Ric Studer
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Ric Studer was a candidate for the at-large seat on the St. Cloud Area School District school board in Minnesota. Studer was defeated in the at-large general election on November 8, 2016.
Studer participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2016
Four of the seven seats on the St. Cloud Area School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. In his bid for re-election, incumbent Al Dahlgren initially faced eight challengers: Scott Andreasen, Matt Doke, Peter Hamerlinck, Shannon Haws, John Palmer, Jeff Pollreis, Monica Segura-Schwartz, and Ric Studer. Because more than eight candidates filed to run in the election, a primary election was held on August 9, 2016. Doke was defeated in the primary election after receiving the least number of votes. The other eight candidates advanced to the general election.[1][2][3][4] Dahlgren won re-election and Haws, Segura-Schwartz, and Pollreis won seats on the board in the general election.[5]
Results
| St. Cloud Area School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Shannon Haws |
16.65% | 17,965 |
| Monica Segura-Schwartz |
13.70% | 14,780 |
| Jeff Pollreis |
13.49% | 14,563 |
| Al Dahlgren Incumbent |
13.06% | 14,089 |
| Peter Hamerlinck | 13.01% | 14,043 |
| John Palmer | 11.01% | 11,886 |
| Scott Andreasen | 10.08% | 10,876 |
| Ric Studer | 9.00% | 9,714 |
| Total Votes | 107,916 | |
| Source: St. Cloud Area School District, "Board of Education Minutes November 17, 2016," accessed December 22, 2016 | ||
| St. Cloud Area School District, At-large Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Shannon Haws |
16.15% | 2,106 |
| Peter Hamerlinck |
13.57% | 1,769 |
| Monica Segura-Schwartz |
12.32% | 1,607 |
| John Palmer |
12.08% | 1,575 |
| Al Dahlgren Incumbent |
11.27% | 1,470 |
| Jeff Pollreis |
10.98% | 1,432 |
| Ric Studer |
9.77% | 1,274 |
| Scott Andreasen |
8.63% | 1,126 |
| Matt Doke | 5.22% | 681 |
| Total Votes | 13,040 | |
| Source: St. Cloud Area School District, "Official Results: Primary Election - August 9, 2016," accessed October 14, 2016 | ||
Funding
Studer reported no contributions or expenditures to the St. Cloud Area School District in the election.[6]
Endorsements
Studer was endorsed by the Service Employees International Union Local 284.[7]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Ric Studer participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 21, 2016:
| “ | I hope to improve the boards relationship with the community, through greater transparency and approachability. I hope to add a working board element to our primarily strategic board.[8][9] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Minnesota. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | These are all important issues. To force me to rank them is distasteful to me. I only did so that I might continue with this survey.[9] | ” |
| —Ric Studer (September 21, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes. Choice is always good, but the bar must be set extremely high for proposed charter schools to prove they have added value for the districts students. They cannot simply be an avenue for discrimination through such things as sports recruitment, and filling racial, ethnic and economic "quotas" through various means, up to and including scholarships based on factors other than merit. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Tests are only a snapshot of student achievement. What we need to truly evaluate growth is a metaphorical video. Observation over time by teachers who have been there and seen the positive or negative development of the student are, to me, more important. We should measure not only the prowess of memorization but those things immeasurable such as attitude, health, nutrition, family situation, access to resources and parental involvement. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| I don't know enough about Common Core to give a good answer. I'm not going to try to pass off BS and bluster about something about whichI need further education |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. A mentorship program has value and is quite en vogue but offering a variety of options serves the teacher, their students and school administration much better. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. Compensation incentives can be a valuable tool to motivate teachers to improve their command of appropriate topics, learn new techniques, remain within the context of school and administrative rules and overall work harder. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be a tool of last resort, after all efforts of discovery regarding the breaking of rules. It should be used sparingly and have a clearly defined pathway back to readmission |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement Without parent involvement no one thing can be done externally to make a student love learning and consider academic achievement important. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Ric Studer St. Cloud Area School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings 2016 State General Election: ST CLOUD AREA SD # 742," accessed June 1, 2016
- ↑ St. Cloud Area School District, "School Board Members," accessed June 1, 2016
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2016 School District Elections Guide," accessed June 1, 2016
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Results for Selected Contests in School District No. 742 - ST CLOUD AREA," accessed August 9, 2016
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Results for Selected Contests in School District No. 742 - ST CLOUD AREA," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ St. Cloud Area School District, "Election Information and Results," accessed December 8, 2016
- ↑ Service Employees International Union Local 284, "SEIU-endorsed Candidates Do Well In Tues., Aug. 9 Primary," accessed September 22, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Ric Studer's responses," September 21, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 St. Cloud Area School District Elections | |
| Stearns County, Minnesota | |
| Election date: | Primary election: August 9, 2016 General election: November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Al Dahlgren • Scott Andreasen • Matt Doke • Peter Hamerlinck • Shannon Haws • John Palmer • Jeff Pollreis • Monica Segura-Schwartz • Ric Studer |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
