for mini reporting in this election, according to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.[3] Candidates who opted for this had to keep a record of their contributors and expenditures, but were not required to report them. If they raised and spent more than $5,000 in aggregate or received more than $500 from any one contributor, including themselves, they would have had to switch their filing status from mini to full reporting.[4]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Darrell Toland participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[5] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on May 30, 2017:
| “ | Curtail wasteful district spending.[6][7] | ” |
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 Washington. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| “ | Expanding choice is a bait and switch perpetrated by conservatives as a way to reduce public education funding, increase monies to the top 1% via private schools and or push a religious agenda. All bad.[7] | ” |
| —Darrell Toland (May 30, 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. It's a scam to funnel money away from public schools in order to subsidize private, often with religious curriculum schools. |
| 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 be involved in the district routinely. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. All kids test differently and teacher's shouldn't be forced to "teach to" a particular test in order to get that box checked. |
| 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? |
| Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. What would that be based on exactly? Standardized testing? |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. This question has been asked three different ways now. NO |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| How is it used now? |
| 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 Smaller classroom sizes are probably the most important piece of the student's success but parent involvement it the key to a schools overall success. Busing children to a school outside their neighborhood reduces the likelihood of those student's parents being active in that school. |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Seattle Times, "In a twist, nearly half of Seattle School Board District 4 hopefuls have no kids," July 24, 2017
- ↑ King County, "Who Has Filed," accessed May 22, 2017
- ↑ Washington Public Disclosure Commission, "Local Candidates," accessed October 12, 2017
- ↑ Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, "New Candidates," accessed June 22, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Darrell Toland's responses," May 30, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Seattle Public Schools elections in 2017 | |
| King County, Washington | |
| Election date: | Primary: August 1, 2017 General: November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | District 4: Herbert Camet Jr. • Sean Champagne • Jennifer Crow • Megan Hyska • Eden Mack • Lisa Melenyzer • Darrell Toland District 5: Alec Cooper • Zachary DeWolf • Andre Helmstetter • Candace Vaivadas • Omar Vasquez |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
