Your monthly support provides voters the knowledge they need to make confident decisions at the polls. Donate today.
Frank Higgins
Frank Higgins was a candidate for at-large representative on the Middletown Township School District school board in New Jersey. Higgins was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
This candidate participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to view his responses.
Higgins was an unsuccessful candidate for the board in 2016.
Elections
2017
Three of the nine seats on the Middletown Township School District school board in New Jersey were up for at-large general election on November 7, 2017. All three board members—Ernest Donnelly, Susan Griffin, and Andrew Nicholes—filed for re-election and were ousted from their seats by newcomers Nicholas DiFranco, Robin Stella, and Pamela Rogers. These winners also defeated fellow challengers Adam Gentile and Frank Higgins.[1]
Results
| Middletown Township School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Pamela Rogers |
15.72% | 5,474 |
| Robin Stella |
15.18% | 5,287 |
| Nicholas DiFranco |
13.94% | 4,855 |
| Susan Griffin Incumbent | 13.73% | 4,781 |
| Frank Higgins | 10.97% | 3,819 |
| Adam Gentile | 10.55% | 3,674 |
| Ernest Donnelly Incumbent | 10.33% | 3,599 |
| Andrew Nicholes Incumbent | 9.29% | 3,234 |
| Write-in votes | 0.29% | 102 |
| Total Votes | 34,825 | |
| Source: Monmouth County, "General Election, November 7, 2017: Official Results," accessed March 22, 2018 | ||
Funding
Higgins did not report campaign contributions or expenditures in this election as of October 23, 2017, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.[2]
2016
Three of the nine seats on the Middletown Township School District school board were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. John Little Jr., Leonora Caminiti, and incumbent Michael Donlon won election to the three seats by defeating incumbent Vincent Brand, Donald Hager, and Frank Higgins. Andrew Nicholes originally filed to run in the race but was appointed to the Middletown board in August 2016 after incumbent Helene Henkel resigned.[3]
Results
| Middletown Township School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| John Little Jr. |
19.07% | 11,246 |
| Leonora Caminiti |
18.96% | 11,184 |
| Michael Donlon Incumbent |
17.56% | 10,355 |
| Donald Hager | 15.88% | 9,365 |
| Frank Higgins | 15.79% | 9,314 |
| Vincent Brand Incumbent | 12.34% | 7,276 |
| Write-in votes | 0.4% | 237 |
| Total Votes | 58,977 | |
| Source: Monmouth County, New Jersey, "Official Results," accessed December 1, 2016 | ||
Funding
Higgins reported no contributions or expenditures to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission in the election.[4]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Frank Higgins participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[5] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 30, 2017:
| “ | [6][7] | ” |
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 New Jersey. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | .[7] | ” |
| —Frank Higgins (September 30, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight 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. |
| 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? |
| No. Some students don’t do well taking tests, I feel that standardized tests while giving a good overall snapshot of the performance of the school, should not be a sole determination of the performance of a student |
| 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? |
| Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. I would be very difficult to validate merit raise targets. There are so many variables to determine including subject taught, class size etc it would be very time consuming to create a rubric and score each teacher against. They can have service time awards to recognize teachers who have stayed in district |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Each case should be evaluated on case by case basis to determine if any underlying factors are effecting behavior. If so then there should be different interventions taken to help the child |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Student-teacher ratio. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Frank Higgins Middletown Township School District school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Middletown Township School District, New Jersey
- Middletown Township School District elections (2017)
- Middletown Township School District elections (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Elisabeth Moore, "Email exchange with Grace Soden, Senior Technical Assistant for the Office of the Monmouth County Clerk," August 8, 2017
- ↑ New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, "Filings," accessed October 23, 2017
- ↑ Mandy Gillip,"Phone conversation with Monmouth County Clerk," August 1, 2016
- ↑ New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, "Public Information," accessed December 12, 2016
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Frank Higgins's responses," September 30, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Middletown Township School District elections in 2017 | |
| Monmouth County, New Jersey | |
| Election date: | November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-Large: Incumbent, Ernest Donnelly • Incumbent, Susan Griffin • Incumbent, Andrew Nicholes • Nicholas DiFranco • Adam Gentile • Frank Higgins • Pamela Rogers • Robin Stella |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
| 2016 Middletown Township School District Elections | |
| Monmouth County, New Jersey | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: Incumbent, Vincent Brand • Incumbent, Michael Donlon • Leonora Caminiti • Donald Hager • Frank Higgins • John Little Jr. |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional measures on the ballot |
