Mel Fuller (Texas)

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Mel Fuller

Prior offices

Northwest Independent School District, Place 7

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Education

Bachelor's

Texas Wesleyan University

Personal

Profession

School administrator

Mel Fuller was the Place 7 representative on the Northwest Independent School District school board in Texas from 2008 to 2017. He resigned in November 2017 after being arrested on charges of child pornography possession. Click here for more information.

Biography

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When he served on the school board, Fuller's professional experience included serving as the executive director of college and career readiness in the Richardson Independent School District and as a consultant for the Texas Education Agency. He earned a bachelor's degree from Texas Wesleyan University and a master's degree in educational administration.

Elections

2017

See also: Northwest Independent School District elections (2017)

Three of the seven seats on the Northwest Independent School District board of trustees in Texas were up for general election on May 6, 2017. The race for the open Place 5 seat included candidates Tammy Eck, Taylor Harrington, Matthew Hooper, Steve Sprowls, and Jennifer Zazula. Sprowls was elected to the seat. Place 6 incumbent Lillian Rauch defeated challenger Carissa Barrett. In his bid for re-election to the Place 7 seat, incumbent Mel Fuller ran unopposed and won another term.

Results

Northwest Independent School District, Place 7 General Election, 3-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mel Fuller Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	2,844
Total Votes		2,844
Source: Denton County Elections, "Cumulative Report–Official: Denton County–2017 May General and Special Elections," accessed June 6, 2017 and Tarrant County Elections, "05-06-2017 Joint Elections: Official Results," accessed June 6, 2017

2014

See also: Northwest Independent School District elections (2014)

Mel Fuller ran against challenger Doug Smith for re-election on May 10, 2014, for the Place 7 seat.

Results

Northwest Independent School District,
Place 7 General Election, 3-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Mel Fuller Incumbent	62.6%	842
	Nonpartisan	Doug Smith	37.4%	504
Total Votes				1,346
Source: Denton County Board of Elections, "Official Election Results," accessed June 23, 2014

Funding

Fuller did not file a campaign finance report with the Texas Ethics Commission.

Endorsements

Fuller did not receive an endorsement in this election.

Campaign themes

2014

Fuller stated the following about his campaign in a Q&A with Vote 411:

“	Why are you running for the school board? We've continued to build upon the vision and work of previous boards to make NISD one of the very best ISD's. We're always looking at what is in the best interest of our students and how can we make it happen with limited funds from the state. How does your background prepare you for this office? I've been an educator for over 20 yrs; school board for 6 years; board vice president and president; and I am a Master Trustee by being invited by the state Association and being trained two years ago. How will you balance school district revenue with educational needs? When the state cut our budget by $22 million over 2 years ago we were able to priortize our spending efforts to make the best choices for our students. We have an incredible staff in NISD and they know how to work to bring out the very best in our students. Our budget in lean in and it all is focused on our students. Explain how you will use your position to improve the quality of education. As a Master Trustee and Northwest ISD Board member I have traveled to Austin many times over the last 6 years to advocate for our students with the Texas Legislature. I've called many Legislator's over the years to ask for what's in our best interest for Northwest ISD. I'm also part of the North Texas Regional Cosortium, advocating for all school Texas children. What are the most important issues facing your school district, and how would you address them? The top challenges continue to be school finance and the over reliance of high stakes testing. We are a litigant in the lawsuit against the state of Texas in the way school districts are funded. We feel that the funding method is unconstitutional as well as it does not adequately fund Northwest ISD to educated students. Also the over reliance of high stakes testing, which we fought in many ways to limit testing of our students, but there is still work to be done with our Legislature.	”
—Mel Fuller (2014)

Noteworthy events

Allegations of criminal misconduct (2017)

See also: Noteworthy criminal misconduct in American politics (2017-2018)

On October 31, 2017, Fuller was arrested on charges of child pornography possession. An affidavit accused Fuller of sharing and receiving nude photos of young people. Fuller resigned from the board on November 1.

In August 2018, Fuller was sentenced to five years' probation and 120 hours of community service. He was also required to pay a $1,500 fine and surrender his teaching licenses.

See also

• Northwest Independent School District
• Northwest Independent School District elections (2014)
• Northwest Independent School District elections (2017)

External links

Suggest a link

• Northwest Independent School District
• Twitter account
• LinkedIn profile