Frank Del Toro
Frank Del Toro was a candidate for at-large representative on the Socorro Independent School District Board of Trustees in Texas. He lost in the general election on May 9, 2015.
In a 2015 candidate survey, Del Toro stated that he was motivated to run for the board after reading an editorial about the lack of contested races and how that affects taxpayers choices at the polls. He also stated, "My educational background and more importantly the years I was employed in the SISD are a plus when dealing with issues that will have an impact on our students as well our tax- paying citizens."[1]
Biography
Del Toro has worked as a teacher, coach and assistant principal in Texas. At Socorro ISD, he was a coach, coordinated programs at Americas High School and was the assistant principal at Sanchez Middle School. He has been employed with Gadsen ISD in New Mexico for the last 11 years.[1] According to the Rio Grande Foundation, Del Toro taught Spanish in the district and earned a salary of $51,301 in 2012.[2]
Elections
2015
Opposition
Three of the seven seats on the Socorro ISD Board of Trustees were up for election on May 9, 2015. District 1 incumbent Hector Gonzalez won re-election unopposed. The two at-large incumbents, Antonio Ayub and Michael Najera, faced challengers Frank Del Toro and Kenneth Gezelius. Both incumbents won re-election.[3]
Results
| Socorro Independent School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Michael Najera Incumbent |
40.1% | 2,938 | |
| Nonpartisan | Antonio Ayub Incumbent |
30% | 2,196 | |
| Nonpartisan | Frank Del Toro | 19.9% | 1,460 | |
| Nonpartisan | Kenneth Gezelius | 10% | 729 | |
| Total Votes | 7,323 | |||
| Source: El Paso County Elections, "Final Election Results," accessed May 26, 2015 | ||||
Funding
Del Toro reported no contributions or expenditures to the Texas Ethics Commission as of April 9, 2015.[4] The next filing deadline was May 1, 2015.
Endorsements
Del Toro received no official endorsements in this election.
Campaign themes
2015
Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce questionnaire
Del Toro participated in a candidate questionnaire from the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce. The questions and his responses are below:
| “ | 1. What experiences in leadership do you have that qualify you to serve as a school trustee?
I have 38 years working in the education system. I began my career as a teacher/coach, moved into school administration, retired from the Texas Education system and have been employed in the Gadsden ISD for the past 11 years. I have experience in leadership roles such as Varsity baseball positions, coordinating programs at Americas High School and Assistant Principal at Sanchez Middle School in the SISD. I have administered budgets as high $400,000.00 Facilitated TEKS training sessions in math and science. I have hired school personnel to teach intersession classes as well as college tutors. I have been department chair committee member and have disaggregated school data on passing/failure rate by students, developed schedules for intersession, bus scheduling and supervised a learning center at Americas High School while employed by the district. 2. What is motivating you to run for a school board trustee seat? My motivation for running for the school board is two-fold. First reason was the editorial I read in the El Paso Times on a lack of candidate filing and not giving the taxpayer a choice in voting. I feel I can bring a fresh diversity to the existing board. My educational background and more importantly the years I was employed in the SISD are a plus when dealing with issues that will have an impact on our students as well our tax- paying citizens. Having been a teacher as well as a school administrator provides with another positive perspective to ensure the success of our student population. 3. Describe the impact you expect to make on the strategic direction of the school board and how does your specific personal experience support that expectation? My impact would be that of experience within the school setting, in the classroom as well as an administrator’s viewpoint. I can offer view on what strategies can and will be effective and ideas on how to implement these strategies with a positive perspective that will benefit, students, teachers, administrators and parents. Having been employed by the Socorro ISD for 11 years would also provide a positive strategic position in the decision making process of the SISD. 4. Trustees, as elected by specific district, must act and govern for the entire school district, not just advocate for the schools within their particular geography. Describe a time when you had to balance potentially conflicting priorities with multiple stakeholders, and how did you determine how to allocate resources and investment to meet the needs of all? I was once presented a challenge of increasing passing rates at a particular school. The stake holders were the students, parents and teachers who believed that our approach was with an ineffective curriculum. Through meetings with at-risk students, at risk students and parents and last but not least our faculty I was able to meet the need of all parties concerned. The end result was, over 100 at-risk students attending voluntary Saturday tutorial sessions, increase passing rates for our freshmen student population, our teachers developing the teaching modules for intersession. Data and statistics to validate this scenario are available upon request. More importantly all students from the SISD benefitted from this program and everything stayed within budget. 5. The role and responsibility of a Trustee is governance, oversight, and setting policy. Tell us about your experience in honoring the scope of responsibility in a past role? How did you make sure you did not cross over into the tactical execution of another person’s responsibility in the organization? Be specific in your response. As a trustee following the change of command is of the utmost importance. Honesty and consistency are strong tools to follow. Legal counsel is the best practice to use when in doubt if, governing, policy making and oversight are being met in accordance with TEA guidelines. In my previous experiences as a coordinator as we as an assistant principal, I always followed the chain of command with my principals. I always kept them informed of all my actions and situations that could arise within my working hours. When in doubt I asked questions. 6. Attracting and retaining top talented educators is critical to the success of a healthy school district. This includes supporting a school district-created ‘Human Capital Strategy’ designed to attract and retain top-notch quality reading, math, and science educators to build strong STEM programs. Describe your past experience as a leader supporting the broad strategy of identifying, selecting, and retaining top talent. My experience in supporting the board strategy of identifying ,selecting and retaining top talent especially in reading math and science is important . These subjects are what we call our “core classes”, essential for the success of our students. While Coordinating an initiative program at one of the schools I was employed, I emphasized that our college tutors be strong in those core subjects. Reading is the universal foundation for student success and past experiences have shown me that if a student is unsuccessful in math classes he/she is more than likely having difficulty in science classes and vice versa. Hiring and retaining this type of educator would be a top priority. 7. Financial management and investment strategy is an important component of Trustee capability. Describe your experience in identifying opportunities for superior financial performance. In your response please include your outlook on incremental expense versus incremental investment, and how you differentiate between the two. My personal experience in identifying superior financial performance would be like refinancing my home, having established outstanding credit, never over extending myself on purchases and always paying my financial responsibilities on time. Incremental expenses versus incremental investment I believe that as a school district we need to look and seize opportunities that will provide long term positive results. Socorro ISD has always had a “technological” vision for students as well as its’ employees. This should continue. The focus should be the impact on student learning and performance. A differentiation between the two would be like providing technology related products e.g. computers, i-pads etc and not expenditures that would not benefit all students in the broad spectrum of learning. 8. There are a number of training tools available to school board trustees, not all of which are required. Specifically describe your past utilization of available versus required training materials for a new role that you occupied. How did you decide to commit your time and explore new means and methods to obtain valued skills? Training tools/continuing education classes are essential to keep up with current standards. In my present teaching assignment I have acquired my Bilingual Certification and ESL Endorsement from the University of Phoenix and a certification to teach AP Spanish classes from UTEP. As a board member I will continue to continue to attend classes that will enhance my learning on how to become a more effective and positive school board member. 9. If elected, would you have any potential conflicts of interest that you are aware of that would impair your ability to serve as a school board trustee? Please explain. I have no personal conflicts that would impair my ability to serve as a school board trustee. I do not have children in the SISD school system. I am seeking this position to serve ALL of the Socorro District, students and parents. 10. If elected a school board trustee, will you uphold the following ethical standards? (Click here to see TASB School Board Code of Ethics) My vision of success for our SISD students and parents consists of a triangle. Students at the top of the triangle with parents and teachers as the anchors. 11. Do you have other remarks you would like to share about your candidacy? If elected I will take the opportunity to visit all the school in the SISD to personally meet all administrators and students of their respective campuses.[5] |
” |
| —Frank Del Toro (2015)[1] | ||
Recent news
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See also
- Socorro Independent School District, Texas
- Socorro Independent School District elections (2015)
- Decreased success for school board incumbents in Texas; 1/3 defeated in largest districts (May 11, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, "2015 El Paso County Election Voter's Guide," accessed April 2, 2015
- ↑ Rio Grande Foundation, "New Mexico School District Payroll (districts over 1,000 students): Gadsden Independent Schools," March 7, 2012
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Lupe Alvarez, Executive Assistant, Office of the Superintendent, Socorro ISD," March 3, 2015
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Search Campaign Finance Reports," accessed April 10, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
