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Robert Foster (New York)
Robert Foster was a candidate for Seat 4 representative on the Smithtown Board of Education in New York. He was defeated in the general election was held on May 17, 2016.[1]
Biography
Foster is retired from a career in sales and marketing. He obtained a bachelor's degree from Long Island University served in the United States military.[2]
Elections
2016
Two of the seven seats on the Smithtown Central School District school board were up for general election on May 17, 2016. Seat 4 candidate Michael Saidens defeated Robert Montana and Robert Foster. Incumbent Theresa Knox was defeated by Daniel Lynch in her bid for re-election to Seat 5.[3]
Results
| Smithtown Central School District, Seat 4 General Election, 3-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Michael Saidens |
57.34% | 1,870 |
| Robert Foster | 22.51% | 734 |
| Robert Montana | 20.15% | 657 |
| Total Votes | 3,261 | |
| Source: Smithtown Central School District, "Smithtown Central School District 2016-2017 Budget Results," accessed September 5, 2016 | ||
Funding
Foster reported no contributions or expenditures to the New York State Board of Elections as of May 11, 2016.[4]
Endorsements
Foster received no official endorsements during the election.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
Robert Foster 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 May 13, 2016:
| “ | Bring more investment into our classrooms to raise the standards of the class room from the old and tiried furnature as well as the obsolite technolgy[5][6] | ” |
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 New York. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Blank | |
| Blank | |
| “ | Smithtown schools does a great job in educating the students. For the past 15 years the balance on what is spent on salaries and what is spent on the students is getting out of balance.[6] | ” |
| —Robert Foster (May 13, 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.) |
|---|
| No. |
| 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? |
| Yes. This is a partial yes as one must look at the whole student because some students do not do well on standardized tests and when they move on into there adult life moving forward is not a standardized test |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| They may be good for many but not for all. One size in anything never works |
| 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. Actualy all should be done with termination being the final step. If someone is not right for teaching the for the good of everyone they should move on to something more appropriate |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. If something works so well in private industry why is public education so different |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. We do already in the form of teaching aids and transportatioin |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Were needed with follow up with both parents and students |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Robert Foster (New York)' 'Smithtown Central School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedcandidates - ↑ TBR News Media, "Board of education candidates introduced to Smithtown," May 12, 2016
- ↑ Tiffany Rouse, "Email correspondence with Smithtown District Clerk Maureen O'Connor," April 25, 2016
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed May
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Robert Foster's responses," May 13, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Smithtown Central School District Elections | |
| Suffolk County, New York | |
| Election date: | May 17, 2016 |
| Candidates: | Seat 4 (Liguori seat): • Robert Foster • Robert Montana • Michael Saidens Seat 5 (Knox seat): • Incumbent, Theresa Knox • Daniel Lynch |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
