Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt (Mount Baker School District, Director of District 5, Washington, candidate 2023)
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Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt ran for election to the Mount Baker School District school board District 5 in Washington. He was on the ballot in the general election on November 7, 2023.[source]
Pfeiffer-Hoyt completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Elections
Per our coverage scope, Ballotpedia does not provide election results for this particular race. Check your city or county government's election website for vote totals.
General election
General election for Mount Baker School District school board District 5
Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt and Theresa Sygitowicz ran in the general election for Mount Baker School District school board District 5 on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | ||
Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt (Nonpartisan)  | ||
| Theresa Sygitowicz (Nonpartisan) | ||
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Pfeiffer-Hoyt received the following endorsements.
Ratings
Pfeiffer-Hoyt received ratings or grades from the following organizations.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Pfeiffer-Hoyt's responses.
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I am a father, grandfather and business owner. I have served on the Mount Baker School Board for 24 years, currently serving as board president. I also served as a volunteer firefighter for over 30 years.
- My experience on the school board is vital to leading our district in meeting our financial and other challenges.
- I have a thorough understanding of the complexities of school district finance and operations.
- I listen and work well with others to help achieve the best solutions for our students and community.
I am a strong supporter of public schools. I feel that a high quality education is the best foundation for success and the most effective pathway out of poverty. I have worked hard to advocate for better funding for schools, especially small rural school districts that are the most underfunded in the state.
I am inspired by Ernest Shackleton's courageous leadership when his ship was trapped in the ice in Antarctica. Under the most dire circumstances, he kept his men going to safety, without losing a single man. The best leader combines skill, inspiring hope and never giving up.
I recommend Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam. Putnam explores the reasons behind a decline in community engagement and volunteerism since the 1950's. We can't function as a community or nation without good citizenship.
The most important qualities are common sense, integrity, fairness and a real concern for all people.
Common sense, integrity, fairness and a concern for all people
The core job of a school director is to provide overall governance for the district. We adopt the budget, approve curriculum, establish the strategic plan, inspire a positive school climate and culture and then support the superintendent to do their job of running the daily operations of the school district. We need to be good listeners, seeking out the views of students, parents, staff and community members.
My mother taught my brothers and me that our duty is to leave the world a better place than they found it.
I remember John F. Kennedy's election when I was eight years old. I was inspired by JFK's call for physical fitness, including a 50 mile walk, which I did several years later.
I began picking blueberries when I was eight years old. I picked for four season and then started delivering newspapers.
My mom bought me the World Book Encyclopedia when I was eight, and it is still my favorite book. As a child, I read each volume from cover to cover many times, always enthusiastic to learn about everything.
I am drawn to Winnie-the Pooh's good-natured kindness and love for others.
"Your Song" by Elton John always makes me think of my high school sweetheart, who has been my wife for 48 years.
My father died when I was seven years old. While I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone, it taught me that life is short and that it is more important to be of service to others than to acquire wealth in this world.
The primary role of a school board member is to provide overall governance for the school district. The board adopts the budget, approves curriculum and establishes the district strategic plan. One of the most important jobs of the board is to hire and evaluate the superintendent, who is in charge of district operations. The board also plays an important part in inspiring a positive culture and climate for the school district. As a board member, I try to listen to the entire community and individual parent and community concerns. I also put a lot of effort in to advocate on behalf of our district at the state level for better funding and other improvements for education.
Every person in the school district is my constituent. I work hard to listen to all voices.
My first focus is on providing a high quality education for all of our students. I recognize that we must adapt our teaching to each student's learning style. I try to listen to all of our staff and community as we work together to provide the best education for our children. I have worked hard to ensure that our budget supports enough class periods in the high school that students have the opportunity to explore their academic and vocational interests.
I engage with a wide variety of people across our geographically large district. I attend community meetings, school functions and PTA events to be available to listen to people across the district. Between serving on the school board and as a volunteer firefighter, I have had the opportunity to get to know people from all backgrounds in our community.
When I visit the classroom of a master teacher, I am impressed to see how the teacher brings the students together into a learning family where students support and cheer for each other's success. We recognize that children have different learning styles, so we must adapt teaching to best reach each student.
We already have many curriculum opportunities for a small school district. To continue to prepare students for their future, we must continue to improve our technology curriculum. We have a strong vocational program in our high school, but I would like to add more opportunities in health care. Health care continues to be a growing field, with good jobs that can't be shipped overseas.
I work hard to improve school funding, especially for small rural school districts. For decades, the state unfairly took most of Mount Baker's school timber revenue. I led successful state-wide efforts to fix this, which has brought several million dollars back to Mount Baker. I helped start a capital projects program that, with strong support from our voters, helps protect our facilities and avoid costly replacements. The capital projects levy has replaced roofs, improved athletic facilities, replaced HVAC systems, provided Chromebooks for each student and much more. We are catching up with long-term maintenance, instead of always getting further behind. I am currently helping lead state-wide efforts to improve state construction funding for small rural school districts.
As a parent and grandparent, children's safety is my number one concern. We take a "all threats" approach to safety, focusing our efforts on both the threats that we hear about everyday, and on those threats that are very real but we don't hear much about. I helped re-start our district safety committee to improve our safety plan, practices and training. We have done joint training with fire departments and the sheriff so that we are better prepared to work together in a real emergency. We continue to work to reduce the threat that students face from bullying, including cyber bullying, We use our capital projects funding to improve building security and district communications.
While our school counselors focus on student well-being, all of our staff are trained to recognize and report concerns about students struggling with mental health issues. Our principals take the time to get to know our students so they can notice when students are having a hard time. Our staff really cares about each child. Working in a school can take a toll on staff members, so we have counseling programs available for staff.
"Want to hear a construction joke?"
"Yeah"
Most of our changes to policy come from changes to state or federal law that we must comply with. More than a change in policies, we need better funding to support all of the things that we know would help our students learn. I continue to work to get the state to pay for the unfunded mandates that they pile on us.
I have not asked for endorsements.
Students need to feel safe and cared for. Personally knowing how important it is to have a good mentor, I continue to encourage a culture where all students have a connection with a mentor. We have increased opportunities for outdoor education. While we live in a rural community, too many children spend too much time on their screens. Students benefit from fresh air while learning in the natural world
The pandemic was a challenging time for everyone, including schools. While I am proud of how quickly our staff pivoted to remote learning, it is not equal to in-person learning. We are focusing on the basics of reading and math to help students recover from the learning loss that they experienced during COVID. What we could have done differently state-wide would have been to be much more nimble in using science when we learned who was and was not most vulnerable to COVID so that we could have brought our students back to the classroom much earlier. One positive thing that I have found from talking to high school students is that they feel that the pandemic taught them to be resilient. After COVID, they feel that they can handle any curve ball that life throws at them. It's a hard way to learn it, but it shows what great kids that we have.
I attend many school and other community functions where parents are included. I am also always happy to listen to individual parent's concerns, and to help them navigate our system.
The best thing that we can do is to strive to create a positive culture for our district where staff members feel appreciated and supported to work together to help our children learn. This is challenging now, since we are facing financial challenges. We need to do a better job in listening to our staff. I am working with our school board to improve our district's collaborative decision-making process so that all of our staff are part decision-making. I feel that each staff member understands their job better than anyone else, so we must listen to them to make informed decisions. As we look to attract good candidates for our new superintendent, it is vital that the school board is focused on promoting a culture of success for all students.
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Other survey responses
Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Pfeiffer-Hoyt completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
