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Julian Waters
Julian Waters was a candidate for Samuel Miller Magisterial District representative on the Albemarle County Public Schools school board in Virginia. Waters was defeated in the by-district general election on November 7, 2017.
Waters participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2017
Three of the seven seats on the Albemarle County Public Schools school board in Virginia were up for general election on November 7, 2017. In her bid for re-election to the Jack Jouett Magisterial District seat, incumbent Katherine Lee Acuff ran unopposed. In the race for the Rio Magisterial District seat, which was left open when incumbent Pamela Moynihan did not file to run for re-election, Katrina Callsen defeated Mary McIntyre. Incumbent Graham Paige defeated challenger Julian Waters in the race for the Samuel Miller Magisterial District seat.[1]
Results
| Albemarle County Public Schools, Samuel Miller Magisterial District General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Graham Paige Incumbent |
65.24% | 4,249 |
| Julian Waters | 34.15% | 2,224 |
| Write-in votes | 0.61% | 40 |
| Total Votes | 6,513 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2017 November General," accessed November 21, 2017 | ||
Funding
Waters reported $1,713.94 in contributions and $1,408.48 in expenditures to the Virginia Department of Elections, which left Waters' campaign with $305.46 on hand in the election.[2]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Julian Dulles Waters participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[3] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on July 25, 2017:
| “ | I hope to work towards reducing our dependency on standardized tests and curriculum, and broadening opportunities for confirmed credit for students. This includes reducing requirements on teachers to give them more free time to assist students and plan lessons and reaching out into the community to provide learning opportunities outside of seat- time hours.
I also believe we need to raise teacher pay. It is not acceptable for us to settle in areas such as faculty compensation but not settle in other areas that are less critical to student success. Teachers are the single greatest asset available to our school system and improving our relationship with teachers and improving teacher morale will positively impact student achievement. I believe it is critical for us to expand public preschool access across the district. Existing preschool programs have shown enormous benefit to students and investment in public preschool can reduce per- student expenditures in secondary school. Expanding preschool access is a way to reduce the achievement gap and help raise the bar for disadvantaged or lower- income students, ensuring equity in elementary and secondary school.[4][5] |
” |
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 Virginia. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Improving relations with teachers allows us to improve in all other areas on the board. Teachers are the single greatest asset available to any public school system: by improving relationships with the faculty gains can subsequently be made in all other areas.[5] | ” |
| —Julian Dulles Waters (July 25, 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. I believe it to be a more productive option to ensure parity of instructional programming and improve our existing public schools before subsidizing charter schools off of our existing budget. |
| 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. |
| 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. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Merit pay is often biased towards teachers who teach higher- academic intensity courses, such as AP level or similar. This can punish teachers who devote themselves to helping underperforming students. Additionally, merit pay has the potential to create a competitive work environment, which is extremely detrimental in a profession where teamwork and coordination on the part of faculty is key to ensuring student success. I believe we should instead pay all of our teachers a salary that properly rewards them for their hard work. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. I believe studies should be conducted showing the impact of school vouchers on the budget as well as the impact of private schools and school vouchers on public school student demographics before we consider granting money to private schools. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be used rarely and determined with the advice of a third party body established by the school board. I do not believe that expulsion ever leads to better outcomes for students, and expulsion should only be used in the case of severe criminal offenses on the part of the student. Many other restorative practices can have a beneficial impact on students struggling with disciplinary issues, and such practices allow the student to continue their education. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers |
Candidate website
Waters highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Public Pre-School Initatives
Friends- With public pre-K programs appearing all over the nation, it seems only suitable that Albemarle County take a leading role in providing unparalleled public preschool access. It’s long proven that children who attend preschool programs are more socially adept and higher achieving students than children who do not have such opportunities. Furthermore, these divides that may appear early on in a child’s education can persist well into adolescence and even adulthood. I strongly believe that by offering public pre-K programs across the district, we can better serve disadvantaged students and create a level playing field for every child in the public school system. I believe in a system that integrates pre-K programs into existing kindergarten classrooms. This allows expansions to existing infrastructure to accommodate preschool classes without purchasing land and constructing new schools, and by integrating preschool with kindergarten classes, students are exposed to a safe, secure, and stimulating multi-age environment that allows them to grow and mature in the early steps of their education. This type of learning environment allows young students to grow comfortable with their peers and teachers over several years, but more importantly it allows them to interact with other students who may be more or less proficient. These opportunities create a stimulating classroom that not only helps to prepare students socially, but also exposes them to preparatory content that increases curricular readiness. The expansion of public preschool in Albemarle County has the potential to be self-funded. Because early investment in childhood education leads to lower per-pupil expenditures in secondary school, after just one generation of students the program will be self-sufficient off of budget dollars previously allocated for student expenditures in middle and high school. Friends, we must see public preschool as a fundamental necessity for preparing students both socially and educationally. We must also see it as an opportunity to create equity for disadvantaged students to help all students succeed in elementary, middle, secondary, and well into their post- educational life. It’s not just an opportunity that we have to make this step: It’s our responsibility. Improving Our Transportation Friends- Education isn’t something that can be ordered in the mail. Our schools provide our students with opportunities, with a challenging and stimulating environment, and with a high- quality education. Transportation is a critical piece to providing that education to students every single day. In my opinion, one of the best opportunities available to high school students in Albemarle County Public Schools are the three high school academies: The Math, Engineering, and Science Academy (MESA) at Albemarle High, the Health and Medical Sciences Academy (HMSA) at Monticello High, and the Earth Sciences Academy (ESA) at Western Albemarle High. These three academies offer an incredibly comprehensive and focused area of study for high school students and are all forward- thinking programs that incorporate 21st century learning models. What if I were to tell you that there are students every year who are extremely qualified but unable to enroll in these academies simply because they can’t find transportation? When not put in context, some may say “Tough luck”. However, Albemarle County Public Schools already provides transportation to Murray High School/Community Public Charter School and the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center (CATEC) from student’s base high schools. Not so for the three academies. For hard- working parents who need to be at work early, who rely on school buses to take their child to and from school, it’s impossible to give their child the ability to enroll in one of the three amazing academy programs, no matter how qualified their child may be. On the Albemarle County School Board, I will advocate for the school system to provide transportation for students to the academy they are enrolled in from their base high school. This will allow students in rural areas of the county or students who come from poorer and hardworking families access to the high school academies that they have not previously had. In order to fund this initiative off of the existing transportation budget, I will also advocate for more sensible and consolidated transportation routes. Establishing dedicated pickup and drop off zones at the beginnings of neighborhoods for middle and high school students, and establishing centralized pickup and drop off locations for elementary school students (Rather than students being dropped at their individual driveway) will drastically lower school bus idle times and lower route times for the majority of students, leading to increased efficiency and lower expenditures. Additionally, I will advocate for closer work with school PTOs to improve carpooling, something that has the potential to drastically reduce traffic congestion in and around school zones during the early morning and afternoon. Friends, transportation is how we provide access to our high- quality public school system for over 12,000 students every day. That access should be efficient and all- encompassing. On the Albemarle County School Board I will ensure that every possible avenue to improving our existing transportation system is pursued. Balancing School Enrollment Friends- For many parents of students who attend schools within the urban ring, or in active development areas, the threat of constant micro-redistricting is real. The current policy of exploring redistricting every 3-5 years, two or three schools at a time has a massively disruptive impact on students, parents, and teachers alike. For students who become accustomed to a learning environment and are comfortable learning there, they could be at risk of being redistricted twice within a six- year period, throwing them into a new and confusing school environment that may take weeks or even months to grow used to. Parents also need to adjust to a new community of teachers, administrators, and other parents, and extracurricular activities such as sports teams are also affected. Micro-redistricting is an aggravating and painful process for all involved. What makes it worse is that it can happen with such frequency. Redistricting will always be a necessary part of balancing enrollment among schools in development areas. However, the answer isn’t to go through the process as often as possible. As a first step, we need to slow the pace of redistricting by extending the minimum renewal period for a redistricting study to six years for elementary schools: Enough time for a student to pass from Kindergarten through Fifth grade. Next, for areas within the county’s growth plan the School Board must anticipate consistent enrollment growth across all schools within those areas. This will mean understanding the need for constant and regular infrastructure expansion projects that are able to stay ahead of the enrollment curve rather than constantly trying to catch up with it. Thirdly, to make efforts to find a more permanent solution to balancing enrollment and overcrowding, I will also direct the Albemarle County Planning Commission to explore zoning, development, and redistricting reform to help us better spread the load of enrollment. This specific focus on development will allow greater balance of enrollment between schools and give enough time to allow for the 6-year cooldown period on elementary school redistricting. This will also allow for a regular pace of expansion projects. Through continued consideration of these three key items we can begin to even out the population pockets that create enrollment burdens on some schools but leave other schools significantly under- enrolled in comparison and make the redistricting process less disruptive to everyone involved.[5] |
” |
| —Julian Waters (2017)[6] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Julian Waters Albemarle County Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
- Albemarle County Public Schools
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- Twitter account
- LinkedIn profile
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Richard Washburne, Albemarle County General Registrar," June 15, 2017
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Campaign Finance Reports: Search Committees," accessed January 17, 2018
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Julian Dulles Waters's responses," July 25, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Julian D. Waters for Albemarle County School Board, "Issues," accessed October 16, 2017
