Polly Taylor-Gerken

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Polly Taylor-Gerken
Image of Polly Taylor-Gerken

Candidate, Toledo Public Schools Board of Education At-large

Toledo Public Schools Board of Education At-large
Tenure

2013 - Present

Term ends

2025

Years in position

12

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 2, 2021

Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

Graduate

University of Toledo

Personal
Profession
Psychologist, psychoeducational consultant
Contact

Polly Taylor-Gerken is an at-large member of the Toledo Public Schools Board of Education in Ohio. She assumed office in 2013. Her current term ends on December 31, 2025.

Taylor-Gerken is running for re-election for an at-large seat of the Toledo Public Schools Board of Education in Ohio. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Taylor-Gerken is a native of East Toledo, graduating from TPS. Her daughter also graduated from the district where she has a daughter currently enrolled. Additionally, Taylor-Gerken worked for 20 years for the district as a secretary. She has her Master's degree in counselor education from the University of Toledo and spent ten years as a school psychologist. Presently, she is a self-employed licensed school psychologist and psychoeducational consultant.[1]

Elections

2025

See also: Toledo Public Schools, Ohio, elections (2025)

General election

The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.

General election for Toledo Public Schools Board of Education At-large (3 seats)

Incumbent Polly Taylor-Gerken, incumbent Chris Varwig, and incumbent Bob Vasquez are running in the general election for Toledo Public Schools Board of Education At-large on November 4, 2025.

Candidate
Image of Polly Taylor-Gerken
Polly Taylor-Gerken (Nonpartisan)
Image of Chris Varwig
Chris Varwig (Nonpartisan)
Image of Bob Vasquez
Bob Vasquez (Nonpartisan)

Candidate Connection = 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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

2021

See also: Toledo Public Schools, Ohio, elections (2021)

General election

General election for Toledo Public Schools Board of Education At-large (3 seats)

Incumbent Bob Vasquez, incumbent Chris Varwig, and incumbent Polly Taylor-Gerken defeated Jason Sobb in the general election for Toledo Public Schools Board of Education At-large on November 2, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Bob Vasquez
Bob Vasquez (Nonpartisan)
 
30.7
 
16,762
Image of Chris Varwig
Chris Varwig (Nonpartisan)
 
28.3
 
15,418
Image of Polly Taylor-Gerken
Polly Taylor-Gerken (Nonpartisan)
 
27.3
 
14,912
Image of Jason Sobb
Jason Sobb (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
13.7
 
7,477

Total votes: 54,569
Candidate Connection = 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.

2017

See also: Toledo Public Schools elections (2017)

Three of five seats on the Toledo Public Schools Board of Education in Ohio were up for at-large general election on November 7, 2017. All three incumbents filed for re-election. Incumbents Polly Taylor-Gerken, Chris Varwig, and Bob Vasquez defeated newcomer Ruth Leonard.[2][3]

Toledo Public Schools,
At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Bob Vasquez Incumbent 30.10% 22,854
Green check mark transparent.png Polly Taylor-Gerken Incumbent 26.49% 20,113
Green check mark transparent.png Chris Varwig Incumbent 23.36% 17,735
Ruth Leonard 20.06% 15,231
Total Votes 75,933
Source: Lucas County Board of Elections, "Election Summary Report: Official Results," accessed November 27, 2017

2013

See also: Toledo Public Schools elections (2013)

Results

Toledo Public Schools, At-large General Election, 4-year term, 2013
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngBob Vasquez Incumbent 19.3% 16,715
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngPolly Taylor-Gerken 18.5% 15,947
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngChris Varwig 15.6% 13,505
     Nonpartisan Perry Lefevre 13.4% 11,589
     Nonpartisan Randall Parker III 10.8% 9,333
     Nonpartisan Aji Green 9.8% 8,423
     Nonpartisan Tina Henold 9.3% 8,023
     Nonpartisan Darryl Fingers 3.3% 2,852
Total Votes 86,387
Source: Lucas County of Ohio, "Election Summary Report for General Election in Lucas County, Ohio," accessed December 13, 2013

Endorsements

Taylor-Gerken was endorsed by the Lucas County Democratic Party, UAW, TAAP/UAW Local 5242, AFSCME Council 8, Teamsters Local 20, AFL-CIO, Carpenters Local 351, Ironworkers Local 55, UFCW, Laborers Local 500, Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 50, Cement Masons Local 886, IBEW Local 8, Toledo Port Council and Sheet Metal Workers Local 33.[1]

Funding

Taylor-Gerken reported $9,997.30 in contributions but no expenditures to the Ohio Secretary of State, which left her campaign with $9,997.30 on hand.[4]

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Polly Taylor-Gerken has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Polly Taylor-Gerken asking her to fill out the survey. If you are Polly Taylor-Gerken, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.

Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?

Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for.  More than 22,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.

You can ask Polly Taylor-Gerken to fill out this survey by using the button below or emailing pollyforschools@gmail.com.

Email

2021

Polly Taylor-Gerken did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

2013

In an October 2013 interview with the Toledo Free Press, Taylor-Gerken stated the following when asked about her campaign priorities:[1]

What are the three most crucial issues — in order of importance — facing TPS? What would you do as a board member to address the issues you identify?
First, improving the academic performance of TPS students is the most important challenge facing the district. Second, closing the achievement gap, which is key to the first priority. Finally, supporting excellent classroom teachers and principals – and holding them accountable – will help TPS become a school system of choice in our community. As a Board member, I would make every decision – from funding to curriculum adoption – based upon how the decision advanced these core academic concerns.

TPS currently has a renewal levy on the ballot that will raise approximately $16 million annually for five years or about the annual savings that can be obtained by implementing the performance audit recommendations. Why should the TPS renewal levy be approved by voters?
Implementing performance audit recommendations will require negotiation with employee unions, and that takes time. The renewal levy provides vital resources needed today to continue to support current academic programs. It is not realistic to think that TPS could give up the money from the renewal levy without doing serious and immediate damage to the district’s ability to serve students.

Ohio statutes require that TPS teachers and principals have regular performance evaluations with student performance on standardized tests a component of the evaluation. Should teachers and principals be held directly accountable for student performance in their individual performance evaluations? Why or why not?
Yes, teachers and principals should be accountable for student performance. I am encouraged to know that TPS and TFT have worked together to develop the framework for implementing the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES). And, expect the same collaboration with the administrators’ union to implement the Ohio Principal Evaluation System (OPES). The OTES and OPES programs must fairly balance many factors that assess an educator’s performance and care in establishing valid instruments is essential to this process.

Ohio is currently implementing national standards regarding the skills and knowledge all students need for success, referred to as the “Common Core.” Why do you support or oppose the adoption of these standards?
I support a “common core” of high academic standards that educational professionals throughout the nation recognize as essential knowledge all students should possess. Accurately assessing whether a student possesses math, science, and reading skills should not vary from state to state. A “common core” of academic performance standards assures that those standards set a high bar, that curriculum, assessments are tied to those standards, and that teachers, and schools are provided with the resources they need. [5]

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kevin Moore Toledo Free Press, "School Board Candidate Profile: Polly Taylor-Gerken," published October 24, 2013
  2. Marielle Bricker, "Email communication with Dora Anderson," August 17, 2017
  3. Lucas County , "Unofficial election results," accessed November 8, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.
  4. Ohio Secretary of State, "Elections & Voting: Campaign Finance," accessed December 26, 2013
  5. Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.