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John Walker (Modesto City Schools, California)
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John Walker is the at-large representative on the Modesto City Board of Education in California. He was first elected to the board in the general election on November 3, 2015.[1][2]
Elections
2015
- See also: Modesto City Schools elections (2015)
Four of the seven seats on the Modesto City Schools Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015.[3] The election was held at large. Three seats were up for four-year terms, and one seat was up for a two-year term due to an appointment to the board.[4]
Incumbents Steven Grenbeaux and Amy Elliot Neumann ran for re-election to four-year terms. They faced challengers John Walker and Chad Brown. Grenbeaux and Neumann won their bids for re-election, and Walker won the third four-year term on the board.[1] Incumbent Desiree Romo ran unopposed and won re-election to the two-year term.[2]
Results
| Modesto City Schools, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Amy Elliot Neumann Incumbent |
31.2% | 15,342 |
| Steven Grenbeaux Incumbent |
24.9% | 12,256 |
| John Walker |
23.0% | 11,307 |
| Chad Brown | 20.9% | 10,263 |
| Total Votes | 49,168 | |
| Source: Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, "Official Results," accessed November 17, 2015 | ||
Funding
At the time of this election, the Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staffers requested this information, but the only free method of viewing the files was at their office.[5]
The first campaign finance reporting deadline was September 24, 2015, and the second one was October 22, 2015. If candidates raised or spent more than $1,000 from a single source, including their own funds, between August 5, 2015, and November 2, 2015, they had to file a campaign finance report within 24 hours.[6]
Endorsements
Walker received no official endorsements in this election.
Campaign themes
2015
Walker highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Putting our children’s educational needs first has been my focus as a parent volunteer, School Site Council Chairperson, School Advisory Council Chairperson, and English language advisory committee member. Professionally I have spent 15 years in air traffic control software research & development at UC Santa Cruz. This provides a solid background and perspective of the needs of students in a 21st century evolving work force. My experience as a site council chairperson, parent contributor on the Sylvan District local control accountability plan, and Title 1 funding gives me experience balancing student needs within a budget. My pledge is to put student needs first. I will support and advocate for research based and scientifically proven academic standards, professional development, and classroom materials that are age appropriate including our special needs and English learning students. I will advocate ensuring that technology in the classrooms is used as a tool but not the only tool. I also believe it is vital that educating our children should include music, art, literature, and the history of our country including founding documents such as the Declaration Of Independence, and the U.S. Constitution. As a parent and veteran it would be an honor to have your vote and trust.
Positive improvement pilot programs I would like to see put in place if I am fortunate enough to earn your trust and vote. 1. A kindergarten first grade play based learning program modeled after the Modesto parent participation pre-school located at the corner of College and Orangeburg. The idea would be to target a struggling school site with a large English learner population. Given the success of the model I am looking at we could make real gains at an early age. 2. The re-introduction of research based scientifically proven math textbooks based on the pre common core historically proven methods. My plan would be to target an elementary and middle school site with a large population of English Learners and economically disadvantaged students. The idea here is that the current model depends to a large degree on technology that is not readily available to the many of these households. In addition, utilizing tried and true methods would allow the teachers to work with individual students not always familiar with language, technology, and the lack of fundamental math facts missing in the common core curriculum. 3. I would also like to see a trial program for high school students called the “Dual Credit Program”. It could serve as an alternative to the current pre-AP and AP courses. An example of this model in San Jose is at Valley Christian High School. The reason behind this is that the College Board controls the AP course test and hence the content. The current president of the College Board is David Coleman. This is important because he is the chief architect of the common core curriculum and testing. Upon release of the new AP History this summer it was immediately taken back and is now being reworked. It left out much of our founding history such as Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison. Instead it focused on every mistake we have made as a country. David Coleman has never taught at any level anywhere in his life, and is not qualified to re-write academic standards or the SAT. Many advisors are now telling High School Students to avoid the SAT he just helped re-write, and instead take the ACT which at this point is still intact for the time being. My top 3 parental and student rights issues I would like to see addressed at the school board policy and procedure level as soon as possible. 1. Current state policy provides that parents are allowed to opt their children out of sex-ed instruction during the 2 years it is taught. One year at the middle school level normally 7th grade, and one year in high school. Currently AB-329 the new CA sex-ed bill has passed the CA assembly and in the CA Senate now. It completely redefines what sex-education is. Based on the content of this bill it can now be taught from Kindergarten through the 12th grade. The bill contains the language "comprehensive" and "K-12", which in my opinion should be out of bounds. The local school boards can still have the ability to restrict it to a 2-year policy, and I believe that should be done immediately and permanently. In addition, the policy should have a provision that it can only be overridden with a super majority vote. Given the depth and breadth of what I will call “sexuality education”, a district opt out form should be provided at the beginning of the school year and again 30 days before instruction begins. Currently it is the parent’s responsibility to be aware of this policy and send in a written form to opt their children out. 2. Protecting our students data / privacy should be paramount in the current world of common core and online technology instruction. There should be a policy that all vendors must adhere to provisions that it is mandatory that no personally identifiable or meta-data is stored and or sold to 3rd parties. Those vendor policies should be mandatory and not voluntary. All technology vendor privacy policies should be readily available and easily accessible on the district website. 3. I have been very candid about my dislike of the lack of research based and scientifically proven curriculum & testing. It appears from this article that SBAC test results are going to be given to school districts this week & then to parents. The cutoff scores were built to put 70% of students into a non-proficient category. English learners & economically disadvantaged are predicted to be 80% - 90% non-proficient. Non-proficient is a fancy way of saying failed. They will not release the statewide scores in total for another month because they "need time to get the website ready". The test was computer based and sorting and posting the results should not take a month. Putting a marketing campaign together to explain / spin the 70, 80, percent failure rates is what is going to take a month. Very frustrating because we need a valid, research based, scientifically proven test, and curriculum. We do not need a marketing campaign. There should be a board policy that says parents who take advantage of the rights to not subject their children to the experimental testing will not have to worry about their children being placed in a sit and stare situation. They will receive some other assignment or instruction. Parents will be advised of their rights at the beginning of the school year and 30 days prior to testing.[7] |
” |
| —John Walker, (2015)[8] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'John Walker' 'Modesto City Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Modesto City Schools, California
- Modesto City Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, "SUMMARY REPT-GROUP DETAIL," accessedNovember 4, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Modesto City Clerk, "Candidate List," accessed August 11, 2015
- ↑ Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, “Consolidated District Election Calendar Tuesday, November 3, 2015,” accessed January 29, 2015
- ↑ Modesto City Schools, "Call and Notice of Board of Education," January 8, 2015
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Office of Lee Lundrigan, Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters," December 8, 2015
- ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ John Walker 4 School Board, "Home," accessed October 29, 2015
| 2015 Modesto City Schools Elections | |
| Stanislaus County, California | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large (four-year term): • Incumbent, Steven Grenbeaux • Incumbent, Amy Elliot Neumann • John Walker • Chad Brown At-large (two-year term): • Incumbent, Desiree Romo |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
