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Steve McConnell
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Steve McConnell (independent) was a member of the Bellevue School District school board in Washington, representing District 1. McConnell assumed office in 2011.
McConnell (independent) ran for re-election to the Bellevue School District school board to represent District 1 in Washington. McConnell won in the general election on November 3, 2015.
Biography
McConnell graduated from Rogers High School in 1981; Whitman College, with a major in philosophy and minors in mathematics and computer science, in 1985; and Seattle University with a masters in software engineering in 1991. He is a published author and the owner of his business, Construx Software.[1]
Awards
- Seattle University’s Alumni of the Year for Professional Accomplishment, 2004
- Eastside Business Journal, 40 under 40 award for being one of the region’s top business leaders under 40 years of age
- Named one of the three most influential people in the software industry by readers of Software Development Magazine, 1998[1]
Organizations and affiliations
- Policy Committee, member
- Disciplinary Appeals, board member
- Liaison to Special Needs PTSA
- Liaison to Jubilee Reach
- IEEE Software magazine, former board member and Editor in Chief
- IEEE Computer Society's Professional Activities, former board member and chair[1]
Elections
2015
Three of the five seats on the Bellevue Board of Directors were up for general election on November 3, 2015. Seats for District 1, 2 and 4 were scheduled for election. District 1 incumbent Steve McConnell saw the only contested race on the ballot. He defeated challenger Eric Warwick.[2]
District 2 incumbent Christine Chew, meanwhile, sought re-election, but not to the District 2 seat. Instead, she won the District 4 seat without opposition. District 4 incumbent Krischanna Roberson did not file to seek re-election.[2]
The open District 2 seat initially saw two candidates file for it: Sharon Taubel and Carolyn Watson. Taubel's withdrawal from the race, however, left Watson to win the seat without opposition.[2]
Results
| Bellevue School District Board of Directors, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Steve McConnell Incumbent |
86.6% | 18,351 |
| Eric Warwick | 13.1% | 2,784 |
| Write-in votes | 0.32% | 67 |
| Total Votes | 21,202 | |
| Source: King County Elections, "Election Results: General and Special Elections November 4, 2015," November 24, 2015 | ||
Funding
McConnell reported $4,500.00 in contributions and $984.29 in expenditures to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, which left his campaign with $4,5000.00 in debt as of October 30, 2015. All of McConnell's contributions at that time were loans.[3]
Campaign themes
2015
McConnell issued the following statement regarding his bid for office:
| “ | My goal is to ensure that Bellevue’s legacy as a strong, visionary district continues into the twenty-first century. It has been a great honor to serve on the Bellevue School Board since 2011 and an honor to be elected by other board members to serve as Board President. Schools are the cornerstone of our community, and I want to be re-elected so that I can continue this important work.
Despite many accomplishments, the board has not reached a place where we can rest on our accomplishments. Community engagement is better than it was in 2011, but it is not yet inclusive of all students and all families. The district’s focus on student performance data has improved, but we need more work to engrain that data-focus permanently into our district practices. Our district has increased focus on special education, but we are still short of providing excellent support for every student, every classroom, every day. We have had a constructive four years. I ask for your vote to complete the work that we have begun and ensure that our district serves every student to his or her full potential. [4] |
” |
| —Steve McConnell (2015)[1] | ||
Ballotpedia survey responses
McConnell participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | My top priorities are: (1) Deepen efforts to help each and every student succeed, (2) Raise professionalism of board operations, including maximizing openness and accountability, and (3) Fully engage our diverse community.[4] | ” |
| —Steve McConnell (2015)[5] | ||
McConnell included the following statement with his other answers:
| “ | Since 2011 I have been honored to serve on Bellevue’s School Board.
I originally pursued board service because I am the father of both a special needs child and a gifted child. I saw ways the district could be serving students of all abilities much better. As a 30-year Bellevue resident and a 20-year Bellevue business owner, I brought strengths to the board that complemented the other board members. Once elected to the board, I led an end-to-end overhaul of our 250 district policies, which improved our ability to serve our full range of students, responsibly, while meeting all legal obligations. I also led adoption of a structured annual planning and reporting cycle, so that now the board reviews every significant district function every year and can detect and respond to issues quickly, if needed. Going forward, my priorities are: (1) Deepen efforts to help each and every student succeed, (2) Raise professionalism of board operations, including maximizing openness and accountability, and (3) Fully engage our diverse community. Schools are the cornerstone of our community. The board has currently elected me to serve as board President. I ask for your vote and for the opportunity to continue this important work.[4] |
” |
| —Steve McConnell (2015)[5] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 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 education for special needs students | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Expanding arts 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 |
|---|---|
| Common Core is being implemented across the country with widely different interpretations of what Common Core means. In Bellevue Common Core is being interpreted as "Common Assessment." I support common assessments, though my review of the first year of the Smarter Balanced Assessments leads me to believe we will be going through a boot strapping period before the assessment is as accurate as it should be. | |
| Our district has been able to launch innovative schools within our normal district operations, including The International School, The IB program at Interlake, The Big Picture School, and several dual language programs. Charter schools are not needed in our district. | |
| My view of the school board role is that it should be focused locally, on Bellevue. I do not believe there is any reason to set up a voucher system for schools in Bellevue. | |
| No single test, in isolation, fully measures student achievement. Combinations of tests, administered over time, can provide a pretty good measure of student achievement. | |
| During my term on the school board our district has adopted a focus on each and every student. Binary classifications like "high achieving" and "low achieving" are not very useful in achieving the goal of reaching each and every student. Treating each student as an individual, and trying to meet each student's needs as an individual, is the key. | |
| district? Washington state law has very specific rules about when expulsion can be used and when it must be used. The district has very little latitude on expulsion. | |
| Since being elected in 2011 I have led a program of reporting and accountability so that now the school board is actively monitoring performance of our schools across the district on a comprehensive set of measures that include core academic subjects, optional subjects, social climate, discipline, and other considerations. No school is failing in our district, except under some artificial standards from No Child Left Behind. | |
| Yes | |
| Our district has a comprehensive program under the state's TPEP initiative to assess teacher performance, provide supports as a first step, and ultimately remove the teacher if necessary. | |
| Our board identified Community Engagement as a board focus area for the 2015-16 school year. Our community has been changing so rapidly during the past 10 years that it is really important for the board and the district as a whole to have a comprehensive approach to making sure all populations in our community have a voice in the schools. |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Information submitted through Ballotpedia's biographical submission form on August 29, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 King County Elections, "2015 Official Candidate Filing," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ Washington Public Disclosure Commission, "Search the Database: Local Candidates," accessed October 30, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Steve McConnell's responses," September 1, 2015
| 2015 Bellevue School District Elections | |
| King County, Washington | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | District 1 : Incumbent, Steve McConnell • Eric Warwick District 4 : Incumbent, Christine Chew |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
