Nicky Yollick
Nicky Yollick ran for election for an at-large seat of the Denver Board of Education in Colorado. He lost in the general election on November 2, 2021.
Yollick completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Nicky Yollick was born in Houston, Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree from Tulane University in 2008. He attended the University of Denver. Yollick's career experience includes working as a community organizer.[1]
Elections
2021
See also: Denver Public Schools, Colorado, elections (2021)
General election
General election for Denver Public Schools Board of Education At-large
Scott Esserman defeated Vernon Jones Jr., Jane Shirley, Marla Fernandez, and Nicky Yollick in the general election for Denver Public Schools Board of Education At-large on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Scott Esserman (Nonpartisan)  | 40.1 | 54,964 |
| Vernon Jones Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 23.5 | 32,172 | ||
 | Jane Shirley (Nonpartisan) | 15.9 | 21,714 | |
 | Marla Fernandez (Nonpartisan) | 14.7 | 20,166 | |
 | Nicky Yollick (Nonpartisan) | 5.8 | 7,953 | |
| Total votes: 136,969 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jorge Hernandez (Nonpartisan)
2018
General election
General election for Colorado House of Representatives District 5
Alex Valdez defeated Katherine Whitney and Rory Lamberton in the general election for Colorado House of Representatives District 5 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Alex Valdez (D) | 79.0 | 27,131 |
| Katherine Whitney (R) | 17.9 | 6,136 | ||
| Rory Lamberton (L) | 3.1 | 1,061 | ||
| Total votes: 34,328 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 5
Alex Valdez defeated Meghan Nutting, Joel Judd, and Nicky Yollick in the Democratic primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 5 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Alex Valdez | 42.0 | 4,666 |
 | Meghan Nutting | 29.2 | 3,245 | |
 | Joel Judd | 16.6 | 1,844 | |
| Nicky Yollick | 12.1 | 1,347 | |
| Total votes: 11,102 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 5
Katherine Whitney advanced from the Republican primary for Colorado House of Representatives District 5 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Katherine Whitney | 100.0 | 1,419 | |
| Total votes: 1,419 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Nicky Yollick completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Yollick's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Nicky grew up in the Houston Area, where he took to community organizing from a young age. As a Senior in High School, Nicky successfully lobbied his school’s administration to enable students to organize a school-wide debate on various social issues of the day.
Nicky got his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Tulane University before moving to Denver in 2008 to study International Relations at the University of Denver.
In 2018, Nicky wrote a resolution for the Denver Democratic Party’s platform seeking to reverse the ongoing privatization of public education, instead focusing resources on student equity and supporting educators. Alongside a coalition of community leaders, he lobbied Denver Democrats to overwhelmingly pass the resolution, clearing a path for Denverites to elect a slate of pro-education candidates in 2019's Denver Public School Board elections.
Over the last several years, Nicky has founded several organizations geared toward building community-leadership for student equity and neighborhood schools in DPS.
Nicky lives in the East Colfax neighborhood of Denver with his partner, Nicki Nanton, their dog, Julep, two cats, Gonzo and Libby, and two little corn snakes, Fettucine and Campanelli. Nicki is a hospice social worker and is getting ready to start her nursing degree.
- Classroom Equity - A strong, equitable education for all children in DPS is the essential goal of having a School District.
- Community Leadership - An informed, active community will lead the decision-making process in finding dynamic solutions to student inequity.
- Radical Transparency - For community to take the lead, it must be informed of exactly how taxpayer money is being used in administration of education.
Shifting resources from the Central Administration to classrooms, particularly of Title I schools, ensuring that all DPS schools are equipped to serve kids with special needs.
Replacing oppressive accountability systems with ones that appraise development of the whole child, ending our overreliance on standardized testing.
Renewing the District’s emphasis on cultural accountability.
In working toward Community Leadership, Nicky will focus on:
Building tangible mechanisms that require DPS to follow the community’s lead, such as a Community Action Team (CAT) which will put forth quarterly recommendations the Board will be required to vote on.
Returning to a neighborhood model of education with each school uniting its community around a shared goal of strong, equitable public education and societal development.
Letting teachers teach.
In working toward Radical Transparency, Nicky will focus on:
Ensuring that all DPS finances are available online in a manner accessible to the General Public.
Conducting an aggressive audit of every penny and position in the Central Administration with community members invited to join in the work.
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.
Campaign website
Yollick's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Issues Achieving Equity A strong, equitable education for all children in DPS is the essential goal of having a School District. In working toward Classroom Equity, Nicky will focus on: Shifting resources from the Central Administration to classrooms, particularly of Title I schools, ensuring that all DPS schools are equipped to serve kids with special needs. Replacing oppressive accountability systems with ones that appraise development of the whole child, ending our overreliance on standardized testing. Renewing the District’s emphasis on cultural accountability by: Allowing teachers to lead development of a culturally responsible curriculum. Requiring District staff to undergo training in cultural understanding to retain teachers of color. Treating our educators as the professionals they are, thereby reducing turnover. Partnering with Educators Educators understand classroom needs better than anyone and it is essential we include their voices in long-term decision-making. In Partnering with Educators, Nicky will focus on: Returning to a neighborhood model of education with each school uniting its community around a shared goal of strong, equitable public education and societal development. Improving educator retention through better pay and benefits while encouraging a creative and collaborative classroom environment which celebrates diverse cultures. Letting teachers teach. This means: Putting educators in control of the District’s curriculum. Making learning more authentic by allowing teachers to incorporate current events into the curriculum and attend to their students’ social and emotional needs. Providing educators with greater administrative control and support from the Central Administration. Community & Transparency An informed, active community will lead the decision-making process in finding dynamic solutions to student inequity. In working toward Community Leadership, Nicky will focus on: Building tangible mechanisms that require DPS to follow the community’s lead, such as a Community Action Team (CAT) which will put forth quarterly recommendations the Board will be required to vote on. Conducting an aggressive audit of every penny and position in the Central Administration with community members invited to join in the work. Opening a Constituent Services Office oriented toward: Giving constituents regular face-to-face, 1:1 opportunities with Directors. Providing community members with all pertinent information on DPS proceedings for personal or public research. Enabling community leaders to determine a framework for how the Administration and Board will pursue authentic grassroots engagement. [2] |
” |
| —Nicky for Denver Kids[3] | ||
See also
2021 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Denver Public Schools Board of Education At-large |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 15, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Nicky for Denver Kids, "Issues," accessed October 4, 2021
