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Susan Shafer
Susan Shafer was a candidate for District V representative on the Houston Independent School District Board of Education in Texas. Shafer was defeated in the by-district general election on November 7, 2017.
Shafer participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Biography
Before retiring in 2015, Shafer worked as a librarian and as a teacher.[1]
Elections
2017
Six of the nine seats on the Houston Independent School District Board of Education in Texas were up for by-district general election on November 7, 2017. Candidates in Districts I and III advanced to a runoff election scheduled for December 9, 2017, after no candidate received a majority of the vote. The District III seat was up for special election to fill an unexpired term following the death of Manuel Rodriguez Jr.[2] The incumbents in Districts VI, VIII, and IX filed for re-election, while the incumbents in Districts I and V opted not to seek additional terms.[3][4][5]
In District I, newcomer Elizabeth Santos defeated fellow newcomer Gretchen Himsl. They defeated Monica Richart in the general election. In District III, newcomer Sergio Lira won against Jesse Rodriguez in the runoff election. They defeated Carlos Perrett and Rodolfo Reyes in the general election.[6]
Newcomer Sue Deigaard defeated three other newcomers—Kara DeRocha, Sean Cheben, and Susan Shafer—for the open District V seat. District VI incumbent Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca defeated challengers Daniel Albert and Robert Lundin for the seat with 50.42 percent of the vote. Incumbent Anne Sung defeated challenger John Luman in the District VII election. District IX incumbent Wanda Adams defeated challengers Karla Brown and Gerry Monroe.[3][4]
Results
| Houston Independent School District, District V General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Sue Deigaard |
51.40% | 5,599 |
| Susan Shafer | 16.58% | 1,806 |
| Kara DeRocha | 16.18% | 1,762 |
| Sean Cheben | 15.84% | 1,725 |
| Total Votes | 10,892 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," accessed November 22, 2017 | ||
Funding
Shafer reported $5,945.00 in contributions and $5,728.58 in expenditures to the Houston Independent School District as of October 30, 2017.[7]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Susan Shafer participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[8] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 4, 2017:
| “ | To be part of a board that supports teachers in their work instead of creating hurdles. To be a trustworthy steward of taxpayer dollars, making sure every available dollar goes into our classrooms.[9][10] | ” |
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 Texas. |
| 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 post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Our district has a $106 million budget deficit. If we don't fix it, none of the other priorities will be addresses. We already have a program in place to address arts education, which is the only reason it is ranked last.[10] | ” |
| —Susan Shafer (October 4, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight 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. Our district needs to concentrate its resources on our own underperforming 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 be involved in the district routinely. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Some norm-referenced tests measure what students have learned. The state-mandated STAAR Test does not measure growth or curriculum. |
| 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. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Not until an effective system is developed. Value-added measures were not effective in our district. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Sparingly. Our district has just passed a policy whereby students under 3rd grade cannot be suspended. We need innovative, restorative justice. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Student-teacher ratio. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Susan Shafer Houston Independent School District school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Susan Shafer for HISD Board Trustee, "About Susan," accessed November 3, 2017
- ↑ Houston Independent School District, "HISD trustees appoint José Leal to fill District III seat until special election in November," accessed August 21, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Houston Independent School District, "Election Information," accessed September 12, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," accessed November 22, 2017
- ↑ Houston ISD, "Three HISD incumbents prevail on election night, one open seat filled, and two open seats head to runoffs," November 8, 2017
- ↑ Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Unofficial, Joint Runoff Election," accessed December 9, 2017
- ↑ Houston ISD, "Election Information," accessed November 2, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Susan Shafer's responses," October 4, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
