Sean Smith (Virginia)
Sean Smith was a candidate for the District 4 seat on the Richmond Public Schools school board in Virginia. Smith was defeated in the by-district general election on November 8, 2016.
Smith participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Biography
Smith is a victim/witness specialist for the city of Richmond. He previously worked as a juvenile corrections officer. Smith obtained a bachelor's degree in women's and gender studies from Randolph-Macon College.[1]
Elections
2016
- See also: Richmond Public Schools elections (2016)
A total of 22 candidates ran for the nine seats that were up for election, including incumbents J.E. Dawson Boyer (District 1), Jeff Bourne (District 3), Mamie Taylor (District 5), and Shonda Harris-Muhammed (District 6). District 9 incumbent Tichi Pinkney Eppes filed to run in the election but was seven signatures short of qualifying for candidacy.
In District 1, Boyer lost his bid for re-election to Elizabeth Doerr. In District 2, James Scott Barlow defeated Mariah White. Bourne was the only incumbent to win re-election by defeating challengers Jesse Perry and Kevin Starlings in District 3. Newcomer Jonathan Young overtook Barrett Hardiman, Irvine Reaves, and Sean Smith for the open District 4 seat. Taylor lost her seat to Patrick Sapini in District 5. Felicia Dionne Cosby defeated Harris-Muhammed for the District 6 seat. In District 7, Nadine Marsh-Carter defeated Kirsten Gray and Rick Tatnall. Dawn Page won the District 8 seat by defeating Tia Redd and Christopher Woody. Newcomer Linda Owen ran unopposed and won the District 9 seat after Pinkney Eppes was disqualified from the race.[2]
Results
| Richmond Public Schools, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Jonathan Young |
53.83% | 6,888 |
| Barrett Hardiman | 28.02% | 3,585 |
| Irvine Reaves | 8.82% | 1,129 |
| Sean Smith | 8.74% | 1,118 |
| Write-in votes | 0.59% | 75 |
| Total Votes | 12,795 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2016 November General Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Funding
Smith reported no contributions or expenditures to the Virginia Department of Elections as of October 17, 2016.[3]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Sean Smith 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 October 20, 2016:
| “ | If elected to the School Board, I hope to implement a greater level of transparency, and build a level of unprecedented community and parental engagement. If wrap-around services were fully supported, and the business community works to support non-profits and community based programs that work to increase student achievement, I believe that we will see a substantial increase in student performance and increase in morale about our school system. Additionally, I hope to secure more funding to implement the Facilities Task Force Plan to improve building infrastructure, and reduce overcrowding in schools South of the river. Above all, I hope to achieve a level of trust, commitment, and bring a level of competency, understanding of social policy, and fresh ideas and younger energy that is desperately needed on the board.[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 Virginia. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
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. Only if a majority of the community from all 9 Districts ask for it. Otherwise, I believe we should focus on improving and strengthening resources for public schools. |
| 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 defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. For many students, especially those with learning disabilities, standardized test are a means of inducing anxiety and fail to accurately reflect their creativity or often non-linear ways of thinking. Students with access to more academic resources are also at a greater advantage of passing standardized testing, compared to those who may be experiencing extreme amounts of trauma or learning environments that are not conducive to developing adolescent minds. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| I believe that Common Core fails to adequately measure whether or not a student will succeed academically, and does not take into consideration an individual student's level of intelligence. Standardized tests as a means of measuring academic performance should be eradicated; many colleges have taken this approach, and secondary schools should follow. |
| 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? |
| Offer additional training options. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. Professional development and mentoring programs should be in place for less experienced teachers on an ongoing bases. More experienced teachers should be offered the opportunity to improve through state or local career development or improvement programs, prior to reaching a stage of professional reprimand. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Teachers should be paid based on years of experience, education level, and number and complexity of the courses they teach. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Private schools, much like colleges, should be expected to handle their own development. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be used sparingly, and only in extreme circumstances. Prior to this stage, which is different from suspension, the students behavior and level of offense should be fully evaluated prior to being expelled. If possible, an external non-bias source should make the recommendation. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement This is a difficult question to answer. Involvement not only to the parents, but from the community as a whole is essential. Many of us can take part in developing tutoring programs for the 80% of time a student spends outside of the classroom. For those parents who work multiple jobs, it may be virtually impossible for them to be 100% involved; however, if they are able to contribute 75%, I support the idea of members in the community and educators, when they have the capacity, providing mentoring and academic support for the remaining 25%. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Sean Smith Richmond Public Schools. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Sean Smith Richmond City School Board 4th District, "Candidate Bio," accessed October 27, 2016
- ↑ Richmond Times-Dispatch, "58 file to run for Richmond City Council, School Board," June 15, 2016
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed October 18, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Sean Smith's responses," October 20, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
