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Lori Thompson
From Ballotpedia
This page was last updated during the official's most recent election or appointment. Please contact us with any updates.
Tenure
2023 - Present
Term ends
2025
Years in position
2
School District 49 school board, District 5
Predecessor: Kevin Butcher
Lori Thompson is a member of the Falcon School District 49 school board in Colorado, representing District 4. She assumed office on February 22, 2023.
Thompson ran for re-election to the Falcon School District 49 school board to represent District 4 in Colorado. She won in the general election on November 4, 2025.
Biography
Lori Thompson was born in Denver, Colorado. Thompson's professional experience includes working as a realtor. She earned a degree from Jones Real Estate College in 1985.[1]
Thompson has been affiliated with Pikes Peak Association of Realtors and Peak Producers.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: School District 49, Colorado, elections (2025)
General election
General election for School District 49 school board, District 4
Incumbent Lori Thompson defeated Chris Harrell in the general election for School District 49 school board, District 4 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Lori Thompson (Nonpartisan) | 50.7 | 2,214 |
Chris Harrell (Nonpartisan)  | 49.3 | 2,154 | ||
| Total votes: 4,368 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Thompson in this election.
2021
See also: Falcon School District 49, Colorado, elections (2021)
General election
General election for School District 49 school board, District 5
Lori Thompson defeated Elmer Harris and Justin Jakovac in the general election for School District 49 school board, District 5 on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lori Thompson (Nonpartisan) | 59.5 | 1,801 |
 | Elmer Harris (Nonpartisan) | 33.0 | 999 | |
| Justin Jakovac (Nonpartisan) | 7.4 | 225 | ||
| Total votes: 3,025 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Lori Thompson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.
2021
Lori Thompson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Thompson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I have been a Realtor in Colorado Springs for 36 years, as well as an active volunteer in many different organizations. I have 2 adult children, 3 stepdaughters, 2 grandchildren and in 2021 we welcomed our first great grandchild. 2 of my stepdaughters are teachers. I have volunteered with Boy Scouts of America, The Pikes Peak Foreclosure Prevention Task Force, and the Women's Council on Alcoholism. I have consistently fundraised for and donated to the Springs Rescue Mission, Life Network, Care and Share and the Falcon Education Foundation. When I was a single parent, my children and I participated in the Falcon Club, a division of Big Brothers/Big Sisters run through the USAFA. I believe in giving back to our community. I had two very different students and experienced the entire spectrum from having an honor roll student to having a child on an IEP for learning differences. I used to help my mother run a Sunday School program for children with developmental disabilities
- I am an advocate of parental choice. In District 49, we have traditional schools, 9 charter schools, support for parents who choose to home school. Education is not one size fits all!
- Our students have been through a great deal in the past 2 years. Nationwide, test scores have dropped, addiction rates and depression have increased, school staffing in key areas have been a challenge. D49 has experienced a great deal of growth, we must work to find ways to best meet our community needs, identify students who are struggling, adequately staff paraprofessional, pay our teachers competitive wages.
- School safety. We must strive to make our schools safe with cooperative training on security, anti-bullying programs. We must always strive to create and maintain a community that promotes quality education and mutual respect between our students, parents, administrators and teachers.
The purpose of public education is just that, education. We need to focus on educational basics. One in six children who are not reading proficiently in 3rd grade fail to graduate high school on time, four times the rate for children with proficient third-grade reading skills. 60% of students who drop out or fail to graduate did not read proficiently by third grade. According to the Colorado Measure of Academic Success, prior to the Covid-19 school closures, 48% of D49 students in grades 3-6 tested proficient in ELA, 34% were proficient in math. We need to look at what we can do better. Schools must critically evaluate curriculum, support staff and class size. Another important issue would be creating a culture where there is effective communication between teachers and parents, and administrators who support our teachers. It should never be an attitude of "us against them".
Mother Teresa. She devoted her life to protecting children in some of the most desperate of circumstances. One of my favorite quotes from her: "Life is a most beautiful gift from God." Children are a gift, no matter what size, shape, color or ability.
The example I would most like to follow would be my parents. My mother was born into a life of neglect and poverty. She never saw herself as a victim, she was and is an overcomer. She also gave me the gift of working with her with special needs children. My father was the kindest man I ever knew and treated others with respect. I hope one day to be as patient as he was. He was slow to anger, and quick to forgive.
The example I would most like to follow would be my parents. My mother was born into a life of neglect and poverty. She never saw herself as a victim, she was and is an overcomer. She also gave me the gift of working with her with special needs children. My father was the kindest man I ever knew and treated others with respect. I hope one day to be as patient as he was. He was slow to anger, and quick to forgive.
I love children and believe in giving back to a community that has given me so much.
To focus on a quality education foundation, implement policies to achieve that goal, create a safe environment for learning.
I would hope to leave my children a legacy of kindness, volunteerism and being judicious with resources.
When I was 9 years old, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
Other than babysitting and helping my brother with his paper route, my first "formal" job was working at a movie theater. I worked at the theater for about a year, and learned that a lot of people like to go to the movies on holidays.
Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank. Why is it my favorite book? Her words crept into my heart and soul, and it reflects a period of time when large segments of the world lost their basic humanity.
Claire in Outlander. Time travel, 18th century life and Jamie is pretty darn cute. Of course I don't think I would do well without hot showers, central heat and air conditioning.
Sing a Song, Earth, Wind and Fire
Creating sound policies that help all children achieve. To create an environment where effective communication can occur between the stakeholders, administrators and students. We need to represent the values of our community.
The students and the families.
By listening. Diverse experiences can increase our understanding of one another and play a factor on which policies the school board should implement. Education is a lifetime process and we can learn best from one another.
We have an amazing resources within our community. We have a lot of grandparents in our community that I met when I was gathering signatures to get on the ballot. Many of them thought they no longer had a place within our school district as their children were grown and out of the house. It would be wonderful to find a place for them to participate within our schools. It would also be wonderful to solicit volunteer opportunities from our families. I loved volunteering in our schools when I could, at the time I was a single parent with a full time job, but I made the time. I am still friends with some of the teachers who taught my children.
I think we need to look for the best qualified faculty, staff and administrators. The best way to represent the community as a whole is to hire qualified individuals within the district whenever possible. Our community has a variety of qualified and diverse individuals.
Losing focus on core knowledge and educational basics. Test scores are just one indicator of student achievement. We must always keep our focus on true educational content and not just teach to the test.
I remember my good teachers. They were inspirational and made the subject come to life. To this day I love to read a good book and travel to places I have never been, have my imagination fired up and be inspired by ideas I had not considered. Advanced teaching approaches cannot be a one size fits all, a good teacher meets the student where they are at and inspires them to do more.
I am supporting an upcoming mill levy override. We need to increase teacher pay, have sufficient staffing with paraprofessionals, nutrition services and bus drivers.
Listening to the experts and exploring all the ways we can make our schools safer.
Working with professionals that can help identify at risk students, having a place where teachers and staff can express their needs.
Technology is a wonderful resource, but not if takes the place of human interaction. We need judicious use of technology and human communication.
Why didn't Noah fish much? He only had two worms.
In person schooling as much as we can. Social isolation has not been good for our students. Trust the parents when it comes to masks and vaccinations.
The Cultural Compass we have in D49 cannot be contained just within the school walls. We need to set a standard for respectful communication between our parents and teachers utilizing our compass. We need to listen to our parents when they have concerns and make sure they follow the proper procedures to be heard. We need to take their concerns seriously. Not everyone will agree on the best path forward, but we must be respectful of their viewpoints. Each school should open up a variety of ways that parents and caregivers can be involved.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
