Noelle Creegan
Noelle Creegan was a candidate for at-large representative on the Lowell Public Schools school board in Massachusetts. Creegan was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Elections
2017
- See also: Lowell Public Schools elections (2017)
Six seats on the Lowell Public Schools School Committee in Massachusetts were up for general election on November 7, 2017.[1] In their bids for re-election, incumbents Andre Descoteaux, Jackie Doherty, Robert J. Hoey Jr., and Connie A. Martin faced former candidates Dominik Hok Y Lay and Dennis R. Mercier and newcomers Timothy Blake, Noelle Creegan, Gerard Nutter, and Daniel J. Shanahan IV.[2] All four incumbents won re-election, and Hok Y Lay and Nutter won the other two seats on the ballot.[3]
All seven seats on the school committee were up for election. The seventh seat was held by the mayor of Lowell, but was not covered by Ballotpedia as the city fell outside of municipal elections coverage.[4][5]
Results
| Lowell Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Jacqueline Doherty Incumbent |
12.19% | 6,385 |
| Robert J. Hoey Jr. Incumbent |
11.55% | 6,054 |
| Connie A. Martin Incumbent |
11.54% | 6,047 |
| Dominik Hok Y Lay |
10.61% | 5,558 |
| Andre Descoteaux Incumbent |
9.77% | 5,117 |
| Gerard Nutter |
9.19% | 4,817 |
| Dennis R. Mercier | 9.02% | 4,727 |
| Noelle Creegan | 8.94% | 4,684 |
| Timothy Blake | 8.63% | 4,520 |
| Daniel J. Shanahan IV | 8.39% | 4,396 |
| Write-in votes | 0.17% | 88 |
| Total Votes | 52,393 | |
| Source: City of Lowell, "Election Summary Report: Official Results," accessed November 28, 2017 | ||
Funding
The Lowell Election & Census Office does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign themes
2017
Creegan answered the following five questions from the Lowell Sun as part of a series for the newspaper. The questions provided by the newspaper appear bolded, and Creegan's answers follow below.
Should the Lowell Public School district return to neighborhood schools or retain its two-zone, citywide schools model?[6]
| “ | I strongly support any effort to consider the rezoning of our city's schools. The current zoning has been in place since the early 1980s. Many things have changed in the 30-plus years since that desegregation decree was agreed to. It's time to re-evaluate the integration of schools to ensure that decree is honored (early research shows that it would be). Increasing the number of zones will result in students attending schools closer to home, reducing the need for buses at the elementary and middle schools, resulting in a reduction in the cost of busing. The reduction could be so significant that we could add the transportation of high school students at no additional cost, regardless of the location of the new high school. Without a doubt, efficiencies can be found by changing from two zones to five or six and for that reason alone, this should be a top priority of the next School Committee.[7] | ” |
| —Noelle Creegan (2017)[6] | ||
What solutions would you propose to ensure the district can reliably provide adequate services to students within its budget?[8]
| “ | This particular challenge with the budget is an issue with timing. City budgets for 2017-18 were reviewed and submitted prior to the state budget being approved. This creates a scenario where city budgets will require modification based on state funding. To alleviate the impact of this in the future, I would recommend that all budget items have a priority associated with it so in the event that cuts need to be made, it's clear what the top priority items are and the lower priorities. Top priority should go to items that directly impact the students. An example of a lower priority item would be pay raises for central administrators. The critical issue with the school budget is that year after year, expenses increase (building maintenance, transportation) at a rate that is greater than the increase in the city and state contribution.
I applaud Superintendent Khelfaoui's and the School Committee's support of creating a Special Education Day School to reduce the number of Lowell students that require out-of-district placement, which can be very expensive. I would also advocate for an aggressive push to secure state and federal grants to support educational initiatives.[7] |
” |
| —Noelle Creegan (2017)[8] | ||
Would you have voted to give Superintendent of Schools Salah Khelfaoui a new four-year contract?[9]
| “ | Yes, I would have voted to give Superintendent Khelfaoui a contract. A contract assures consistency and commitment to shared objectives. I do not agree with the process of the contract being negotiated only between Mayor Kennedy and the superintendent. This should have been a more collaborative process involving more than just those two men.[7] | ” |
| —Noelle Creegan (2017)[9] | ||
What is the most pressing capital improvement project facing the School Department, besides the high school, and how do you propose to pay for it?[10]
| “ | Building maintenance is of critical importance. There is a significant backlog for maintenance requests that must be addressed. The city and School Committee need to do a better job of understanding the obstacles that face the maintenance on a very granular level to determine the best solutions so that the conditions in all of our schools improve.[7] | ” |
| —Noelle Creegan (2017)[10] | ||
What is your opinion on standardized testing? Do public schools do too much, too little, or just enough?[11]
| “ | I have a background in learning and development and have used data from testing to determine next actions. That data can be extremely valuable. My concerns around standardized testing come when the test determines the curriculum with seemingly endless test prep. More ideally, the validated results from testing should support the curriculum. 'Standardized' testing is difficult in a city like Lowell. The diversity of our student population (immigrants and English Language Learners, for example) can result in lower scores on standardized tests. The challenge remains to determine effectiveness of teaching strategies and ultimately the learning of all students and how we assess that. I would recommend a holistic approach to assessing student and teacher performance. Standardized testing is a part of that but not the whole.
A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works but that's where a great administrator/leader shines by leveraging the high performing teachers/classrooms to help lower-performing teachers/classrooms.[7] |
” |
| —Noelle Creegan (2017)[11] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Noelle Creegan Lowell Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Eda Jane Matchak, City of Lowell," January 31, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Sun, "City Council field set for preliminary," August 10, 2017
- ↑ City of Lowell Election & Census, "Election Results," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Public Schools, "2016-2017 School Committee," accessed August 9, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Sun, "Preliminary city election set as 23 candidates qualify for council race," August 9, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell School Committee candidates answer questions on the issues," October 11, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell candidates offer solutions on school budget issues," October 12, 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell school candidates split on superintendent's contract," October 13, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lowell Sun, "Building maintenance, special ed cited as top Lowell school needs," October 14, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell school candidates weigh in on standardized tests," October 15, 2017
