Eugene School District elections (2015)
2017 →
|
 |
Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links |
Eugene School District Lane County, Oregon ballot measures Local ballot measures, Oregon |
 |
Four seats on the Eugene School District Board of Directors were up for general election on May 19, 2015.
The seats of Position 1 incumbent Alicia Hays, Position 4 incumbent Craig Smith, Position 5 incumbent Jim Torrey and Position 7 incumbent Mary Walston were up for election. Smith was the only incumbent who did not file to seek re-election: Eileen Nittler defeated Scott Landgreen for the open seat. Retired physician John Baumann originally filed for the seat as well; however, he withdrew in early May 2015 in support of Nittler.[1]
Torrey defeated challengers Kevin Cronin and David Nickles, while Walston defeated Colin Farnsworth in her re-election bid. Hays was scheduled to run for re-election unopposed. However, write-in candidate Lisa Christon announced her decision to run on May 3, 2015. Hays triumphed over Christon in that race.[2]
The district previously underwent a leadership change earlier in 2015. Gustavos Balderas, a California superintendent, was selected to replace Sheldon Berman effective July 1, 2015. Balderas previously served as the superintendent of Ocean View School District.[3]
Berman's departure caused a stir in the district when the board made secret arrangements regarding his exit plan. The district filed a lawsuit with the Register-Guard rather than turn over classified emails.[4][5] Candidates cited the incident as an issue in the race, pointing specifically to the role of Position 5 incumbent Jim Torrey.[6]
About the district
- See also: Eugene School District, Oregon
Eugene School District is located in Eugene, the seat of county government in Lane County, in west-central Oregon. A small portion of the district lies in Linn County. Lane County was home to an estimated 356,212 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.[7] Eugene School District was the sixth-largest school district in the state serving 17,368 students in the 2011-2012 school year.[8]
Demographics
Lane County underperformed in comparison to Oregon as a whole in terms of higher education achievement, median household income and poverty rates in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 27.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had earned a bachelor's degree or higher compared to 29.7 percent of residents statewide. The median household income in the county was $42,931 while it was $50,229 for the state. The percentage of persons below the poverty line in Lane County was 20.0 percent in comparison to 16.2 percent for Oregon as a whole.[7]
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Voter and candidate information
The Eugene Board of Directors consists of seven members who are elected at large to four-year terms. While elected at large, each seat on the board has a position number associated with it, and candidates apply to run for a specific position number. There was no primary election, and the general election for Positions 1, 4, 5 and 7 was May 19, 2015.
Candidates were required to file for the election by March 19, 2015. Voters were required to register by April 28, 2015, in order to vote in this election.
Elections
2015
Candidates
Position 1
Alicia Hays 
|
Lisa Christon | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
Position 4
| Scott Landgreen | Eileen Nittler
| ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
Position 5
| Jim Torrey
|
Kevin Cronin | David Nickles | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Position 7
| Mary Walston
|
Colin Farnsworth | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
Withdrawn candidates
| John Baumann | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
District map
Election results
Position 1
| Eugene School District, Position 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Alicia Hays Incumbent |
93% | 14,304 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes Including Lisa Christon |
7% | 1,076 | |
| Total Votes | 15,380 | |||
| Source: Lane County, Oregon, "Official Final Results Special District Election, May 19, 2015," accessed June 9, 2015 | ||||
Position 4
| Eugene School District, Position 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Eileen Nittler |
66.9% | 15,009 | |
| Nonpartisan | Scott Landgreen | 16.9% | 3,796 | |
| Nonpartisan | John Baumann | 15.5% | 3,470 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.7% | 166 | |
| Total Votes | 22,441 | |||
| Source: Lane County, Oregon, "Official Final Results Special District Election, May 19, 2015," accessed June 9, 2015 | ||||
Position 5
| Eugene School District, Position 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Jim Torrey Incumbent |
57.9% | 15,229 | |
| Nonpartisan | Kevin Cronin | 32.1% | 8,431 | |
| Nonpartisan | David Nickles | 9.5% | 2,508 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.5% | 132 | |
| Total Votes | 26,300 | |||
| Source: Lane County, Oregon, "Official Final Results Special District Election, May 19, 2015," accessed June 9, 2015 | ||||
Position 7
| Eugene School District, Position 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Mary Walston Incumbent |
55.4% | 12,366 | |
| Nonpartisan | Colin Farnsworth | 43.7% | 9,753 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.8% | 184 | |
| Total Votes | 22,303 | |||
| Source: Lane County, Oregon, "Official Final Results Special District Election, May 19, 2015," accessed June 9, 2015 | ||||
Endorsements
The table below shows endorsements from local publications and area organizations for each candidate. Position 4 candidate Eileen Nittler and Position 7 incumbent Mary Walston received the most endorsements from the groups below, with five out of six each. Lisa Christon, John Baumann, David Nickles and Colin Farnsworth did not receive any endorsements from these organizations. Endorsements sections for each of the candidates may be viewed by clicking the following links:
|
Position 1 |
Position 4 |
Position 5 |
Position 7 |
| Candidate endorsements | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Local publications and organizations | ||||||
| Eugene Weekly | Register-Guard | Stand for Children Oregon | Oregon School Employees’ Association | Lane County Labor Council | Democratic Party of Lane County | ||
| Position 1 candidates | |||||||
| Alicia Hays | |
| |||||
| Lisa Christon | |||||||
| Position 4 candidates | |||||||
| John Baumann | |||||||
| Scott Landgreen |
| ||||||
| Eileen Nittler | |
|
|
|
| ||
| Position 5 candidates | |||||||
| Jim Torrey | |
|
|
||||
| Kevin Cronin | |
| |||||
| David Nickles | |||||||
| Position 7 candidates | |||||||
| Mary Walston | |
|
|
|
| ||
| Colin Farnsworth | |||||||
Campaign finance
Candidates received a total of $21,654.87 and spent a total of $21,296.79 in this election, according to the Oregon Secretary of State. These totals include in-kind contributions and expenditures. The amounts in the table additionally include funds candidates had on hand from prior campaigns and outstanding personal expenditures and loans.[10]
| Candidate | Receipts | Disbursements | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position 1 | |||
| Alicia Hays | $0.00 | $0.00 | $232.08 |
| Lisa Christon | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Position 4 | |||
| John Baumann | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Scott Landgreen | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Eileen Nittler | $10,578.71 | $10,869.67 | $-241.81 |
| Position 5 | |||
| Jim Torrey | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Kevin Cronin | $5,319.16 | $4,729.15 | $590.01 |
| David Nickles | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Position 7 | |||
| Mary Walston | $5,757.00 | $5,697.97 | $1,561.03 |
| Colin Farnsworth | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Candidates whose committees expected to receive or spend more than $3,500 in a calendar year were required to file campaign finance reports according to the following rules:[11]
- Transactions occurring before March 7, 2015, were required to be filed by the 30th day after the date of the transaction.
- Transactions between March 8, 2015, and April 6, 2015, were required to be filed on April 14, 2015.
- Transactions between April 7, 2015, and May 19, 2015, were required to be filed by the seventh day after the date of the transaction.
Committees who did not expect to surpass the expenditure or contribution threshold were allowed to file a "Certificate of Limited Contributions and Expenditures". If they later surpassed the limit, they were then required to file all transactions from the calendar year.[11]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013Position 2
Position 3
Position 6
2011Position 1
Position 4
Position 5
Position 7
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2015
Issues in the election
Position 5 race, superintendent exit controversy
Two of the challengers in the Position 5 race raised questions over the departure of Superintendent Sheldon Berman and the involvement of their opponent, Board Chairman Jim Torrey. According to emails that became public, the board allowed Berman to craft his own exit plan so that he could evade a negative review. At the time of the election, the district was involved in a lawsuit that it filed with the Register-Guard after deciding not to share email communication between the board and Berman.[5]
Kevin Cronin and David Nickles spoke out against the board's actions, with Nickles calling for "anybody on the board who was involved in the hiring and subsequent ‘departure’ of Sheldon Berman [to] resign immediately." Cronin pointed to the over $21,000 in legal fees that the district faced as a result of the lawsuit. "I think that it is a shame that we are spending public money on lawyers to cover up the misbehavior of the board," said Cronin, adding that the money should be used for educational purposes.[6]
Both candidates were critical of Torrey, who began serving on the board in 2007. While Torrey did not publicly comment on his involvement with Berman's departure, he said the board had a "deep and abiding respect for Oregon’s public records and public meetings laws."[6]
Issues in the district
Board chooses Gustavo Balderas to lead district
In March 2015, the board decided that Gustavo Balderas would succeed Sheldon Berman as the district's superintendent. Balderas had previously served as the superintendent of Ocean View School District in California, which enrolled about 9,250 students to Eugene's 16,000 in 2014.[3] Board Chairman Jim Torrey called Balderas a "man of integrity in words and actions" and said that the district is "lucky to have a candidate of his caliber apply."[3]
The appointment of Balderas did not come without criticism; some pointed to his decision to leave his previous position amid a financial crisis as a sign of weakness. Balderas had been serving as Ocean View's superintendent in 2014 when the discovery of asbestos forced the closure of three district schools. The issue led to an $8 million deficit.[12] The Eugene Board eventually determined that the situation was out of Balderas' control and that he handled it appropriately.[3]
Balderas earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Oregon University, a master’s degree from Portland State University and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Oregon. He was ultimately selected over Sloan Presidio, the assistant superintendent of instructional services for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia.[3]
Sheldon Berman departure
In June 2014, Eugene Superintendent Sheldon Berman asked to leave the district, citing personal and family issues. Berman was hired into the district in 2011; he ended his contract one year shy of his three-year appointment. Berman had previously served as the superintendent of Jefferson County Schools in Kentucky from 2007 until 2011. The board decided not to renew Berman's contract in 2010. Berman's departure from Eugene was not entirely unsuspected, with Eugene Education Association union President Tad Shannon calling his decision to leave unsurprising. "There [had] been a lot of rumors for quite a while that he might be leaving in the near future," Shannon said.[4][5]
One change in Berman's contract as a result of his departure relieved the board of evaluating him "for the just-ended and coming school years." The evaluation, which Board Chairwoman Mary Walston called "moot" being that Berman would soon be leaving anyway, was seen as necessary to some. "I find it a little bit curious that the person in charge of the district wouldn't be subject to any evaluation whatsoever in the next year," Shannon said. "I think teachers will find that curious. It seems a little bit like a double standard." Berman's previous two annual evaluations had been mostly positive. Louise Bronaugh, a South Eugene High parent, called Berman "a good listener and a great consensus builder."[4]
Lawsuit against Register-Guard
In early 2015, the district filed a lawsuit against the Register-Guard to avoid disclosing certain emails between the district and Berman regarding his departure.[4] Additional details of Berman's departure were released shortly thereafter, when it was reported that his exit plan was largely kept secret by the board. The classified emails were inadvertently disclosed to the Register-Guard and included a plan for Berman to avoid a negative performance review and subsequent firing. The emails also detailed how board members would communicate through private emails, phone calls, and text messages to avoid the public eye.[4][13]
School Board Chairman Jim Torrey called the cover-up an “opportunity to reinforce our respect for consistently open and candid board discussions of school district business.” In an emailed statement, Berman said that the emails were sent during a difficult time and that "the quoted emails and the article don’t begin to describe or reflect the many accomplishments we have achieved.” As of April 2015, the district had spent $21,246 in legal fees and the lawsuit was ongoing.[4][13]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the 2015 Oregon school board elections:[11][14]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| February 7, 2015- March 19, 2015 |
Candidate filing period |
| March 19, 2015 | Deadline for candidates to withdraw |
| March 23, 2015 | Candidate statements for voters' pamphlet deadline |
| April 7, 2015- May 19, 2015 |
Seven day campaign finance reporting period |
| April 14, 2015 | Campaign finance report due |
| April 28, 2015 | Voter registration deadline |
| May 5, 2015 | Last day to mail ballots |
| May 19, 2015 | Election Day |
| June 8, 2015 | Certified election results deadline |
| June 23, 2015 | Last day to file recount demand |
| July 1, 2015 | New school board terms begin |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Oregon elections, 2015
Positions on boards for other local government bodies, such as community colleges, education service districts, fire districts, water districts, water control, parks and recreation districts and library districts, were also up for election on May 19, 2015.[15]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Eugene School District Oregon. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Eugene School District | Oregon | School Boards |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
|
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Register-Guard, "Scott Landgreen, Eileen Nittler vie for open Eugene School Board seat," May 5, 2015
- ↑ Register-Guard, "Write-in candidate challenges Eugene School Board incumbent," May 19, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Register-Guard, "Balderas is choice for Eugene schools," March 13, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Insurance News Net, "Eugene school Superintendent Sheldon Berman’s early exit catches some unawares," June 27, 2014
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Register-Guard, "School report draws response," April 30, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Register-Guard, "Candidates cite controversy over Berman exit as issue in Eugene School Board race," May 1, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 United States Census Bureau, "State & County QuickFacts: Lane County, Oregon," accessed March 18, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed August 5, 2014
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Election History," accessed March 18, 2015
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Committee/Filer Search by Name," accessed June 17, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Oregon Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance Manual," January 2014
- ↑ Register-Guard, "Incoming Eugene Superintendent Gustavo Balderas can connect, former co-workers say," May 14, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Register-Guard, "Secret school emails released," April 29, 2015
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "2015 ELECTIONS CALENDAR," accessed January 22, 2015
- ↑ Lane County Elections, "May 19, 2015 Special Election," accessed March 18, 2015
