Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Robert Roberge
Robert Roberge was a candidate for at-large representative on the Shawnee Mission School District school board in Kansas. Roberge was defeated in the at-large primary election on August 1, 2017.
The primary race was too close to call on election night. The winners will be determined after official results are made available.
Roberge participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Biography
Roberge earned a bachelor's degree in organizational leadership from Rockhurst University and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Phoenix. He served on the City of Prairie Village Environmental and Recycling Committee from 2013 to 2017 and on the Oak Park Homes Association Board of Directors from 2004 to 2010.[1]
Elections
2017
Three of the seven seats on the Shawnee Mission School District Board of Education in Kansas were up for general election on November 7, 2017. A primary election was held on August 1, 2017, for the at-large seat and the District 4 seat. In his bid for re-election to the District 4 seat, incumbent Craig Denny ran against challengers Lee Biard, Laura Guy, and Christopher White. Denny and Guy advanced to the general election, where Guy won, defeating the incumbent. Mandi Serrone Hunter and Heather Ousley defeated incumbent Cindy Neighbor and fellow challengers Robert Roberge and Fabian Shepard in the at-large primary and advanced to the general election, where Ousley won the seat.[2][3]
The District 2 seat did not hold a primary election as fewer candidates filed to run for that seat. Mary Sinclair defeated James Lockard for that open seat in the general election.[4][5]
District 4 candidate Lee Biard announced that he stopped actively campaigning, but his name still appeared on the primary election ballot.[6]
Results
| Shawnee Mission School District, At-large Primary Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Heather Ousley |
42.29% | 7,641 |
| Mandi Serrone Hunter |
20.79% | 3,756 |
| Cindy Neighbor Incumbent | 20.71% | 3,742 |
| Fabian Shepard | 13.75% | 2,485 |
| Robert Roberge | 2.47% | 446 |
| Total Votes | 18,070 | |
| Source: Johnson County Election Office, "Election Summary Report: 2017 Fall Primary Official Final Results," accessed August 8, 2017 | ||
Funding
Roberge filed a statement indicating that he would not spend more than $1,000 in the election. Because of that, he did not have to file additional campaign finance reports.[7]
Endorsements
Roberge was endorsed by Equality Kansas for the primary election.[8]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Robert Roberge participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[9] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on July 27, 2017:
| “ | Bridging the modality gap between teacher-student ratio and student outcome utilizing virtual learning and open communication models.[10][11] | ” |
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 Kansas. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| “ | Rational vrtual learning policy hedges disparity in every dimension.[11] | ” |
| —Robert Roberge (July 27, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight 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. |
| 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 be involved in the district routinely. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. |
| 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. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Virtual learning hedges out of classroom learning |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Student-teacher ratio |
Candidate website
Roberge highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Robert is passionate about preserving safety and security in our schools with multiple advocacy in open communication models.
|
” |
| —Robert Roberge (2017)[1] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Robert Roberge Shawnee Mission School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Robert Roberge At Large Candidate 2017 Shawnee Mission School District, "Neighborhood Activist," accessed July 20, 2017
- ↑ Johnson County Election Office, "Election Summary Report: 2017 Fall Primary Official Final Results," accessed August 8, 2017
- ↑ The Kansas City Star, "Slew of first-time candidates raise stakes in Shawnee Mission school board primary," July 27, 2017
- ↑ Johnson County Election Office, "Unofficial Candidate Filings - August 1, 2017," accessed June 1, 2017
- ↑ Johnson County Election Office, "Unofficial Candidate Filings - November 7, 2017," accessed June 1, 2017
- ↑ Shawnee Mission Post, "Our questions for the Shawnee Mission Board of Education candidates," June 19, 2017
- ↑ Johnson County Election Office, "Campaign & Committee Reports," accessed September 5, 2017
- ↑ Equality Kansas, "2017 Municipal and School Board Primary Election Endorsements," July 16, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Robert Roberge's responses," July 27, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Shawnee Mission School District elections in 2017 | |
| Johnson County, Kansas | |
| Election date: | Primary election: August 1, 2017 • General election: November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | District 2: • James Lockard • Mary Sinclair District 4: • Incumbent, Craig Denny • Lee Biard • Laura Guy • Christopher White At-large: • Incumbent, Cindy Neighbor • Mandi Serrone Hunter • Heather Ousley • Robert Roberge • Fabian Shepard |
| Important information: | What's at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
