Patrick Cahill
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Patrick Cahill ran for election to the Garden Grove Unified Board of Education to represent Trustee Area 5 in California. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Cahill completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Patrick Cahill was born in Newport Beach, California. He obtained an associate degree from Orange Coast College in 2016. Cahill's professional experience includes working as a martial arts instructor.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Garden Grove Unified School District, California, elections (2020)
General election
General election for Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education Trustee Area 5
Incumbent Dina Nguyen defeated Samantha Nguyen and Patrick Cahill in the general election for Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education Trustee Area 5 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dina Nguyen (Nonpartisan) | 62.2 | 12,884 |
| Samantha Nguyen (Nonpartisan) | 19.0 | 3,937 | ||
 | Patrick Cahill (Nonpartisan)  | 18.7 | 3,878 | |
| Total votes: 20,699 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
To view Cahill's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Patrick Cahill completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cahill's responses.
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I am a 25 year old martial arts instructor who is passionate about making a positive impact on his community. Backed by teachers and students In Garden Grove, I am a strong advocate for students, parents, and teachers.
- Safely navigating schooling and COVID with a focus on distance learning.
- Revamping the districts approach to instances of hate and injustice.
- Having flexible office hours to uplift and advocate for community voices in the board room.
I am personally passionate about students ability to succeed and the policies we know our community needs to thrive. Such as increasing student access to qualified counselors, freeing a bit responsibility teachers have in the classroom. Giving teachers adequate resources to teach the way they see fit for their class. Focusing not just on student's eligibility to graduate but their overall health and education.
We need strong leadership to stand up for our students and leverage the power of the trustee to work for the community.
We need strong leadership to stand up for our students and leverage the power of the trustee to work for the community.
I look up to my Grandmother. A former nurse and an attorney, she has always been there for me through thick and thin. Following her example by being a fierce advocate for humanity and justice.
I take what is humane from many different philosophies, movies, and essays. If I had to recommend one book it would be Carl Sagan's Cosmos.
To be held accountable to their constituents and their promises. Not to take big corporate money and sell out the people.
Accountable, Transparent, Honest, Patriotic, Hard Working, Community member.
Setting the direction for public schools in the community; providing support and structure for accountability and efficiency; being accountable to the public.
A legacy of improvements from k-12 that increase over all well being of students.
First thing I can remember was my 2nd birthday party where a magician made me levitate.
My very first job was a summer job at Balboa Beach Treats
Carl Sagan's Cosmos - Opened my eyes to a reality bigger than the just the struggles on earth
Cutting through Spiritual Materialism - Helped re-frame success in this materialistic culture
Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock - Explained a deeper history of humanity
Does this question matter? If you're reading this I hope you are going to vote for a real person based on their polices and not on their fantasy.
Jackie and Wilson by Hozier
In recognizing certain cycles that affect my family, I have struggled in standing up for myself. I think many of us are trying to be the best person we can be - because of or despite family.
To leverage the power of the trustee to ensure the education of students, the funding of teachers and staff, and the overall success of the district.
Garden Grove Unified School District Trustee Area #5, not private interests.
-Be a strong advocate for students and their education
-Have flexible office hours to listen to the concerns and priorities of families and stakeholders
As a trustee, bringing concerns and priorities to the board to represent the broader community and not just personal goals/finances. Targeting student groups, local businesses, and non-profit organizations to utilize the communities resources to understand and present the equatable solutions that benefit the community.
Flexible office hours, personally responding to emails, promoting district wide campaigns to educate families on the issues. I plan to advocate for the parents by listening and uplifting their concerns and priorities.
I believe it is important that qualified individuals should be hired. Looking purely at diversity quotas or ethnicity as a deciding factor may actually hinder the community we are looking to benefit. BUT I do believe that diversity in the administration and staff should reflect the population we are serving.
Administration's focus on student eligibility to graduate seems to have superseded the student's actual education. Mental and physical health of our students is important to their education. A holistic approach to students health and well being should be at the forefront of education.
Good teaching comes from motivated and capable teachers. State measurements shouldn't be the determining factor - teachers should have more ability to measure their students education. I will support advanced teaching approaches by advocating for teachers and leveraging the power of the trustee to make their concerns and priorities heard and legislated in the board room.
There is so much our current education system has left out of learning and being successful - financial literacy, hands on skills like auto-shop, how to grow your own food, computer coding and website design. We need to have more successful paths available for students to make their own choices
A high school diploma should be more than just a ticket into college - where we end up taking High School 2.0 classes at exorbitant rates. When you graduate high school you should be able to understand the competition of the market place and various paths to success with out having to rush into student loans and college debt.
Expanding the curriculum in regards to English-learner programs for grades Kinder through at least 4th grade, dual language immersion programs, increasing the scope of physical education to include nutrition and mental health, more emphasis on various paths to success. Given the opportunity, I'd like to focus on diversifying the narrative in our English and history classes, reaching out to local automotive businesses for shop apprenticeships, and overall being innovative with community resources. Have a program where college students studying social work can tutor students and get a certificate of competition from the district. There are many things to do, it's just about having the strong leadership to stand up for our children.
Leveraging the power of the trustee to advocate in the board room for the students, parents, and teachers priority. Using Title 1 funding to properly address the root problems of poverty in school, leveraging McKinney-Vento to provide funds for programs to assist the homeless, with special emphasis on elderly persons, handicapped persons, families with children, Native Americans and BIPOC , and veterans.
Humanity over Profit is my guiding principal. As I write this, I recognize the safety net and luck I've had, that a lot of other people don't have when growing up in Orange County. Safety goes past policing; our communities are safer when we address the root issues that causes crime- which is poverty (financial, spiritual, and emotional). I will put the safety of our students over the profits of the school to prison pipeline created by a corrupt system and exacerbated by a lackluster administration.
Increasing access to qualified counselors, addressing instances of hate and injustice, campaign on the problems of social media, increasing after school programs, increasing access to tutoring programs.
Technology is revolutionary, and in the class room we can be utilizing smart boards to help teachers and chrome books to help students.
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See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 20, 2020
