Staci Martin
From Ballotpedia
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Staci Martin was a member of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools, representing District 4. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. She left office on February 14, 2024.
Martin ran for election to the Virginia Beach City Public Schools to represent District 4. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Martin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Staci Martin was born in Pennsylvania. She earned a bachelor's degree from Radford University in 2003 and a graduate degree from Old Dominion University in 2006. Her career experience includes working as a manager.
Martin has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- International Economic Development Council
- Virginia Economic Development Association
- Destination Analysts
- American Association of University Women
- Historic Kempsville Citizens Advisory Commission
Elections
2022
See also: Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia, elections (2022)
General election
General election for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, District 4
Staci Martin defeated Kenneth Lubeck in the general election for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, District 4 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Staci Martin (Nonpartisan)  | 56.5 | 5,411 |
 | Kenneth Lubeck (Nonpartisan) | 42.6 | 4,086 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.9 | 84 | ||
| Total votes: 9,581 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Staci Martin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Martin's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a VBCPS parent, adjunct faculty at Old Dominion University, and work full-time for a state agency. I have over 20 years of experience in public budgeting, economic development, education, and workforce development.
I had to drop out of high school in 10th grade and work full-time due to family dysfunction, housing insecurity, and food insecurity. I received my GED at age 21, my Bachelor’s degree at 32, and my Master’s degree at 35 while also working full-time.
I am a first-generation American and first-generation college graduate who recognizes that education is a great equalizer. But you can’t bootstrap yourself up if you don’t have boots. I don’t just talk the talk, I have walked the walk.- Investing in educational infrastructure is a key priority and should be our #1 economic development priority. We have four dilapidated schools that are zoned for District 4 and our city must invest in our vibrant community.
- We need to improve our dual enrollment programs to include tuition abatement for workforce and career studies certificates at Tidewater Community College. Every student should be graduating with a workforce certificate so they can get a great job the week after graduation whether they are going to college or going into the workforce.
- We need to improve our graduation rates at District 4 schools. While VBCPS often beats the statewide average for on-time graduation, we are not doing enough to improve the graduation rate and GED uptakes after dropping out. We are losing key members of our workforce by not working to get all students to the finish line.
I am personally passionate and knowledgeable about how education impacts economic development and household wealth acquisition. We lose too much human potential to the lack of a few hundred dollars in resources. I understand the connections between creating growth opportunities that generate revenue for a locality and how investing some of that revenue into education continues a self-reinforcing growth pattern that keeps taxes low. I understand that our city has a debt cap and that the debt must be allocated with education as its highest priority and with economic development as its second highest priority. From there, our locality revenues will maintain a growth pattern against the backdrop of an educated workforce, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
I look up to Science Fiction and Fantasy writers like Frank Herbert (Dune), Jeff Wheeler (Muirwood), and Tolkein (Lord of the Rings) who taught me how to analyze political situations, critically think about exponential consequences of decision-making and stand up for ethics, equality, and justice. In fact, I include a Sci-Fi unit in my college literature classes because I think it is an important genre that gets dismissed far too often. Stories about the future help us imagine the future we want our children to live in and pass on to the next generations.
Dune by Frank Herbert is probably the book from which I draw the most insight. I have read it at least 25 times finding new layers each time. it is a cautionary tale about religion and politics riding in the same cart. It is a cautionary tale about natural resources and the exponential impacts of economic policy. It is a cautionary tale about losing oneself to the expectations of others.
“Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It's shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad'Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson.”
Listening, civility, understanding, and ethics. I am not running for office for power or prestige. I am doing it because I care about our community and have life and work experiences that can contribute in meaningful ways to find solutions to some pressing issues in our school system.
I am an avid reader and research topics thoroughly.
Ultimately, the core responsibility of the School Board is to act as a navigator helping the Superintendent navigate through state and federal mandates and local issues. It is our job to keep the Superintendent and the school system between the buoys balancing the delivery of a quality education against the revenues available to do so.
A 100% high school completion rate for all VBCPS students.
I was 18 yeard old when the Berlin wall came down in 1989. I was glued to the TV with my mom who is a WWII refugee who fled Eastern Europe and was resettled in refugee camps in West Germany after the war. We immediately called our family in Germany that evening and made contact with many of them for the first time in years. We made plans to visit our family that had been under Soviet rule on the eastern side of Germany and I was able to visit them for the first time in 1991. I saw what Soviet rule had done to the Eastern Bloc and that visit solidified my commitment to American ideals of freedom and justice for all.
My first job was working at Burger King for $3.35/hour for two years. After I turned 18, I went to work as a receptionist in a small office while I worked my way through community college.
Dune by Frank Herbert is probably the book from which I draw the most insight. I have read it at least 25 times finding new layers each time. it is a cautionary tale about religion and politics riding in the same cart. It is a cautionary tale about natural resources and the exponential impacts of economic policy. It is a cautionary tale about losing oneself to the expectations of others.
“Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It's shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad'Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson.”
I'm still writing my story.
Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill
A School Board member has both an advisory role and a legislative role. Our job is to approve the school budget, hire, fire, and review the Superintendent, and make policy decisions by interpreting federal and state law as well as create policies specific to our community. It will be my job, as the D4 representative, to make sure the voices in my vibrant community are heard.
My constituents are multi-faceted. I would be directly representing the interests of the District 4 community which is very diverse and I would also be representing all of the students, teachers, staff, and citizens in Virginia Beach as education policies affect the entire city.
I am an avid researcher and always take a solutions-based approach to problem-solving. My district is among the most underserved population in the city with the oldest schools, the lowest income, and the highest dropout rates. We need to take an approach that centers students and degree completion against the backdrop of their current reality. As was my case, I was unable to stay in school due to inflexible scheduling and attendance policies because I needed to work full-time. We need to find alternatives for our students who have a heavy load of responsibility and do not grow up in a traditional household.
Through my full-time jobs and my part-time job, I am already connected to the higher education community and business community. I have received endorsements from the Hampton Roads Black Caucus, the VB African American PAC, Virginia Beach Education Association PAC, and the Due the Right Thing PAC. I have been working with churches and pastors to learn more about the challenges facing youth in our community. I have been learning more about VBCPs Family and Community Engagement programs and our Adult Education programs. I am attending community meetings, learning, and listening. Listening is the best skill I can use to build relationships in the community. I plan to listen, learn, and take that information into a solutions-based model to support all of our students, teachers, and staff which will in turn help the business community and the community at large with a skilled workforce.
Yes, it is critical that we work toward employing a diverse staff. The number one strategy I would implement would be to provide tuition abatement to all our paraprofessionals, custodians, and bus drivers who want to pursue their four-year degree and teacher licensure. These are folks who have already made a commitment to education and our children and simply need a boost to get to the next level in their careers. Our ranks of paraprofessionals and custodians are far more diverse that our rank of licensed teachers. We have a built-in set of diverse candidates in this cohort.
Federal and state mandates are impacting how we deliver the curriculum at the local level. State-mandated pacing schedules are negatively impacting how teachers prepare our students because they are unable to spend extra time on lessons in which students need more support. We have far too many benchmark tests and SOL tests. Teachers need to be given the freedom to teach at the pace that their students need. We also need to sort through discipline issues to minimize classroom disruptions and this means that we need additional staff who can remove uncooperative students right away so teachers can continue their lessons.
I've been researching the compliance vs. content argument in K-12 schools. There are those who think good teaching is making sure students turn all work in at the highest achievement level on time. There are others who think as long as students are engaging with the content then having homework submitted a day or two late (rather than skipped altogether) leads to better outcomes. I fall into the latter camp. Students skipping content because of a late penalty makes scaffolding impossible, especially in math and science. We need to be more understanding of students' personal lives and accept late work with no penalty. However, I don't believe in giving 53% for no work either. It is always best if students engage with the lesson even if it is late. To me, good teaching is a student body that isn't afraid or discouraged to learn. Good teaching is building up a student's confidence in their ability to learn and not penalizing them for things out of their control.
I would like to see the Virginia Community College Fast Forward program open to high school students. That program provides tuition abatement for high-need workforce skills and career certificates at community colleges. I would like VBCPS to eliminate the required study block for students who are dual-enrolled in a college or workforce credit course and I would like VBCPS to enter into a formal partnership with TCC on workforce curriculum. There is no need to reinvent the wheel and build a trades workforce high school campus when TCC already has everything in place to educate students in these courses. VBCPS should be working with the Economic Development Administration and TCC on the Good Jobs Challenge apprenticeship models that came about through the American Rescue Plan Act and replicate those models in Virginia Beach. VBCPS also should be working on submitting a Go Virginia grant application to implement dual-enrollment strategies in the trades and workforce sector in partnership with TCC.
The connection between education and economic development is one that I often stress. A healthy economy is the result of an educated community. We need our state delegation to take a good look at the composite index funding model. Cities are being required to underwrite the cost of education in many of Virginia's counties that have much lower tax rates. We need to keep Virginia Beach money in Virginia Beach.
Because of workforce issues in law enforcement, we can not solely rely on School Resource Officers to keep our schools safe. We must combine technology and staffing to ensure the safest school possible. This means double-buzzed entry doors for visitors where bags and packages are checked before entering the main school. This means closed circuit cameras in the hallways. This means electronic doors and gates so visitors can not access the main classroom section of a school. This will all take a hefty investment in school security infrastructure and it will be well worth the cost.
First, we must program in downtime so our students can take mental breaks and we must be more flexible when students need a mental health day and give them extra time to complete missed work. We must also move away from policies that discourage teachers from taking time off and teachers should never be required to find their own substitute--that should fall under the purview of the principal and human resources. We must encourage our students to learn about and develop emotional intelligence which is the #1 high-need workforce skill.
I can envision a future where the school is conducted in virtual reality. We saw it start with Second Life and many VSTE and ISTE members built classrooms and virtual field trips inside the Second Life environment in the 2000s. Now we are seeing more and more learning occurring online in virtual reality through Meta and other platforms. The pandemic has taught us that virtual learning is possible, but not without challenges. I think we can build more flexibility into our school schedules and school year but integrating technology into lessons, creating public virtual school programs, and allowing students a schedule that offers a hybrid of both on and off-line learning as colleges offer. Due to the pandemic, we are going to face high IT costs just to replace Chromebooks that are quickly reaching the end of their shelf-life. We need to explore cost-sharing contracts, bulk purchasing contracts through NIGP, and other options to reduce these costs in the long term. The expectation is that students be technology savvy before they enroll in college so we must be sure we program in technological advances over time.
I think our teachers and students did the best they could in uncertain circumstances. We've learned a lot from the pandemic in terms of virtual learning and we can improve our methods should those circumstances arise again. We were dealing with an unknown virus that we now know does cause long-term issues in some of those infected. We are also dealing with an unknown virus that has incredible capabilities to mutate. Sick children do not learn well which is why I strongly support replacing dilapidated schools, improving air quality, air exchange rates, and air handling capacity in our schools, and having outdoor classrooms wherever possible. We need to build back our students' confidence in learning. They are being told far too often that they have fallen behind and yet I have seen, especially in my college students, that they have acquired new skills in digital communication, digital learning, and research skills as they take on self-directed content acquisition.
The best thing I can do is make sure parents know they can call or email me. Because these positions are part-time and most elected officials also work full-time and because many of our D4 parents work two jobs and/or non-traditional schedules, I need to be available for them to reach out at any time. I plan to attend PTA meetings, attend sporting events, and attend community meetings, but I recognize few parents have time to attend those meetings if they are working and managing a household so my website will remain up and my social media channels will remain open for parent and community engagement.
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See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate Virginia Beach City Public Schools, District 4 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 23, 2022
