Timothy Blake
Timothy Blake was a candidate for at-large representative on the Lowell Public Schools school board in Massachusetts. Blake was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Blake participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2017
- See also: Lowell Public Schools elections (2017)
Six seats on the Lowell Public Schools School Committee in Massachusetts were up for general election on November 7, 2017.[1] In their bids for re-election, incumbents Andre Descoteaux, Jackie Doherty, Robert J. Hoey Jr., and Connie A. Martin faced former candidates Dominik Hok Y Lay and Dennis R. Mercier and newcomers Timothy Blake, Noelle Creegan, Gerard Nutter, and Daniel J. Shanahan IV.[2] All four incumbents won re-election, and Hok Y Lay and Nutter won the other two seats on the ballot.[3]
All seven seats on the school committee were up for election. The seventh seat was held by the mayor of Lowell, but was not covered by Ballotpedia as the city fell outside of municipal elections coverage.[4][5]
Results
| Lowell Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Jacqueline Doherty Incumbent |
12.19% | 6,385 |
| Robert J. Hoey Jr. Incumbent |
11.55% | 6,054 |
| Connie A. Martin Incumbent |
11.54% | 6,047 |
| Dominik Hok Y Lay |
10.61% | 5,558 |
| Andre Descoteaux Incumbent |
9.77% | 5,117 |
| Gerard Nutter |
9.19% | 4,817 |
| Dennis R. Mercier | 9.02% | 4,727 |
| Noelle Creegan | 8.94% | 4,684 |
| Timothy Blake | 8.63% | 4,520 |
| Daniel J. Shanahan IV | 8.39% | 4,396 |
| Write-in votes | 0.17% | 88 |
| Total Votes | 52,393 | |
| Source: City of Lowell, "Election Summary Report: Official Results," accessed November 28, 2017 | ||
Funding
The Lowell Election & Census Office does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Timothy Blake participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[6] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 24, 2017:
| “ | Neighborhood schooling, increased busing for students, and uniting the school committee and city council are different things we hope to achieve.[7][8] | ” |
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 Massachusetts. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | The most important issues would be neighborhood schooling, increasing busing for students, and uniting the school committee and city council. These issues are now reflected in #7.[8] | ” |
| —Timothy Blake (September 24, 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. If our public school are doing everything we think they should, parents will want their child in the public school and not look for different options. |
| 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 defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. It is one measure of student achievement, not the only marker of student success. |
| 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. The assumption is merit pay based on test scores which has not been welcomed by district leadership nor teacher leadership. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. The state should fully fund and support our public schools. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| When necessary for safety of students and staff. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers. High quality teachers is the most important variable in the classroom. There are many variables, but the teacher is the most important part of the classroom. |
Lowell Sun Q&A series
Blake answered the following five questions from the Lowell Sun as part of a series for the newspaper. The questions provided by the newspaper appear bolded, and Blake's answers follow below.
Should the Lowell Public School district return to neighborhood schools or retain its two-zone, citywide schools model?[9]
| “ | The first motion I would like to make would be to return Lowell to neighborhood schools. Returning to neighborhood schools would help create stronger communities within our city.[8] | ” |
| —Timothy Blake (2017)[9] | ||
What solutions would you propose to ensure the district can reliably provide adequate services to students within its budget?[10]
| “ | I have worked as a school administrator for 15 years. I have never worked in a district that had to make staffing cuts after July 1. We need to utilize proper budgeting to ensure our expenses meet our allocated funds.[8] | ” |
| —Timothy Blake (2017)[10] | ||
Would you have voted to give Superintendent of Schools Salah Khelfaoui a new four-year contract?[11]
| “ | I would be in favor of offering the superintendent a contract with a performance rubric/matrix. If we do not give our superintendent a contract, it creates instability throughout the school system. Further, not offering a contract hinders the best candidates from applying to Lowell in the future.[8] | ” |
| —Timothy Blake (2017)[11] | ||
What is the most pressing capital improvement project facing the School Department, besides the high school, and how do you propose to pay for it?[12]
| “ | The way the city maintains our schools needs to be improved immediately. All sides of the table need to sit down, collaborate, and create a new maintenance plan. This maintenance plan would need to happen within the constraints of the current school budget. We need to collaborate with other districts regarding school maintenance so we can immediately improve our practice of maintaining schools.[8] | ” |
| —Timothy Blake (2017)[12] | ||
What is your opinion on standardized testing? Do public schools do too much, too little, or just enough?[13]
| “ | If we teach what children are supposed to learn, any test will show our kids are improving and we will be proud of their accomplishments. The state makes us take MCAS testing and ACCESS testing for our English Language Learners. We need to be careful that locally we don't add too many more "high stakes tests" in addition to the statewide tests.[8] | ” |
| —Timothy Blake (2017)[13] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Timothy Blake Lowell Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Eda Jane Matchak, City of Lowell," January 31, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Sun, "City Council field set for preliminary," August 10, 2017
- ↑ City of Lowell Election & Census, "Election Results," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Public Schools, "2016-2017 School Committee," accessed August 9, 2017
- ↑ Lowell Sun, "Preliminary city election set as 23 candidates qualify for council race," August 9, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Timothy Blake's responses," September 24, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell School Committee candidates answer questions on the issues," October 11, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell candidates offer solutions on school budget issues," October 12, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell school candidates split on superintendent's contract," October 13, 2017
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lowell Sun, "Building maintenance, special ed cited as top Lowell school needs," October 14, 2017
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lowell Sun, "Lowell school candidates weigh in on standardized tests," October 15, 2017
