Judith Appel
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Judith Appel (Democratic Party) was a member of the Berkeley Unified Board of Education At-large in California.
Appel (Democratic Party) ran for election to the California State Assembly to represent District 15. She lost in the primary on June 5, 2018.
Appel is an at-large representative on the Berkeley Unified Board of Education in California. Appel won re-election in the general election on November 8, 2016.[1]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for California State Assembly District 15
Buffy Wicks defeated Jovanka Beckles in the general election for California State Assembly District 15 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Buffy Wicks (D)  | 53.6 | 104,583 |
 | Jovanka Beckles (D) | 46.4 | 90,405 | |
| Total votes: 194,988 | |||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Assembly District 15
The following candidates ran in the primary for California State Assembly District 15 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Buffy Wicks (D) | 31.4 | 37,141 |
| ✔ | | Jovanka Beckles (D) | 15.8 | 18,733 |
 | Dan Kalb (D) | 15.2 | 18,007 | |
 | Judith Appel (D) | 11.5 | 13,591 | |
| Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto (D) | 8.3 | 9,826 | ||
| Pranav Jandhyala (R) | 5.9 | 6,946 | ||
| Andy Katz (D) | 5.2 | 6,209 | ||
| Ben Bartlett (D) | 3.3 | 3,949 | ||
 | Cheryl Sudduth (D) | 1.3 | 1,493 | |
| Raquella Thaman (D) | 0.9 | 1,007 | ||
| Owen Poindexter (D) | 0.7 | 819 | ||
| Sergey Vikramsingh Piterman (D) | 0.6 | 689 | ||
| Total votes: 118,410 | |||
| = 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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2016
Two of the five seats on the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. Incumbents Judith Appel and Beatriz Leyva-Cutler defeated challenger Abdur Sikder in their bids for re-election.[1][2]
Results
| Berkeley Unified School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Judith Appel Incumbent |
50.60% | 39,461 |
| Beatriz Leyva-Cutler Incumbent |
38.61% | 30,116 |
| Abdur Sikder | 10.30% | 8,032 |
| Write-in votes | 0.49% | 383 |
| Total Votes | 77,992 | |
| Source: Alameda County, "General Election (Certified Results) - November 08, 2016," accessed December 22, 2016 | ||
Funding
Appel reported no contributions or expenditures to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters in the election.[3]
Endorsements
Appel was endorsed by the Alameda County Democratic Party, Equality California, and the community organization Evolve.[4][5][6]
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Judith Appel |
42.1% | 30,013 | |
| Nonpartisan | Beatriz Leyva-Cutler Incumbent |
31.2% | 22,267 | |
| Nonpartisan | Norma J.F. Harrison | 4.7% | 3,332 | |
| Nonpartisan | Tracy Hollander | 21.8% | 15,528 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.2% | 166 | |
| Total Votes | 71,306 | |||
| Source: Alameda County Registrar of Voters, "Certified Final Results: General Election November 6, 2012," accessed July 14, 2014 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Judy Appel participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 27, 2016:
| “ | Judy’s priorities for 2016-2020 Achieve equity in education for all students. Berkeley Unified School District has been making real strides in closing the opportunity gap through a combination of academic interventions, coordination of services, intentional staff training, and implementation of research validated equity strategies for the classroom. We need to continue to deepen these efforts so that we can close the racial predictability of academic achievement while creating learning environments that challenge all of our students. Align spending with district goals and values. We owe it to our children and our community to make sure that we are spending district resources to attain the best outcomes for our students. I will continue to be a vigilant steward of our resources, ensuring that we allocate resources to those programs and systems that best support our students,and that we align our spending strategically with our district goals. Foster positive school climates that support student success. Our students need to feel connected to the adults in their school, and safe expressing themselves for who they are in order to succeed not just in school, but in the life that follows. This is an area where I have taken a lead over the past four years, and will support the implementation of our new Restorative Practices plan, the expansion of our social emotional learning program, Toolbox, and increased intervention counseling and mental health supports. Strengthen ties between school, family and community. The engagement of parents and caregivers in their children's education is an essential ingredient to students' success. Our world-class community resources – higher education, service agencies and business – must be leveraged to enrich our students’ learning.[7][8] | ” |
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 California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | We already have very good relations with our very productive and exemplary teachers union, but I ranked this high because I believe that a positive relationship between educators and leadership is critical.[8] | ” |
| —Judy Appel (September 27, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine 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. We have a strong district and resources should be expended to help further the initiatives of our talented administration. The charter school in our district largely serves students from neighboring districts while housed in our facility. |
| 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 defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. I believe that local teacher-developed assessments and formative assessments that allow teachers to track student progress and reteach where necessary, better gauge the progress of our students. The smarter balanced test, which is the standardized test used in our district, is frustrating to students and exacerbates racial disparities. Data is critical to closing the achievement gap, but these tests unfortunately do not accurately assess our kids while taking away valuable classroom instruction time. I believe they should be de-emphasized. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| Common Core adoption in Berkeley has been led by educators and rolled out in a positive way. Challenges remain, but I believe that the positive aspects of Common Core such as analytical thinking and group projects are positive steps. |
| 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? |
| 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. We need to support teachers' improvement through mentorship and peer-learning. We also need to make sure to hold under performing teachers accountable. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Our commitment should be to resourcing our public schools. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Last year we had zero expulsions in our district. I believe that we should have in place an matrix of alternative discipline measures that include restorative practices and restorative justice, and explusions should only be used for the most serious of violent actions where Restorative Justice is not appropriate. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers Quality teachers who have support from district administration is the number one most important factor for student success. A quality teacher not only knows how to give instruction, they can manage their classroom in a positive yet firm way and offer personalization to their students so they all feel seen and believed in. |
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- California State Assembly elections, 2018
- California State Assembly
- Berkeley Unified School District, California
- Berkeley Unified School District elections (2016)
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- California State Assembly
- Berkeley Unified School District
- Office website
- Campaign website
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Berkeley City Clerk, "Roster of Candidate Activity - November 8, 2016," accessed August 15, 2016
- ↑ Alameda County, "General Election (Unofficial Results) - November 08, 2016," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Alameda County Registrar of Voters, "County of Alameda Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed February 7, 2017
- ↑ Alameda County Democratic Party, "Endorsements," accessed October 12, 2016
- ↑ Evolve, "Endorsements: November 8, 2016 General Election," accessed October 12, 2016
- ↑ Equality California, "Our Endorsements," accessed October 13, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Judy Appel's responses," September 27, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
Current members of the California State Assembly
Leadership
Majority Leader:Cecilia Aguiar-Curry
Minority Leader:James Gallagher
Representatives
District 1
Heather Hadwick (R)
District 2
Chris Rogers (D)
District 3
James Gallagher (R)
District 4
District 5
Joe Patterson (R)
District 6
Maggy Krell (D)
District 7
Josh Hoover (R)
District 8
David Tangipa (R)
District 9
Heath Flora (R)
District 10
Stephanie Nguyen (D)
District 11
Lori Wilson (D)
District 12
Damon Connolly (D)
District 13
Rhodesia Ransom (D)
District 14
Buffy Wicks (D)
District 15
District 16
District 17
Matt Haney (D)
District 18
Mia Bonta (D)
District 19
District 20
Liz Ortega (D)
District 21
Diane Papan (D)
District 22
Juan Alanis (R)
District 23
Marc Berman (D)
District 24
Alex Lee (D)
District 25
Ash Kalra (D)
District 26
Patrick Ahrens (D)
District 27
Esmeralda Soria (D)
District 28
Gail Pellerin (D)
District 29
Robert Rivas (D)
District 30
Dawn Addis (D)
District 31
Joaquin Arambula (D)
District 32
Stan Ellis (R)
District 33
Alexandra Macedo (R)
District 34
Tom Lackey (R)
District 35
Jasmeet Bains (D)
District 36
Jeff Gonzalez (R)
District 37
Gregg Hart (D)
District 38
Steve Bennett (D)
District 39
Juan Carrillo (D)
District 40
Pilar Schiavo (D)
District 41
John Harabedian (D)
District 42
Jacqui Irwin (D)
District 43
District 44
Nick Schultz (D)
District 45
James Ramos (D)
District 46
Jesse Gabriel (D)
District 47
Greg Wallis (R)
District 48
Blanca Rubio (D)
District 49
Mike Fong (D)
District 50
Robert Garcia (D)
District 51
Rick Zbur (D)
District 52
Jessica Caloza (D)
District 53
District 54
Mark Gonzalez (D)
District 55
Isaac Bryan (D)
District 56
Lisa Calderon (D)
District 57
Sade Elhawary (D)
District 58
Leticia Castillo (R)
District 59
Phillip Chen (R)
District 60
Corey Jackson (D)
District 61
Tina McKinnor (D)
District 62
Jose Solache (D)
District 63
Vacant
District 64
Blanca Pacheco (D)
District 65
Mike Gipson (D)
District 66
Al Muratsuchi (D)
District 67
District 68
Avelino Valencia (D)
District 69
Josh Lowenthal (D)
District 70
Tri Ta (R)
District 71
Kate Sanchez (R)
District 72
Diane Dixon (R)
District 73
District 74
Laurie Davies (R)
District 75
Carl DeMaio (R)
District 76
Darshana Patel (D)
District 77
Tasha Horvath (D)
District 78
Christopher Ward (D)
District 79
District 80
David Alvarez (D)
Democratic Party (60)
Republican Party (19)
Vacancies (1)
| 2016 Berkeley Unified School District Elections | |
| Alameda County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Judith Appel • Incumbent, Beatriz Leyva-Cutler • Abdur Sikder |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
