Fall River Public Schools elections (2017)
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Six seats on the Fall River Public Schools School Committee in Massachusetts were up for general election on November 7, 2017. Incumbents Paul Coogan, Mark Costa, and Joseph Martins won their re-election bids, and newcomers Kevin Aguiar, Joshua Hetzler, and Thomas Khoury won first terms on the board. The winners defeated challengers Amy M. Blanchette, David Cowen Jr., Susan Gancarski Dunse, Kristen Gauvin, Crystal Stone, and Jessica Wong. Challenger Sean Connell was defeated in the primary election on September 12, 2017.[1][2][3]
All seven seats on the school committee were up for election in 2017. The seventh seat was held by the mayor of Fall River, but was not covered by Ballotpedia as the city fell outside of municipal elections coverage.[1]
The 2017 election attracted more candidates than the district's 2013 and 2015 elections received. It was also guaranteed to add more new members to the school committee compared to those two past election cycles due to open seats. Click here for more election trends in the district.
Coogan, Martins, Blanchette, and Stone participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates. Click here to read their responses.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Fall River School Committee consists of seven members, one of which is the mayor of Fall River. The six regular school committee members are elected to two-year terms in at-large elections held in November of odd-numbered years. Primary elections are held in September of odd-numbered years.[4][5]
To get on the ballot, school committee candidates had to file with the city of Fall River by August 8, 2017. The deadline to withdraw from the race was August 10, 2017.[1]
To vote in the election, citizens of the school district had to register by August 23, 2017, for the primary election, and by October 18, 2017, for the general election.[6] Photo identification was not required to vote in Massachusetts.[7]
Candidates and results
At-large
General election
Results
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
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|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Paul Coogan Incumbent |
13.91% | 7,393 |
| Mark Costa Incumbent |
11.68% | 6,208 |
| Joseph Martins Incumbent |
10.90% | 5,795 |
| Kevin Aguiar |
10.53% | 5,598 |
| Joshua Hetzler |
9.91% | 5,269 |
| Thomas Khoury |
9.60% | 5,099 |
| Kristen Gauvin | 8.47% | 4,503 |
| Amy M. Blanchette | 6.61% | 3,511 |
| Jessica Wong | 5.50% | 2,924 |
| Crystal Stone | 5.49% | 2,919 |
| Susan Gancarski Dunse | 4.50% | 2,394 |
| David Cowen Jr. | 2.84% | 1,510 |
| Write-in votes | 0.04% | 19 |
| Total Votes | 53,142 | |
| Source: Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Elizabeth Camara," December 2, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Paul Coogan 
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Mark Costa
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Joseph Martins
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Kevin Aguiar
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Amy M. Blanchette | David Cowen Jr. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Susan Gancarski Dunse | Kristen Gauvin | Joshua Hetzler
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Thomas Khoury
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Crystal Stone | Jessica Wong |
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Primary election
Results
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large Primary Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Kevin Aguiar |
13.12% | 4,106 |
| Paul Coogan Incumbent |
12.84% | 4,018 |
| Joseph Martins Incumbent |
11.47% | 3,592 |
| Mark Costa Incumbent |
11.23% | 3,515 |
| Joshua Hetzler |
8.74% | 2,737 |
| Thomas Khoury |
8.47% | 2,650 |
| Kristen Gauvin |
6.34% | 1,986 |
| Amy M. Blanchette |
6.09% | 1,908 |
| Jessica Wong |
5.57% | 1,743 |
| Crystal Stone |
5.10% | 1,598 |
| Susan Gancarski Dunse |
4.28% | 1,339 |
| David Cowen Jr. |
3.43% | 1,073 |
| Sean Connell | 3.32% | 1,040 |
| Total Votes | 31,305 | |
| Source: Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Elizabeth Camara, Fall River Elections," October 6, 2017 | ||
Candidates who were defeated in the primary
| Sean Connell | |
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Massachusetts elections, 2017
The Fall River School Committee primary election shared the ballot with a primary election for Fall River mayor. The Fall River School Committee general election shared the ballot with the mayoral general election as well as the Fall River City Council general election.[1]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Fall River School Committee election:[1][6][8]
Endorsements
The Coalition for Social Justice endorsed Amy M. Blanchette in the general election.[9]
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
The City of Fall River does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Reporting requirements
Candidates who ran in the Fall River School Committee election had to file three reports. The first report was due on September 4, 2017, the second report was due on October 30, 2017, and the third report was due on January 22, 2018.[8]
Past elections
To see results from past elections in Fall River Public Schools, click here.
What was at stake?
Report a story for this election
Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.
Election trends
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
The 2017 Fall River School Committee election attracted a higher number of candidates than the district's 2013 and 2015 elections received. In 2017, 13 candidates ran for six seats for an average of 2.17 candidates per seat, while in both 2013 and 2015, nine candidates ran for six seats for an average of 1.5 candidates per seat.
The 2017 race also had more open seats on the ballot than the district's 2013 and 2015 races and, because of those open seats, it was guaranteed to elect more newcomers to the ballot than either of the previous two election cycles. Newcomers won three open seats in 2017, and incumbents won re-election to the other three seats on the ballot. In 2015, all six incumbents ran for re-election, but two of them were defeated by newcomers. In 2013, five of the six incumbents ran for re-election. All five won additional terms on the school committee, and a newcomer won the one open seat.
| School board election trends | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbents running for re-election | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| Fall River Public Schools | ||||||
| 2017 | 2.17 | 0.00% | 50.00% | 100.00% | 50.00% | |
| 2015 | 1.50 | 0.00% | 100.00% | 66.67% | 33.33% | |
| 2013 | 1.50 | 0.00% | 83.33% | 100.00% | 16.67% | |
| Massachusetts | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.49 | 25.49% | 68.63% | 85.71% | 33.33% | |
| United States | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 70.37% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
Candidate survey
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Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey. |
Survey responses
Four candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from incumbents Paul Coogan and Joseph Martins and challengers Amy M. Blanchette and Crystal Stone.
Hope to achieve
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Martins stated:
| “ | Class sizes of 26 or less -- the development of a career awareness program in middle schools -- increase CVTE programs in the comprehensive high school[10] | ” |
| —Joseph Martins (September 1, 2017)[11] | ||
When asked what she hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Blanchette stated:
| “ | First and foremost, I want to create in the Fall River Public School System, a fair, equal, education system where children feel safe, are able to learn, a productive and uplifting environment where parents and teachers can effectively communicate with each other, to achieve satisfactory, quality public education[10] | ” |
| —Amy M. Blanchette (August 26, 2017)[12] | ||
Coogan and Stone did not respond to the question about what they hoped to achieve.
Ranking the issues
The candidates were 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 their rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issue | Coogan's ranking | Martins' ranking | Blanchette's ranking | Stone's ranking |
| Expanding arts education | ||||
| Improving relations with teachers | ||||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||||
| Improving post-secondary readiness | ||||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||||
| Expanding school choice options | ||||
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer nine multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to their responses can be found below.
- Paul Coogan's survey responses
- Joseph Martins' survey responses
- Amy M. Blanchette's survey responses
- Crystal Stone's survey responses
About the district
- See also: Fall River Public Schools, Massachusetts
The Fall River school district is located in southeast Massachusetts in Bristol County. The county seat is Taunton. The county was home to an estimated 558,324 residents in 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau.[13] The district was the 10th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 10,246 students.[14]
Demographics
Bristol County underperformed compared to Massachusetts as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 25.9 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 40.5 percent of state residents. During the same time period, the median household income in Bristol County was $56,842, compared to $68,563 for the entire state. The poverty rate was 12.6 percent, while it was 11.5 percent statewide.[13]
| Racial Demographics, 2016[13] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Bristol County (%) | Massachusetts (%) |
| White | 89.7 | 81.8 |
| Black or African American | 5.1 | 8.6 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Asian | 2.3 | 6.7 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Two or More Races | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 7.6 | 11.5 |
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.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Fall River Public Schools Massachusetts election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Fall River Public Schools | Massachusetts | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Herald News, "Final day to file: Preliminary Fall River school board election is a go," August 8, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Results of Fall River preliminary election," September 12, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Fall River City Election results 2017," November 7, 2017
- ↑ Fall River Public Schools, "School Committee Members," accessed August 9, 2017
- ↑ Fall River Public Schools, "FRPS Policy Manual," accessed August 9, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Registering to Vote," accessed August 9, 2017
- ↑ Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, "Identification Requirements," accessed June 28, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Office of Campaign and Political Finance Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Campaign Finance Guide: Candidates for Municipal Office (Non-Depository)," accessed July 20, 2017
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with [mailto: blanchetteamy@gmail.com Amy M. Blanchette]," October 2, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Joseph Martins responses," September 1, 2017
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Amy M. Blanchette responses," August 26, 2017
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Bristol County, Massachusetts; Massachusetts," accessed August 9, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
| Fall River Public Schools elections in 2017 | |
| Bristol County, Massachusetts | |
| Election date: | Primary election: September 12, 2017 • General election November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Paul Coogan • Incumbent, Mark Costa • Incumbent, Joseph Martins • Kevin Aguiar • Amy M. Blanchette • Sean Connell • David Cowen Jr. • Susan Gancarski Dunse • Kristen Gauvin • Joshua Hetzler • Thomas Khoury • Crystal Stone • Jessica Wong |
| Important information: | What's at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
