Michelle Sinnott Petersen
Michelle Sinnott Petersen ran for election to the San Ramon Valley Unified School District school board to represent Trustee Area 1 in California. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Petersen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2022
See also: San Ramon Valley Unified School District, California, elections (2022)
General election
General election for San Ramon Valley Unified School District school board Trustee Area 1
Jesse vanZee defeated Michelle Sinnott Petersen and Jerome C. Pandell in the general election for San Ramon Valley Unified School District school board Trustee Area 1 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jesse vanZee (Nonpartisan)  | 42.2 | 6,030 |
 | Michelle Sinnott Petersen (Nonpartisan) | 40.5 | 5,794 | |
 | Jerome C. Pandell (Nonpartisan) | 17.3 | 2,472 | |
| Total votes: 14,296 | |||
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Endorsements
To view Petersen's endorsements in the 2022 election, please [ENDORSEMENT_URL click here].
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michelle Sinnott Petersen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Petersen's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Our children differ in their learning styles, capacity, and interests. Each deserves the commitment of the district to meet their potential. Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) students need specialized programming as much as students who learn differently or whose interests fall outside the typical curriculum. All can and should be done at the same time. Excellence costs and continuing quality education earned us 'destination district' status among real estate agents. I will advocate for greater school funding based on enrollment vs. the current formula based on attendance, amongst other strategies to raise the base funding our district receives for each student..
- The District prudently used reserves to offset expenses during Covid while ensuring we are addressing the learning loss from Covid. They have maintained a balanced budget while successfully negotiating new contracts with our teachers and funding Multi-tiered Site Support and Elementary School counselors. I aim to continue this practice of spending wisely during upswings and ensuring we maintain healthy reserves for downswings. I will also work to pursue other funding resources like grants and plan to push the state to switch from attendance-based funding to enrollment-based funding, which would increase our base substantially.
- I believe the mental well-being of our students and teachers should be among our highest priorities. Students and teachers continue to experience stress and anxiety at unprecedented levels. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15 to 24-year-olds, and suicide rates for 10 to 12-year-olds have quadrupled in the last 20 years. Teachers have become de-facto counselors when our children are in crisis. Wellness counseling is not their area of expertise, nor are they given the training to best handle these situations. Hiring more counselors must be a district priority. Every school level needs continued funding for counselors with ongoing dollars, not one-time monies.
I will continue to support the current math pathways in SRVUSD, which allows high-performing students to advance to the level of math appropriate to them and reach Advanced Placement (AP) level courses for Calculus, Computer Science, or Statistics in high school.
I will seek to expand innovative programs already in place, like the iQuest program that allows students flexibility in their school day to pursue practical experience for their careers now. I would maintain the College Connect program that allows students to take community college classes while also enrolled in high school.
I would also support additional funding for Career Technical (CTE) programs that are essential in preparing our students for life after graduation. Regional occupational programs provide opportunities to explore different fields that may not require a degree in higher education.
I believe that summer school should be available for students for remediation, advancement or exploration of a new subject. More can be done within our district to improve these programs.
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
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate San Ramon Valley Unified School District school board Trustee Area 1 |
Footnotes
