Keith Barney

Keith Barney

Democratic Party

Education

Bachelor's

Southern University, New Orleans

Personal

Religion

Christian: Baptist

Profession

Teacher

Contact

Personal website

Keith Barney was a Democratic candidate for District 1 representative on the Orleans Parish School Board in Louisiana. The special election was held on October 24, 2015. The top vote recipient in the election, John A. Brown Sr. (D), did not win a majority of the votes cast in the election, requiring a runoff election to be held on November 21, 2015. Barney placed last out of the three candidates in the special election. While the narrow margin separating him from the second-place finisher Shawon Bernard (D) could have been subjected to a recount, no request for one was filed.

Biography

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Barney has been a teacher at Firstline Schools since August 2013. Prior to that position, he was a counselor at Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Evening Reporting Center and the director of education at Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans. He also worked as the dean of students and as a teacher within the Recovery School District, as well as in several other education settings.

Barney earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Southern University at New Orleans. He has severed as the president of the Better Choice Foundation since July 2012. He attends and ushers at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church.

Elections

2015

See also: Orleans Parish School Board special elections (2015)

One of the seven seats on the Orleans Parish School Board was up for special election in 2015 due to the resignation of District 1 incumbent Ira Thomas following charges of bribery conspiracy. John A. Brown Sr. (D) was appointed to fill the vacancy until a special election could be held. He faced fellow Democrats Keith Barney and Shawon Bernard in the primary election on October 24, 2015.

Brown and Bernard advanced from the special election to a runoff on November 21, 2015, as no candidate received a majority of the votes cast. Brown won the runoff and the remainder of the unexpired term.

Results

Orleans Parish School Board, District 1 Special Election, 1-year unexpired term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	John A. Brown Sr. Incumbent	37.7%	3,792
	Democratic	Shawon Bernard	31.3%	3,151
	Democratic	Keith Barney	31%	3,122
Total Votes				10,065
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Results," accessed November 21, 2015

Endorsements

Barney was endorsed by the following:

• Former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D)
• The Alliance for Good Government
• The Regular Democratic Organization

Campaign themes

2015

Barney provided a set of issue stances on his campaign website, focusing on decentralizing schools, sharing best practices, teacher hiring and leadership and students with special needs. Those statements can be read in full below:

“	Campaign Issues: Decentralizing Schools Jane Smith Used Online Candidate for her Campaign Website CMSThe decentralization of schools has pros and cons. For example, decentralization gives parents choice and gives schools autonomy. On the other hand, as a result of decentralization, the cost of bus transportation is more than 20 percent of most schools' budgets. Decentralization also can often make parent involvement difficult for some families. Parents without regular transportation sometimes find attending meetings, ceremonies and conferences to be a burden. Sharing Best Practices Educators that truly work in the best interest of children should work together at every level across schools and networks. Every adult in the building is an educator. Every school needs to be great for children to have the best opportunity at an excellant education. For example, a school scoring off the charts in 8th-grade math should be sharing its techniques and methods with a school struggling in the same area. Additionally, every school needs to participate in the One App process and every school needs to be transparent. Hiring Teachers Schools should seek and hire teachers who are committed to all students. We do not work in the best interest of children when we put educators in the class who won't make a committment to their kids to build and maintain a professional relationship for longer than a year. We must eradicate negativity and/or apathy among school professionals at every level. Diversity among the teaching corps is paramount. In addition, schools, networks and districts need to with work with and help grow local teaching programs, especially at historically black colleges and universities. Selecting Educational Leaders We need experienced teachers/leaders who have spent time in the classroom, while simultaneously grooming new teacher/leaders. Experienced teachers/leaders are not the equivalent to old teachers/leaders and new does not necessarily have any thing to do with age. Again, diversity is paramount. Serving Students with Special Needs School must do a better job of serving students with special needs. We must study and implement best practices in teaching students with special needs and with record keeping. We must monitor correctly. We must work with the state, coordinators and teachers to find alternatives to and move away from paper files. Putting Children First Every child counts. There are no excuses. Every decision should be made with the thought of what is best for the child.	”
—Keith Barney (2015)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Keith Barney' 'Orleans Parish School Board'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Keith Barney - Google News

See also

• Orleans Parish School Board, Louisiana
• Orleans Parish School Board special elections (2015)
• Analysis of incumbency advantage in the 2014 school board elections

External links

Suggest a link

• Orleans Parish School Board
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page