Mark Powell
Prior offices
San Diego County Board of Education District 1
Elections and appointments
Personal
Contact
Mark Powell was a member of the San Diego County Board of Education in California, representing District 1. He assumed office in 2017. He left office on December 11, 2020.
Powell ran for re-election to the San Diego County Board of Education to represent District 1 in California. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Powell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Powell was born on November 4, 1961, in San Diego, California. He graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor's degree in 1984. He went on to obtain two separate master's degrees from Alliant International University in 1992 and from National University in 2000. Powell's professional experience includes working as a board member on the San Diego County Board of Education. He also has worked as a school teacher, professor, vice-principal, and owned a real estate company.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Municipal elections in San Diego County, California (2020)
General election
Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Mark Powell and Gregg Robinson advanced from the primary for San Diego County Board of Education District 1.
2016
- See also: Municipal elections in San Diego County, California (2016)
Mark Powell defeated incumbent Gregg Robinson in the San Diego County Office of Education District 1 primary election.[2]
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mark Powell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Powell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Mark Powell is a candidate for the San Diego County Board of Education District 1. He is more than qualified for their position, as he has proven to be productive and supportive of the needs of students, teachers, and parents while serving on the Board. Powell has a Master's degree in Educational Counseling, along with a Master's in Educational Administration and Bachelor's in Criminal Justice Administration. He holds a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, Educational Administration Credential, and a School Counseling Credential. He's the only candidate with 28 years of educational leadership as a teacher, vice-principal, and university professor. He has had a great impact on the operations of the Board of Education since he led the efforts to establish term limits on school board members. This allows board members to cycle in and out without any career politicians. Powell's past experience as a teacher, dean, vice-principal, and reserve police officer allows him to effectively work with law enforcement to continue to provide campus security for students. With regard to school districts and leaders who mismanage funds, he wants to hold them accountable and take steps to put the money back into school repair and classrooms.
- PROMOTE SCHOOL SAFETY- Mark's experience as a public school teacher, vice principal and reserve police officer has served him well and he will continue to make sure our students are safe at school.
- PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE WORKFORCE - Increase Vocational Education - Through Mark's leadership the San Diego County Board of Education is implementing a comprehensive internship program that will prepare students to work in a trade or craft.
- DEMAND FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY - Stop Wasting Money - Mark has taken steps to hold school leaders and school districts accountable for mismanaging their budgets. He will continue to get the money back into the classroom where it belongs.
Beyond advocating for the needs of students, Powell is concerned with the needs of teachers and parents, who play a critical role in the lives and successes of their students. For this reason, he addressed the need for affordable housing and encouraged school districts to build affordable housing projects. In 2019, the California State Assembly presented Powell with an award in recognition of his "outstanding leadership and dedication to the promotion of equity and excellence in the real estate industry, helping small business owners succeed and helping more members of our community realize their dream of homeownership." With an opportunity to remain on the Board of Education, Powell will continue in his fight for school safety, fiscal accountability, preparing students for the workforce, repairing schools, and combating issues surrounding homelessness and education accessibility. There is clearly a problem in San Diego with students who have been forced into homelessness, and Powell is prepared to face this challenge head-on. "We must start dealing with student homelessness as an ongoing core function of local government," said Powell. "Without a proactive approach our homeless student population will remain living in shelters, cars, streets and parks." Many students who graduate high school experience struggles with joining the workforce as schools continue to fail to teach them valuable life skills, such as financial responsibility and work ethic.
Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
"Perseverance", defined as commitment, steadfastness, patience and endurance. "Rigor", defined as hard work and the transmission of knowledge. "Flexibility", defined as meeting the needs of individual students through the use of differentiated instruction.
Honesty and integrity
Confidence
Inspire Others
Commitment and Passion
Good Communicator
Decision Making Capabilities
Accountability
Delegation and Empowerment
Creativity and Innovation
Empathy
Resilience
Emotional Intelligence
Humility
Transparency
Vision and Purpose Adopting the annual County Office of Education Local Control and Accountability Plan
Adopting the annual County Office of Education budget
Adopting, review and revise policies governing the operation of the board
Acting as the appeals board for student expulsions, interdistrict transfers, and charter school petitions
Hiring and evaluate the county superintendent and establishing the rate of compensation
Serving as the landlord and owner of property
Mark Powell's Accomplishments in his First Term on the
San Diego County Board of Education (2016-2020)
1. Teen Opioid Crisis: Spearheaded a campaign to provide all 42 districts with training on the use of Narcan the opioid reversal medication in the event a student has on opioid overdose.
2. Affordable Housing For Teachers: Lead the charge to encourage school districts to build affordable housing for teachers and staff.
3. Term Limits For Board Members: Spearheaded a campaign to implement term limits for school board members putting an end to career politicians in education.
4. Teen Vaping: Lead a countywide campaign to educated parents, teachers and students on the dangers of vaping.
5. Addressing Mental Health in Schools: Lobbied the State Superintendent of Schools and the Governor to provide the county office of education with the resources needed to address student mental health issues which often lead to substance abuse and homelessness.
6. Teen Dating Violence: Went on the TV news stations to bring about awareness on teen dating violence in an effort to prevent students from becoming victims.
7. Charter Schools and Parental Choice: Approved more charter schools than any other board member giving parents their right chose which school is best for their child.
8. Voters Right Act and County Commission on District Restructuring: Reviewed and evaluated district maps in a process to divide school district into equal areas that support the Voters Right Act to change the election process in many districts for area wide elections to district only elections.
9. Human Trafficking of Students: Participated in the Human Trafficking Task Force in an effort to protect our students for becoming victims of human trafficking.
10. Prevent Drowning Program: Supported the Prevent Drowning Foundation to save lives by funding swim lessons for underserved youth and providing aquatic safety education for The first historical event that happened in my lifetime was the end of the Vietnam war in 1975. I was 14 years old.
At 16 years old I worked at Burger King I was there for about a year.
I spend too much of my time focused on work.
As a county board of education member I operate under the authority of the California Constitution, the State Legislature, California Education Code and the California State Board of Education. My are responsibilities are adopting the annual County Office of Education Local Control and Accountability Plan and budget; adopting policies governing the operation of the board; acting as the appeals board for student expulsions, interdistrict transfers, and charter school petitions; hiring and evaluating the county superintendent and establishing the rate of compensation; and serving as the landlord and owner of property. My goal as a county school board member is to help students grow academically, morally, and socially, and to become life-long learners. By respecting the differences of each student's personality and learning style, I will create an educational environment that will encourage all students to reach their highest potential. I believe that each student is a unique individual who needs a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, academically, and socially. It is my desire as an educator to help students meet their fullest potential in these areas by providing an environment that is safe, supports risk-taking, and invites a sharing of ideas.
The short answer is all the residents of San Diego County. The long answer is parents, teachers, school administrators, support personnel and our county's most vulnerable students which include our homeless student population and our foster students. I support nearly 780 schools and more than 500,000 students, including the 3,150 children the county office educates each year through our Juvenile Court and Community Schools. We also provides a variety of services for the 42 school districts, 124 charter schools, and five community college districts in the county.
Thanks to the hard work of the California Department of Education, the new draft Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is headed in the right direction, but many groups are still being left out and that is unacceptable. Ethnic studies has always focused on giving a voice to those who have historically been ignored, misunderstood, or marginalized, and without question African American, Latino American, Asian American, and Native American students deserve to have their stories better represented in our education system. However, on the issue of inclusion, the curriculum still has room for improvement. A key example is the way Middle Eastern and West Asian populations are represented within Asian American studies. While Arab Americans are repeatedly highlighted, Iranians, Armenians, Mizrahi Jews, Assyrian Christians, and other Middle Eastern populations are ignored or minimized. While this was likely unintentional, there is no academic or demographic justification for this exclusionary approach. The curriculum should be revised to ensure no Middle Eastern community is favored over another.
Our educational system has come a long way since then, nevertheless much more still needs to done. There are other important ways the new curriculum can be improved as well. While some university ethnic studies courses are taught from a particular political perspective, this is not appropriate for K-12 schools. Students must be exposed to many conflicting perspectives, learn how to analyze them, and come to their own conclusions. Ethnic studies has been taught in numerous California school districts for years, and some of them have developed strong guidelines around the issue of critical thinking. The guiding values and principles of the new curriculum should incorporate such past experience.
It is more crucial than ever that we get this right. Many generations of students are depending on us to provide a curriculum that will give voice to the voiceless. Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
Please refer to my website at https://markpowellforboardofeducation.com/
My plan to improve the relationship between law enforcement and San Diego communities is to integrate police officers into our public school classrooms. Selected officers would not serve as school resource officers whose primary duty is law enforcement, but as para-educators or classroom volunteers with some to the same responsibilities as teachers on campus. The "cop in the classroom" could teach in uniform and look just as they do when they are on patrol or interacting with the public. Officers will have the opportunity to build strong positive relationships and interactions with students, parents and the community - which is a good way to regain public trust, especially in areas where trust in the police may be lacking. Earning the trust of the community should start in elementary school. Parents and students should have the same access to the police that they have with teachers, which would engender greater familiarity and trust with law enforcement. By engaging communities who feel they have been marginalized, the police can better understand and address both the needs of the community and the factors that contribute to crime. This can be accomplished by changing the role that some officers play in school, and is a step in the right direction to reforming policing practices and advancing the healing process.
School closures were intended to keep students safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for many students this has ushered in a different set of dangers: anxiety, depression and other serious mental health conditions that negatively affect students and their families. The data speaks for itself: there have been no reported COVID-19 related deaths in children and young adults under the age of 19 in San Diego County. However, there have been several deaths in this age group by suicide, drug overdose and domestic violence. Addressing student mental health issues must become a priority, and this can only be accomplished with proper funding and sufficient personnel. In San Diego County, the ratio of students to counselors is 686 to 1. For psychologists it's 887 to 1, and for social workers it's a staggering 7,285 to 1. Though we abound in other resources to help students, not enough money has been allocated to hire and utilize these much needed mental health professionals throughout the school district. If students are limited in their access to mental health services due to a countywide school closure, then we need to provide them and their families with the resources they need to access mental health service on their own and to recognize the warning signs of suicide. The data is conclusive: more students are dying from mental health issues than from COVID-19. If mental health support resources are not made widely available to students through online technology, then parents should be given the choice to allow their children to return to on-campus instruction or continue their education through distance learning. All things considered, a student's mental health should be given the same priority as their physical health.
The Coronavirus pandemic affected almost every aspect of our lives, but arguably the most impacted was public education. COVID-19 has changed our traditional model of public education forever and parents realize that learning is no longer restricted to the classroom. From this point forward school districts will need to offer students a distance learning option and should also provide distance learning training for parents so they can facilitate their children's instruction. K-12 public schools are going to be a combination of distance learning and in-school instruction. In the future the first day of school may look very different. Instead of lining up with friends outside the classroom in anticipation of meeting their teachers, students may be flipping open a laptop and meeting their classmates virtually as they slowing transition to a hybrid instruction model. In order for distance learning to succeed, schools must offer parents training courses in online education so they can help their children at home. Some districts may already offer online training for parents, but is simply not enough. Some parents may not be comfortable with using a computer and need to be taught the basics of computer operations such as how to connect to the internet; how to use online chat assistance; how to trouble shoot, and even how to turn the computer on. There are other barriers parents may face when it comes to online learning such as language, education level, income, and time, just to name a few. There are a multitude of training videos available on Youtube, but parents still need to know which videos to select.
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See also
External links
Mark Powell 
