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James Washington
James M. Washington ran for election to the Pasco County Schools school board to represent District 1 in Florida. Washington lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Washington completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2022
See also: Pasco County Schools, Florida, elections (2022)
General election
General election for Pasco County Schools school board District 1
Al Hernandez defeated James M. Washington in the general election for Pasco County Schools school board District 1 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Al Hernandez (Nonpartisan) | 64.8 | 124,166 | |
 | James M. Washington (Nonpartisan)  | 35.2 | 67,324 | |
| Total votes: 191,490 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Pasco County Schools school board District 1
Al Hernandez and James M. Washington defeated Stephen A. Meisman in the primary for Pasco County Schools school board District 1 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Al Hernandez (Nonpartisan) | 44.8 | 41,495 | |
| ✔ | | James M. Washington (Nonpartisan) | 31.7 | 29,355 |
| Stephen A. Meisman (Nonpartisan) | 23.6 | 21,829 | ||
| Total votes: 92,679 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Johnathan D. McKeen-Chaff (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James M. Washington completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Washington's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Professional Experience Pasco County Schools: 2020- Now-Pasco High School: Dade City, FL; 2015 – 20-Gulf High School: New Port Richey, FL; 2006 – 15-Zephyrhills High School: Zephyrhills, FL; Hills. Count 1995-2006
Public Service Developed and coordinated the Zephyhills' Community Back To School events from 2012-2017; Coordinated the Gulf High School Feederpattern events from 2017-18
For too long our District has focused on the growth along the SR54 corridor, while ignoring the impending growth of east Pasco. Growth is important. As a district we should be working with the State Legislature, the County Commission, and local businesses and non profits to meet that growth by building new schools, as well as provide resources to our established schools. We need a strong, community-focused voice that is invested in our schools. We must also address the safety of our students and re-allocate funding, when necessary, when that growth leaves us with situations like the proposed cuts to the courtesy bussing program. One who has seen, first-hand, the dedication and connectiveness of these communities. This area needs an ally who has seen and dealt with the issues within our schools.- The issues harming our public educational systems fall under a lack of respect. Unfunded mandates and legislation passed these last decades handcuff districts. These decisions codify special interests while pushing families toward charters and private educational opportunities. A lack of respect fosters misconceptions of what is occurring in our schools and leads to the discussions seen at local school board meetings and/or on social media. Failure to tell the truth and failure to stand up for teachers and staff allows these lies to metastasize and grow. Failure to include educational leaders, with actual experience within the classroom setting, in decision-making hinders any recovery.
- We must shift the paradigm. Once, districts worked for the schools. In recent decades, the pyramid has inverted, and the districts are served by the schools. We must return schools to a service-minded model. Secondly, per pupil spending must increase, and voucher loopholes closed. Currently, vouchers used to send students to private and charter schools allow per-pupil dollars to be moved from the public system to private ones. However, many students are returned to the public system while the money remains at the voucher location. Now districts must do more with less. Hourly and salary pay need to be increased.
- Currently, the conversation from the district, would allow busing to be continued of the route contains dangerous crossings. What the plan does not include is the presence of sexual predators and unsafe neighborhoods which our middle and high schoolers would be asked to traverse. Furthermore, road widening, placement of sidewalks, etc. must be done before any significant discussions can be had. Too many areas contain none of these safety measures. I would also encourage voters to look at the areas affected by these decisions. In most cases they include previously disenfranchised communities and/or communities that need the transportation resources the most.
I believe developers should be incentivized to design schools matching the community's aesthetic. This would free up capital to expand and improve current sites. However, the district office must be restructured to create even more surplus. Recruitment increases if we eliminate the General Knowledge portion of the exam for Florida high school graduates and supporting beginning teacher programs in high school and college. Addressing the lack of respect concerns above allows districts to retain veteran educators which are leaving the profession with an experience deficit.Our district must adopt the Safe-Schools initiatives which have been created. This guide provides clear and researched steps to support LGBTQ+ students. Our district leaders must stand up and use their voices to admonish hate-filled rhetoric and lies that have overtaken the discussion. Furthermore, we must move beyond “safe space” stickers and put into practice real, systematic supports that protect all students.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate Pasco County Schools school board District 1 |
Footnotes
