Douglas Husen
Douglas Husen was a candidate for the Trustee Area 1 seat on the Corona-Norco Unified School District school board in California. Husen was defeated in the by-district general election on November 8, 2016.
Husen participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2016
Three of the five seats on the Corona-Norco Unified School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on November 8, 2016. In his bid for re-election to Trustee Area 1, incumbent Jose Lalas defeated challenger Douglas Husen. Trustee Area 3 incumbent Mary Helen Ybarra ran unopposed and won re-election by default. The race for the open Trustee Area 5 seat featured candidates Larissa Adrian, Jami Merchant, Chad Morgan, and Bill Pollock. Pollock won the seat.[1][2]
Results
| Corona-Norco Unified School District, Trustee Area 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Jose Lalas Incumbent |
54.61% | 9,041 |
| Douglas Husen | 45.39% | 7,515 |
| Total Votes | 16,556 | |
| Source: Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Consolidated Presidential Election Official Results," accessed December 2, 2016 | ||
Funding
Husen reported no contributions or expenditures to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters in the election.[3]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Douglas Michael Husen participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 5, 2016:
| “ | I would love to support and serve the children and parents in my home town of Corona with the enthusiasm, experience and common sense God has given me.[4][5] | ” |
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 California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| “ | A school board needs to assist the Superintendent in discerning key issues that will affect the district in the future, like potential budget and funding shortfalls.[5] | ” |
| —Douglas Michael Husen (October 5, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine 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.) |
|---|
| Yes. We already have a number of charter schools serving the children and parents in our area. I don't see a significant need for Corona-Norco USD to sponsor a charter, because we are focused and innovative. |
| 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 only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. Accurate, sure. Complete? No. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| We should implement the best of the standard available to us... especially the portions that lead to greater analytical and critical thinking skills. We should disregard the convoluted approaches taken to simple tasks of learning and certainly parse out the controversial and offensive social engineering portions presented a young age. |
| 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. Offer additional training options. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. All the above. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. I believe many would like to be rewarded for their expertise and continuing education and improvements in their skills. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. I wish. But, I am not holding my breath. And as a private school superintendent, we avoid the entanglements that are created by talking Federal money that could potentially limit our religious expression. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion from a school should remain the Principal's discretion within the policy provided. Our inspiring alternative education schools like Lee Pollard remain a wonderful 'next step'. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Douglas Husen Corona-Norco Unified School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Corona-Norco Unified School District, California
- Corona-Norco Unified School District elections (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Contest/Candidate Proof List," accessed August 19, 2016
- ↑ Riverside County, "Consolidated Presidential Election," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "County of Riverside Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed February 8, 2017
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Douglas Michael Husen's responses," October 5, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Corona-Norco Unified School District Elections | |
| Riverside County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Jose Lalas • Douglas Husen Trustee Area 3: • Incumbent, Mary Helen Ybarra Trustee Area 5: • Larissa Adrian • Jami Merchant • Chad Morgan • Bill Pollock |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
