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Russell Hanscom
Ballotpedia provides comprehensive election coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population as well as mayoral, city council, and district attorney election coverage in state capitals outside of the 100 largest cities. This board member is outside of that coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates.
Russell Hanscom is the District 1 representative on the Kent School District Board of Directors in Washington. He was first elected to the seat in 2011. He won his second term in the general election on November 3, 2015.[1]
Elections
2015
- See also: Kent School District elections (2015)
Opposition
Three of the five seats on the Kent School District Board of Directors were up for general election by district on November 3, 2015. District 1 incumbent Russell Hanscom, District 2 incumbent Karen DeBruler and District 3 incumbent Debbie Straus all won re-election to their second consecutive terms.
While DeBruler and Straus won re-election without opposition, Hanscom faced a sole challenger, Trisha Sanders. While she initially filed to challenge Hanscom, Sanders decided to drop out of the race.[2] The decision, however, came after the withdrawal deadline. Her name still appeared on the ballot. The unopposed races also appeared on the ballot, and write-in votes were allowed.[1][1]
Results
| Kent School District Board of Directors, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Russell Hanscom Incumbent |
74.6% | 15,665 |
| Trisha Sanders | 25.0% | 5,260 |
| Write-in votes | 0.39% | 82 |
| Total Votes | 21,007 | |
| Source: King County Elections, "Election Results: General and Special Elections November 4, 2015," November 24, 2015 | ||
Funding
Hanscom reported no contributions or expenditures to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission as of October 30, 2015.[3]
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Hanscom participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. He did not answer the question "If elected to the board, what would be your top priority?"[4]
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with one being the most important and seven being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Washington. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| They should be implemented. | |
| it's a little whacky in WA right now | |
| No | |
| Yes | |
| I believe we need higher salaries on the front end and/or attract more experienced teachers in our lower performing schools. We also be more assertive engaging parents and holding them accountable as equal partners in their child's education. | |
| Practices such as positive behavior strategies should be used before expulsion is considered. | |
| Ensure we've exhausted every strategy of support and accountability before transferring students out of it. | |
| No | |
| Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. | |
| The candidate did not answer this question. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Russell Hanscom' 'Kent School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Kent School District, Washington
- Kent School District elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 King County Elections, "2015 Official Candidate Filing," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Trisha Sanders," September 24, 2015]
- ↑ Washington Public Disclosure Commission, "Search the Database: Local Candidates," accessed October 30, 2015
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Russell Hanscom responses," September 24, 2015
| 2015 Kent School District Elections | |
| King County, Washington | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | District 1 : Incumbent, Russell Hanscom • Trisha Sanders
District 2 : Incumbent, Karen DeBruler District 3 : Incumbent, Debbie Straus |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
