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LaTonia Naylor
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LaTonia Naylor is an at-large representative on the Springfield Public Schools school board in Massachusetts. Naylor won a first term in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Naylor participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2017
Six of the seven seats on the Springfield Public Schools School Committee in Massachusetts were up for general election on November 7, 2017. Incumbent Denise M. Hurst and newcomer LaTonia Naylor won election, defeating James Ferrera III and Ryan Hess for the at-large seats. Incumbent Barbara Gresham defeated Stephanie Murchison-Brown for the District 2 seat. Newcomer Maria Perez and incumbent Christopher Collins ran unopposed and won the District 1 and 3 seats, respectively. The District 4 race was won by incumbent Peter Murphy; he defeated challenger Zaida Govan.[1][2][3][4]
A primary election was held for the at-large and District 2 seats on September 19, 2017. Four candidates advanced to the general election from the at-large primary, and two candidates advanced from the District 2 primary.[1] James Anziano, LaMar Cook, Joesiah Gonzalez, and Michael Kocmiersky were defeated in the at-large primary, and Giselle Vizcarrondo was defeated in the District 2 primary.[3]
Results
| Springfield Public Schools, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Denise M. Hurst Incumbent |
34.34% | 5,783 |
| LaTonia Naylor |
25.72% | 4,330 |
| James Ferrera III | 24.20% | 4,074 |
| Ryan Hess | 15.41% | 2,594 |
| Write-in votes | 0.34% | 57 |
| Total Votes | 16,838 | |
| Source: City of Springfield, "Returns: Nov. 7, 2017 Municipal Election," accessed November 28, 2017 | ||
| Springfield Public Schools, At-large Primary Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Denise M. Hurst Incumbent |
27.15% | 2,538 |
| James Ferrera III |
18.09% | 1,691 |
| LaTonia Naylor |
16.81% | 1,571 |
| Ryan Hess |
11.35% | 1,061 |
| LaMar Cook | 8.28% | 774 |
| Joesiah Gonzalez | 8.26% | 772 |
| James Anziano | 5.58% | 522 |
| Michael Kocmiersky | 4.23% | 395 |
| Write-in votes | 0.26% | 24 |
| Total Votes | 9,348 | |
| Source: Springfield Election Office, "Returns: Sept. 19, 2017 Preliminary Election," September 19, 2017 | ||
Funding
Naylor reported $15,064.02 in contributions and $14,820.23 in expenditures to the City of Springfield, which left her campaign with $243.79 on hand in the election.[5]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
LaTonia Monroe Naylor participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[6] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 18, 2017:
| “ | Candidate did not respond to this question.[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 Massachusetts. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Closing the achievement gap is the most important goal for me as a parent, community leader, and graduate of Springfield Public Schools. I believe that each of the other goals contribute to closing the achievement, with the exception of school choice options. I fully support school choice options within the district, but am opposed to sending Springfield district dollars to other school districts.[8] | ” |
| —LaTonia Monroe Naylor (October 18, 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. The current model of charter schools should not be expanded in the Springfield district. There needs to be greater budget and data transparency in the charter schools and accountability to the district. |
| 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. Standardized tests are assessments that can only measure part of the student's achievement. They are unable to measure the social-emotional development of a student - which can be the biggest determinant of student success. |
| 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. 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. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. Teachers should be rewarded for their hard work. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. I am opposed to taking money intended for public schools and giving it to private schools to support individuals. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| The expulsion policy needs to be revisited and then enforced so that when necessary, it is done by the same standards in all schools. I do believe that expulsion should be the very last step but taken seriously when lives are being endangered by a student. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers. Teachers set the tone for learning in their classroom. Everything else is important, but without a good teacher the students wouldn't learn. |
Naylor submitted an earlier set of responses to the survey. Click [show] below to see those earlier responses.
| Click [show] to see Naylor's earlier responses to this survey. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ballotpedia survey responsesLaTonia Monroe Naylor participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[9] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 17, 2017:
Ranking the issuesThe 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.
Positions on the issuesThe 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.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Candidate website
Naylor highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:
| “ | Springfield students are some of the brightest in the Commonwealth. They are also some of the most resilient, often facing adversity in their communities and families that lead to social emotional barriers. Those barriers (safety, respect, and communication), often impact a student’s ability to learn and excel academically.
Moving beyond the barriers often requires creativity and enthusiasm on the part of the schools and students. Many schools are not offering creative outlets for students that stimulate learning. Students often complain about being required to sit and listen to lectures and not having classes like music, home economics or being able to have recess. The expectations from standardized testing outweigh learning as many students pass MCAS and still must take remedial classes in their first year of college. Family involvement has been a priority for Springfield Public Schools. The Home Visit program, among others, have been implemented to improve communication and relations between the schools and families. Family engagement still continues to be a focal area for the schools as it enables schools to better connect with students. Even with a $406 million budget, schools remain in dire need of resources. There are many untapped and underutilized community partnerships and resources.[8] |
” |
| —LaTonia Naylor (2017)[10] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms LaTonia Naylor Springfield Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Springfield Public Schools, Massachusetts
- Springfield Public Schools, Massachusetts elections (2017)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mass Live, "Here's who qualified for the 2017 Springfield School Committee election," August 2, 2017
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Gladys Oyola, City of Springfield, Massachusetts," August 3, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Springfield Election Office, "Returns: Sept. 19, 2017 Preliminary Election," September 19, 2017
- ↑ City of Springfield, "Returns: Nov. 7, 2017 Municipal Election," accessed November 7, 2017
- ↑ City of Springfield, "Campaign Finance Reporting," accessed January 23, 2018
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "LaTonia Monroe Naylor's responses," October 18, 2017 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "BPsurvey" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ LaTonia Monroe Naylor School Committee At Large, "Our Education Issues," accessed September 11, 2017
| Springfield Public Schools elections in 2017 | |
| Hampden County, Massachusetts | |
| Election date: | Primary election: September 19, 2017 • General election: November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Denise M. Hurst • James Anziano • LaMar Cook • James Ferrera III • Joesiah Gonzalez • Ryan Hess • Michael Kocmiersky • LaTonia Naylor District 1: • Maria Perez District 2: • Incumbent, Barbara Gresham • Stephanie Murchison-Brown • Giselle Vizcarrondo District 3: • Incumbent, Christopher Collins District 4: • Incumbent, Peter Murphy • Zaida Govan |
| Important information: | What's at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
