Meg Seff

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Meg Seff

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 7, 2023

Education

Bachelor's

Hofstra University, 1971

Graduate

Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1982

Other

Castleton University, 2000

Personal

Birthplace

New York, N.Y.

Profession

Retired

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Meg Seff ran for election to the Houston Independent School District to represent District IV in Texas. She lost in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Seff completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Meg Seff earned a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University in 1971, a graduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson in 1982, and a degree from Castleton University in 2000.

Elections

2023

See also: Houston Independent School District, Texas, elections (2023)

General election

General election for Houston Independent School District, District IV

Incumbent Patricia Allen defeated Meg Seff in the general election for Houston Independent School District, District IV on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Patricia Allen (Nonpartisan)	81.1	13,150
		Meg Seff (Nonpartisan)	18.9	3,070

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,220
= 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.

Endorsements

Seff received the following endorsements.

• Patriot Parents

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Meg Seff completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Seff's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I have 5 beautiful granddaughters ranging in ages 7-9. I am a retired Special Educator/Evaluator/Consultant with a Masters in Specific Learning Disabilities.

I believe in Academic excellence for all, transparency, parental rights, and school Choice. Excelencia Academics para todos, transparencies, Escasez de personal, Derechos de Los padres, Educacioc Especial, Eleccion de escuela.

I believe that there should be a certied teacher in every classroom.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Parental Rights Parents have the right to know what their children are learning. There needs to be a partnership between the school and the parents, without any hidden agendas. I am a strong believer in the family and educational freedom.
• Academic Excellence for students include mastery in reading, writing and mathematics. We should not dumb down Education. The Arts and Sports are an important part of childhood development. Children Ned to feel safe in all areas of the school, especially the bathrooms.
• Transparency is extremely important in our school system. When a new curriculum is introduced it should be made available to read before adaptation. When there is a dangerous situation parents must be informed. If the Board is considering closing a school there needs to be community discussions and notifications. If a teacher or principal is fired the Superintendent needs to talk to the staff and students when appropriate.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Special Education/Gifted

Basic Skills and outcomes
Community Outreach

HoustonISD is in the process of state takeover I want the transition to be as smooth as possibly and the return to local control to be the ultimate goal.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Abigail Adams was one of the strongest women in history. She managed the family farm and raised her children mostly alone. Most of her marriage consisted of writing letters to her husband, whom she loved dearly. I admire her strength as a woman, her ability to persevere no matter what happened and never complaining. I hope someday someone can say that about me.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, transparency, respectful and no gossiping. School board members should not miss meetings or be on their phones/laptops during meetings. A School Board member should be a role model for the community and students.
They should communicate with their constituents regularly.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am sensitive to people’s needs, I am a good leader. I am good at creative solutions and a hard working. I have dedicated my life to Education

What legacy would you like to leave?

I am a good teacher, friend and grandmother.

My grandchildren will be our art lessons
My students love of learning

My friends loyalty

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I was in grade school when John F Kennedy was assassinated.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I worked in commercial design for 3 years while I was working on my Masters

What is your favorite book? Why?

My favorite book was The Great Santini because that was the first book where I truly hated the main character. I shocked myself that I was so emotional, which made me feel the author was amazingly talented as well as courageous in writing something so personal.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

My biggest struggle was losing my daughter

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

Student Outcomes

Budget

Hiring and firing the Superintendent

Who are your constituents?

The community

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

I will be an integral part of the community, hold town halls, go to games and visit the schools throughout the year.
Hold fundraisers when possible. I will respond to phone calls and emails in a timely manner. I will send out monthly emails informing the community on school happenings.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

I will keep my memberships in the various organizations I belong to. In addition I would like to form a Special Education group. I will continue my relationship with the Museum of Fine Arts and continue participating in charity events. I will continue my participation in the TEA trainings.

What constitutes good teaching? How will you measure this? How will you support advanced teaching approaches?

I am a researcher and statistician. I keep current on teaching methods. Through statistics I am able to apply it to the curriculum. I am an expert in differential instruction and will expect that in every classroom.
I take classes to remain current. Measurement is in standardized testing, grades and teacher assessments.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

First we need to get back to basics and master these skills. Reading is my passion so one goal would be to teach the art of loving to read. I would have a lot of literature available to all kids. I have been trained by Lucy Calkins in writing and would like that instruction methodology to be reinstated in the classrooms, our kids did exceptionally well then.

Since my district is 80% in the poverty level I would like a PreK classroom in every school with a Speech/Language Pathologist for language development. Without language children will be struggling readers.

K-3 is the crucial years for reading so I would restructure the classrooms to have emphasis and more time for reading instruction.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

I would like businesses to adopt our schools and help support schools individually. I would like to hold Fundraising events in addition to this. I will go to Austin to continue my fight for school funding bills. I will look at the structure of the District to see if we are too top heavy and bring suggestions to my Superintendent. I will make sure our next hired Superintendent has financial skills.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

Consistent behavior plans for the entire school and consistent discipline. Meet with teachers to develop the plans and to determine the plans are working. Every school should have visitors buzzed in. Every school needs a dedicated SRO. We should be working with the Police Department and they need to know the most difficult students.

Our students need adult mentors and I would like to develop a mentor program.

Behavior and discipline does not work unless everyone buys into it that is why the teachers must be included in the planning.

How might you support the mental health needs of students/faculty/staff?

Respect, valuing everyone

School Psychologists

Mentors

What existing district policies would you like to change, or what new policies would you like to implement?

I would like to restructure the Board Meetings

I would like to add a teacher, student and parent as part of the Board
I think there should be a Town Meeting before every school board meeting

I think closed sessions should be the last agenda item, it is disgraceful to have people sit for hours to wait for closed sessions to end,

Describe your ideal learning environment for students.

Small classrooms, qualified enthusiastic teacher and paralegal in every classroom. Tons of books where reading is enjoyed and encouraged. Writing and reading daily. Great behavior management.

How do you feel like your school district handled the coronavirus pandemic? What, if anything, would you do differently in the future?

I thought the handling was awful. Schools were closed too long and long distance learning was hardest on our poverty and special needs students. Not everyone had laptops or good internet. The worst thing was libraries were shuttered. It was a mess. Students have not recouped their academics

Libraries would remain open schools wouldn’t shutter, long distance learning optional if necessary.

Substitute List. I would make a data base of all the people in Houston who would like to teach their area of expertise. Fingerprint them and have them do an “art” immersion for 2 weeks or longer depending on how long the teacher was ill

What will you do to build a relationship with parents in the district?

The most important thing I can do is be present and be a good listener.

What are your preferred strategies for faculty, staff, and administration recruitment?

Teachers: Texas needs to revise how the accept out of state licenses, they are losing too many opportunities. They also need to revise pension restrictions for teachers that are willing to fill the teacher shortages.

Student teachers should work 1:1 with an HISD teacher. The District could pay part of their tuition with the promise of teaching in the district for two years.
Staff: discipline needs to change. The staff, faculty and administrators need to be safe. Violence among students needs to stop.
Signing bonuses for new teachers
Contractually pay for higher Education courses.

Cost of Living added to teacher and staff salaries

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

2023 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Houston Independent School District, District IV

Website

Facebook

Twitter