Robert Beal
Robert Beal was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Pinellas County Schools school board in Florida. Beal was defeated in the at-large primary election on August 30, 2016.
Biography
At the time of his candidacy, Beal was a college student at St. Petersburg College, where he is close to earning his associate degree. He is also a marine. Beal is the father of a special needs daughter with dyslexia and has said that watching her struggle was a motivator for him running for school board.
"Basically the frustrations of the school system have just wanted me to get engaged and advocate for people like my daughter that have (exceptional student education), special needs, children that do not fit in the normal box," he said. He called his daughter a "failure of public and private school system."[1]
Elections
2016
- See also: Pinellas County Schools elections (2016)
The Pinellas County school board is under critical examination after an investigation of the board and district—titled "Failure Factories"—was published last year. The report described the daily strife of black students in the county, particularly in five elementary schools whose ratings changed from average to failing in just a few years. The investigation tied these students' struggles to a 2007 decision the board made to effectively segregate the district's schools, and the report triggered a still-in-progress civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Education. "Failure Factories," which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting, also showed that the board's vote appeared to be a symptom of other deep-seated problems in the district. Three of the board members who voted for the de-integration plan still sat on the board in 2016: Peggy O'Shea, Linda Lerner, and Carol Cook. These incumbents were re-elected to the board multiple times, exemplifying the 100 percent incumbency success rate the district saw from 1998 to 2014. Cook filed for re-election in District 5 and successfully defended her spot on the board against Michael Petruccelli and Eliseo Santana in the race for the seat. O'Shea's and Lerner's seats aren't up for election until 2018.
One of the seven seats on the Pinellas County school board was up for by-district general election and one was up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. Four newcomers filed in the race for the at-large District 1 seat: Robert Beal, Bill Dudley, Joanne Lentino, and Matt Stewart. A primary election was held on August 30, 2016, in which Lentino and Stewart were the top two vote-getters. Since neither received more than 50 percent of the vote, they both advanced to the general election. In District 5, Cook and Santana both advanced from the primary to the general, leaving Petruccelli behind. The seat of incumbent Ken Peluso was also on the primary ballot. He filed for re-election to the District 4 seat and was joined on the ballot by newcomer Eileen Long. She defeated the incumbent and won outright by receiving a majority of the vote.[2]
Results
| Pinellas County Schools, At-Large District 1 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Joanne Lentino |
32.29% | 48,944 |
| Matt Stewart |
30.26% | 45,871 |
| Bill Dudley | 29.25% | 44,340 |
| Robert Beal | 8.19% | 12,412 |
| Total Votes | 151,567 | |
| Source: Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Funding
Beal reported $2,400.00 in contributions and $2,079.05 in expenditures to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, which left his campaign with $10,000 cash on hand, as of July 27, 2016.[3]
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
Robert J. Beal 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 July 22, 2016:
| “ | I hope to achieve a more transparent educational system, where everybody wants to be involved in the solution. Our children deserve our best.[4][5] | ” |
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 Florida. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Blank | |
| “ | My daughter has special needs and the Pinellas County Schools had failed my daughter. I would like to improve the morale of teachers by having administration supporting teachers in a more effective manner.[5] | ” |
| —Robert J. Beal (July 22, 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. I believe that choice is a good thing, but the charter schools need oversight. |
| 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 only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Standardized tests are one measuring stick, but other measuring sticks can be created. Not every student wants to go to college, being mechanically inclined is not measured. The point of education is to prepare the students to enter college or be ready to earn a living in another career, such as a trade. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| I am against Common Core and having teachers teach to the test. |
| 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? |
| Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. Have senior teachers observe and mentor underperforming teachers. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. Merit pay would a good component for teachers to work harder. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. I believe the state should promote choice, but these schools need an oversight committee to ensure that the teachers and schools are up to par. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| I believe that we need to empower the principal and give the principals and teachers discretion to make the decisions. I don't like rewarding a student with an expulsion from school, because that is what some students want. I think the On Campus Intervention Program should be re-instituted. This program dissolved in 2007. This program had counselors and would help the suspended students with reading and math. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers The teachers are the most important component, but a teachers success depends on the curriculum, student-teacher ratios, parent involvement, and most importantly, the support and development from the school administration. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Robert Beal Pinellas County Schools. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Tampa Bay Times, "Pinellas County School Board election races see last-minute shake-ups," June 24, 2016
- ↑ Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "Candidates For 2016 Election Cycle," accessed July 1, 2016
- ↑ Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "Contributions and Expenditures," accessed July 27, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Robert J. Beal's responses," July 22, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Pinellas County Schools Elections | |
| Pinellas County, Florida | |
| Election date: | Primary: August 30, 2016 General: November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-Large District 1: Robert Beal • Bill Dudley • Joanne Lentino • Matt Stewart District 4: Incumbent, Ken Peluso • Eileen Long |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
