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Wendy Jonathan
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Wendy Jonathan is the Trustee Area 1 representative on the Desert Sands Unified Board of Education in California. She was first elected to the board on November 6, 2012.[1] Jonathan won re-election in the general election on November 8, 2016.[2]
Jonathan participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2016
Three of the five seats on the Desert Sands Unified School District Board of Education were up for by district general election on November 8, 2016. This election finalized the district's switch to using by-district elections, which was started in 2014. Because of the switch, two incumbents—Wendy Jonathan and Matt Monica—faced off for the Trustee Area 1 seat. In his bid for re-election to Trustee Area 3, incumbent Gary Tomak ran against challengers Christin Castellanos and Robert Sylk. The Trustee Area 4 seat was left open for a newcomer when both Jonathan and Monica filed for the Trustee Area 1 seat. The race for the seat featured candidates Cheryll Dahlin and Linda Porras.[2]
Results
| Desert Sands Unified School District, Trustee Area 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Wendy Jonathan Incumbent |
57.65% | 6,438 |
| Matt Monica Incumbent | 42.35% | 4,730 |
| Total Votes | 11,168 | |
| Source: Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Consolidated Presidential Election Official Results," accessed December 2, 2016 | ||
Funding
Jonathan began the race with an existing account balance of $2,459.00 from her previous campaign. She reported $12,999.00 in contributions and $12,217.00 in expenditures to Riverside County Registrar of Voters, which left her campaign with $782.00 on hand in the election.[3]
Endorsements
Jonathan was endorsed by the following organizations and elected officials:[4][5][6][7][8]
- Desert Sands Teachers' Association
- Evolve
- Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Young
- Palm Desert Planning Commissioner John Greenwood
- Indio Mayor Glenn Miller
- La Quinta Mayor Linda Evans
- Indian Wells Mayor Dana Reed
- Cathedral City Mayor Stan Henry
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Wendy Jonathan |
19.9% | 23,240 | |
| Nonpartisan | Gary Tomak |
14.3% | 16,667 | |
| Nonpartisan | Matt Monica Incumbent |
14.2% | 16,602 | |
| Nonpartisan | Robert Wright | 9.4% | 10,925 | |
| Nonpartisan | James Garrett Koedyker | 10.3% | 12,000 | |
| Nonpartisan | Clark McCartney | 11.2% | 13,033 | |
| Nonpartisan | D.J. Risk | 8.7% | 10,119 | |
| Nonpartisan | Scott A. Baily | 12.2% | 14,202 | |
| Total Votes | 116,788 | |||
| Source: Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Consolidated Presidential Election: November 6, 2012," accessed July 17, 2014 | ||||
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Wendy Jonathan participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[9] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 19, 2017:
| “ | Continue to engage stakeholders and look at creative ways of engaging our students.[10][11] | ” |
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 California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Blank | |
| Blank | |
| Blank | |
| Blank | |
| “ | Making sure that every student has the opportunity to succeed. This requires looking at the budget and student services.[11] | ” |
| —Wendy Jonathan (September 19, 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. |
| 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 always defer to school board decisions. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. |
| 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? |
| Yes. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should always be the last resort. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| The curriculum. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Wendy Jonathan' 'Desert Sands Unified School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Desert Sands Unified School District, California
- Desert Sands Unified School District elections (2016)
External links
- Desert Sands Unified School District
- Office website
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- Twitter page
Footnotes
- ↑ Desert Sands Unified School District, "Board Members," accessed September 9, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Contest/Candidate Proof List ," accessed August 19, 2016
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "County of Riverside Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed February 15, 2017
- ↑ Evolve, "Endorsements: November 8, 2016 General Election," accessed October 13, 2016
- ↑ The Desert Sun, "Insider: School board endorsements," September 30, 2016
- ↑ The Desert Sun, "Insider: School board candidate endorsements," September 16, 2016
- ↑ The Desert Sun, "Insider: School board endorsements," October 6, 2016
- ↑ The Desert Sun, "Teachers choice: Unions endorse school board candidates," October 4, 2016
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Wendy Jonathan's responses," September 19, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Desert Sands Unified School District Elections | |
| Riverside County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Wendy Jonathan • Incumbent, Matt Monica Trustee Area 3: • Incumbent, Gary Tomak • Christin Castellanos • Robert Sylk Trustee Area 4: • Cheryll Dahlin • Linda Porras |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
