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Mary Leighton
Mary Leighton was a candidate for at-large representative on the Eugene School District school board in Oregon. Leighton was defeated in the at-large general election on May 16, 2017.
This candidate participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to view her responses.
Biography
Leighton's professional experience includes working as a teacher, researcher, and principal.[1]
Elections
2017
- See also: Eugene School District elections (2017)
Three of the seven seats on the Eugene School District school board were up for at-large general election on May 16, 2017. Position 2 incumbent Anne Levis filed for re-election and defeated challenger Maya Rabasa. Three newcomers filed for the open Position 3 seat: Mary Leighton, Judy Newman, and Jerry Rosiek, with Newman winning the seat. A single newcomer filed for and won the open Position 6 seat: Evangelina Sundgrenz.[2][3]
The Eugene school board consists of seven members elected at large to four-year terms. While elected at large, each seat on the board has a position number associated with it, and candidates apply to run for a specific position number.
Results
| Eugene School District, Position 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Judy Newman |
53.20% | 12,234 |
| Jerry Rosiek | 31.61% | 7,270 |
| Mary Leighton | 14.55% | 3,347 |
| Write-in votes | 0.64% | 147 |
| Total Votes | 22,998 | |
| Source: Lane County Elections, "Official Final Results," accessed June 12, 2017 | ||
Funding
The filing deadline in Oregon for a campaign transaction is typically no later than 30 calendar days. However, beginning on the 42nd day before an election day and through the date of the election, a transaction is due no later than seven calendar days after the date it occurred. The dates for the beginning and ending of the seven-day reporting period for the 2017 Oregon school board elections were:[4]
- April 4, 2017 (Seven day campaign finance reporting begins)
- May 16, 2017 (Seven day campaign finance reporting ends)
A school board candidate in Oregon must form a candidate committee unless he or she meets all of the following conditions:[5][6]
- The candidate elects to serve as his or her own treasurer.
- The candidate does not have an existing candidate committee.
- The candidate does not expect to receive or spend more than $750 during a calendar year (including personal funds).
A candidate committee must file a Statement of Organization with the Elections Division of the Oregon Secretary of State within three business days of first receiving or spending money. A form including campaign account information must accompany the Statement of Organization.[5][7]
Candidate committees that expect to receive or spend $3,500 or more in a calendar year are required to report all transactions. A committee that does not expect to receive or spend this much is still required to file a Statement of Organization and designate a campaign bank account, but does not have to file transactions. Instead, they must file a Certificate of Limited Contributions and Expenditures.[5][8]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Mary Leighton 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 May 4, 2017:
| “ | I hope to add a voice to the thoughtful board discussions about how its decisions can best achieve our shared goals for public education. Because I have long and deep experience in public education, I will be able to contribute new perspectives. Our current members are good folks committed to making schools work, but they do not know what I know about how policy works when it reaches the school and classrooms.[10][11] | ” |
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 Oregon. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | The rankings appear in question 7 (not 5). Equity is my top priority. Improving school funding comes next. "Improving relations with teachers" implies a problem that I don't know exists. We can afford choice only when we provide solutions to other real problems![11] | ” |
| —Mary Leighton (May 4, 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. Charter schools have not solved problems in most districts and fail to achieve the promise for which taxpayer dollars were spent. There are occasional successes, by which I mean that charter schools create a "rising tide that lifts all boats." But the evidence that they don't is powerful and consistent. Tax revenues are precious resources and they ought to be spent to ensure that every child gets what is needed to succeed in adult life. Charter schools mostly don't do that. Our district has a few charters, and other in-district choice, but they typically aggravate segregation by race and social class even in our small city, which recently won an award for having a rich mix of people types in every neighborhood. |
| 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 be involved in the district routinely. By Constitutional authority, states are responsible for public education. They should set policy and standards, provide support, and monitor for compliance. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. Standardized tests offer one usually reliable and somewhat valid measure of student achievement. They are one small part of an effective strategy for monitoring student achievement. We must use many other measures that are part of daily instruction. |
| 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. Teachers should be paid whatever amounts are specified in the negotiated agreement. Having taught in very high poverty public schools across the country as well as public schools in wealthy communities, I know for a fact that my best practice was not enough to overcome the effects of poverty, and it was kind of a redundant resource in the rich neighborhoods. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Never, never, never should tax money be spent on vouchers or scholarship programs for private schools. Years of evidence, carefully collected, proves that voucher programs do not achieve taxpayers' goals for their contributions. Vouchers do not lead to higher achievement, do not close gaps, do not promote equity, and in general do not promote the goals of a free public education intended to provide a strong foundation for democratic participation. On the whole, regular public school programs do achieve those democratic goals and improve achievement for more children, from more kinds of families. This isn't just an ideological issue--it's a matter of practical judgment in spending taxpayer dollars. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| I prefer "therapeutic exile" to expulsion. That is, we should provide for the safe, secure instruction of all children. Where regular classrooms aren't working to help a student learn and use the ordinary expectations of civility, we should provide the environment that works for both the misbehaver and the other kids. We have to live with both, in the end, so we need to fix what needs fixing, not just put it out of sight. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers Lots of research shows that the most important factor in student success is the student's own hard work on tasks that lead to the mastery of the goals of the curriculum. We know that smaller class sizes can help teachers nurture students' hard work and remove distractions and other obstacles to success. We know that a solid curriculum is key. Parents and administrators contribute to conditions that lead to students' hard work. There is no "one most important factor." That kind of thinking comes from watching too many 30-second commercials and news reports dominated by 10-second sound-bites. Our students deserve better thinking than that. |
See also
External links
- Eugene School District
- Mary Leighton 2017 campaign website
- Mary Leighton 2017 Facebook campaign page
Footnotes
- ↑ Leighton for 4J, "About Mary," accessed May 3, 2017
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Lane County, Oregon Unofficial Special Election," accessed May 17, 2017
- ↑ Lane County, "May 16, 2017 Special Election," accessed March 22, 2017
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Oregon Elections Calendar," accessed April 17, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Oregon Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance Manual - 2014," accessed January 13, 2014
- ↑ Oregon Revised Statutes, "Chapter 260, Section 043," accessed January 13, 2014
- ↑ Oregon Revised Statutes, "Chapter 260, Section 039," accessed January 13, 2014
- ↑ Oregon Revised Statutes, "Chapter 260, Section 057," accessed January 13, 2014
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Mary Leighton's responses," May 4, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Eugene School District elections in 2017 | |
| Lane County, Oregon | |
| Election date: | May 16, 2017 |
| Candidates: | Position 2: Incumbent, Anne Levis • Maya Rabasa Position 3: Mary Leighton • Judy Newman • Jerry Rosiek |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
