Jason Olive

This page was current at the end of the official's last term in office covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Jason Olive

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Chandler Unified School District Governing Board At-large

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Education

Bachelor's

University of North Alabama, 1996

Graduate

Auburn University, 1998

Personal

Birthplace

Florence, Ala.

Religion

Baptist

Profession

Architect

Jason Olive was an at-large member of the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board in Arizona. He assumed office on January 1, 2021. He left office on January 1, 2025.

Olive ran for election for an at-large seat of the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board in Arizona. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Olive completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jason Olive was born in Florence, Alabama. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Alabama in 1996 and a master's degree from Auburn University in 1998. His professional experience includes being an architect.

Elections

2020

See also: Chandler Unified School District, Arizona, elections (2020)

General election

General election for Chandler Unified School District Governing Board At-large (3 seats)

Incumbent Barbara Mozdzen, Joel Wirth, and Jason Olive defeated Sharon Tuttle in the general election for Chandler Unified School District Governing Board At-large on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Barbara Mozdzen (Nonpartisan)	33.3	75,592
✔	Submit photo	Joel Wirth (Nonpartisan)	31.3	71,026
✔		Jason Olive (Nonpartisan)	30.1	68,402
		Sharon Tuttle (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	2.4	5,353
		Other/Write-in votes	3.0	6,761

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 227,134
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• David Evans (Nonpartisan)

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jason Olive completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Olive's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a CUSD parent and I am running for the board because I want to support the district and to do something positive for our community.

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?

• I want to support teachers.
• I want schools that are great.
• Our schools are vital to our community.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am not an activist that wants to change a bunch of things. I want to help our teachers and parents. I believe that the district leadership has been good and we can work on the challenges that exist together.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to my father in law. He was one of the most patient people that I have known.

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

Being there with service as the priority.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Empathy

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To listen, to be fair, and to be patient.

What legacy would you like to leave?

To have done a good job and left things better.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I remember driving past the lines of people waiting in line for gas during the 1970s fuel crisis.

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

I worked for my dad's construction company when I was a kid. That lasted until I was in college. It was one of the most character-building jobs that I have ever had.

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

To oversee the business and policies of the district.

Who are your constituents?

Parents that want to have a good school system.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

By trying to understand the points of view of different people and by trying to be as fair as possible.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

We need to work to increase the awareness in our community that we can pressure the state to value public education.

What will you do to build a better relationship with parents in the district? What plans do you have to be inclusive of parental involvement?

Once our kids get out of elementary school a lot of the opportunities to volunteer go away and we need to work on ways to change that.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

The makeup of the district employees should match as closely as possible to the demographics of the whole community. That is not always going to be possible in practice so myself and the other board members are going to have to figure out how much district funds and time to spend on it. There will always be a point where we will have to make a judgment call and spend the time and energy on kids instead.

What issues get in the way of quality education? How would you address these obstacles?

The teachers are the experts on the obstacles to education. We should listen to them and value their opinions.

What constitutes good teaching? How will you measure this? How will you support advanced teaching approaches?

I am not an expert on curriculum. I will have to learn as much as possible about it and trust the advice of the people that do it every day.

What type of skills should students be learning for success in the 21st century?

Technology for sure but we rely on that a a fallback answer. The kids still need problem solving and interpersonal skills that they are loosing with their heads in the internet.

How might you improve the value of a high school diploma? What should a 21st century diploma reflect?

Our high school course lists are bigger than lots of community college offerings. There is an incredible amount of diversity and specialization that is possible.

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 think the specialized curriculum are pretty good. The problem for many kids is finding the specialties that they want to go in to from the beginning of high school. Many of those things now are four year courses that the kids may not like the next year.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

There are lots of smart people working on this every day and they don't have it figured out. I think that it comes down to priorities and how much we want to sacrifice for a good system.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

Protecting students is basic to the mission. I don't however think that making schools feel like prisons is going to make everything perfect. We need to be honest about what works and what just makes us feel better.

How might you support the mental health needs of students/faculty/staff?

I am not a mental health person so I would need to rely on advice of experts on this subject.

What role do you imagine technology playing in (and outside) the classroom in the future? How would you prepare the district for this?

Tech is going to keep getting more incorporated into everything we do. The district is going to have to keep investing in it.

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.

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