Melissa Karam Panchley
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Melissa Karam Panchley was an at-large member of the Fall River School Committee. She was first elected to the committee on November 5, 2013, and she served until January 2018 as she did not file to run for re-election in 2017.
Biography
Panchley graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High School before earning a B.A. degree in human development and sociology from the Boston College School of Education and an M.B.A. with a concentration in accounting from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. She began her career with the Fall River Housing Authority, working first as a youth outreach worker and then as a coordinator of elderly services and grant writer. In 2001, she took a position as the chief financial officer of the Karam Financial Group, and she became its senior property manager in 2011.[1]
Elections
2015
Six seats on the Fall River School Committee were up for election on November 3, 2015. Incumbents Joseph Martins, Melissa Karam Panchley, Mark Costa, and Gabriel Andrade won re-election, while newcomers Paul Coogan and Edward Costar joined the board. All of the six incumbents on the board — Andrade, Costa, Martins, Panchley, Paul Hart, and Robert Maynard — sought re-election. Hart, Maynard, and challenger Sean Connell were defeated in the election.[2]
Results
| Fall River School Committee, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Paul Coogan |
14.0% | 7,474 |
| Joseph Martins Incumbent |
12.7% | 6,770 |
| Melissa Karam Panchley Incumbent |
12.4% | 6,618 |
| Mark Costa Incumbent |
12.3% | 6,556 |
| Edward Costar |
12.0% | 6,442 |
| Gabriel Andrade Incumbent |
10.7% | 5,727 |
| Paul Hart Incumbent | 10.4% | 5,558 |
| Robert Maynard Incumbent | 8.4% | 4,477 |
| Sean Connell | 7.1% | 3,815 |
| Write-in votes | 0.07% | 35 |
| Total Votes | 53,472 | |
| Source: Nick Katers, "Email exchange with Fall River Board of Elections Chair Elizabeth Camara," January 5, 2016 | ||
Funding
The Fall River City Clerk does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify any official endorsements for Panchley in the election.
2013
Melissa Karam Panchley and the five incumbents defeated her fellow challengers Russell Desbiens, Lori DeSousa and Dan Robillard to win six at-large seats in the general election on November 5, 2013.
Results
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year term, 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Joseph Martins Incumbent |
15.6% | 6,484 | |
| Nonpartisan | Melissa Karam Panchley |
15% | 6,263 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mark Costa Incumbent |
14.4% | 5,996 | |
| Nonpartisan | Paul Hart Incumbent |
12.6% | 5,240 | |
| Nonpartisan | Gabriel Andrade Incumbent |
12.2% | 5,063 | |
| Nonpartisan | Robert Maynard Incumbent |
10.9% | 4,543 | |
| Nonpartisan | Lori DeSousa | 8% | 3,352 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dan Robillard | 7% | 2,926 | |
| Nonpartisan | Russell Desbiens | 4.3% | 1,797 | |
| Total Votes | 41,664 | |||
| Source: Jo C. Goode, The Herald News, "No changes in order following release of official Fall River election results," November 13, 2013 | ||||
Funding
Melissa Karam Panchley reported $34,621.00 in contributions and $17,673.64 in expenditures to the Fall River City Clerk, which left her campaign with $16,837.36 on hand.[3] Panchley raised and spent significantly more than other candidates in the race. She reported many contributions between $100 and $500 from local business owners and executives in a variety of industries, along with donations of $100 each from former United States Senator Scott Brown and the "Scott Brown Re-Election Committee."[4]
Endorsements
Melissa Karam Panchley received an endorsement for her campaign from The Herald News.[5]
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Panchley 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 is reducing elementary classroom size and adding pre--school slots. If we can give our students a stronger foundation at a young age, the rest will follow.[6] |
” |
| —Melissa Karam Panchley, (2015), [7] | ||
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 Massachusetts. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| "I do believe in standards and testing, but feel like Massacusetts is a leader in education and should not have switched to Common Core and PARCC." | |
| "No." | |
| "No." | |
| "Standardized tests are one important tol in measuring student achievement, but not in solidarity." | |
| "Interventionists that push in and give an extra dose or two of instruction to students that are low achieving help to ensure that low achieving students grow and make progress. At the same time, differentiation of instruction is so important for the high achieving students to not be forgotten and to be able to continue to move forward. Race to the Top cannot be Race to the Middle." | |
| "I do believe that alternative schools are the right colution for many students, but expulsion needs to be used for serious offenses." | |
| "Adding time to the day of a failing school has shown to be an effective way of accelerating student learning and achievement. Additionally using interventionists who can provide extra doses of learning to struggling students has been helpful. Extra professional development for teachers in failing districts has also been effective. Parent academies to encourage meaningful parent involvement is so important." | |
| "No." | |
| "Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district." | |
| "I feel that being accessible to the community and to the media is an important way to improve relations. Being one of three parents on the current school committee, I do feel that we are easily reachable and happy to work together to improve our schools." |
2013
In an interview with The Herald News, Panchley listed the following campaign themes:[1]
|
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Melissa + Panchley + Fall + River + Public + School"
- All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.
See also
- Fall River Public Schools, Massachusetts
- Fall River Public Schools Elections (2013)
- Fall River Public Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Herald News, "Melissa K. Panchley: Candidate for Fall River School Committee," September 16, 2013
- ↑ The Herald News, "Tuesday is final day for Fall River candidates to file certified nomination papers," August 17, 2015
- ↑ City of Fall River, Massachusetts, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed December 23, 2013
- ↑ City of Fall River, Massachusetts, "Form CPF M 102: Campaign Finance Report Municipal Form," accessed December 23, 2013
- ↑ The Herald News, "Our View: HN's endorsements for Fall River School Committee," accessed November 18, 2013
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Melissa Karam Panchley's responses," October 1, 2015
| 2015 Fall River Public Schools Elections | |
| Bristol County, Massachusetts | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Gabriel Andrade • Incumbent, Mark Costa • Incumbent, Paul Hart • Incumbent, Joseph Martins • Incumbent, Robert Maynard • Incumbent, Melissa Karam Panchley • Sean Connell • Paul Coogan • Edward Costar |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
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