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Stamford Public Schools elections (2016)
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Four of the nine seats on the Stamford Public Schools school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. Three of the seats came with three-year terms, while one seat came with a one-year term. Incumbent Jennienne Burke, along with Antoine Savage (D) and Nicola Tarzia (R), won the three seats with the three-year terms. Eumir Antonio Abela (G) finished fourth in the race for three seats. Incumbent Geoff Alswanger (D) ran unopposed and won the seat with a one-year term. Incumbent Angelica Gorrio (D) originally filed to run for re-election to her seat but withdrew from the race before the election.[1]
The seat up for election with a one-year term was caused by the resignation of Julia Wade in December 2015 amid allegations of a conflict of interest.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Stamford school board was composed of nine partisan members who are elected at large to three-year terms each year. The mayor of Stamford serves as a tenth non-voting member. There was no primary, and the general election was November 8, 2016. State law required a minimum of one-third of the board's seats to be held by minority parties following each election.[2]
There were several routes by which candidates could get on the ballot, which varied depending on the political affiliation of the candidate seeking office.
Convention nomination
The first way major party candidates could get onto the ballot was to receive the nomination of their political party during the endorsement period. These endorsements were made by convention of the local party members, and the candidates had to receive at least 15 percent of the votes cast by convention delegates to be nominated.[3]
Parties could endorse as many candidates as there were seats up for election. Major party endorsements were certified on June 10, 2016. Minor parties that were qualified for the board races were also able to endorse candidates. The deadline for minor parties to endorse candidates was September 7, 2016.
Primary petition
If a candidate who wished to run for a major political party did not receive the party's endorsement, he or she was required to file a primary petition to oppose the endorsed candidate. In order for a primary election to be held, the petitioner was required to submit valid signatures totaling 1 percent of the votes cast for the same office at the previous election for that office or 7,500, whichever is smaller.
Multiple candidates of a political party could petition for a primary together. Only as many petitioning candidates could advance for each party as there were seats up for election in the general election.
No candidates filed a primary petition in the 2016 election. If a candidate had filed a petition, a primary would have been held on September 13, 2016.
Independent petitioning
Candidates who wished to run without a party affiliation had to file in a similar manner to candidates with a partisan affiliation. Such independent candidates, however, could not file in groups like partisan petitioners and had to file individually. They had to meet the same signature requirements as partisan petitioning candidates but without the possibility of a primary election.
No independent candidates filed to run in the 2016 election.
Write-in candidates
Write-in candidates could not designate an affiliation with a political party, and no candidate who was nominated by a major or minor party or by petition could run as a write-in candidate.[4]
No write-in candidates filed to run in the 2016 election.
Candidates and results
Three-year term
Results
| Stamford Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 3-year terms, 2016 |
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Jennienne Burke Incumbent |
34.20% | 30,275 | |
| Democratic | Antoine Savage |
33.80% | 29,924 | |
| Republican | Nicola Tarzia |
25.46% | 22,542 | |
| Green | Eumir Antonio Abela | 6.55% | 5,795 | |
| Total Votes | 88,536 | |||
| Source: Connecticut Secretary of State, "Election Center," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||||
Candidates
Jennienne Burke  
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Angelica Gorrio
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Antoine Savage
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Nicola Tarzia 
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Eumir Antonio Abela 
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One-year term
Results
| Stamford Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 1-year term, 2016 |
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Geoff Alswanger Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 33,355 | |
| Total Votes | 33,355 | |||
| Source: Connecticut Secretary of State, "Election Center," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||||
Candidates
| Geoff Alswanger
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Additional elections
- See also: Connecticut elections, 2016
The Stamford school board election shared the ballot with elections for the President of the United States, a United States Senator, United States Representatives, Connecticut State Senators, Connecticut State Representatives, and probate court judges.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Stamford Public Schools school board election in 2016:[5]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| May 24, 2016 | Party endorsement deadline |
| June 7, 2016 | Last day for major party candidates to file primary petitions |
| August 10, 2016 | Last day for candidates with no party affiliation to file primary petitions |
| September 7, 2016 | Minor party endorsement deadline |
| November 8, 2016 | Election Day |
Endorsements
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
No contributions or expenditures were reported as of September 30, 2016, according to the Stamford Town Clerk.[6]
Past elections
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What was at stake?
2016
Election trends
The 2016 school board election in Stamford Public Schools guaranteed the addition of one new member to the board. Only three incumbents ran for the four seats up for election.
The district's 2015 election saw five new members join the board when only one incumbent ran for re-election and was defeated. The district's 2014 election included two incumbents running for three seats. Both incumbents won re-election, and one new member joined the board.
| School board election trends | |||||
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| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| Stamford Public Schools | |||||
| 2016 | 1.25 | 25.00% | TBD | TBD | |
| 2015 | 2.6 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 100.00% | |
| 2014 | 2.0 | 0.00% | 100.00% | 33.33% | |
| Connecticut | |||||
| 2015 | 1.8 | 21.95% | 69.57% | 60.98% | |
| 2014 | 2.00 | 0.00% | 100.00% | 33.33% | |
| United States | |||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 32.57% | 81.31% | 38.24% | |
| 2014 | 1.89 | 35.97% | 82.66% | 40.77% | |
Issues in the district
Wade resigns amid alleged conflict of interest
In December 2015, Stamford board member Julia Wade (D) resigned her position. Wade was first elected to the board in 2008 and won re-election to her position in 2011 and 2014. In September 2015, she voted as a member of the board to spend state grant money on educational services provided by her employer, Domus. After community members began protesting, calling her vote a conflict of interest, she stated that, at the time of her vote, she was unaware of who ran the educational program that would be receiving the money.[7]
After protesters attended board meetings and multiple calls were made for her resignation, Wade asked for an advisory opinion on the matter from the Stamford Board of Ethics. She withdrew her request in December 2015 and submitted her resignation. She cited the death of her husband in April 2014 and career demands as the reason for her resignation. She also mentioned that she felt her membership on the board had become a "distraction."[8]
After Wade's resignation, the board appointed Angelica Gorrio (D) to the vacant seat. A month prior to the appointment, Gorrio ran for a seat on the board in the November 2015 election and finished fourth in the race for three seats. The seat to which Gorrio was appointed was up for election again in November 2016.[9]
Report a story for this election
Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.
Candidate survey
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About the district
- See also: Stamford Public Schools, Connecticut
Stamford Public Schools is located in Fairfield County in western Connecticut. The county was home to 948,053 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[10] The district was the fifth-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 15,860 students.[11]
Demographics
Fairfield County outperformed Connecticut as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 45.4 percent of county residents aged 25 and older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 37 percent of all state residents. The median household income for Fairfield County was $83,163, compared to $69,899 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level was 9 percent, while it was 10.8 percent for the state as a whole.[10]
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Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Stamford Public Schools' 'Connecticut'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Stamford Public Schools | Connecticut | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Tiffany Rouse, "Phone conversation with Stamford Town Clerk Donna Loglisci," September 6, 2016
- ↑ Connecticut General Assembly, "Chapter 146: Sec. 9-167a. Minority representation," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Connecticut Statutes, "Chapter 153, Part III, Section 9-400," accessed February 26, 2014
- ↑ Connecticut Statutes, "Chapter 153, Part I, Section 9-373a," accessed October 31, 2013
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of State, "November 8, 2016 State Election Calendar," accessed September 6, 2016
- ↑ Tiffany Rouse, "Phone conversation with Stamford Town Clerk Donna Loglisci," September 6, 2016
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Conflicts, separation agreements hot BOE topics," October 27, 2016
- ↑ Stamford Advocate, "Stamford Board of Education member Julia Wade resigns," December 11, 2015
- ↑ Stamford Daily Voice, "Angelica Gorrio Officially Joins Stamford's School Board," January 15, 2016
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts:Fairfield County, Connecticut," accessed September 6, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of State, "Election Results," accessed October 10, 2013
| 2016 Stamford Public Schools Elections | |
| Fairfield County, Connecticut | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | Three-year term: Eumir Antonio Abela (G) • Incumbent, Jennienne Burke (D) • Incumbent, Angelica Gorrio (D) • Antoine Savage (D) • Nicola Tarzia (R) One-year term: Incumbent, Geoff Alswanger (D) |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional measures on the ballot |
