David Mannis
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David Mannis is an at-large Democratic member of the Stamford Board of Education in Connecticut. He won his first term on the board in the general election on November 3, 2015.
Biography
Mannis retired from his job in state government relations. He is married and has two adult step-children. As of the 2015 election, Mannis had no family members employed by the school district.[1]
Elections
2015
- See also: Stamford Public Schools elections (2015)
Five seats on the Stamford Public Schools Board of Education were up for election on November 3, 2015. The following three at-large incumbents' seats were up for regular general election in 2015: Lorraine Olson (R), Jerry Pia (R) and Polly Rauh (D). Additionally, two unexpired terms were also up for special election following resignations from the board. Rauh was the only incumbent to seek re-election; her defeat saw all five seats go to newcomers. The election did not change the board's Democratic majority; post-election, the board had six Democrats and three Republicans. This is the highest single-party majority allowed by law.
Republicans Mike Altamura and Andy George won two of the three full-term seats up for election while fellow party member Gerald Bosak won one of the unexpired terms. The Stamford Republican Town Committee initially endorsed Gerald Bosak and Prasad Tungaturthy for the one-year terms and Mike Altamura, Andy George and former board member Nicola Tarzia for the three-year terms. Tungaturthy, however, withdrew from the race on August 31, 2015. John Ciuffo was selected as the new Republican in Tugnaturthy's place.[2] Republicans Altamura, George and Tarzia ran as a slate called 2015BOE Team.
Democrats David Mannis and Jennienne Burke won a three-year and one-year term, respectively. The Stamford Democratic City Committee did not endorse any of its incumbents for re-election.[3] Instead, the party endorsed Angelica Gorrio, David Mannis and Ligia Marroquin for the three-year terms and Jennienne Burke and Monica DiCostanzo for the one-year terms.[4] Democrats Gorrio, Mannis and Marroquin also formed a slate for the election.
Incumbent Rauh still sought to retain her seat on the board despite lacking her party's nomination. The Democratic board member chose to run as an unaffiliated candidate instead of forcing a primary election within her party. Rauh's party registration as a Democrat, however, meant the state law requiring a minimum of one-third of the board's seats to be held by minority parties following each election still applied to her in this election.[5] John Zito also ran as an independent petitioning candidate in the regular-term race. Rauh placed seventh and Zito eighth out of the nine candidates running in the election for three-year terms.
Rolf Maurer was the sole Green Party candidate for the election. He sought a three-year term, but he placed last in the nine-candidate race.[6]
Results
| Stamford Public Schools, At-Large (3-year terms), General Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Mike Altamura |
17.4% | 5,445 | |
| Republican | Andy George |
15.9% | 4,997 | |
| Democratic | David Mannis |
14.9% | 4,656 | |
| Democratic | Angelica Gorrio | 14.1% | 4,431 | |
| Republican | Nicola Tarzia | 14.1% | 4,428 | |
| Democratic | Ligia Marroquin | 14.1% | 4,405 | |
| Petitioning | Polly Rauh Incumbent | 5.2% | 1,624 | |
| Petitioning | John Zito | 2.8% | 882 | |
| Green | Rolf Maurer | 1.5% | 472 | |
| Total Votes | 31,340 | |||
| Source: Connecticut Secretary of State, "Prescribed Form for Return of Votes Cast At A Municipal Election," accessed November 5, 2015 | ||||
Endorsements
Mannis received no official endorsements in this election.
Campaign themes
2015
Mannis provided the following answers to questions from the Stamford Advocate:
Why are running for the Board of Education? What qualifies you for the job?
| “ | A free public education system is perhaps American government’s finest contribution to society; our children’s education is and will always be our future.
I chose to enter the Board of Education race because I believe the governance of Stamford’s schools is in crisis and want to do what I can to support a diverse Democratic slate and specifically to help give Stamford voters new choices this November. I will bring to Board membership legal training and a career of solving diverse and complex problems in public and highly charged environments. My strengths are the ability to propose creative actions and solutions, to be persuasive in group settings, and to propel good ideas to successful fruition.[7] |
” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[8] | ||
What are the district’s strengths and weaknesses?
| “ | The Stamford school district’s strengths are the city’s very healthy and growing economic base, a powerful line-up of elected officials representing Stamford in State government, a diverse population including groups determined to have their children succeed and, of course, parents and other residents eager to see our school system perform at its best. Its weaknesses include a relatively greater dependence on local tax revenue and the challenge of a student population that includes significant numbers of students with language challenges and special educational needs. Above all, the district is currently confronted with School Board dysfunction, disaffection in traditionally strong teacher community and resulting unnecessary harm done to our students. Change is urgently needed.[7] | ” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[9] | ||
How well has Superintendent Winifred Hamilton performed? Do you agree with her decision to retire?
| “ | As a citizen of Stamford I am grateful to her for her years of dedicated service but concur in the widespread view that Ms. Hamilton’s decision to resign was an inevitable recognition that there had to be a change of leadership in the district.[7] | ” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[10] | ||
Should the search for a new superintendent be delayed until after the election?
| “ | The board should absolutely defer the selection of the next superintendent until a newly-constituted board is elected and seated. There may be a need to show the public that the selection process is moving forward with appropriate speed. This can be done by putting an interim superintendent in place and using a consultant to assemble a list of suitable internal and outside candidates. But all interviews and discussion of potential candidates should be the province of the new board. The board that hires the Superintendent is most likely to inspire his or her best effort. And should the hire not pan out in the future, accountability should fall squarely on the board members then in place.[7] | ” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[11] | ||
How do you think the current board handled the Stamford High School sex scandal? What might you have done differently?
| “ | From Day One - no later than when the first board member heard of the Danielle Watkins incident - the board should have recognized an informal state of emergency and devised procedures to deal with it. The superintendent should have investigated immediately. When it became evident that the superintendent might be a personal participant in relevant events the board should have sought a procedure to allow her to step aside temporarily while the matter was resolved (an idea only now under belated consideration).
Cautious and unproductive advice of counsel should have been challenged more aggressively; the eventual need to change board counsel confirmed this. Fear of litigation should never become the reason to defer otherwise legitimate action, engage in strategies of apparent self-preservation or shirk necessary steps to restore public confidence. Board members should never have become preoccupied with real and imagined slights and instead concentrated on ending the ongoing damage to student and teacher and morale.[7] |
” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[12] | ||
The condition of the district’s facilities has been called into question lately. Should the Board of Education bring its facilities management in-house or should it continue to contract with an outside firm? Why?
| “ | The question of whether vendors consistently outperform in-house staff hasn’t been resolved in the (too many) years since I started in government. I would rather approach the issue by asking: how does oversight of facility management result in the best value for our students? It is not purposeful to blame a vendor who seeks a reasonable return on his or her efforts. Unless a vendor is under contract to address every aspect of facility maintenance, he or she should not be automatically blamed whenever a deficiency arises. The district definitely needs better and more consistence prioritizing and managing capital and maintenance projects. Until I have a board member’s access to more information, my general expectation would be that facility maintenance, whether outsourced or managed in-house, should advance educational goals, that it should be funded realistically, that no malfeasance occur and that the work be performed conscientiously and legally.[7] | ” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[13] | ||
Define what you think the school board’s role should be in the district. Does the superintendent currently have too much power?
| “ | The board’s role should be a combination of strong leadership and diligent oversight. The board needs to instill confidence in our school system by communicating both of these to the public in its actions and still more in its public conduct and statements. The current board has clearly been deficient in this.
The board should have a plan to improve education of a growing student population against which teachers, parents and the public can judge its actions. It should vigilantly monitor the performance of the superintendent, senior administrators and system in general and not be afraid to make known its views on important questions of policy.[7] |
” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[14] | ||
How specific should the Board of Education’s goals be for the superintendent?
| “ | The most important challenge for the board will be to choose an excellent superintendent who does not need or get nit-picking interference. But whenever the board is confronted with evidence of some serious misdirection or dereliction of policy, it should not fear to think and act expansively to give the superintendent direction that may include recommendations in relation to administrative staffs and school administrators.[7] | ” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[15] | ||
Would you make expanding preschool programs a priority?
| “ | I support the goal of universal preschool education. The preponderance of literature supports its value, especially for those students for whom English is a second language.
Increasing preschool programs in Stamford is simple in concept - if there is such a thing as simple in the world of public education - a matter of continuing to persuade the state to provide more funding. To this, and to the larger question of the education funding formula, I will bring to the board a professional knowledge of state government, advocacy skills and working relationships with Stamford’s legislative delegation. An additional challenge is finding physical space within schools or elsewhere to house enlarged preschool programs. Space must be sought within the ongoing search for solutions to school overcrowding.[7] |
” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[16] | ||
How should the district better support the mental health of its students, given its limited resources?
| “ | The threshold question should not be “how should” but “should.”
Mental health conditions impact many students’ academic performance and sense of well being at school. Expansion of accepted mental health diagnoses and the perceived increase in the number of young people with mental health problems potentially make this an extraordinarily expensive commitment for school systems. Like mental health, physical health and home nutrition are extra-education areas known to impact student performance. Events in Newtown shone a bright light on the dreadful consequences of inattention to even one student’s mental health problems. There are models of programs in which schools seek to address the holistic health of students and parents, but Stamford and Connecticut have yet to even consider this approach to public education. Today even the traditional school nurse is not funded through the education budget. As a board member, I would support serious consideration of this problem but at this point I don’t feel qualified to hazard any specific recommendations.[7] |
” |
| —David Mannis, Stamford Advocate candidate Q&A (2015)[17] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'David Mannis' 'Stamford Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Stamford Public Schools, Connecticut
- Stamford Public Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidate bios," October 8, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford GOP school board candidate withdraws," September 2, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Democrats dump school board incumbents," July 23, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Democratic City Committee, "Our 2015 Democratic Candidates," accessed August 10, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Rauh to run for Stamford school board," August 5, 2015
- ↑ Connecticut Green Party, "2015 candidates," accessed September 10, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates answer why they’re running," October 8, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates talk about district’s strengths, weaknesses," October 8, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates: How well has Hamilton performed?" October 8, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates discuss search for new superintendent," October 8, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates talk about Stamford High sex scandal," October 10, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates talk about the district’s facilities management," October 10, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates talk about board’s role," October 17, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates discuss goals for superintendent," October 17, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates discuss expanding preschool," October 24, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education candidates discuss mental health services for students," October 24, 2015
| 2015 Stamford Public Schools Elections | |
| Fairfield County, Connecticut | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Four-year terms: •  Incumbent, Polly Rauh •  Angelica Gorrio • David Mannis • Ligia Marroquin •  Rolf Maurer •  Mike Altamura • Andy George • Nicola Tarzia •  John Zito One-year terms: • Jennienne Burke • John Ciuffo • Monica DiCostanzo • Gerald Bosak |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
