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Janet McClean
Ballotpedia provides comprehensive election coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population as well as mayoral, city council, and district attorney election coverage in state capitals outside of the 100 largest cities. This board member is outside of that coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates.
Janet McClean is an at-large representative on the San Marcos Unified Governing Board in California. She has served on the board since March 2011.[1] McClean won re-election in the general election on November 8, 2016.[2]
McClean participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2016
Three of the five seats on the San Marcos Unified School District Governing Board were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. In their bids for re-election, incumbents Janet McClean and Randy Walton ran against challengers Lucia Acosta, Michael Brock, Victor Graham, and Leticia Robles.[3] McClean and Walton won re-election, and Graham won the other seat on the ballot.[4]
Results
| San Marcos Unified School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Randy Walton Incumbent |
20.97% | 17,999 |
| Janet McClean Incumbent |
19.95% | 17,116 |
| Victor Graham |
15.67% | 13,445 |
| Lucia Acosta | 15.60% | 13,388 |
| Leticia Robles | 15.24% | 13,078 |
| Michael Brock | 12.57% | 10,789 |
| Total Votes | 85,815 | |
| Source: San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Presidential General Election - Tuesday, November 8, 2016," accessed December 9, 2016 | ||
Funding
McClean filed an exemption form detailing she would not spend or receive more than $2,000 for this campaign. Because of this, she did not have to file additional campaign finance reports.[5][6]
Endorsements
McClean was endorsed by the San Marcos Educators' Association.[7]
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Randy Walton Incumbent |
31% | 20,879 | |
| Nonpartisan | Janet McClean |
25.2% | 16,952 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jay Petrek Incumbent |
23.1% | 15,525 | |
| Nonpartisan | Carlos Ulloa | 20.7% | 13,956 | |
| Total Votes | 67,312 | |||
| Source: San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Presidential General Election November 6, 2012 Official Results," accessed August 5, 2014 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Janet McClean participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 20, 2016:
| “ | I bring an open mind and an honest commitment to improve our schools and provide the learning environment our students and educators deserve.[8][9] | ” |
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 California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| “ | Maintaining a balanced budget is fundamental to a successful District. Time and energy cannot be spent on the other priorities listed if you are dealing with financial uncertainty.[9] | ” |
| —Janet McClean (September 20, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine 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.) |
|---|
| Yes. I would like the opportunity to approve a Charter in our District. What a great opportunity to see the results of a flexible school choice compared directly with a traditional educational experience. |
| 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. I believe that standardized tests are just one part of determining student achievement. There are many other factors that are not measurable. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| I believe that Common Core State Standards is a good thing or students, but the implementation has been challenging. A curriculum shift can be difficult on all parties; teachers, students and parents. Additional teacher training and resources would have been helpful to all. |
| 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. 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. I believe that any employee, regardless of their field, are entitled to additional support to be successful. I would implement a mentorship program, in conjunction with training, to help support an underperforming teacher. The time frame should be limited, determined based on each situation, and without any significant improvement, the employee should be terminated. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. I believe that educational achievement of students is very subjective. I'm not sure how we would determine the framework for a merit pay system that would be fair to all teachers. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Public education is a right for all. If families chose a different option, that should be at their own expense. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsions should be the last alternative for a student. I believe that all avenues of corrective behavior should be exhausted before a student is expelled. The only exception would be if a student was a threat to others. Schools should be a safe environment for all. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers While class size, curriculum, volunteers and support are all wonderful and important things, the teacher is the one that makes it all happen. Great teachers are critical to student success. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Janet McClean' 'San Marcos Unified School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Elect Janet, "About Janet," accessed October 27, 2016
- ↑ San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate List: 2016 General Election," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate List: 2016 General Election," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ San Diego County, "Presidential General Election Tuesday, November 8, 2016," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "CampaignDocs eRetrieval: Search by Candidate's Last Name," accessed October 5, 2016
- ↑ California Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 8, 2016," accessed September 30, 2016
- ↑ San Marcos Educators' Association, "Home," accessed October 27, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Janet McClean's responses," September 20, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 San Marcos Unified School District Elections | |
| San Diego County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Janet McClean • Incumbent, Randy Walton • Lucia Acosta • Michael Brock • Victor Graham • Leticia Robles |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
