Jon DiPietro
Jon DiPietro ran for election to the Manchester Board of School Committee to represent Ward 6 in New Hampshire. DiPietro lost in the general election on November 5, 2019.
DiPietro was a candidate for Ward 6 representative on the Manchester School District school board in New Hampshire. DiPietro was defeated in the by-district general election on November 7, 2017.
DiPietro participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to view his responses.
Biography
DiPietro graduated from the University of Lowell with a bachelor's degree. He has worked as a software engineer and a digital marketing consultant. He has been affiliated with the Executive Board for International Society of Automation and the Board of Directors for Automation.com. The 2017 election was his first time running for office.[1]
Elections
2019
See also: Manchester School District, New Hampshire, elections (2019)
General election
General election for Manchester Board of School Committee Ward 6
Incumbent Dan Bergeron defeated Jon DiPietro in the general election for Manchester Board of School Committee Ward 6 on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dan Bergeron (Nonpartisan) | 55.0 | 1,020 |
 | Jon DiPietro (Nonpartisan) | 44.7 | 830 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 5 | ||
| Total votes: 1,855 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Manchester Board of School Committee Ward 6
Incumbent Dan Bergeron and Jon DiPietro defeated William Bergquist in the primary for Manchester Board of School Committee Ward 6 on September 17, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dan Bergeron (Nonpartisan) | 53.7 | 440 |
| ✔ | | Jon DiPietro (Nonpartisan) | 36.5 | 299 |
| William Bergquist (Nonpartisan) | 9.3 | 76 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.6 | 5 | ||
| Total votes: 820 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2017
All 14 seats on the Manchester School District Board of School Committee in New Hampshire were up for general election on November 7, 2017. Twelve seats were elected by district and the remaining two were elected at large. All 14 incumbents filed to run for re-election. Primary elections for Wards 6 and 12 were held on September 19, 2017.[2]
Incumbents Richard Girard and Nancy Tessier were the only candidates to file to run for the district's two at-large seats and won re-election. In Ward 1, incumbent Sarah S. Ambrogi defeated former candidate Joseph Lachance. Incumbent Debra G. Langton lost to challenger David Scannell for the Ward 2 seat. Incumbent Mary Ngwanda Georges defeated Phillip Harris to retain her Ward 3 seat. Ward 4 incumbent Leslie Want defeated former candidate Mark Flanders. In Ward 5, former board member Kathy Staub was unsuccessful in her challenge against incumbent Lisa M. Freeman to reclaim a seat on the board.[2] Ward 6 incumbent Dan Bergeron defeated challenger Jon DiPietro. They defeated Ernesto Pinder in the primary election.[3][4]
Incumbent Ross Terrio won against challenger Ethan Moorhouse to retain his seat in Ward 7. In Ward 8, former candidate Jimmy Lehoux defeated incumbent Erika Connors. Incumbent Arthur J. Beaudry was the only one to file for the Ward 9 seat and won unnopposed in the election. Ward 10 incumbent John B. Avard defeated newcomer Thomas McGee. In Ward 11, incumbent Katie Desrochers won with 74 percent of the vote against Alexander Avery.[2] Incumbent Constance Van Houten was defeated by newcomer Kelley Anne Thomas. They advanced to the Ward 12 general election after defeating Carlos Gonzalez for the seat.[3][4]
| Manchester School District, Ward 6 General Election, 2-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Dan Bergeron Incumbent |
51.05% | 1,143 |
| Jon DiPietro | 48.82% | 1,093 |
| Write-in votes | 0.13% | 3 |
| Total Votes | 2,239 | |
| Source: Manchester, NH, "Non-Partisan Municipal General Election, November 7, 2017 - Official Results," accessed November 13, 2017 | ||
| Manchester School District, Ward 6 Primary Election, 2-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Dan Bergeron Incumbent |
51.13% | 565 |
| Jon DiPietro |
41.72% | 461 |
| Ernesto Pinder | 6.79% | 75 |
| Write-in votes | 0.36% | 4 |
| Total Votes | 1,105 | |
| Source: Manchester, New Hampshire, "Citywide Official Results," accessed September 23, 2017 | ||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jon DiPietro did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Jon DiPietro participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[5] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on August 28, 2017:
| “ | I want to get the gears moving again in MSD by supporting curriculum excellence, smaller class sizes, and reduce bureaucracy.[6][7] | ” |
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 New Hampshire. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| “ | In Manchester, the single most important issue right now is properly allocating resources. We have too few at the elementary level and too many at the high school level (due to sending towns leaving the district).[7] | ” |
| —Jon DiPietro (August 28, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight 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. |
| 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? |
| Yes. Although standardized tests are important, they are currently over-used in MSD and include non-academic questions that are irrelevant and a violation of privacy. |
| 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? |
| 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. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. Every effort should be made to allow the teacher to improve their performance. When those options are exhausted, they should be terminated. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. I support merit pay as long as only a fixed percentage can receive it. When everyone is exceptional, nobody is. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. This should only be the case if no strings are attached. Too often, vouchers are simply a vehicle for imposing state and federal control. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| The exercising of every right in this country ends when it infringes on someone else's right. That should include education. If a student endangers the safety of others or habitually disrupts the learning environment, they should be expelled. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers. The system is currently not designed to reward teaching excellence. Exceptional teachers need to be rewarded and poor teachers need to be disincentivized. |
In a Ballotpedia questionnaire, DiPietro said of his political philosophy, "I'm a liberty candidate who believes in freedom and individualism."[1]
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form on August 25, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Office of the City Clerk - Manchester, NH, "Filings for Non-partisan Municipal Election," accessed July 21, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Manchester Ink Link, "Manchester Primary Election results," accessed September 19, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 WMUR 9, "2017 city election results for Manchester, New Hampshire," November 7, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Jon DiPietro's responses," August 28, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
