Jill Bishop
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Jill Bishop is an at-large member of the Manitou Springs School District 14 Board of Education in Colorado. She assumed office on December 7, 2023. Her current term ends in 2027.
Bishop ran for election for an at-large seat of the Manitou Springs School District 14 Board of Education in Colorado. She won in the general election on November 7, 2023.
Bishop completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jill Bishop was born in Lakewood, Colorado. She earned a high school diploma from Arvada West High School and a bachelor's degree from Metropolitan State University in 1992. Her career experience includes working as a teacher.[1]
Elections
2023
See also: Manitou Springs School District 14, Colorado, elections (2023)
General election
General election for Manitou Springs School District 14 Board of Education at-large (3 seats)
Jill Bishop, Magdalena Santos, and Connie Brachtenbach defeated Marianne Rommerdahl in the general election for Manitou Springs School District 14 Board of Education at-large on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jill Bishop (Nonpartisan)  | 28.9 | 1,747 |
| ✔ | Magdalena Santos (Nonpartisan) | 27.0 | 1,634 | |
| ✔ | Connie Brachtenbach (Nonpartisan) | 24.2 | 1,468 | |
| Marianne Rommerdahl (Nonpartisan) | 19.9 | 1,205 | ||
| Total votes: 6,054 | |||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bishop in this election.
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jill Bishop completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bishop's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am Jill Bishop and I am pleased to be running for the Manitou Springs School District #14 school board. I have lived in district #14 since 1996 in Cascade, Colorado. Both of my children attended district #14 K-12. I myself, am a public school teacher, with 25 years experience. My career has been spent as a fourth/fifth grade classroom teacher, and an elementary art teacher. As a parent and a teacher I was very proud of the education my children received in Manitou. It is my goal to ensure that current and future Manitou parents feel the same. I am passionate about kids and education. I have a deep seated belief that all children can succeed and it is our role as parents, educators and stakeholders to do all we can to create the optimum environment for that success. My decisions will be driven by what is best for students. I have a deep understanding of how the school board can best serve the Manitou community and I intend to just that.
- Everything starts with great teachers. Manitou has long attracted excellent teachers but we must offer more competitive pay packages to make our talent pool larger, stronger, and more diverse. This will start with higher teacher salaries and advanced teacher training. One of Manitou’s many strengths is relationship based education. We need to augment that strength with data driven decisions to ensure the success of both students and teachers.
- Eduction is under funded at both the state and federal levels. Therefore it is imperative we use fiscal responsibility to create a budget that best serves the needs of students.
- Manitou is a small and beautiful historic community. I am proud to be a part of it. It is my goal to build trust and community partnerships through transparency, honesty, and authenticity.
Public policy in education needs to critically evaluate how we foster excellence and equity for all students in our nation. These policies can only be effective if we first address our teacher shortage. Educating children, our nation’s future, is arguably one of the most important things we do as a society. We must increase teacher salary to attract the best and brightest to this imperative profession.
I am a voracious reader! Admittedly, I read for pleasure, not personal advancement. However, as an educator I have read many books pertaining to pedagogical practices. In terms of my political philosophy, I think many of our current politicians could benefit for a greater understanding of Stephen Covey’s The & Habits of Highly Effective People.After reading his book, I found I already practiced many of his habits in my approach to political philosophy and life in general. My favorite habit is sharpening the saw!
Being authentic, honest and present. Elected officials need to make decisions based on the needs, wants, and success of their constituents, not their own.
I understand how schools and school systems work. I am highly motivated to do what is right for the students, staff, and constituents of Manitou School district #14.
Being authentic, honest and present. Every decision I make, every policy I advocate for needs to be driven by what is best for kids.
My legacy is my own children and the thousands (I currently have 450) of students I have had a positive impact upon throughout the course of my teaching career.
While many historical events have happened in my lifetime, the most significant and memorable is the 9/11 attracts on our nation in 2001. I was 32 years old at the time.
As a voracious reader I find this an impossible question. How much time do you have?
Classic kids? Anything by Ronald Dahl
Contemporary kids? Anything by J.K. Rowling
Classics? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; The Catcher in the Rye; A Christmas Carol
Professor Minerva McGonagall!
The silly songs the preschool teachers sing to their students outside my art room door.
Overcoming the death of my husband at a young age. My children and I learned from our loss and have thrived in it’s wake.
The primary job of a school board member is to make policy and budgetary decisions that best support the success of our students.
The people of Manitou Springs School District #14.
The best way to support the diverse needs of students, faculty, staff and community is by listening and being involved. So often public offices are held by people who spend the bulk of their time talking. We can only truly understand the needs of others by listening, then asking the right questions and providing the information that lead us to success. This belief is the foundation of my own success as an educator. All functional relationships are rooted in respect and understanding the needs of others so that you may in turn better communicate your own.
Building relationships is always based in involvement. I will be involved.The Manitou Springs community may be small but it is indeed mighty. This tight knit group of stakeholders has historically offered great support to the school system. I will build trust though authenticity and transparency with the Manitou community. I will use my background as an art educator to further build partnerships with the thriving art community in Manitou Springs.
Good teaching is measured by those learning. The question is not ”Did I teach it?”, but more appropriately, “Did they learn it?”. State tests are not the be all, end all measure of student knowledge. They are one piece of a pie that should include a wide variety of measures. These measures should include observation of learning, use of multiple response strategies, demonstrations of learning, and yes, assessments. Having said this, the collection data is easy, the analysis of data requires time and a dedication to use data to inform our decisions for what is best for kids. We need to provide our teachers with training in these practices and then fairly compensate those motivated to use these practices.
Variety is not only the spice of life, it is our strength. Diversity in programs creates inclusion and success for all. The university track is one that leads to success for many of our students but that in no way minimizes the importance of alternative tracks to success including education in trades and opportunities in apprenticeships. Options are always good and our best path forward to ensure success for all.
At the local level our best option is to practice fiscal responsibility. On a grander scale we must support candidates and policies at both the state and federal levels that understand the deep importance of education and are motivated to properly fund it.
Our children are our most precious resource. No measure is too trivial when planning for their safety.
A child’s physical and emotional needs must be met before they are able to succeed academically. This knowledge is key to a school district’s success. Social/emotional wellness starts in the classroom with teachers who are properly trained in these practices and motivated to building high quality respectful relationships with their students. In Addition to this, the importance of counselors and social workers in the school can not be over-stated.
Humor is best in the moment and the joy of so many situations. How can a single joke embody that?
Manitou Springs school district #14 is a high quality welcoming place for students, parents and staff. Our kids are at the top of our priorities. High quality, fairly compensated teachers need to be next in line. I would like to build upon Manitou’s current strength of relationship driven practices with data driven decisions and instruction guided by professional development and implementation.
I am not endorsed by any organizations or individuals.
Studies show the most important school based factor in determining student success is teachers. The ideal learning environment is one headed by the best and brightest teachers pedagogy has to offer. Teachers that are well trained and driven by by data based decisions and what is best for kids. Teachers who know their relationship with students and their belief in every students’ ability to succeed is the foundation on which we build happy, healthy, educated and productive members of society.
Wow, what an adventure that was… Public health is obviously very important, as is an individual’s personal comfort level with it. Balancing this with high quality teaching practices was one of the biggest challenges ever posed to public education. We learned that some kids thrived at home learning through a screen. More, in my personal experience as a teacher through the pandemic, did not. I will always support options for parents in education as long as those options do not infringe on the funding of public schools and a high quality education for all. Online learning is a viable alternative for some students and should be an option. Similarly, teaching online is an attractive option for some teachers. However, juggling both in person and online high quality teaching long term is not a sustainable practice. The hands on learning and the social interaction that comes with a more traditional education model is often best for the majority of students, In future, we must take any measure within our power to keep kids safely in schools.
I will lean heavily on the many solid relationships I already have with friends, neighbors and faculty members in district #14 to help me grow my relationships with Manitou parents.
We must increase pay for our faculty. I have spent time gaining an understanding of the current Manitou Springs school district budget and look forward to gaining an even broader understanding once elected. My current conclusion is that fiscal responsibility and careful prioritizing of what is best for students can enable district #14 to offer more competitive pay packages.
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.
Other survey responses
Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Bishop completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 7, 2023
