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Karen Smith (Pennsylvania)
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Karen Smith is the Region 1 member of the Central Bucks Board of Directors in Pennsylvania. The seat was up for general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015. She filed to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Smith won the nomination in both primaries and advanced to the general election.[1][2] Smith ran with Sharon Collopy and Beth Darcy as part of the "Clean Slate" slate.[3] Smith won the general election on November 3, 2015.
Smith participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates.
Biography
Smith obtained her bachelor's degree from Syracuse University. She works as a communications consultant for an education advocacy organization. She volunteers for the group Central Bucks Engage.[4]
Elections
2015
Five of the nine seats on the Central Bucks Board of Directors were up for election in the general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015.
Candidates Karen Smith, Sharon Collopy and Beth Darcy ran together as The Clean Slate. They won without opposition in the general election after defeating their opponents in the primary elections. Smith defeated Jim Duffy in Region 1. Collopy defeated Tyler Tomlinson in Region 6, and Darcy defeated Lou White in Region 8. In Region 3, Glenn Schoeffel (R) defeated Phyllis Melendez (D) in the general election after both candidates defeated Wayne Marquez in the primary election. Dennis Weldon won without opposition in Region 2.[2][1]
Results
| Central Bucks School District, Region 1, General Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic/Republican |  Karen Smith |
100.0% | 2,412 | |
| Total Votes | 2,412 | |||
| Source: Bucks County, Pennsylvania, "Bucks County Election Results," accessed January 4, 2016 | ||||
| Central Bucks School District, Region 1 Democratic Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Karen Smith |
100% | 390 | |
| Total Votes | 390 | |||
| Source: Bucks County, "Bucks County Election Results," accessed July 6, 2015 | ||||
| Central Bucks School District, Region 1 Republican Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Karen Smith |
66.3% | 473 | |
| Republican | Jim Duffy Incumbent | 33.7% | 240 | |
| Total Votes | 713 | |||
| Source: Bucks County, "Bucks County Election Results," accessed July 6, 2015 | ||||
Funding
The Bucks County Board of Elections 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.
Endorsements
Smith received no official endorsements for her campaign during the election.
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Smith 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:
| “ | "Focus on students first:
Our decisions will prioritize developing the whole child; using best practices in education to maintain academic rigor while returning to a broad-based educational approach, including the arts, technology and physical education. Emphasize transparent decision making: We will require transparency and a culture of open dialogue and collaboration in the decision making process, particularly in regards to fiscal management and reporting. We will always be aware that the school board represents you. We will seek out, respect and value input from students, teachers, staff, community members, and best practices from other school districts in our decision making. Provide strong fiscal responsibility: As parents and taxpayers in Central Bucks, we support decision making that puts our students first and considers the financial limits of our community's taxpayers. The district’s trend of cutting programs and raising taxes while maintaining undisclosed and generous surpluses is unacceptable. We will remain watchful of district finances and demand honest reporting to protect our students and taxpayers. Increase and improve communications: We will promote significant changes to the district's communication methods, increasing the frequency of communication as well as the types of communication methods used, in order to ensure an open dialogue in our community. Support exemplary leaders: We will seek out and support district leadership who have a clear vision for the future of Central Bucks, who will search for and implement leading edge educational approaches, who value the opinions of all stakeholders in the decision-making process, who are honest and transparent communicators and who embrace a positive whole child educational approach."[5] |
” |
| —Karen Smith (2015)[6] | ||
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 |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| "Some of the standards are developmentally too difficult for students. Also, parents are having a difficult time understandning the new teaching methods and there needs to be some addition communication around this to facilitate the process for families and schools." | |
| "If new charter schools are to be approved they should be approved at the district level." | |
| "No" | |
| "No" | |
| "By maintaining an excellent staff, and low class size. Teachers are best able to provide the necessary instruction for their students regardless of the student's level when they have the proper class size and are well trained to begin with.
Also, the special education department should be equipped with specialists in a variety of areas that are able to assist the students who are struggling." | |
| "Expulsion cases must be viewed on a case-by-case basis rather than the district having an overarching policy." | |
| "None of the schools are failing in our district. It is a very high achieving district." | |
| "I support a very strong competitive wage for teachers. If a union supported it, I am not opposed." | |
| "Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district." | |
| "There are many ways to improve relations between the board and community. Overall though, the board must have an open and honest dialogue with the community. Decisions should be made in a way that allows the community to have input. There should be town halls and meetings regularly to provide an opportunity for dialogue." |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Karen Smith Central Bucks School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Central Bucks School District, Pennsylvania
- Central Bucks 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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Central Bucks School District, " Central Bucks Board of School Directors," accessed March 11, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bucks County, Pennsylvania, " Unofficial Candidate List for the Municipal Primary of May 9, 2015," accessed April 2, 2015 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "candidates" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ The Clean Slate, "Home," accessed May 14, 2015
- ↑ The Clean Slate, "About Karen Smith," accessed May 15, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Karen Smith responses," May 14, 2015
| 2015 Central Bucks School District Elections | |
| Bucks County, Pennsylvania | |
| Election date: | Primary election: May 19, 2015 General election: November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Region 1: • Incumbent, Jim Duffey (R) • Karen Smith (D/R) Region 2: • Dennis Weldon (D/R) |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
