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Stephen Johnston
Stephen Johnston ran in a special election to the Virginia Beach City Public Schools to represent District 3 - Rose Hall. Johnston lost in the special general election on November 5, 2019.
Johnston was a 2018 nonpartisan candidate for member of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools At-large in Virginia. Johnston lost the general election on November 6, 2018.
Elections
2019
See also: Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia, elections (2019)
General election
Special general election for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, District 3 - Rose Hall
Incumbent Jessica Owens defeated Robert Dean, Joel McDonald, and Stephen Johnston in the special general election for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, District 3 - Rose Hall on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jessica Owens (Nonpartisan) | 46.3 | 49,688 |
 | Robert Dean (Nonpartisan) | 23.3 | 24,975 | |
 | Joel McDonald (Nonpartisan) | 16.3 | 17,470 | |
 | Stephen Johnston (Nonpartisan) | 13.6 | 14,600 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 538 | ||
| Total votes: 107,271 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2018
General election
General election for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, At-large (2 seats)
Incumbent Dorothy Holtz and Laura Hughes defeated Robert Melatti, Seko Varner, and Stephen Johnston in the general election for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, At-large on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dorothy Holtz (Nonpartisan) | 30.0 | 61,672 |
| ✔ | Laura Hughes (Nonpartisan) | 23.3 | 47,846 | |
 | Robert Melatti (Nonpartisan) | 22.3 | 45,805 | |
 | Seko Varner (Nonpartisan) | 13.9 | 28,617 | |
| Stephen Johnston (Nonpartisan) | 10.0 | 20,531 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 1,040 | ||
| Total votes: 205,511 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2016
Five of the 11 seats on the Virginia Beach City Public Schools school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. In the Kempsville District, incumbent Dan Edwards ran unopposed and won re-election to his seat. Rose Hall District incumbent Joel McDonald also won re-election by defeating Stephen Johnston. Trenace Riggs defeated Eric Wray to win the open seat in the Centerville District. Incumbent Beverly Anderson and Victoria Manning defeated Kristine Caalim, Ken Falkenstein, and Frances Knight Thompson for the two at-large seats up for election.[1]
Johnston participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Results
| Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Rose Hall District General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Joel McDonald Incumbent |
52.89% | 75,493 |
| Stephen Johnston | 46.29% | 66,075 |
| Write-in votes | 0.81% | 1,161 |
| Total Votes | 142,729 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2016 November General Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Funding
Johnston reported no contributions or expenditures to the Virginia Department of Elections as of October 17, 2016.[2]
2014
The city of Virginia Beach, Virginia held elections for city council on November 4, 2014. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 10, 2014.
Six council seats were up for election.[3] In the District of Rose Hall, incumbent Shannon Kane defeated Beatrice R. “Petey” Browder, James D. Cabiness II and Stephen A. Johnston.[4][5]
| Virginia Beach City Council, District of Rose Hall, 2014 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Shannon Kane Incumbent |
48.1% | 37,415 | |
| James D. Cabiness II | 16.8% | 13,034 | |
| Stephen A. Johnston | 17.4% | 13,559 | |
| Beatrice R. “Petey” Browder | 17.3% | 13,424 | |
| Write-in | 0.5% | 365 | |
| Total Votes | 77,797 | ||
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections - Official 2014 Election Results | |||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Stephen Johnston did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Stephen Johnston 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 10, 2016:
| “ | Fix the falling education standards and lack of personal responsibility in Virginia Beach Public Schools. The website WalletHub.com recently had Virginia Beach Schools listed as the third best school district in the nation, today we are listed at nineteenth. The new grading changes take all personal responsibility and accountability away from the students. The School Board refuses to accept their Constitutional responsibility to supervise the schools in the district by passing control over to the administration. Virginia Beach Public Schools are headed in the wrong direction, we need to change course and get back ‘Ahead of the Curve’.[6][7] | ” |
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 |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| 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. |
| 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 only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| No common core in Virginia Beach |
| 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? |
| Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. There are many reasons for an under preforming teacher, and all circumstances must be taken into account before the teacher is let go. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Merit pay is generally based on the performance of the students, and the economic and family status (whether two parent or single parent home) pay a huge difference in how a student preforms in school. if merit pay were in place, the majority of the merit pay would go to teachers in affluent areas and not to the teachers in the economically struggling areas. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. This is prohibited in the Virginia Constitution. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be the last resort for problem students, they should first be sent to the alternative school program. the VA constitution guarantees every school age child an education and an administrator should not be able to take that away. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement |
See also
2019 Elections
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Virginia Beach City Public Schools
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
Footnotes
- ↑ The Virginian-Pilot, "11 people file to run for Virginia Beach School Board," June 15, 2016
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed October 18, 2016
- ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections, "November 4, 2014 Elections Candidacy Requirements For Local Offices," accessed May 15, 2014
- ↑ City of Virginia Beach, "Official Candidate List," accessed September 3, 2014
- ↑ Virginia Public Access Project, "2014 Unofficial Election Results," accessed November 4, 2014
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Stephen Johnston's responses," October 10, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
