Morgan Chavez
Morgan Chavez was a candidate for at-large representative on the Colorado Springs School District 11 school board in Colorado. Chavez was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Chavez participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2017
Four of the seven seats on the Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education in Colorado were up for nonpartisan election on November 7, 2017. Three of those seats were up for general election to regular four-year terms. The fourth seat was up for special election to an unexpired two-year term due to a vacancy on the board.[1] The race for the four-year terms included incumbents Jim Mason and Shawn Gullixson and challengers Morgan Chavez and Julie Ott. Gullixson and Mason won re-election to their seats, and Ott won the other four-year term on the board. Incumbent Mary Coleman ran unopposed and won the two-year term.[2][3][4]
Results
| Colorado Springs School District 11, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Julie Ott |
32.27% | 27,943 |
| Jim Mason Incumbent |
28.26% | 24,467 |
| Shawn Gullixson Incumbent |
23.91% | 20,706 |
| Morgan Chavez | 15.56% | 13,473 |
| Total Votes | 86,589 | |
| Source: El Paso County Elections Office, "Official Results: COLORADO SPRINGS SCHOOL DISTRICT 11 DIRECTOR (4 YEAR TERM)," accessed November 27, 2017 | ||
Funding
Chavez reported no contributions or expenditures to the Colorado Secretary of State in the election.[5]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Morgan Chavez participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[6] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 29, 2017:
| “ | I want for every school in my district to be somewhere that every child is safe and able to learn. I want all the children in my district to become lifelong learners.[7][8] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Colorado. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| “ | I think happy and successful teachers are the key to having happy and successful students. If you have happy teachers, it makes all the other goals much more attainable.[8] | ” |
| —Morgan Chavez (September 29, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. I think our district has a wide variety of charter schools available to meet the needs to the students within the district that traditional schools aren't meeting. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Offer additional training options. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. I do not believe pay for performance benefits students or teachers. I believe there is so much more to education than test scores and teachers should be evaluated on all aspects. I think teachers should be observationally evaluated as well. Pay for Performance could lead to teachers only focusing on the students that will succeed in showing growth, leaving other students to suffer. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Public money should not be used to fund private school. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| I think expulsion should be used for violent offenses only. Children are not developmentally able to regulate all their impulses and we need to make sure we aren't taking away their chance at success too early. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers. I believe a good teacher can make up for any of these other factors. My daughters have had some excellent teachers so that gives me full confidence in their abilities. |
Candidate website
Chavez highlighted why she ran for school board on her campaign website:
| “ | I am running for school board as a way to connect to my community and school district. I have two daughters that attend D11 schools and we have had such a wonderful educational experience.
My goal is to be the voice of the community within the school district. I want to connect and engage with parents, teachers, support staff, and community members. I want to ensure an environment that makes every child have a life long love of learning.[8] |
” |
| —Morgan Chavez (2017)[9] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Morgan Chavez Colorado Springs School District 11 school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Colorado Springs School District 11, "Board of Education," accessed February 27, 2017
- ↑ Colorado Springs School District 11, "2017 Board of Education Candidates for Election," accessed September 7, 2017
- ↑ El Paso County Elections Office, "Unofficial Results: COLORADO SPRINGS SCHOOL DISTRICT 11 DIRECTOR (4 YEAR TERM)," accessed November 7, 2017
- ↑ El Paso County Elections Office, "Unofficial Results: COLORADO SPRINGS SCHOOL DISTRICT 11 DIRECTOR (2 YEAR TERM)," accessed November 7, 2017
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "TRACER: Candidate Search," accessed December 15, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Morgan Chavez's responses," September 29, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Morgan Chavez for School District #11, "About," accessed October 24, 2017
| Colorado Springs School District 11 elections in 2017 | |
| El Paso County, Colorado | |
| Election date: | November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large (4-year terms): • Incumbent, Shawn Gullixson • Incumbent, Jim Mason • Morgan Chavez • Julie Ott At-large (2-year term): • Incumbent, Mary Coleman |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
