Josh Haywood

Josh Haywood

Education

Associates

Illinois Central College

Personal

Profession

Student and nonprofit co-founder

Josh Haywood was a candidate for the District 3 seat on the Peoria Public Schools District 150 Board of Education in Illinois. He ran in the general election on April 7, 2015. He lost the election.

Biography

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Haywood is an intern at Caterpillar Inc. in the Global Supply Network Division. He is also co-founder and vice president of the nonprofit organization Literacy and Independence Through Financial Education (LIFE). He has served as a student senator in the Illinois Central College Student Government Association, as a member of the ICC traffic committee and as vice president of Campus Crusade for Christ at ICC and Bradley University. At the time of his candidacy, Haywood was pursuing a bachelor's degree in finance at Bradley University. He earned his associate degree in finance from Illinois Central College.

Elections

2015

See also: Peoria Public Schools District 150 elections (2015)

Two of the seven seats on the Peoria Public Schools District 150 Board of Education were up for general election on April 7, 2015. Both seats represented District 3. One was an unexpired four-year term, and the other was a full five-year term.

The seats of District 3 incumbents Jon Bateman and Chris Crawford were on the ballot. Bateman ran for re-election to a four-year term after getting appointed in August 2014. He faced three challengers, Ernestine Jackson, Daniel Walther and Brenda Wilson. Jackson defeated Bateman to win the four-year term. Crawford did not file to run for re-election, leaving five challengers, Dan Adler, Jeffrey R. Campbell, Josh Haywood, Phil Romanus and Terry Spayer, to run for the open five-year term. Adler was elected to the seat.

Results

Peoria Public Schools District 150, District 3 General Election, 5-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Dan Adler	52.2%	2,913
	Nonpartisan	Terry Spayer	12.8%	715
	Nonpartisan	Jeffrey R. Campbell	7.6%	422
	Nonpartisan	Phil Romanus	9.8%	545
	Nonpartisan	Josh Haywood	17.6%	981
	Nonpartisan	Mae Catherine Godhigh (Write-in)	0%	0
Total Votes				5,576
Source: Peoria County Clerk, "Cumulative Report — Official," accessed April 28, 2015, Peoria Election Commission, "04/07/15 Official Cumulative," accessed April 28, 2015

Funding

School board candidates in Illinois are only required to file campaign finance reports if they accept contributions or make expenditures in excess of $5,000 in a 12-month period.

Haywood reported no contributions or expenditures to the Illinois State Board of Elections in this election.

Endorsements

Haywood did not receive any official endorsements for this election.

Campaign themes

2015

Haywood highlighted the following questionnaire on his campaign website:

“	1. What qualities do you have that makes you a good candidate for office? I believe that my willingness to learn and have an open mind about the major issues facing the district as well as the Peoria area will be invaluable to me. If I go into this district thinking there is only once right answer to the many problems we face then I may never find an answer at all. Also I believe my youth and first hand experience as a student can better help me see the changes that need to be made to better affect the students. Ultimately we are here to do what is best for the students and taxpayers and I believe that being a former student at Richwoods I offer some invaluable advice as to what is best for the students. Also I believe my hard work ethic will take not only myself but also the district as a whole much farther. It may take years to balance the budget or fully develop some of my programs that I want to implement but with persistence from everyone in the community we can accomplish our goals. 2. What changes are you hoping to make or what are you hoping to contribute if elected to the school board? Do you have specific goals? I think there are some overarching ideas and issues that need to be brought to the table and focused on. 3 of the major issues that I plan to work on is first balancing the budget – without a solid budget it can lead to instability throughout the schools as well as make it difficult to expand programs for students. Second, focus on the safety and discipline concerns – without a well-disciplined class the learning environment lacks. Third, invest in out incredible teaching force that we have in Peoria – if we want quality teachers we must pay quality wages as well as focusing on teacher development and mentorship programs.I also want to help the community focus on what I believe every student needs to succeed in the 21st century and that is the 3 E’s, which stands for Education, Engagement, and Experience. My goal with education will be to focus on providing a healthy learning environment as well as a strong curriculum that enables students to compete in this global market. My goal with engagement is to continue to develop Pathways to Prosperity a program in District 150 that provides student’s internship as well as job shadowing opportunities. This will directly connect students with employers in the Greater Peoria area and give them an opportunity to job shadow them to hopefully help students better understand careers they enjoy.My goal with experience will be to invest more in Woodruff Career and Technical School to give students the hands on experience they need to succeed in a trade school. Another goal of mine will be to offer a financial independence program to all students interested. This program that my colleagues and myself are working on is called L.I.F.E. which stands for Literacy and Independence through Financial Education and will aim to help students that are in low income families have the necessary resources they need to become financially independent.Also a goal of mine will be to expand the amount of AP classes offered at the high school level as well as working with Illinois Central College to offer more Dual Credit classes. 3.Being so young, are there positives and/or negatives for running for the board now? I believe that it doesn’t take a seasoned veteran to make a difference, but simply a willingness to learn and a staunch refusal to give up on my community that I have grown up, and believe so deeply in. 4. When did you decided to run for a position? Why? I decided to run for the school board about two months ago after I attended school board meetings since January 2014. I have spent the better part of this year talking with friends and family about the possibility of running for public office, some thought I was crazy, but others see the issues that we are facing and realize we need someone with a passion for the educational system in Peoria. I ultimately felt a sense of duty to the next generation of students and realized that this generation of students is the next generation’s government and that education is the heart and sole of America and without solid public education we lose our competitiveness around the world. Also, after just recently being a Richwoods student I have seen some of the things that are working very well in the district, but also I’ve seen from a student’s perspective some things that need fixed to better educate children. 5. If you are elected to the school board, where do you hope your career takes you from there? I don’t necessarily see serving on the school board as a career choice for me, but as an opportunity to serve the community while I continue my degree in finance at Bradley University. Ultimately, I hope to grow my nonprofit business L.I.F.E. to areas outside of the Peoria area as we continue to provide financial education to underprivileged areas in Peoria, as well as start my own venture capital investment firm to help small businesses get started.	”
—Josh Haywood's campaign website (2015)

Recent news

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Josh Haywood - Google News

See also

• Peoria Public Schools District 150, Illinois
• Peoria Public Schools District 150 elections (2015)
• Hot tub Gatorade, turnout in Peoria and the Wisconsin state budget... (April 8, 2015)

External links

Suggest a link

• Peoria Public Schools District 150
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page
• Twitter page
• LinkedIn page