Worcester Public Schools elections (2015)

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2015 Worcester Public Schools Elections
General Election date:
November 3, 2015
Table of Contents
About the district Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links
See also
Massachusetts Worcester Public Schools Worcester County, Massachusetts ballot measures Local ballot measures, Massachusetts

Six seats on the Worcester Public Schools School Committee were up for general election on November 3, 2015. All seven seats on the board were up for election. The seventh seat on the board is held by the Mayor of Worcester but was not covered by Ballotpedia as the city falls outside of municipal elections coverage. Incumbents Brian A. O'Connell, John F. Monfredo, John L. Foley and Dianna Biancheria won re-election, while Donna M. Colorio and Molly McCullough joined the board. They defeated incumbents Tracy A. O'Connell Novick and Hilda Ramirez as well as challengers Cotey Collins and Nicola D'Andrea.

Candidates for the Worcester School Committee discussed school safety after two weapons incidents at the school in April 2015. The district commissioned an outside audit of safety at 15 schools slated for publication after the election. The school safety debate brought up ideas ranging from improved communications throughout the district to increased funding for school resource officers and metal detectors. The Educational Association of Worcester, which represents teachers in the district, endorsed challengers Donna M. Colorio and Molly McCullough along with incumbents Brian A. O'Connell, John F. Monfredo and Dianna Biancheria based in part on their responses to the group's questions regarding school safety.

See also: What was at stake in the 2015 Worcester Public Schools elections?

One of the 10 candidates in this election participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 school board candidate survey. Check out the "What was at stake?" section to see survey answers.

About the district

See also: Worcester Public Schools, Massachusetts

Worcester Public Schools is located in Worcester County, Mass.

Worcester Public Schools is located in central Massachusetts in Worcester County. The county seat of Worcester County is Worcester. This county was home to 813,475 residents in 2014, according to estimates by the United States Census Bureau. In the 2012-2013 school year, Worcester Public Schools was the third-largest school district in Massachusetts and served 24,740 students.

Demographics

Worcester County underperformed compared to the rest of Massachusetts in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 33.8 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 39.4 percent for Massachusetts as a whole. The median household income in Worcester County was $65,223, compared to $66,866 for the state of Massachusetts. The poverty rate was 11.2 percent, compared to 11.4 percent for the entire state.

Racial Demographics, 2014
Race	Worcester County (%)	Massachusetts (%)
White	87.5	82.6
Black or African American	5.3	8.3
American Indian and Alaska Native	0.4	0.5
Asian	4.7	6.3
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.1	0.1
Two or More Races	2.0	2.2
Hispanic or Latino	10.5	10.8

Worcester County Party Affiliation, 2012
Party	Registered Voters	% of Total
Democratic	145,412	29.28
Republican	63,915	12.87
Green-Rainbow	610	0.12
Unaffiliated	283,943	57.18
Other	2,686	0.54

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Voter and candidate information

See also: Voting in Massachusetts

The Worcester School Committee consists of seven members, six of whom are elected at large to two-year terms. The seventh member and chair of the committee is the Mayor of Worcester. The general election was held on November 3, 2015. All six seats were on the ballot in 2015.

Individuals interested in running for the board began circulating nominating petitions on March 3, 2015. The filing deadline for school board candidates to get on the ballot in the 2015 general election was May 19, and the deadline to withdraw from the race was May 28. Each candidate had to file a nomination petition to the Board of Election Commissioners.

Elections

2015

Candidates

At-large

Dianna Biancheria	John L. Foley	John F. Monfredo	Brian A. O'Connell	Tracy A. O'Connell Novick
Incumbent First elected in 2009 High school diploma, North High School Assistant director, Worcester Housing Authority	Incumbent First elected in 1999 Bachelor's degree, Dartmouth College Vice president of government and community affairs, Clark University	Incumbent First elected in 2005 Retired principal, Belmont Community School	Incumbent First elected in 1983 Bachelor's degree, College of the Holy Cross J.D., Harvard Law School Attorney and education administrator	Incumbent First elected in 2009 Bachelor's degree, Smith College Master's degree, Boston University School of Education Former teacher
Hilda Ramirez	Donna M. Colorio	Cotey Collins	Nicola D'Andrea	Molly McCullough
Incumbent First elected in 2013 Bachelor's degree, Lesley University Master's degree, Harvard University Graduate School Assistant director, Latino Education Institute at Worcester State University	Committee member, 2011-2013 Bachelor's degree, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Master's degree, Anna Maria College Professor, Quinsigamond Community College	High school diploma, Worcester Technical School Student, Quinsigamond Community College	Bachelor's degree, Worcester State University Sales operations project manager, Fallon Health	Bachelor's degree, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Master's degree, Nichols College Chair, Planting the Seed Foundation

Election results

Worcester School Committee, At-large, General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Brian A. O'Connell Incumbent	12.9%	9,021
Donna M. Colorio	12.3%	8,606
John F. Monfredo Incumbent	12.0%	8,370
John L. Foley Incumbent	11.6%	8,107
Dianna Biancheria Incumbent	10.6%	7,413
Molly McCullough	9.9%	6,891
Tracy A. O'Connell Novick Incumbent	9.0%	6,294
Hilda Ramirez Incumbent	8.6%	6,014
Nicola D'Andrea	7.6%	5,304
Cotey Collins	5.5%	3,839
Total Votes		69,859
Source: Worcester, Massachusetts, "City of Worcester Municipal Elections 11/3/2015 Official Results," accessed December 17, 2015

Endorsements

The Educational Association of Worcester endorsed Dianna Biancheria, Donna M. Colorio, Molly McCullough, John F. Monfredo and Brian A. O'Connell.

Campaign finance

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2015

Candidates received a total of $45,827.71 and spent a total of $26,960.37 as of October 28, 2015, according to the Worcester Election Commission. All candidates were required to file pre-election campaign finance reports at least eight days prior to the general election.

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
At-large
Dianna Biancheria (incumbent)	$4,450.00	$4,653.45	$3,270.82
John L. Foley (incumbent)	$0.00	$309.00	$3,324.71
John F. Monfredo (incumbent)	$3,175.00	$2,639.01	$3,481.63
Brian A. O'Connell (incumbent)	$0.00	$0.00	$708.12
Tracy A. O'Connell Novick (incumbent)	$1,955.00	$447.00	$1,676.03
Hilda Ramirez (incumbent)	$3,015.62	$3,004.38	$242.75
Donna M. Colorio	$14,289.34	$5,537.69	$10,076.76
Cotey Collins	$1,070.75	$548.46	$487.27
Nicola D'Andrea	$5,245.00	$4,885.78	$359.22
Molly McCullough	$12,627.00	$4,935.60	$7,691.40

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2013 See also: Worcester Public Schools elections (2013) General election Worcester Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 2-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Brian A. O'Connell Incumbent 15.3% 8,146      Nonpartisan John L. Foley Incumbent 13.9% 7,385      Nonpartisan John F. Monfredo Incumbent 12.2% 6,465      Nonpartisan Dianna Biancheria Incumbent 11.9% 6,305      Nonpartisan Tracy A. O'Connell Novick Incumbent 11.8% 6,247      Nonpartisan Hilda Ramirez 11.4% 6,053      Nonpartisan Donna M. Colorio Incumbent 10.6% 5,654      Nonpartisan Robert J. Cohane 7.5% 3,981      Nonpartisan Douglas F. Arbetter 5.5% 2,908 Total Votes 53,144 Source: Worcester, Massachusetts, "Election Summary, Municipal Election," accessed December 18, 2013 2011 General election Worcester Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 2-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Brian A. O'Connell Incumbent 13.3% 9,074      Nonpartisan John L. Foley Incumbent 13.3% 9,065      Nonpartisan Dianna Biancheria Incumbent 12.1% 8,258      Nonpartisan John F. Monfredo Incumbent 11.1% 7,565      Nonpartisan Tracy A. O'Connell Novick Incumbent 10.3% 6,974      Nonpartisan Donna M. Colorio 10% 6,768      Nonpartisan Mary J. Mullaney Incumbent 9.9% 6,735      Nonpartisan Hilda Ramirez 8.6% 5,830      Nonpartisan Todd Mark Salmonsen 6.2% 4,220      Nonpartisan John A. Trobaugh 5.1% 3,486 Total Votes 67,975 Source: Worcester, Massachusetts, "Election Summary, Municipal Election," accessed September 25, 2013

What was at stake?

2015

Election trends

See also: School boards in session: 2014 elections by the numbers

With six seats and 10 candidates on the ballot on November 3, 2015, two-thirds of non-mayoral seats on the board could have changed hands. All incumbents ran to retain their seats and no newcomers were guaranteed to join the board.

Races for the Worcester School Committee remained relatively stable in terms of candidates per seat and incumbents seeking re-election between 2011 and 2015. The average number of candidates per seat decreased slightly from 1.7 per seat in 2011 to 1.5 per seat in 2013 before rebounding to 1.7 per seat in 2015. All six incumbents filed for re-election in 2011, 2013, and 2015. One incumbent lost his or her re-election bid in 2011 and 2013, and two incumbents lost their re-election bids in 2015.

Issues in the district

School safety debate

Student arrests at two district schools in April 2015 spurred a conversation about school safety that crossed over into the 2015 board elections. On April 29, 2015, five students at Worcester Technical High School were arrested for carrying knives and a pellet gun near the school. Another incident on the same day involved police monitoring of a Burncoat High School student and another person fleeing the property and dropping a handgun during their escape. The city responded to the incidents on April 30 by stationing police officers in all five high schools for the remainder of the 2014-2015 school year. The district experienced 40 weapon incidents during that school year along with 36 assaults on students.

These incidents triggered a discussion of new security measures in schools including a city council proposal to add metal detectors to high school entrances. Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme discussed crime from surrounding neighborhoods filtering into schools in the wake of the April 2015 incidents. Following the arrests, Superintendent Melinda Boone noted that district schools were safe but that all solutions would be reviewed to prevent similar problems in the future. Robert Pezzella, the district's school safety liaison, concluded from his previous safety audits that better communications between schools and city officials were needed. The city commissioned an audit of safety issues at 15 district schools by Good Harbor Techmark in September 2015. The audit had an estimated cost of $84,281 with a projected publication date of November 30, 2015.

The city of Worcester experienced a smaller decline in violent crimes from 2009 to 2013 compared to other large cities in Massachusetts. Worcester's total number of violent crimes decreased 2.2 percent during that period, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Crime in the United States report. This rate was lower than the decline for Boston (18.6 percent), Springfield (13.2 percent), Lowell (47.5 percent), and Cambridge (27.3 percent). The following table traces the violent crime rates from 2009 to 2013 for the state's five largest cities by population.

Issues in the election

Candidates discuss school safety

The dialogue between school board candidates in 2015 was defined in part by the school safety discussion. The following box summarizes the positions of each candidate on school safety as discussed in candidate forums, interviews, and posts on campaign websites.

Candidate stances on school safety
Candidate	Stated position
Dianna Biancheria	Improve communication between school committee and other stakeholders, input from principals and staff members on future safety plans
John L. Foley	Increase presence of school resource officers
John F. Monfredo	Support for police grant to connect schools to emergency services
Brian A. O'Connell	Improve school environment by enforcing disciplinary rules, follow recommendations of audit
Tracy A. O'Connell Novick	Opposed to police presence in schools, review recommendations of audit
Hilda Ramirez	Engagement of parents in the district, increased number of after-school and summer programs
Donna M. Colorio	Greater involvement and more funding for safety by school committee
Cotey Collins	Support for more police in schools and metal detectors
Nicola D'Andrea	Expedite safety audit, create school-by-school plans, public input on plans
Molly McCullough	Continued evaluation of police presence in schools, consistent safety standards

Ballotpedia survey responses

One candidate out of 10 total candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following section displays the responses to the survey questions from at-large incumbent John F. Monfredo.

Top priorities

When asked what his top priorities would be if elected, Monfredo stated:

“	1. SCHOOL SAFETY … we must do everything possible to maintain safety in our schools. 2. RIGOROUS CURRICULUM … All of our children need to be exposed to a challenging curriculum and on the secondary level be exposed to additional AP courses. 3. PARENT INVOLVEMENT - Parents are the child's first and most influential teachers and we must be sure that they are part of the learning process. 4. EMPHASIS ON EARLY LEARNING – Prek to grade three learning … We need to commit to having all our children reading on grade level by the end of grade three. ON GRADE LEVEL BY THE END OF GRADE THREE… WE NEED TO STRONGLY ADDRESS THIS ISSUE 5. CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM WITH OUR DISTRICT … IT’S TOO HIGH AND IT LEADS TO STUDENTS BECOMING FRUSTRATED AT AN EARLY AGE AND IT LEADS TO HAVING OUR STUDENTS DROP OUT OF SCHOOL. AND OF COURSE THE FUNDING ISSUE HAS A STRONG IMPACT ON THESE PRIORITIES…	”
—John Monfredo, (2015),

Ranking the issues

The candidates were 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 the candidates' rankings from most to least important:

Education policy
Click here to learn more about education policy in Massachusetts.
Education on the ballot

Issue importance ranking
Issue	Monfredo
Balancing or maintaining the district's budget	2
Expanding career-technical education	6
Closing the achievement gap	1
Expanding arts education	5
Improving college readiness	3
Improving education for special needs students	4
Expanding school choice options	7

Positions on the issues

The candidates were asked to answer 10 multiple and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to the candidates' responses can be found below.

• John Monfredo survey responses

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Worcester Public Schools election in 2015:

Deadline	Event
March 3, 2015	First day for candidates to take out nomination documents
May 19, 2015	Deadline for candidates to file nomination documents with the Worcester Board of Election Commissioners
May 28, 2015	Deadline for candidates to withdraw or for objections to nominations
October 14, 2015	Voter registration deadline for general election
November 3, 2015	Election Day

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Massachusetts elections, 2015

This election shared the ballot with races for the Worcester City Council.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Worcester Public Schools Massachusetts. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Worcester Public Schools elections (2015) - Google News

See also

Worcester Public Schools	Massachusetts	School Boards
Worcester Public Schools elections (2013) List of school districts in Massachusetts	Massachusetts school board elections, 2015 Public education in Massachusetts Local ballot measures, Massachusetts	School board elections, 2015 School board elections, 2014 School board election data analysis, 2015 School board election data analysis, 2014

External links

Suggest a link

• Worcester Public Schools
• Worcester Election Commission