Nathan Johnson
Elections and appointments
Personal
Contact
Nathan Johnson ran for election for an at-large seat of the Academy School District 20 school board in Colorado. He lost in the general election on November 2, 2021.
Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Nathan Johnson was born in Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Wyoming in 2005 and an M.D. in 2008. He previously taught in District 20 for six years and coached in the district for 14 football seasons and five basketball seasons.[1]
Elections
2021
See also: Academy School District 20, Colorado, elections (2021)
General election
Endorsements
To view Johnson's endorsements in the 2021 election, please click here.
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Nathan Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Johnson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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As a first generation American, I understand how special America is and I appreciate the high level of tolerance and acceptance our country has displayed over the last half century, or more, and how far we have come as a country since the 60's. But, over the last couple of years, things have been changing in Academy District 20 and the attempts to force that change have been obvious and open, and the change is not for the better. This has the potential to severely hurt our students.
While change is inevitable, I feel that the changes that happen in Colorado Springs D20 need to benefit students and help them develop and grow into young men and women who will positively impact the community.
I want to do my part to help our students develop into young adults who are able to contribute positively once they graduate high school and move on to the next stage of their life, whatever that may be. - I feel that some specific 'controversial' curriculum and topics are not appropriate for the mental health and positive overall development of student
- I feel strongly that there needs to be freedom of choice in regards to vaccines for students and staff
- Parents should have to ‘OPT IN’ their students in order for them to participate in any sex or gender talks or lessons
Curriculum - Curriculum may not include material that are meant to make people feel that they are at a disadvantage or advantage because of characteristics that they are born with, an area within the USA they are born, or from historical events.
Masks - Children of all ages are able to learn, be more social, have healthier social interactions and just overall function better when not masked.
Quarantine - I think that the state is overstepping their authority by forcing their overbearing and overdone quarantine rules into public schools.
Vaccines - The school district and the state should not be allowed to 'coerce' students into getting the vaccine by threatening the loss of privilages, which includes not being allowed in school or not being able to particiapte in extra-curricular activities.
Sex/Gender education - There needs to be a policy that any curriculum, teaching materials, or lessons that have to do with sexual or gender education, or any material or lesson that promotes a specific type of sexuality or gender need to be sent to parents or guardians in advance for parental preview.
Medical referrals - School employees should not have the right or option to refer a student to an outside resource without the parent's or guardian's knowledge. If anything is important or problematic enough for the school employee to want to refer the student to an outside source, a parent should be notified. I look up to people who are real and who do not change who they are when they are around different groups. I am someone who is the same regardless of whom I'm around with.
A person who acts differently in different company will be like a reed swaying in the wind when it comes to standing up to the loud minority. They will take the path of least resistance.
Someone who is able to stand up for what they believe, and at the same time, be able to work with peole who think differently then them and get along with them.
The most important responsibility is to stand up and what's best for students and the students education.
I would like to leave a legacy that I stood up to the loud minority and wasn't swaying in the wind to the loudest voice or voices. I stood strong on my beliefs and morals and did what was best for the students.
The first memory I have of a historical event is the Chicago Bears winning the Super Bowl! I very strongly remember the Super Bowl Shuffle. I also vaguely remember the challenger shuttle exploding after takeoff, but I don't think the significance of it really sank in until years later.
My first job was actually two jobs. I worked construction with my dad while I was in high school in the summer and I also delivered pizza when I was through working my 9-5 in the construction industry. I worked the construction job on the weekends as needed and during the summer and I delivered pizza a few evenings a week during the 2nd semester of my senior year of high school....many many years ago!
I think it would have to be Luke Skywalked....the Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker.
I thnk the primary job of a school board member is to do what's best for the students and the student's education. It's that plain and simple.
My constituents are the students withn the school district. And, technically, its the parents and the other citizens who are registered voters. Ultimately, the students are who we are serving.
I think the best way to do this is to support policies that give all students equal opportunities to be successful.
I would like to build relationships with all the groups in the community. I think I would be doing disservice to the community if I focused on specific groups.
I think the best teachers, the best administrators, and the best support staff should be the ones that we hire and employ in the district. I think that is what would be best for students. It wouldn't make sense to hire someone who is not as qualified as another candidate just because of a physical characteristic he or she may or may not have.
I think extreme ideas and extreme agendas really hurt student's education. It isn't, or at least it should not be, the education system's job to teach morals and ethics. The school's job should be to educate our students and get them ready for life after high school, whatever that may be.
A good teacher would be someone who teaches their student the material without slipping their political or religious ideas and trying to indoctrinate the students. And ideas that someone is more or less of a person, or at an advantage or disadvantage because of their physical characteristics
CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS - While District 20 DOES have Career and Technical programs already offered, they are not offered at every high school and are not easily accessible. In many situations the student has to leave their campus if they want to particiapte in the CTE programs, and the offerings are limited. I think it would help students understand and explore their post high school employment and education options if each secondary school had some type of on campus CTE program that explores the various job opportunities.
I think that College and Career Counselors need to promote trade schools on equal footing with other post secondary education options.
That would start at the state level - and from that level it would be distributed down to each district, then it would fall down to each school and then to each department. If the schools were in need of more money to help educate the students at a higher level, then a vote would have to go to the residents of district 20.
SCHOOL SAFETY - Nothing is more important than the safety of our students and staff. Aside from commonly done practices like only having one entry point to the school once school starts, security camera's (that are actually high quality) and student and staff IDs, other measures can be taken. One such measure would be to have a minimum of two armed SROs (school resource officers) in all schools. There should always be an armed SRO at the main entrance and another walking throughout the school. I also have other ideas you can look at in my website.
I think this is multi-faceted. Keeping masks optional, limiting quarantines, reducing 'digital' discussions, teaching students how to stand up to a bully and teaching other students how to support someone who is being bullied, and teaching teachers and staff the proper way to help the bully and target with their mental health are just a few ways to help the mental health.
I think that too much reliance is put into technology. While it is very important and useful, it harms the face to face skills that many jobs require. I think a combination of digital learning and discussion and in person and face to face learning and discussions need to be utilized.
When I was a teacher, there were other teachers who would do 'discussion board' discussions instead of the 'old school' discussion where you stood up in class and debated a student or just shared your ideas.
Science and facts show that the 'virus' has very low impact on school aged children. So, I think school should go on as normal during what is happening now. If someone is sick, they should stay home, just like they did before the 'virus' came around. There's no reason all the mask, vaccine, and quarantine mandates should be created.
I am planning on spending a couple hours once a month in a coffee house or restaurant and being available to answer questions from parents and other concerned citizens in the community.
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
External links
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 10, 2021
