Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Larry Applebaum
Larry Applebaum is the former at-large representative on the Burbank Unified School District Board of Education in California. First elected in 2005, Applebaum lost a re-election campaign in the at-large primary election on February 28, 2017.
Applebaum participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Biography
Applebaum is a general contractor with ElectraTek Services. He has worked in this position since 1991.[1]
Elections
2017
Two of the five seats on the Burbank Unified School District Board of Education were up for primary election on February 28, 2017. In their bids for re-election to the board, incumbents Larry Applebaum and Charlene Tabet ran against challenger Steven Frintner.[2] Frintner and Tabet won the two seats outright in the primary election as they received a majority of the votes.[3][4][5][6]
Results
| Burbank Unified School District, At-large Primary Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Steven Frintner |
34.50% | 5,745 |
| Charlene Tabet Incumbent |
33.09% | 5,510 |
| Larry Applebaum Incumbent | 32.41% | 5,398 |
| Total Votes | 16,653 | |
| Source: Burbank City Clerk, "Burbank Municipal Primary Election: February 28, 2017 Final Results," accessed March 6, 2017 | ||
Funding
Applebaum filed an exemption form detailing he would not spend or receive more than $2,000 for this campaign. Because of this, he did not have to file additional campaign finance reports.[7]
2013
| Burbank Unified School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Larry Applebaum Incumbent |
32.2% | 5,882 | |
| Nonpartisan | Charlene Tabet |
27.2% | 4,967 | |
| Nonpartisan | Steve Ferguson | 25.3% | 4,616 | |
| Nonpartisan | David Dobson | 15.4% | 2,814 | |
| Total Votes | 18,279 | |||
| Source: Burbank City Clerk's Office, "Final Results are Tabulated for Burbank’s 2013 General Municipal Election," accessed January 13, 2015 | ||||
| Burbank Unified School District, At-Large Primary Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Larry Applebaum Incumbent |
27.8% | 4,473 | |
| Nonpartisan | Charlene Tabet |
18.8% | 3,026 | |
| Nonpartisan | Steve Ferguson |
18.7% | 3,013 | |
| Nonpartisan | David Dobson |
17.7% | 2,854 | |
| Nonpartisan | Armond Aghakhanian | 17.1% | 2,749 | |
| Total Votes | 16,115 | |||
| Source: The Burbank Leader, "Aghakhanian fails to move to Burbank school board general election," March 1, 2013 | ||||
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Larry Applebaum participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[8] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on January 28, 2017:
| “ | While I have many programs and initiatives I would still like to pursue, the following are the ones are most important to me, in no particular order: - Insure the completion of all promised Measure S projects - Expand STEAM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) - Increase Career Technical Education opportunities - Institute foreign language instruction in our elementary grades - Establish additional dual enrollment coursework to provide District graduates the opportunity to have earned 1 or 2 years of college credits by the time they receive their diploma - Continue to provide responsible fiscal management with uncertain economic times ahead[9][10] | ” |
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 California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Improving achievement in our Special Needs, English Learner, Socio-Economically Disadvantaged, Foster Youth and Homeless populations would simultaneously serve to close the achievement gap. Similarly, infusing Arts education into the curriculum serves to raise achievement levels. It is therefore hard to rank these items because of their interdependent nature.[10] | ” |
| —Larry Applebaum (January 28, 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. We have a district with a graduation percentage rate in the high 90's and all are schools generally enjoy high student achievement. I don't believe there is a need or any demand by parents or teachers in our District for charter schools. |
| 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 only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes . Standardized tests are but one measure of student achievement. I believe the best gauge of achievement includes using multiple measures which include classroom work product, participation and critical thinking expression, other teacher observations AND benchmark and standardized achievement tests to determine academic growth. |
| 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? |
| Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Rarely. Only in extreme cases of weapons, drugs, violent behavior which endangers staff and/or students, or other similar types of offenses. It should not be used as a discipline tool for more minor classroom or campus infractions, even if there are significant numbers of these. A restorative justice model is more useful in those instances. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers With parent involvement a close second. School administration and curriculum are contributors to success, but a good teacher is the key. Regarding class size, a veteran teacher long ago shared with me that a good teacher will be successful even with a large class and a less skilled teacher might have a problem maximizing student success even with a class size of 10. |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Larry Applebaum," accessed December 14, 2016
- ↑ Burbank City Clerk, "City of Burbank 2017 Municipal Elections Public Information List," accessed December 5, 2016
- ↑ Burbank City Clerk, "Burbank Municipal Primary Election: February 28, 2017 Final Results," accessed March 6, 2017
- ↑ Burbank City Clerk, "Candidate's Calendar of Events," accessed December 1, 2016
- ↑ Burbank City Clerk, "Final Results are Tabulated for Burbank’s 2015 Primary Nominating Election," accessed December 1, 2016
- ↑ Burbank Leader, "Frintner, Tabet take lead in race for two seats on Burbank school board," February 28, 2017
- ↑ Burbank City Clerk, "Viewing filing activity for Applebaum, Larry," accessed January 20, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Larry Applebaum's responses," January 28, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Burbank Unified School District elections in 2017 | |
| Los Angeles County, California | |
| Election date: | Primary Election: February 28, 2017 • General Election: April 11, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Larry Applebaum • Incumbent, Charlene Tabet • Steven Frintner |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
