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Olentangy Local School District elections (2015)
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Three seats on the Olentangy Local School District Board of Education were up for election on November 3, 2015.
Incumbents Roger Bartz and Kevin O'Brien won re-election to their seats on the board. Mindy Patrick won the third seat up for election that was left empty by Adam White. Andrew Forgrave, Martin Johnson and Ken O'Brien were defeated in the election.[1][2]
Yvette Lawal originally filed as a candidate but was disqualified from the race because she did not sign her petition.[3]
One of the seven candidates in this election participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 school board candidate survey. Check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section to see Andrew Forgrave's answers.
About the district
- See also: Olentangy Local School District, Ohio
Olentangy Local School District is located in central Ohio in Delaware County. The county seat is Delaware. According the United States Census Bureau, the county was home to 189,113 residents in 2014.[4] Olentangy Local School District was the seventh-largest school district in Ohio, serving 17,383 students during the 2012-2013 school year.[5]
Demographics
Delaware County outperformed the rest of Ohio in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 50.5 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 25.2 percent of state residents. The median household income in the county was $89,757, compared to $48,308 for the state. The poverty rate for the county was 4.9 percent, compared to 15.8 percent for the entire state.[4]
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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 Olentangy Local School District Board of Education consists of five members elected to four-year terms. All members represent the district at-large. Three seats were up for election on November 3, 2015, and the remaining two seats were up for election on November 7, 2017.
School board candidates had to file for this election with the Delaware County Board of Elections by August 5, 2015. To vote in the election, residents had to register by October 5, 2015.[7]
Elections
2015
Candidates
Roger Bartz 
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Andrew Forgrave | Martin Johnson | |||
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| Yvette Lawal | Ken O'Brien | ||
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| Kevin O'Brien
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Mindy Patrick
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Election results
| Olentangy Local School District, At-Large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Mindy Patrick |
24.8% | 10,885 |
| Kevin O'Brien |
18.9% | 8,317 |
| Roger Bartz |
16.9% | 7,434 |
| Ken O'Brien | 15.8% | 6,949 |
| Andrew Forgrave | 14.3% | 6,285 |
| Martin Johnson | 9.3% | 4,102 |
| Total Votes | 43,972 | |
| Source: Delaware County Board of Elections, “Official Results,” accessed November 27, 2015 | ||
Endorsements
There were no official endorsements for this election.
Campaign finance
Candidates received a total of $13,686.00 and spent a total of $14,153.68 in the election, according to the Delaware County Board of Elections.[8]
| Candidates | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roger Bartz | $3,706.00 | $3,678.06 | $27.94 |
| Andrew Forgrave | $1,550.00 | $1,550.00 | $0 |
| Martin Johnson | $2,300.00 | $2,300.00 | $0 |
| Ken O'Brien | $200.00 | $0 | $200.00 |
| Kevin O'Brien | $1,500.00 | $2,197.20 | -$697.20 |
| Mindy Patrick | $4,430.00 | $4,428.42 | $1.58 |
Past elections
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2013
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What was at stake?
2015
Three seats were up for election in 2015. Two incumbents, Roger Bartz and Kevin O'Brien, were running for re-election. They faced five challengers for the three seats. Incumbent Adam White did not run for re-election, guaranteeing at least one new member on the five-member board.[1]
Issues in the district
New superintendent hired from within district
Wade Long, who led Olentangy Local School District for six years, announced his retirement in February 2015. His last day was set for August 31, 2015. The school district, with help from the Ohio School Boards association, selected six candidates as finalists for the job. All six candidates were from Ohio area schools. One of the candidates was an employee of the Olentangy school district.[9][10]
The school board selected Mark Raiff as the new superintendent in June 2015. Raiff was the executive director of academics and the chief academic officer in the Olentangy school district before accepting the job. He held various positions in the district since 2003. Prior to coming to the district, he worked in the Westerville City School District and the Bexley City School District. Raiff earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Case Western Reserve University. He went on to obtain a master's degree in educational leadership and administration from Cleveland State University and a doctorate degree from Concordia University-River Forest.[11][12]
Ballotpedia survey responses
One of the four candidates in this election participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates as of October 15, 2015. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from John McManus.
Top priorities
When asked what his top priorities would be if elected, Forgrave stated:
| “ | School enrollment is expected to expand for the foreseeable future. This growth will require an expansion of the current facilities. The board needs ensure the taxpayers money is being maximized for the use of the best quality education for the students. We need to maintain and improve the quality of education for the students. The students' school experience must also be taken into consideration in any of the board's decisions.[13] | ” |
| —Andrew Forgrave (2015)[14] | ||
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 | Forgrave's ranking | |||
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| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||||
| Expanding arts education | ||||
| Expanding career-technical education | ||||
| Expanding school choice options | ||||
| Improving college readiness | ||||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. Links to the candidates' responses can be found below.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Olentangy Local School District Board of Education election in 2015:[7]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| August 5, 2015 | Candidate filing deadline |
| August 24, 2015 | Write-in candidate deadline |
| August 28, 2015 | Last day to protest write-in candidate |
| September 19, 2015 | Absentee ballots sent out |
| October 5, 2015 | Voter registration deadline |
| November 3, 2015 | Election Day |
| November 24, 2015 | Last day for officials to complete canvas |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Ohio elections, 2015
This election shared the ballot with races for a judgeship in the Delaware County Municipal Court and other municipal elections. Residents also voted on three state ballot measures regarding legislative redistricting, monopolies and recreational marajuana.[15]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Olentangy Local School District Ohio. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Olentangy Local School District | Ohio | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Olentangy Local Schoobid l District, "Board Members," accessed July 27, 2015 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "filing" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Delaware County Board of Elections, “Unofficial Results,” accessed November 3, 2015
- ↑ This Week Community News, "Powell referendum survives protest hearing," August 25, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 United States Census Bureau, "Delaware County, Ohio," accessed July 27, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "District Directory Information," accessed July 27, 2015
- ↑ Delaware County Board of Elections, "Election Results and Voter Turnout History," accessed January 13, 2014
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ohio Secretary of State, "2015 Ohio Elections Calendar," accessed July 7, 2015
- ↑ Delaware County Board of Election, "Campaign Finance Information," accessed February 3, 2016
- ↑ This Week Community News, "Six candidates emerge for Olentangy’s top job," June 4, 2015
- ↑ This Week Community News, "Olentangy superintendent will retire in August," February 19, 2015
- ↑ The Columbus Dispatch, "Olentangy schools promoting new superintendent from within," June 23, 2015
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Mark Raiff," accessed October 8, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Andrew Forgrave's responses," October 15, 2015
- ↑ Delaware County, Ohio, "View Ballots," accessed October 14, 2015
| 2015 Olentangy Local School District Elections | |
| Delaware County, Ohio | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Roger Bartz • Incumbent, Kevin O'Brien • Andrew Forgrave • Martin Johnson • Yvette Lawal • Ken O'Brien • Mindy Patrick |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional measures on the ballot |
