Gerard Nutter
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Gerard Nutter is an at-large representative on the Lowell Public Schools school board in Massachusetts. Nutter won a first term in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Nutter participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2017
- See also: Lowell Public Schools elections (2017)
Six seats on the Lowell Public Schools School Committee in Massachusetts were up for general election on November 7, 2017.[1] In their bids for re-election, incumbents Andre Descoteaux, Jackie Doherty, Robert J. Hoey Jr., and Connie A. Martin faced former candidates Dominik Hok Y Lay and Dennis R. Mercier and newcomers Timothy Blake, Noelle Creegan, Gerard Nutter, and Daniel J. Shanahan IV.[2] All four incumbents won re-election, and Hok Y Lay and Nutter won the other two seats on the ballot.[3]
All seven seats on the school committee were up for election. The seventh seat was held by the mayor of Lowell, but was not covered by Ballotpedia as the city fell outside of municipal elections coverage.[4][5]
Results
| Lowell Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Jacqueline Doherty Incumbent |
12.19% | 6,385 |
| Robert J. Hoey Jr. Incumbent |
11.55% | 6,054 |
| Connie A. Martin Incumbent |
11.54% | 6,047 |
| Dominik Hok Y Lay |
10.61% | 5,558 |
| Andre Descoteaux Incumbent |
9.77% | 5,117 |
| Gerard Nutter |
9.19% | 4,817 |
| Dennis R. Mercier | 9.02% | 4,727 |
| Noelle Creegan | 8.94% | 4,684 |
| Timothy Blake | 8.63% | 4,520 |
| Daniel J. Shanahan IV | 8.39% | 4,396 |
| Write-in votes | 0.17% | 88 |
| Total Votes | 52,393 | |
| Source: City of Lowell, "Election Summary Report: Official Results," accessed November 28, 2017 | ||
Funding
The Lowell Election & Census Office 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.
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Gerry Nutter participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[6] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 21, 2017:
| “ | To bring fiscal clarity and fairness forward, to develop a citywide maintenance program and to try to encourage more parental involvement in the schools and School Site Councils[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 Massachusetts. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Blank | |
| “ | Educational Tax dollars are hard to come by and must be accounted for clearly and accurately[8] | ” |
| —Gerry Nutter (September 21, 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. Lowell currently has 2 Charter Schools in District and another close by so students have available choices |
| 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. The State and Local Districts should work together as partners to provide the best educational opportunities in every community. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Some students don't test well, other are more visual or hand on learners. We need to find other ways to measure achievement than a standard test. |
| 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. Offer additional training options. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Performance based pay increases or bonuses are very subjective and vary from situation to situation. What would be the criteria and how many variables would be looked at? Plus who would do the judging on the merit or the increases allowed? |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. The State can't update the current formula to properly fund the existing public schools and already support Charter schools. We cannot afford to fund private institutions with taxpayer money. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| As a last resort and then only after every alternative has been explored including alternative schools or tutoring |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers. The ability of a teacher to connect to the student, challenge them, assist them and help them develop good study habits is essential. They are the main 'teaching tool' and you will remember a good teacher longer then you remember any computer, white board or text book. |
Lowell Sun Q&A series
Nutter answered the following five questions from the Lowell Sun as part of a series for the newspaper. The questions provided by the newspaper appear bolded, and Nutter's answers follow below.
Should the Lowell Public School district return to neighborhood schools or retain its two-zone, citywide schools model?[9]
| “ | Currently 59 percent of parents request the neighborhood school when registering their student. That shows we need to look at neighborhood schools. The challenge is we know we don't have enough space in Centralville and would need to bus students to another location (probably what is now the Freshman Academy), so how do you justify that to those parents? We would also need to study what that does to a STEM Academy or an "ARTS" School. Would we need to eliminate those?[8] | ” |
| —Gerard Nutter (2017)[9] | ||
What solutions would you propose to ensure the district can reliably provide adequate services to students within its budget?[10]
| “ | The state budget wasn't set and the school budget as presented should not have been approved by the School Committee. Positions should and could have been funded at $1 and anticipated money put in a suspense account pending legislative approval and addressed then, not weeks before the beginning of the school year. The School Committee has little control over the hiring and day-to-day activities so cost controls are limited. We need clear cooperation and communication with the superintendent and city manager to develop policies that ensure both the education and building maintenance is being addressed and we are receiving proper funding.[8] | ” |
| —Gerard Nutter (2017)[10] | ||
Would you have voted to give Superintendent of Schools Salah Khelfaoui a new four-year contract?[11]
| “ | No, not in the current state he received it. Any salary increase should have been tied to an evaluation. If he felt he needed a term defined contract, why didn't he request one when he took the position under the previous School Committee?[8] | ” |
| —Gerard Nutter (2017)[11] | ||
What is the most pressing capital improvement project facing the School Department, besides the high school, and how do you propose to pay for it?[12]
| “ | Technology! We need a system-wide upgrade. We need to ask our superintendent, grant writer and Project Learn team to concentrate efforts to find grants and low interest loans to fund upgrading the technology for all schools. The city needs to negotiate hard with Comcast for some assistance, especially with the number of families receiving other federal benefits[8] | ” |
| —Gerard Nutter (2017)[12] | ||
What is your opinion on standardized testing? Do public schools do too much, too little, or just enough?[13]
| “ | Public schools do what is mandated by both federal and state requirements. I think we test too much and many students, myself included, are not great book learners but learn from visual or personal tutoring and that causes stress on students. Unfortunately, to maintain eligibility for both state and federal funding we have to perform the required test.[8] | ” |
| —Gerard Nutter (2017)[13] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Gerard Nutter Lowell Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Eda Jane Matchak, City of Lowell," January 31, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Sun, "City Council field set for preliminary," August 10, 2017
- ↑ City of Lowell Election & Census, "Election Results," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Public Schools, "2016-2017 School Committee," accessed August 9, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Sun, "Preliminary city election set as 23 candidates qualify for council race," August 9, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Gerry Nutter's responses," September 21, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell School Committee candidates answer questions on the issues," October 11, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell candidates offer solutions on school budget issues," October 12, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell school candidates split on superintendent's contract," October 13, 2017
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lowell Sun, "Building maintenance, special ed cited as top Lowell school needs," October 14, 2017
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell school candidates weigh in on standardized tests," October 15, 2017
