Melvin Hargrove
Melvin Hargrove is a former at-large member of the Racine Board of Education in Wisconsin. He was appointed to the board in 2007. Hargrove won re-election to the board in the general election on April 1, 2014.
Hargrove was defeated by Matthew Hanser for the District 8 seat in 2016. He ran for a three-year term in the general election on April 5, 2016.[1]
Biography
Hargrove is the founder and pastor of Zoe Outreach Ministries. He and his wife, Marie, have three adult children.[2]
Elections
2016
The 2016 election for all nine seats on the Racine Unified School District was the district's first using a by district system rather than electing members at-large. A primary election was held on February 16, 2016, for Districts 6 and 7 with the general election on April 5, 2016. Board candidates were required to live in their election districts. The change was enshrined in state law through legislation sponsored by State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R) and State Rep. Tom Weatherson (R), who represent districts that include Racine. The election districts approved by the school board on October 27, 2015, led to three races in 2016 where three incumbents were assured defeat because they faced fellow board members.[3][4]
Candidates backed by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO won seven of the board's nine seats in 2016. Michelle Duchow in District 1 was not endorsed due to her unopposed race and District 9 winner Robert Wittke was endorsed by The Journal Times as a candidate who would stand up to unions.
District 1 candidate Michelle Duchow was the only unopposed candidate in the race. Dennis Wiser defeated fellow incumbent John Koetz in District 2, while incumbent Michael Frontier ousted fellow board member Pamala Handrow in District 3. Julie McKenna defeated Kim Plache to take the District 4 seat. Challenger Steven Hooper defeated incumbent Chuck Goodremote for the District 5 seat. Newcomer Matthew Hanser narrowly defeated board president Melvin Hargrove in District 8. Incumbent Don Nielsen finished first in the District 7 race against challenger Brian O'Connell. Nielsen and O'Connell defeated Adrienne Moore in the primary. Three newcomers were guaranteed to join the board after this election with no incumbents running in Districts 1, 6 and 9. John Heckenlively defeated Jim Venturini for the District 6 seat, while Robert Wittke defeated Kurt Squire in District 9.[4] Ernest Ni'A was defeated by Heckenlively and Venturini in the District 6 primary. Bryn Biemeck was removed from the ballot in District 6 following a Wisconsin Government Accountability Board appeal by the Racine Education Association.[5]
Results
| Racine Unified School District, District 8 General Election, 3-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Matthew Hanser |
50.19% | 2,196 |
| Melvin Hargrove Incumbent | 49.81% | 2,179 |
| Total Votes | 4,375 | |
| Source: Racine Unified School District, "Racine Board of Education Official Election Results," accessed June 15, 2016 | ||
Endorsements
Hargrove received the endorsement of The Journal Times prior to the general election.[6]
2014
Melvin Hargrove ran against six other candidates for four available seats in the general election on April 1, 2014.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Melvin Hargrove Incumbent |
18.6% | 4,326 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dennis Wiser Incumbent |
17.2% | 3,996 | |
| Nonpartisan | Pamala Handrow Incumbent |
17% | 3,954 | |
| Nonpartisan | Wally Rendón Incumbent |
14.4% | 3,355 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jacqueline Pinager | 12% | 2,795 | |
| Nonpartisan | Henry Perez | 12% | 2,790 | |
| Nonpartisan | Thomas Fineran | 8.2% | 1,915 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.4% | 95 | |
| Total Votes | 23,226 | |||
| Source: Racine Unified School District, "Canvass Committee Report," April 8, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Hargrove began the race with an existing account balance of $3,965.80 from his previous campaign. He has reported $1,083.00 in contributions and $40.67 in expenditures to the school district, which left his campaign with $2,923.47 on hand.[7]
Endorsements
Hargrove did not receive any official endorsements for his campaign.
Campaign themes
2016
Hargrove answered the following questions from The Journal Times:
| “ |
1) Last year, the School Board was divided for months on the district’s employee handbook. What role should administrators, unions and the board have in future handbook changes? I believe administration along with employee input should be responsible for handbook changes. The only part the board should play is adopting the changes. 2) The district recently entered into a tentative agreement to buy the Sturtevant Sportsplex for $5.2 million, and the district is studying how to use and pay for the complex before the board’s May 10 deadline to approve the deal. If you are elected, under what conditions would you support the district buying the Sportsplex? There must be a clear education plan put in place that will continue our vision for educating children to be career and college ready. It must also prove to be revenue neutral where it can literally pay for itself without increasing taxes on the community. 3) As the district implements block scheduling in high schools next year in preparation for new career academies, some have criticized the district for moving ahead on the change too fast, most notably employee unions. Should the district go ahead with block scheduling next year? Why or why not? Yes, the district should go ahead with block scheduling only if it has met the requirements of professional development needed to successfully implement it. Block scheduling is very vital to the successful implementation of the Academy model we have adopted. 4) Over the last year, the villages of Caledonia, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant have been weighing whether to fund a study of leaving the Racine Unified School District. Would you support these communities breaking away from Unified? Why or why not? I would not support it even though they have every right to do so. I believe Racine Unified is poised to make great strides in the education of all our children and we need a unified community to make this happen. I also believe leaving the district would exact a heavy cost in taxes from the individual communities to start and maintain their own districts. 5) If elected, what is the most pressing change you would push for the district to make? Completion of the handbook changes along with a better atmosphere of true collaboration between administration and all employee groups. The adversarial atmosphere currently present at Racine Unified is disastrous and destructive and of no help to the successful advancement and achievement of our most precious gifts, our children. |
” |
| —Melvin Hargrove (2016), [9] | ||
2014
Hargrove explained his campaign themes for 2014 in an interview with The Journal Times:
| “ |
What makes you most qualified for a board seat? Board experience and passion for education, plus my ability to look at everything and look at all sides of a matter before we actually come to a decision. … And then also coming to this with no agenda except with the best interests of the children and the community. Are you familiar with the Common Core State Standards, and do you support or oppose them? Familiar with standards. The reason why I support it is we have to begin to think more globally here in Racine. … (Common Core) helps us to get up to a level of standard where we can be globally competitive. Do you favor fixing school building components like boilers when they break down or, proactively, when they outlive their life expectancies? I support the whole proactive approach because our buildings are always the first thing to suffer when a budget (deficit) hits. … We’re going to have to eventually go to referendum again but not before we can prove to the taxpayers that we have been good stewards over the last dollars they gave us. [8] |
” |
| —The Journal Times (2014) | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Melvin Hargrove' 'Racine School Board'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Racine Unified School District, Wisconsin
- Racine Unified School District elections (2014)
- Racine Unified School District elections (2015)
- Racine Unified School District elections (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedlist - ↑ Zoe Outreach Ministries, "About Us," accessed February 6, 2014
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednewmap - ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Journal Times, "Election filings, Racine County school boards," January 6, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbiemeck - ↑ The Journal Times, "Journal Times editorial: Journal Times endorses eight candidates for Racine Unified School Board," April 3, 2016
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through e-mail from Patricia Meyer on March 25, 2014.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Journal Times, "Melvin Hargrove on the issues," March 23, 2016
- ↑ Journal Times, "Racine School Board candidates on the issues," March 18, 2014
| 2014 Racine Unified School District Elections | |
| Racine, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 1, 2014 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Thomas Fineran • Pamala Handrow • Melvin Hargrove • Henry Perez • Jacqueline Pinager • Wally Rendón • Dennis Wiser |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
