Maryhelen Bronson
Maryhelen Bronson was a candidate for the Place 3 seat on the Arlington Board of Trustees in Texas. She was defeated in the general election on May 9, 2015.
Bronson participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read her responses, check out her 2015 campaign themes.
Biography
Bronson has a bachelor's degree from Colorado State University and both her master's degree and doctorate from Texas Women's University. At the time of her candidacy, she was an adjunct professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Arlington.[1]
Elections
2015
The general election on May 9, 2015, in the Arlington Independent School District featured three seats up for election. Place 1 incumbent Gloria Peña faced challenger Polly Walton, Place 2 incumbent Peter Baron sought re-election to his seat against Kristen Hudson, and Maryhelen Bronson challenged incumbent Aaron Reich for the Place 3 seat. Walton, Hudson and Reich won the three seats.
Results
| Arlington Independent School District, Place 3 General Election, 3-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Aaron Reich Incumbent |
50.4% | 9,850 | |
| Nonpartisan | Maryhelen Bronson | 49.6% | 9,711 | |
| Total Votes | 19,561 | |||
| Source: Tarrant County Clerk, "Official Results," accessed June 1, 2015 | ||||
Funding
Bronson reported $4,013 in contributions and $51 in expenditures to the Texas Ethics Commission, which left her campaign with $3,962 on hand as of April 9, 2015.[2]
Texas school board candidates and officeholders must file semiannual reports, which were due on January 15, 2015, and July 15, 2015. In addition, candidates in contested elections were required to file 30-day and 8-day pre-election reports, unless the candidate chose modified reporting.[3]
Candidates in contested elections who did not intend to exceed $500 in contributions or expenditures, excepting filing fees, were eligible for modified reporting. If they exceeded the threshold before the 30th day prior to the election, candidates were required to submit the 30- and 8-day reports. If they exceeded the threshold after the 30th day prior to the election, they were required to file a report within 48 hours of exceeding the threshold and participate in regular reporting for the rest of the election cycle.[4]
Endorsements
Bronson did not receive any official endorsements for this election.
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Bronson participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | My top priority would be to empower the classroom teacher. Teachers are being told what to teach and how to teach it. Not only does this type of micromanagement lower teacher morale, but it negates the teachers' ability to use their experience and creativity to address their unique situations. The curriculum should clearly define "what" to teach, the teacher should have to freedom to decide "how" to teach it. There is not one method that is right for all teachers or students.[5] |
” |
| —Maryhelen Bronson (2015)[6] | ||
She also included the following statement with her responses:
| “ | I have spent the past 44 years in the classroom teaching students and working with parents and teachers. I feel very strongly that our teachers need to feel supported, which is not the case at the present time. Rather than being patronized, teachers, as well as, parents need to feel like the concerns they voice are not only being heard, but someone is actually looking into them.[5] | ” |
| —Maryhelen Bronson (2015)[6] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Texas. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "Modifications are required before they are implemented." | |
| "No." | |
| "No." | |
| "No." | |
| "The district can provide additional resources, teachers and/or teaching assistants, to schools with low achieving students.The district can also reduce the amount of micromanagement now present, empowering the classroom teachers to use their experience and creativity to reach all their students. "Time on instruction" is currently the mantra teachers hear. Yet, daily, teachers have students whose basic needs of food, sleep, clean clothes, safety etc. are not met. We must realize that learning is unlikely to take place until these needs are addressed. Involving local businesses in these schools, especially as mentors, would also provide more opportunities for the low achieving students." | |
| "Expulsion should be used for serious offenses to ensure the safety of other students as well as the integrity of education at district schools." | |
| "A failing school needs to be connected with appropriate resources to address what is needed at that school. Needs will vary from one school to another. In addition, there needs to be ongoing, useful professional development that presents new or different strategies to reach students who are failing." | |
| "ONLY if their is a team emphasis within the building. Otherwise you promote competition between teachers which creates an unhealthy environment." | |
| "Handling underperforming teachers should be a process. I think all four actions, in the order they are listed, should be used. The mentoring teacher should be someone in their building. Additional training options should provide the teacher with more resources and ideas. A probationary period gives the teacher an opportunity to improve and if their targets are not met after a certain time period, they should be terminated." | |
| "We have a very diverse community and there is no one solution to address improvement of community-school board relations. I would find ways to reach out to the various communities, perhaps holding smaller meetings in their neighborhoods. I would also improve transparency with parents to build a higher trust level. Presently, there is a serious disconnect between the board and the concerns of many parents. I would also work with local businesses, getting them more involved with the schools in their immediate community." |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Maryhelen Bronson Arlington Independent School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Arlington Independent School District, Texas
- Arlington Independent School District elections (2014)
- Arlington Independent School District elections (2015)
- Decreased success for school board incumbents in Texas; 1/3 defeated in largest districts (May 11, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Maryhelen Bronson, "About me," accessed April 1, 2015
- ↑ Arlington Independent School District, "Maryhelen Bronson Campaign Finance Report," accessed April 29, 2015
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2015 Filing Schedule for Elections Held on Uniform Election Dates," accessed January 21, 2015
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Guide for Candidates and Officeholders Who File with Local Filing Authorities," September 1, 2013
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Maryhelen Bronson responses," April 8, 2015
| 2015 Arlington Independent School District Elections | |
| Tarrant County, Texas | |
| Election date: | May 9, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Place 1: Incumbent, Gloria Peña • Polly Walton Place 2: Incumbent, Peter Baron • Kristen Hudson |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
