Karen Beck Pooley
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Karen Beck Pooley is an at-large member of the Bethlehem Area Board of Directors in Pennsylvania. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015, and a general election was held on November 3, 2015. She filed to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Pooley won a Democratic nomination and advanced to the general election.[1][2] Karen Beck Pooley won the general election on November 3, 2015.
Pooley participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates.
Biography
Pooley obtained her bachelor's degree in political science from Wellesley College. She went on to earn her master's degree in urban policy and planning from New School University. She later obtained her Ph.D. in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania. She works as a senior associate at CZB, LLC.[3]
Elections
2015
Five of the nine seats on the Bethlehem Area Board of Directors were up for election in the general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015.
Incumbent Craig Neiman ran unopposed and won re-election to the Region 2 seat. He cross-filed in the primary election and won both the Republican and Democratic nominations for the seat. He originally filed to run for an at-large seat as well but withdrew from that race.
Region 3 candidates included incumbent Eugene McKeon and newcomer Dan Treffinger, who also ran for an at-large position in the primaries. McKeon won both primaries for the Region 3 seat and was, therefore, the sole candidate to advance to the general election for the region. While Treffinger did not advance in the Region 3 race, he did advance from the Republican primary for the at-large seat.
In addition to Treffinger, the race for the at-large seat included Dean Donaher and Thomas Thomasik running as cross-filed candidates, as well as Karen Beck Pooley running as a Democrat. Donaher, Thomasik and Pooley defeated Treffinger in the general election.
Other candidates that ran in the primary election but did not win a nomination were incumbent Basilio Bonilla, Inez Aguilar and Samuel Nazario. No independent candidates filed to run in the general election.[4][5]
Results
| Bethlehem Area School District, At-Large, General Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic/Republican |  Dean Donaher |
33.2% | 11,853 | |
| Democratic/Republican | Thomas Thomasik |
32.1% | 11,451 | |
| Democratic | Karen Beck Pooley |
20.8% | 7,420 | |
| Republican | Dan Treffinger | 13.9% | 4,978 | |
| Write-in votes | 0.05% | 19 | ||
| Total Votes | 35,721 | |||
| Source: Tiffany Rouse, "Email correspondence with Lehigh County Chief Clerk of Registration and Elections Timothy Bento," December 17, 2015 Northamption County, Pennsylvania, "Summary Report Northamption County Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015 | ||||
| Bethlehem Area School District, At-Large Democratic Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Dean Donaher |
22.2% | 2,949 | |
| Democratic | Thomas Thomasik |
17.3% | 2,297 | |
| Democratic | Karen Beck Pooley |
16.4% | 2,178 | |
| Democratic | Basilio Bonilla Incumbent | 15.4% | 2,042 | |
| Democratic | Samuel Nazario | 13% | 1,732 | |
| Democratic | Inez Aguilar | 8.6% | 1,138 | |
| Democratic | Dan Treffinger | 7.1% | 944 | |
| Democratic | Write-in votes | 0.1% | 10 | |
| Total Votes | 13,290 | |||
| Source: Lehigh County, "Municipal Primary - May 19, 2015: Bethlehem School District," accessed July 7, 2015Ballotpedia confirmed these results are official by phone. and Northhampton County, "May 19, 2015: Summary Report," accessed July 7, 2015 | ||||
| Bethlehem Area School District, At-Large Republican Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Dean Donaher |
26.5% | 1,662 | |
| Republican | Thomas Thomasik |
25.6% | 1,602 | |
| Republican | Dan Treffinger |
17.1% | 1,068 | |
| Republican | Samuel Nazario | 16.5% | 1,032 | |
| Republican | Karen Beck Pooley | 14.3% | 893 | |
| Republican | Write-in votes | 0.1% | 5 | |
| Total Votes | 6,262 | |||
| Source: Lehigh County, "Municipal Primary - May 19, 2015: Bethlehem School District," accessed July 7, 2015Ballotpedia confirmed these results are official by phone. and Northhampton County, "May 19, 2015: Summary Report," accessed July 7, 2015 | ||||
Funding
Pooley reported no contributions or expenditures to the Lehigh County Voter Registration Department in the election.[6]
Endorsements
Pooley received an official endorsement from the Bethlehem Education Association.[7]
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Pooley participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | High quality public schools are the most important investment we make in our neighborhoods and in our children. My main priority is simply to ensure that all Bethlehem Area School District schools continue to be key community assets and that all Bethlehem Area School District students graduate well equipped for whatever educational or employment opportunities they will tackle in life.[8] | ” |
| —Karen Beck Pooley (2015)[9] | ||
Pooley also included the following statement with her responses:
| “ | The priority rankings were particularly difficult since so many of those choices are such high priorities! Bethlehem is incredibly lucky to have a robust arts and music education program - I was able to rank "expanding" the program lower since so much important work has already gone in to doing so.[8] | ” |
| —Karen Beck Pooley (2015)[9] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Idaho. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column, and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "Modifications are required before they are implemented." | |
| "No" | |
| "No" | |
| "No" | |
| "Provide teachers with the flexibility to meet all students where they are and use a range of teaching methods to spark students' interest and help students grasp and master the material." | |
| "Practices such as positive behavior strategies should be used before expulsion is considered." | |
| "It'd first and foremost be the responsibility of the school board - working with administrators and teachers and parents - to unpack what, exactly, is "failing" in that particular school. Are students arriving with fewer skills? Are students not making sufficient progress during the school year? What things that are working elsewhere might be implemented in that school? Do the problems stem from the unequal distribution of resources (dollars, books, computers, experienced teachers, etc.) in the district? Does an intervention strategy need to think about other neighborhood-wide issues in the catchment area for that school and should the district think about teaming with other community partners?" | |
| "This is a topic I would need to learn more about." | |
| "Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district." | |
| "By being accessible and available to the public (for example, soliciting feedback on upcoming decisions through my website) and by being part of larger conversations around schools and education policy." |
Candidate website
Pooley highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:
| “ | My top five objectives:
1.) To help the district find an effective way to understand the progress students make from year to year – tools that are helpful to teachers as they create lesson plans and to parents as they support their child/children’s learning in ways that PSSA test results and the state’s School Performance Profile are not. 2.) To participate in various assessments of school-based programming (such as the review of the Gifted Program) 3.) To address existing achievement gaps and issues of equity 4.) To support teachers as they strive to encourage students’ creativity and stretch learning 5.) To help strengthen the relationship between the school district, individual schools, and the communities in which students live – knowing how school well-being and neighborhood well-being often go hand in hand and having seen the positive impact of the Community School model at Calypso.[8] |
” |
| —Karen Beck Pooley's campaign website, (2015), [10] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Karen Beck Pooley Bethlehem Area School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Bethlehem Area School District, Pennsylvania
- Bethlehem Area School District elections (2015)
- Embroiled incumbents see differing outcomes in May 19 school board elections across five states (May 21, 2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Bethlehem Area School District, "Board of School Directors," accessed April 15, 2015
- ↑ Northampton County, "2015 Unofficial Ballot," accessed March 17, 2015
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Karen Beck Pooley," accessed May 13, 2015
- ↑ Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, "Unofficial List of Candidates, Municipal Election, November 3, 2015," accessed September 22, 2015
- ↑ Northampton County, "Unofficial General Municipal Ballot," accessed September 22, 2015
- ↑ Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed February 3, 2016
- ↑ Twitter, "Bethlehem Education Association," May 18, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Karen Beck Pooley responses," May 13, 2015
- ↑ Karen Beck Pooley, "Why I'm Running," accessed May 18, 2015
| 2015 Bethlehem Area School District Elections | |
| Lehigh County, Pennsylvania and Northampton County, Pennsylvania | |
| Election date: | Primary election: May 19, 2015 General election: November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Basilio Bonilla (D) • Incumbent, Craig Neiman (D/R) • Inez Aguilar (D) • Dean Donaher (D/R) • Samuel Nazario (D/R) • Karen Beck Pooley (D/R) • Thomas Thomasik (D/R) • Dan Treffinger (D/R)
Region 2: • Incumbent, Craig Neiman (D/R) Region 3: • Incumbent, Eugene McKeon (D/R) • Dan Treffinger (D/R) |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
