Jimmy Doster
Jimmy Doster was a candidate for the District 2 seat on the Durham Public Schools school board in North Carolina. He was defeated in the general election on May 6, 2014.
Biography
Doster was raised in the Triangle, North Carolina. He holds a degree from The Ohio State University. After college, Doster returned to North Carolina where he works as a business analyst. He attends The Summit Church in Durham, where he has served in the kids program and co-led a small group for high school students. Doster also occasionally serves as a substitute teacher for his high school alma mater.[1]
Elections
2014
- See also: Durham Public Schools elections (2014)
Jimmy Doster faced fellow newcomers Sendolo Diaminah, Donald A. Hughes, DeWarren K. Langley and Terrence R. Scarborough for the District 2 seat in the general election on May 6, 2014.
Results
Doster was defeated in the general election by Sendolo Diaminah.
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan |  Sendolo Diaminah |
44.3% | 2,936 | |
| Nonpartisan | Donald A. Hughes | 28.3% | 1,874 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jimmy Doster | 13.7% | 910 | |
| Nonpartisan | Terrence R. Scarborough | 8.9% | 588 | |
| Nonpartisan | DeWarren K. Langley | 4% | 266 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.7% | 49 | |
| Total Votes | 6,623 | |||
| Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "05/06/2014 UNOFFICIAL PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS - DURHAM," accessed June 2, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Doster reported $17,015.73 in contributions and 12,465.57 in expenditures to the Durham County Board of Elections, which left his campaign with $4,550.16 on hand.[2]
Endorsements
Doster did not receive any endorsements for his campaign.
Campaign themes
2014
Doster's campaign website listed his themes for 2014:
| “ | The Economy
The economy matters to me. Firstly, preparing students for college, or other post-secondary opportunities including vocational training, their careers, and their lives as adults is our top priority. Schools often weigh heavily in a family’s decision where to live. Durham Public Schools should be a reason why people associated with the Triangle’s universities and businesses choose to live here, and why more companies should want to locate here in Durham. Right now this is not often the case. As a School Board member, I will offer to partner with our business community, other educational institutions, and state and local governments in an effort to make improvements in our performance and reputation. Achievement Gap A top priority is dramatically improving the educational achievements of our students, specifically economically challenged students. While many social factors contribute to this achievement gap, the Board can play a vital role—in our decisions and our tone. “Pushing kids through” is not helpful to students, their future, and our community. An unshakeable commitment to student achievement is needed. This commitment must begin at the Board and cascade through the administration, teachers, parents, students, and community. We can and should do better in this area. High-Achievers A Durham Public School teacher told me of his concern that some high-achievers plateau after being conditioned to think that exchanging their potential for mediocrity is okay. This leads to attitudes of “just passing” or “doing as little as possible to get an A”, which is not in the best interest of the student, their future, and our community. Teachers and parents should identify high-achieving students; encourage and build them up, while helping others become high-achievers, too. School Choice Families make the best choice available for their children's education. Some of those parents we represent choose other means of education such as charters and home schools, and we all will gain through collaboration. We should not cut ourselves off from other educational choices due to philosophical reasons. The goal is to educate our youth, therefore we are all on the same team. By learning best-practices from others, and vice versa, Durham Public Schools will improve and more families will choose to educate their children in Durham Public Schools. As a Board member, I will reach out to all publicly funded schools in Durham for collaboration and participation by our students. Teacher Tenure Laws can always be improved, and the approach to doing so matters. I prefer using the legislative process not the courts. In March, the Durham School Board voted unanimously to use Durham County taxpayer money to sue our North Carolina State Government regarding the new "Teacher Tenure Law." Since I understand the importance of this legislation, I attended this meeting--the only candidate in the audience. Afterwards, I made the case to the media opposing expensive litigation. Unlike some, I am engaging legislators in a civil discussion to address this matter and will continue to advocate making education-affecting laws better through the legislative process not the courts. Civil discourse. Avoid litigation. Common Core While I was walking door to door in Durham, a 5th grader at EK Powe Elementary articulately explained his displeasure with Common Core. At nearly every home with children in Durham Public Schools, Common Core was given the thumbs down. Philosophically, I believe that the local level should have greater power than special interests in Washington DC who pushed the Common Core on North Carolina. As the Common Core is reviewed by a Governor-initiated special task force in Raleigh, I will work to improve the implementation of what we have while listening to parents, teachers, and local stakeholders on how to educate Durham's youth. Food My preference is having locally provided food from vendors/farmers that wouldn't have to follow a strict mandate from the Federal Government or Department of Agriculture about what items have to be provided. School lunches are currently contracted out largely because experts are needed to comply with Federal food requirements. It would be nice if these top-down laws would just go away so that sensible people like local parents, teachers, and administrators can come up with the best food options without follow more rules. That said, let's try to make what we have better given the circumstances. No one I have talked to while going door to door is satisfied with the status quo regarding school food. Suspensions First we need to understand the data Durham Public Schools is working on changing its school suspension policy. Four community meetings were held late last year, but I have not yet seen a report. Also, we have not seen DPS data on what the reasons are for suspension, such as fighting, late for school, absences etc. To develop a new policy, analyzing and understanding this data is essential. High and consistent standards for student behavior Disciplinary methods and standards should be applied consistently to all students. Remediate student behavior at the school level, not by sending students home (unless there is a known safety issue). For those that must be given out-of-school suspensions, a better option for the students would be to enter a program run by the YMCA, for example, as an alternative to out-of-school suspensions. The YMCA currently runs successful programs like this elsewhere and we should look to bringing an equivalent here. As a School Board, we try to make policies better. Most importantly, it is the character of student that matters. As leaders we need to lead by example. As a community we need to be supportive. Crowded Buses Professional Development As a Board member, I will strongly support our Office of Professional Learning. Teachers must be respected as professionals. This goes hand-in-hand with the requirement for continuous Professional Development. As Board members, we must listen to our teachers, both by being accessible and by attending such forums as the Durham Association of Educators. Additionally, I support the efforts of the PTA Council to establish and enhance active PTA/PTO’s in all schools, which can be a key factor to support our teachers. Also, we need to limit the number of non-education tasks required of teachers by continuously challenging ourselves to re-assign or eliminate duties that are not in support of “the main event”, educating students. In short, let teachers teach. We use tests to measure achievement and progress of our students. We need to allow the wisdom of our teachers, their experience, to craft the best approaches for learning to create the best outcomes for each of our DPS students. [3] |
” |
| —Jimmy Doster campaign website, (2014) | ||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Jimmy + Doster + Durham + Public + Schools"
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Jimmy Doster for School Board, "About Jimmy," accessed April 8, 2014
- ↑ Durham County Board of Elections, "2014 Organizational Disclosure Reports," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Jimmy Doster for School Board, "Issues," accessed April 8, 2014
| 2014 Durham Public Schools Elections | |
| Durham County, North Carolina | |
| Election date: | May 6, 2014 |
| Candidates: | District 1: • Incumbent, Omega Parker • Mike Lee • Thomas Poole
District 2: • Sendolo Diaminah • Jimmy Doster • Donald A. Hughes • DeWarren K. Langley • Terrence R. Scarborough |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
