J. Stephen Ullum

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J. Stephen Ullum

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

High school

Ballard High School

Personal

Religion

Christian

Profession

Realtor

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign YouTube

J. Stephen Ullum ran for election to the Jefferson County Public Schools to represent District 3 in Kentucky. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Ullum completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

J. Stephen Ullum earned a high school diploma from Ballard High School and his career experience includes working as a realtor.

Elections

2022

See also: Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky, elections (2022)

General election

General election for Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education District 3

Incumbent James Craig defeated J. Stephen Ullum, G. Perry Adelmann, and Samuel Cowan II in the general election for Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education District 3 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	James Craig (Nonpartisan)	43.0	17,626
		J. Stephen Ullum (Nonpartisan)	40.6	16,607
		G. Perry Adelmann (Nonpartisan)	9.2	3,764
	Submit photo	Samuel Cowan II (Nonpartisan)	6.5	2,665
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	283

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 40,945
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released Oct. 18, 2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

J. Stephen Ullum completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ullum's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

First and foremost, I am a single dad to an 11-year-old daughter. She is the reason for everything I do, and she is single-handedly my greatest pride and joy. I am very proud that we have such a close and open relationship with each other. Watching her develop into the woman she is going to become has been the most fulfilling experience of my life.

In my professional life, I am a licensed Realtor in Kentucky and Indiana, having served customers in Jefferson, Oldham, Henry, Trimble, Shelby, Bullitt, Spencer, Nelson, Franklin, Meade, Clark, and Floyd Counties. I've never done anything that I enjoy more than I do real estate because it gives me the opportunity to be an integral part in one of the most important decisions of someone's life.

I am running for JCPS School Board because I want to change the direction of our school district, install common sense back on the school board, and make sure every child has every opportunity to become the best person they can be.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Safety and discipline are lacking in our schools right now. These things are a direct cause of the declining academics, the unprecedented number of teachers and bus drivers leaving our school district, and the state of our school district as a whole. With the rapidly increasing fights, violence, and guns in our schools, we need enhanced security measures and a strict adherence to discipline to take back control of our schools.
• I don't accept that our educational proficiency should continue to rank so low on a state and national level. Our school board is allowing politics to drive its decisions rather than basic common sense and it needs to end. We need to start seeing our kids as students instead of demographics and we need to make sure every student from every walk of life has access to every resource we can provide to make sure they are prepared to be leaders in the chosen career paths.
• Every teacher, bus driver, staff member, public school parent, private school parent, homeschool parent, and taxpayer deserves to have a voice without fearing retaliation. This is a public school system, and the word PUBLIC has been forgotten. For too long, voices have been silenced and opposing views have been systematically erased. It's time that these voices be heard once again, and it's time that the school board actually hears those voices.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Public safety is my top concern. Admittedly, this is a community problem as a whole rather than simply a JCPS issue, but we still have the responsibility of keeping our students and staff safe while they are on school property. We need to work together as a community to end the division and the hate, start seeing each other as people instead of demographics, be parents that are intimately involved with all areas of our kids' lives, and start getting morals and values back into our culture. There is no other way we are going to stop the violence.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

1) the ability to reason based on common sense;

2) the ability to recognize when there are other people more qualified to make decisions about certain things;

3) a willingness to listen to the feedback from the staff that has boots on the ground every day and sees the real-life implications of policies;

4) discipline to set aside the politics of the popular choice in favor of using common sense;

5) the ability to make responsible decisions that have far-reaching effects on a large number of people;

6) the willingness to listen to the people that elected you and take their suggestions seriously;

7) the realization that you were elected to be an extension of the people in your district;

8) the integrity to stand by the principles on which you ran to get elected;

9) a service mindset;

10) the willingness to put others' needs ahead of your own;

11) the ability to work cooperatively with people who share different opinions;

12) the ability to take a stand for the right decision even when it is not the popular decision;

13) responsibility;

14) honesty;

15) hard work;

16) the willingness to lead by example and practice what you preach

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want my daughter to see that her father was willing to take a stand for something he strongly believed, even against overwhelming odds. I want her to see that doing the right thing sometimes means getting uncomfortable and doing things you may not want to do. I want her to see the importance of standing up for people that cannot take a stand for themselves. I want her to see that doing the right thing is not always the same as doing the popular thing. When you begin something, though, you finish it. You see it through to the end because you made the initial commitment to do it. The most important thing is that you give it your best shot, you stand by your values and your beliefs, and you perform out of integrity and good moral character.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My best friend and I used to mow lawns in the summer, rake leaves in the fall, and shovel driveways and sidewalks in the winter. I am always amazed at how few kids there seem to be doing the same things these days because we absolutely crushed it as kids doing this. Even at such a young age, we would use the money we made to purchase equipment to make our business better. It was a great learning experience.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

I would be Captain America. I have always been a Marvel fan, specifically the Avenger series, and he is the one character that always did what he thought was right and he stood by his morals and values. Morals and values are lacking in our society today, and I believe it is the direct cause of the decline we are seeing in every area of our lives. We've lost grip of common sense, and we have to get common sense back into the public offices that lead and guide our communities and our country.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

The school board should be responsible for making sure every student has access to all the resources they need to get the highest quality of education possible while, at the same time, keeping its students and staff safe while on school property.

The school board has an obligation of transparency and fiscal responsibility to the public because it is taxpayer funding that keeps our schools operational.

The school board should work in a cooperative manner with union leaders, school administrators and employees, parents, community leaders, and community organizations to expand its services and opportunities to students and families so that no reasonable need is unmet.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

I would like to see more of a focus on trades, especially at the high school level. Our job as a school board should be to prepare our kids for the day they graduate and leave our school system. Let's face it, not every student is going to go to college. Some lack the financial means to do so, while others simply are not wired with the desire. Those students deserve to be equally as prepared for their futures. By allowing students to study and train for a particular trade, possibly even a work apprenticeship program where they get on-the-job experience, many of our students can be ready to graduate and immediately enter into a new career. It would provide a service both to the student and to the community. The student can immediately begin earning an income and starting down a career path, and the community will benefit because of the lack of qualified workers in almost every trade. Every student matters, and we need to make sure that we leave none of them behind.

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Candidate

Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education District 3

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