Douglas Vigil
Douglas Vigil is a member of the San Joaquin County Board of Education in California, representing Area 3. Vigil assumed office on December 11, 2020. Vigil's current term ends on June 30, 2026.
Vigil ran for election to the Stockton Unified School District school board to represent Area 4 in California. Vigil lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
In 2020, Vigil participated in a Candidate Conversation hosted by Ballotpedia and EnCiv. Click here to view the recording.
Biography
Vigil is a sign language instructor at the Cesar Chavez Central Library in Stockton, California. He also serves as a Stockton civil service commissioner, as an equal employment commissioner, and as co-chairman of the Mayor's Task Force on Persons with Disabilities. Vigil is also a board member of the ACLU San Joaquin Chapter and a member of the California Democratic Party's Disabilities Caucus. He is involved in disabilities advocacy and supports ADA compliance.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Stockton Unified School District, California, elections (2024)
General election
General election for Stockton Unified School District school board Trustee Area 4
Shauna Priest defeated Stefanie Alfaro, Thaddeus Smith III, Gwendolyn D. Dailey, and Douglas Vigil in the general election for Stockton Unified School District school board Trustee Area 4 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Shauna Priest (Nonpartisan) | 43.0 | 3,604 | |
 | Stefanie Alfaro (Nonpartisan) | 17.1 | 1,436 | |
 | Thaddeus Smith III (Nonpartisan) | 16.5 | 1,387 | |
 | Gwendolyn D. Dailey (Nonpartisan) | 12.7 | 1,061 | |
 | Douglas Vigil (Nonpartisan) | 10.7 | 894 | |
| Total votes: 8,382 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Vigil received the following endorsements.
2020
See also: Municipal elections in San Joaquin County, California (2020)
General election
General election for San Joaquin County Board of Education Area 3
Douglas Vigil defeated Jill Fritchen in the general election for San Joaquin County Board of Education Area 3 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Douglas Vigil (Nonpartisan) | 66.0 | 23,121 |
| Jill Fritchen (Nonpartisan) | 34.0 | 11,894 | ||
| Total votes: 35,015 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for San Joaquin County Board of Education Area 3
Douglas Vigil and Jill Fritchen defeated incumbent Peter Ottesen in the primary for San Joaquin County Board of Education Area 3 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Douglas Vigil (Nonpartisan) | 33.2 | 5,356 |
| ✔ | Jill Fritchen (Nonpartisan) | 33.2 | 5,355 | |
| Peter Ottesen (Nonpartisan) | 33.1 | 5,350 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 80 | ||
| Total votes: 16,141 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2016
Three of the seven seats on the Stockton Unified School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on November 8, 2016. Five newcomers filed for the Trustee Area 1 seat that was left open due to term limits: Berniece Spivey Bass, Cecilia Mendez, Jennifer Kuan, Ramiro Reyes, and Minerva Garcia. Mendez won election to the seat. In Trustee Area 3, board incumbent Kathleen Garcia defeated challengers Alicia Rico, Martin Rodriguez, and Ytzel Gonzalez Arroyo to win another term. Four newcomers—Lange Luntao, Carmen Garcia, Douglas Vigil, and Regina Varela—ran for the open Trustee Area 4 seat, and Luntao won the election.[2][3][4]
Results
| Stockton Unified School District, Trustee Area 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Lange Luntao |
42.03% | 3,461 |
| Douglas Vigil | 26.57% | 2,188 |
| Carmen Garcia | 19.16% | 1,578 |
| Regina Varela | 11.86% | 977 |
| Write-in votes | 0.38% | 31 |
| Total Votes | 8,235 | |
| Source: San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, "November 8, 2016 Official Final Results," accessed December 5, 2016 | ||
Funding
Vigil reported $754.82 in contributions and $740.04 in expenditures to the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, which left his campaign with $14.78 on hand as of November 4, 2016.[5]
Endorsements
Vigil was endorsed by the community organization Evolve.[6]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Douglas Vigil did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Candidate Conversations
Moderated by journalist and political commentator Greta Van Susteren, Candidate Conversations is a virtual debate format that allows voters to easily get to know their candidates through a short video Q&A.
Click below to watch the conversation for this race.
Douglas Vigil did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Ahmed Kamel 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 June 1, 2016:
| “ | - To enhance the academics at all levels, especially our Math and Science offerings in order to prepare our children for the challenges of the increasing global competition we currently live in. - To expand our instructional offerings to meet the needs of all students including the gifted students, the special needs students, and the new immigrants. - To provide multicultural learning opportunities for the benefit of both the native-born students and the new immigrants.[7][8] | ” |
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 North Dakota. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Improving relations with teachers and Expanding arts education are very important issues, the only reason I did not rank them higher is because Fargo already does an excellent job on both accounts.[8] | ” |
| —Ahmed Kamel (June 1, 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.) |
|---|
| No. Fargo schools are already known for their excellence, there is no need to dilute their efforts and funding. |
| 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 defer to school board decisions in most cases. While I support the school boards authority over local matters, it is sometimes necessary to have certain uniform policies across the state. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. In most cases, standardized tests give a good picture of student achievement. However, they should not be the end all of all assessment. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| I strongly support it for the following reasons: - It provides a standard of what every student should learn in today's ever complex society. - It allows continuity in the educational process for children who are forced to move in the middle of their school years which is increasingly more common in today's mobile society. |
| 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? |
| Offer additional training options. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. Research shows that remedial interventions often bring better results than punitive measures. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Merit pay as typically used is very subjective because it is hard to develop objective measures. Some districts are experimenting with incentive pay which encourages creativity on the part of the teachers. I would like us to explore this option. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. This is not necessarily a universal position I would take if I was running elsewhere but since the state of North Dakota is already running what is recognized as excellent schools, the need does not exist. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be a last resort that should almost never be used. A myriad of intervention opportunities should be attempted first. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement All of these are important factors, but research shows that without involvement from parents to remind their children of the imprtance of education, progress becomes harder. |
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Vigil participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate stated:
| “ | Figure what option are available diversity of programs for students and teacher and parents communication and teacher need to update with recertified course special needed children communication in mainstream deaf and HOH sign language teacher that know ASL and get involve deaf culture communication shouldn't be barrier in elementary school through high...[8] | ” |
| —Douglas Vigil, (2016)[9] | ||
Ranking the issues
Vigil was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| 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 | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
Positions on the issues
Vigil was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column, and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "Modifications are required before they are implemented." | |
| "mainstream" | |
| "Yes" | |
| "Yes" | |
| "I believe teacher and counselor and parent should be able to discuss different options of their IPE best interest on the student to achieve their goals help their education and communication open for them they who have learning disabilities focus on their weakness their strong area expertise. Parent need to be educate the option of program for their children to success" | |
| "Students with behavior problems should be sent to alternative schools to remove them from their current environments rather than being expelled." | |
| "Modification their behavior on a case by case basis to discuss with the parent and counselor and teacher what is the situation and assess the situation and talk for treatment or counselor or peer pressure problems or the committee must assess the relative importance of the issues." | |
| "Yes" | |
| "Put underperforming teachers on a probationary period while they seek to improve." | |
| "Get involved with community events and voluntary library reading or reading with ASL and visit the school and teacher and students and parents to encourage them." |
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Douglas Vigil," June 2, 2016
- ↑ San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, "Contest/Candidate Proof List," accessed August 15, 2016
- ↑ '"Stockton Record, "Record Endorsements, Stockton Unified: Incumbent, two newcomers deserve seats," October 13, 2016
- ↑ San Joaquin Registrar of Voters, "Registrar of Voters Department," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, "San Joaquin County Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed November 4, 2016
- ↑ Evolve, "Endorsements: November 8, 2016 General Election," accessed October 13, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Ahmed Kamel's responses," June 1, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Douglas Vigil responses," June 19, 2015
