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Maury Castro
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Maury Castro is the District 4 representative on the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education in New Mexico.[1] He was first elected to the board in the general election on February 3, 2015.
Biography
Castro was born and raised in New Mexico and currently lives in Las Cruces. Before retiring, he worked for the New Mexico Department of Education for 22 years as deputy director for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), which worked with schools to help service developmentally disabled students. Before working for the Department of Education, Castro worked as a miner for the Kenncott Copper Corporation.[2][3]
Castro is a member of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign Executive Committee and the LULAC COUNCIL 129. He has also been involved with AARP, Juntos en la Union, and the Democratic Party of Doña Ana County, and he helped found two organizations: Students Inc. and Different Strokes. Students Inc. is an employment program for youth, and Different Strokes is a golf mentoring program for single teenage parents. Castro earned his bachelor's degree in business education from Western New Mexico University and his master's degree in educational psychology from New Mexico State University.[2][3]
Elections
2015
The election in Las Cruces Public Schools featured two of the five board seats up for general election on February 3, 2015. District 4 incumbent Bonnie Votaw did not file for re-election. Four candidates, Maury Castro, Eldon Troy Tudor, Paul E. Garcia and Paul A. Blevins, ran for her seat. Castro defeated his fellow candidates to win election to the board. District 5 incumbent Connie Phillips lost her bid for re-election to challenger Edward Frank.
Results
| Las Cruces Public Schools, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Maury Castro |
41.9% | 309 | |
| Nonpartisan | Paul E. Garcia | 21.1% | 156 | |
| Nonpartisan | Paul A. Blevins | 20.7% | 153 | |
| Nonpartisan | Eldon Troy Tudor | 16.3% | 120 | |
| Total Votes | 738 | |||
| Source: Abbey Smith, "Email communication with Dona Ana County Elections Staff Coordinator Janice Giron," February 26, 2015 | ||||
Funding
The New Mexico Secretary of State's Office requires school board candidates in districts with an enrollment of 12,000 students or more to file an annual report each year. Candidates running for a seat on this district's school board had to file that annual report by April 13, 2015.[4]
Endorsements
Castro did not receive any official endorsements for this election.
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Castro participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | My top priority is do away with the current teacher evaluation criteria and to lower the over emphasis of testing on students so teachers can spend more time teaching.[5] | ” |
| —Maury Castro (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 New Mexico. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| "They should not be implemented." | |
| "No." | |
| "No." | |
| "No." | |
| "The district needs to make an in-depth assessment of cultural, social and ethnic differences. Then solicit adequate funding to implement special programs that are directed at increasing opportunities for all students. A study of best practices from around the country should also be conducted to see what works in similar regions so we can evaluate what will work for our district." | |
| "Expulsion cases must be viewed on a case-by-case basis rather than the district having an overarching policy." | |
| "There should be a thorough evaluation looking at what factors are causing a school to fail. A one-size fits all approach should not be taken when looking for a solution, instead a case-by-case approach should be applied. The expansion of community inclusion should be used to help improve the school." | |
| "No." | |
| "Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district." | |
| "There should be a formal program of inclusion, inviting the community to meeting and making school board meetings more inclusive. I'd like to have forums within the community as a way for parents to get more involved and informed." |
Candidate website
Castro highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Maury has decades of experience with education and community activism.
Where does Maury stand?
|
” |
| —Maury Castro's campaign website (2015)[2] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Maury Castro Las Cruces Public Schools. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Las Cruces Public Schools, New Mexico
- Las Cruces Public Schools elections (2015)
- New Mexico school board elections attract numerous educators as candidates (January 23, 2015)
- New faces to join all of New Mexico's largest school district boards (February 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Las Cruces Sun-News, "Six candidates up for two Las Cruces school board seats," December 16, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Maury Castro for School Board - District 4, "About Maury Castro," accessed January 12, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Maury Castro for Las Cruces School Board District 4 Facebook page, "About," accessed January 8, 2015
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "Guidelines of Candidates and Campaign Committees: associated with Proposed Rule-Campaign Finance," accessed January 6, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015
| 2015 Las Cruces Public Schools Elections | |
| Doña Ana County, New Mexico | |
| Election date: | February 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | District 4: • Paul A. Blevins • Maury Castro • Paul E. Garcia • Eldon Troy Tudor District 5: • Incumbent, Connie Phillips • Edward Frank |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
