Moore Public Schools elections (2015)
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One seat on the Moore Public Schools Board of Education was up for general election on February 10, 2015. District 5 incumbent Karen Shuey won re-election against challenger Bryan Kerr.[1]
Kerr stated on January 25, 2015, that he had "decided not to run."[2] However, the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the race was December 5, 2014. Kerr's name still appeared on the ballot and votes were cast for him.[3] Kerr officially endorsed Shuey for the seat.[4]
Ultimately, fewer than 150 votes were cast in the election. The low voter turnout meant that despite Kerr's withdrawal from the race, Shuey retained her seat with a lead of fewer than 30 votes.[5]
About the district
- See also: Moore Public Schools, Oklahoma
Moore Public Schools is located in Cleveland County, Okla. The county seat of Cleveland County is Norman. Cleveland County was home to an estimated 269,340 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.[6] Moore Public Schools was the third-largest school district in Oklahoma, serving 22,226 students during the 2010-2011 school year.[7]
Demographics
Cleveland County outperformed Oklahoma as a whole in terms of higher education achievement, median household income and poverty rates in 2012. The United States Census Bureau found that 31.4 percent of its residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 23.2 percent statewide. The median household income in Cleveland County was $54,883 compared to $44,891 for Oklahoma. The poverty rate in the county was 12.9 percent compared to 16.6 percent for the entire state.[6]
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Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Voter and candidate information
The Moore Public Schools Board of Education consists of five members elected by geographic district to five-year terms with one seat up for election annually. There was no primary election, and the general election for the District 5 seat was scheduled for February 10, 2015.[9] District 1 was up for election in 2016, District 2 in 2017, District 3 in 2018 and District 4 in 2019.
Candidates began to file affidavits of candidacy on December 1, 2014. The filing deadline for school board candidates to get on the ballot in the general election was December 3, 2014.[10]
Elections
2015
Candidates
District 5
- Karen Shuey
- Incumbent, first elected in 2010
- Small business owner
- Bryan Kerr
- Owner of Moore Liquor store
- Unofficially withdrew on January 25, 2015
Election results
| Moore Public Schools, District 5 General Election, 5-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Karen Shuey Incumbent |
60.1% | 86 | |
| Nonpartisan | Bryan Kerr | 39.9% | 57 | |
| Total Votes | 143 | |||
| Source: Oklahoma State Election Board, "Official Results: Special Elections—February 10, 2015," accessed February 17, 2015 | ||||
Endorsements
Kerr officially endorsed Shuey in January 2015 after withdrawing from the race after the withdrawal deadline.[4]
Campaign finance
No contributions or expenditures were reported during the election, according to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.[11]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |
|---|---|
2014
Staci L. Pruett was the only candidate to file for the District 4 seat, which led to the cancellation of the election. 2013Mike Wright won election to the District 3 seat on February 12, 2013 without opposition.[12] 2012Larry Leemaster won election to the District 2 seat on February 14, 2012 without opposition.[13] | |
What was at stake?
2015
Even though incumbent Karen Shuey's challenger Bryan Kerr announced his withdrawal from the District 5 school board race in January 2015, it was too late to have his name removed from the ballot. This means the Moore Public Schools Board of Education could have seen a returning or new face on its board following the 2015 general election. However, Kerr officially endorsed Shuey following his late withdrawal.[4] In addition to the school board election, the district also saw the hiring of a new position for district safety and security and the implementation of a new student identification procedure for high schools students.
Issues in the election
Late withdrawal
On January 25, 2015, Kerr stated,
| “ | After talking to some trusted people about my opponent in the school board race, I have decided not to run.
She is imminently more qualified and will do a much better job than I ever could.[14] |
” |
| —Bryan Kerr (2015)[15] | ||
However, the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the race was December 5, 2014. Kerr's name still appeared on the ballot and votes could have been cast for him.[4]
Issues in the district
Security issues at Moore High School
In the fall of 2014, an unidentified man entered Moore High School and began asking students suspicious questions, according to school officials. The same school also had to deal with a bomb threat. The incidents contributed to the hiring of a new position, Director of Safety and Security, for the district in early 2015. Dustin Horstkoetter, a former Moore police officer for more than 15 years, was hired as the first person to take on this role of coordinating security and safety for the entire district.[16]
Student ID badges
On January 6, 2015, the district began implementing and enforcing a new set of student identification badge procedures for high school students. The policy requires that students wear and display their student identification badges upon arriving to campus. Students who do not do so face the following disciplinary actions:
- First offense: one day of out-of-school suspension (OSS)
- Second offense: two days of OSS
- Third offense: pre-disciplinary conference where the length of suspension would be determined
In a letter addressed to parents and guardians of students in the district regarding the policy, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education and Instruction Brad Fernberg stated the "proper wearing and displaying of identification badges will allow school personnel and campus resource officers to identify which individuals are approved to be on campus."[17]
Ballotpedia survey responses
Both candidates in this election participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display their responses to the survey questions.
Top priorities
When asked what his top priorities would be if elected, Kerr stated:
| “ | Safety of the students should always be our top priority. Once that is assured, we should look at ways to keep and attract the best possible educators. We should do both of these things without increasing the financial burden on the citizens of Moore and South Oklahoma City.[14] | ” |
| —Bryan Kerr (2015)[18] | ||
When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Shuey stated:
| “ | Safety is always a primary concern and always will be. We also need to look at student achievement and improving the classroom learning skills to prepare students for college, career tech, and the work force. We have 2 priorities for the district--Safety and Educating our students.[14] | ” |
| —Karen Shuey (2015)[18] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidates were 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 the candidates' rankings from most to least important:
| Issue | Kerr's ranking | Shuey's ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||
| Improving college readiness | ||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||
| Expanding arts education | ||
| Expanding career-technical education | ||
| Expanding school choice options | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. Kerr and Shuey both described their stance on implementing Common Core standards by saying, "Modifications are required before they are implemented." To the questions "Should your district approve the creation of new charter schools?" and "Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system?" they both answered, "No."
The questions which the candidates responded to differently are shown in the table below, with the questions in the left column and the candidates' responses to those questions in the two right columns.
| Question | Kerr's Response | Shuey's Response |
|---|---|---|
| "In the specific areas they measure, yes." | "No." | |
| "By continuing to develop a model where every student feels like they have a viable path to success and teachers get the necessary support to guide each student to and through that path. Some students are very successful in a traditional academic environment while others will find their success through vocational training. The administrators, teachers and parents should be afforded the flexibility to get a student where he or she will thrive and flourish." | "A variety of methods should be available to all students. This would include in school tutoring, after school tutoring, mentoring programs, study buddies pairing high and low achievers. A variety of websites and resources should be made available to all students such as ACT/SAT prep, AP prep, online vocabulary flash cards. Schools may also choose to utilize phone apps and other technologies to bridge the gaps." | |
| "Expulsion cases must be viewed on a case-by-case basis rather than the district having an overarching policy." | "The district must have policies and procedures in place to handle infractions. There are times that the infraction should be examined on a specific basis but policy must be in place for every infraction." | |
| "The steps would be completely dependent on the issue(s) facing that school. Since there could be a myriad of reasons for a failing school, there could also be a myriad of solutions. What is important is the careful consideration of what is best for that particular school in that particular situation. The 'one-size-fits-all' approach is rarely successful when faced with complex problems." | "The school board does not make the day to day decisions on how to manage schools. The board would encourage the administration both at the central office and the specific school site to plan and implement programs that would work to improve student achievement. These could include on site tutoring, after school programs, classroom incentives, teacher mentoring, staff reviews, and closer oversight in the daily operations of the particular school" | |
| "Yes." | "No." | |
| "A combined approach of mentoring, training and monitoring to be sure the teachers have an opportunity to do their job well without putting the students at risk." | "Work with underperforming teachers should include mentoring programs, training options, team teaching and possibly probation. We also need to look at teachers individuallly and see if that individual should be encouraged to leave the profession for one more suited to the individual. Not everyone who wants to become a teacher should actually become a teacher." | |
| "I think relations in the Moore Public School system between the community and board are already pretty good. The main improvement I would make would be to offer more forms of immediate contact as well as an ongoing open dialogue using a district-specific online forum." | "Even in a district where there are good community relations, there is always room for improvement. Our district does a good job of informing patrons using the district website, Facebook, Twitter and the caller system. Our Superintendent is always open to phone calls and emails. We hold Patron's Advisory Meetings to get input from the community and we word closely with the PTA's to help get information out." |
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the election in 2015:[9][19]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| December 1-3, 2014 | Candidate filing period |
| January 16, 2015 | Voter registration closes |
| February 4, 2015 | Absentee ballot request deadline |
| February 5-6, 2015 | Early voting period |
| February 10, 2015 | General election date |
| April 30, 2015 | Campaign finance report deadline |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Oklahoma elections, 2015
The statewide annual school election date was February 10, 2015. No other offices were scheduled for election on that date.[20]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Moore Public Schools Oklahoma. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Moore Public Schools | Oklahoma | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cleveland County Election Board, "Board of Education Candidate Filing," December 3, 2014
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Bryan Kerr," January 25, 2015
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Phone call with the Cleveland County Election Board," January 26, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Bryan Kerr," January 26, 2015
- ↑ Oklahoma State Election Board, "Unofficial Results: Multicounty Races Annual School Election — February 10, 2015," accessed February 10, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 United States Census Bureau, Cleveland County, Oklahoma," accessed December 8, 2014
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed January 15, 2014
- ↑ Oklahoma, "MESA - Current Registration Statistics by County," accessed January 15, 2014
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Oklahoma State Elections Board, "2015 Election Calendar," accessed December 5, 2014
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedcandidate - ↑ Oklahoma Ethics Commission, "Campaign Reporting Systems," accessed February 17, 2015
- ↑ Oklahoma Secretary of State, "County Election Results," accessed January 15, 2014
- ↑ Oklahoma Secretary of State, "County Election Results," accessed January 15, 2014
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Bryan Kerr," January 25, 2015
- ↑ KOCO, "Security tightened at Moore schools after incident last fall," February 5, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Moore Public Schools: Timeline Photo," December 15, 2014
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015
- ↑ Oklahoma Ethics Commission, "Reporting Calendar," accessed December 5, 2014
- ↑ Cleveland County Election Board, "Moore Public Schools: Sample Ballot," accessed January 29, 2015
| 2015 Moore Public Schools Elections | |
| Cleveland County, Oklahoma | |
| Election date: | February 10, 2015 |
| Candidates: | District 5: • Incumbent, Karen Shuey • Bryan Kerr |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
