Joseph Straws III
Joseph Straws III was a candidate for at-large representative on the Kansas City Kansas Public Schools school board in Kansas. Straws was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Straws participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2017
Five of the seven seats on the Kansas City Kansas Public Schools Board of Education in Kansas were up for at-large general election on November 7, 2017. Three of the seats were up for regular election to four-year terms, and two of the seats were up for special election to two-year terms due to appointments on the board. In the election for the three four-year terms, incumbent Irene Caudillo lost her seat as Maxine Drew, Wanda Brownlee Paige, and Stacy Yeager won election. Challengers Joseph Straws III and Maria Ysaac also lost. In the special election, appointed incumbent Janey Humphries and newcomer Harold Brown won two-year terms, defeating incumbent Rick Behrens and challengers Harold Brown and Korri Hall-Thompson.[1][2][3]
Results
| Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Stacy Yeager |
21.38% | 5,077 |
| Maxine Drew |
19.80% | 4,701 |
| Wanda Brownlee Paige |
18.19% | 4,318 |
| Irene Caudillo Incumbent | 15.85% | 3,764 |
| Joseph Straws III | 13.07% | 3,102 |
| Maria Ysaac | 11.43% | 2,713 |
| Write-in votes | 0.28% | 67 |
| Total Votes | 23,742 | |
| Source: Wyandotte County, "2017 General Election (Results): Official Results," accessed November 17, 2017 | ||
Funding
The Wyandotte County Election Office does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Joseph A. Straws, III participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[4] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 11, 2017:
| “ | Candidate did not respond to this question.[5][6] | ” |
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 Kansas. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Students...[6] | ” |
| —Joseph A. Straws, III (October 11, 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.) |
|---|
| No. |
| 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? |
| No. |
| 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? |
| Offer additional training options. 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. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Deterrent for extreme... |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Joseph Straws III Kansas City Kansas Public Schools. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Wyandotte County Election Office, "2017 Candidate Filings," accessed June 2, 2017
- ↑ Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, "Board Vacancy Notice: At-large Member to Fill Vacancy for the Remainder of the Unexpired Term," accessed March 13, 2017
- ↑ Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, "Special Meeting Agenda (Monday, April 17, 2017)," accessed May 30, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Joseph A. Straws, III's responses," October 11, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
