Nancy Kohn Hsieh
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Nancy Kohn Hsieh is the at-large representative on the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District Board of Trustees in California. She was first elected to the board in the general election on November 3, 2015.[1][2]
Hsieh participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read her responses, check out her 2015 campaign themes.
Elections
2015
Opposition
Two of the seven seats on the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District Board of Trustees were up for election on November 3, 2015. The board is elected at-large.
The seats held by incumbents Colleen Marie Sullivan and Audrey Ng were on the ballot.[3]
Ng and newcomer Nancy Kohn Hsieh won election by defeating Bryan Williams. Sullivan did not file to run for re-election.[1][2]
Results
| San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Audrey Ng Incumbent |
41.0% | 12,538 |
| Nancy Kohn Hsieh |
34.3% | 10,492 |
| Bryan Williams | 24.8% | 7,581 |
| Total Votes | 30,611 | |
| Source: San Mateo County, "November 3, 2015 Consolidated Municipal, School and Special District All-Mailed Ballot Election: San Mateo-Foster City School District Members, Governing Board," December 1, 2015 | ||
Funding
The first campaign finance reporting deadline was September 24, 2015, and the second one was October 22, 2015. If candidates raised or spent more than $1,000 from a single source, including their own funds, between August 5, 2015, and November 2, 2015, they had to file a campaign finance report within 24 hours.[4]
Endorsements
Hsieh was endorsed by the following organizations and elected officials:[5][6]
- San Mateo County Democratic Party
- National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
- The Daily Journal
- State Sen. Gerald Hill (D)
- State Assemblyman Kevin Mullin (D)
- San Mateo City Council Member Rick Bonilla
- City of Foster City Mayor Art Kiesel
- City of Foster City Vice-Mayor Gary Pollard
- City of Foster City Council Member Herb Perez
- San Mateo County Board of Education Trustee Rod Hsiao
Hsieh was also endorsed by a number of community leaders.[6] A list of her supporters can be found here.
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Hsieh participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | My number one priority is that all of our students continue to receive a high quality education, whether they attend their neighborhood school, a magnet school, or participate in Special Education or the GATE program. I will work to make certain that every child has access to an excellent school and that they have the resources they need to become ""active, well-rounded, socially responsible citizens who positively impact today and the future,"" as stated in our district's Strategic Plan.
Whether a student is receiving Special Educational Services, is an English Language Learner, is below/at/or above grade level academically, it is important that teachers meet each student where they are and provide them with the instruction, guidance, opportunities, and supports necessary to help them achieve their academic, musical/artistic, physical, social, and emotional potential. Our teachers need ongoing district support in order to function optimally towards meeting these goals. I will work to ensure that they continue to receive this support.[7] |
” |
| —Nancy Kohn Hsieh (2015)[8] | ||
Ranking the issues
Hsieh 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 California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
Positions on the issues
Hsieh 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 |
|---|---|
| "It is important to maintain our district's focus this school year on getting up to full implementation of Common Core standards. The most important piece of doing so is to continue with our professional development and rolling out of consistent curriculum and content throughout our district." | |
| "Whether or not to approve the creation of charter schools is not currently at issue in our district. If a charter school approaches our district, we would first need to determine whether we have any faciity space to accomodate them. At this time, with our existing schools being mainly all filled to capacity (or over-capacity) with students, we do not have any space to accomodate a charter school." | |
| "No" | |
| "Standardized tests are one metric of student achievent. In our district, we are using Galileo assessments as well, which provides teachers with additional information on how students are doing English Language Arts and Math. Due to the removal of the API school rating system, California will be looking at establishing new metrics to measure student achievement. This can include items such as school attendance, student wellness, suspension/expulsion rates, high school graduation, parent involvment, etc." | |
| "There are two routes to ensuring equal opportunities for high and low achieving students. One is through teachers' implementation of differentiated teaching in their classrooms. This means that teachers will assess each student and meet them where they are and build upon that and challenge and stimulate them appropriately. Our district has committed to this method (it is incorporated into our Strategic Plan), and I will work to ensure that teachers have the needed supports, such as supplemental curriculum materials provided by the district, sufficient prep time, principal and peer support, etc.
The second route is through the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Because of this new California funding formula, each school site is required to develop a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). The LCAP is developed by the school community including parents, teachers, and principals (and students as applicable, ie in middle schools). One of the goals of the LCFF and the LCAPs is to ensure equal opportunities for low achieving students, as these students primarily belong to the sub group of children who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, English Language Learners, currently in foster care, and receiving Special Education services. The LCAP for each school will set out plans of how to ensure that the needs of currently low achieving students can best be met and allocate the corresponding funds to carry out those plans." | |
| "Expulsion should be used for serious offenses to ensure the safety of other students as well as the integrity of education at district schools." | |
| "The school board sets the policy and vision behind the practices that the district implements and monitors the district's progress towards goals set. If a school is failing, presumably measured by too many students not achieving proficiency in subject areas as measured by the standardized testing - now CAASP, California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, that replaces the former STAR testing - then the district needs to develop a plan(s) to help the students achieve academic proficiency.
The board's role in this regard is to set clear expectations of the district that programs and supports need to be put in place to help students at such a school to improve academically. I would like to see research proven programs and teaching methods implemented. I would like to see our district looking to other districts that have had success in doing this, and implementing and/or adapting programs in our district according to these best practices. The board also has a responsibility to monitor how each school is doing in this regard and to direct the Superintendent to alter the course if current practices are not leading to the desired outcome of students gaining academic proficiency over time." | |
| "I do not know enough about the process of merit pay for teachers, in general or specifically in out district, to respond yes or no to this question. I am happy to learn more and become informed if it is at issue in our district for our teachers. Generally speaking, I support increasing our district's teachers' salaries (and other support staff's salaries) to the extent permitted by our budgetary contstraints. Part of maintaining a professional workforce of teachers and other staff is paying them suffienctly not only for their service to our students and community but also to allow them to be able to afford to live in our part of the bay area where the costs of rent/housing are outpacing increases in salaries." | |
| "Underperfoming teachers should be provided with supports to provide them with the opportunity to improve their skills and abilities, prior to initiating steps to terminate their contract. This must all be in accord with the existing teacher union contract. If after sufficient time (as delineated in the teacher's union contract) a teacher does not make the needed improvements, then the district has a responsibility to the students to begin the process of progressive discipline which may lead to their termination of employment if they still do not make the needed changes." | |
| "I believe that the continuous improvement of two-way communication among all stakeholders and our district administration and school board is essential to the overall quality of our school district. Parent engagement is linked to student academic success, and parent engagement is increased when parents feel there is great communication between home and school and the district. I support ongoing outreach efforts to involve as many people as are interested in communicating with our district administration and the school board." |
Candidate website
Hsieh highlighted the following priorities on her campaign website:
| “ | Continue to promote a high quality education for all of our students
My number one priority is that all of our students continue to receive a high quality education, whether they attend their neighborhood school, a magnet school, or participate in Special Education or the GATE program. I will work to make certain that every child has access to an excellent school and that they have the resources they need to become "active, well-rounded, socially responsible citizens who positively impact today and the future," as stated in our district's Strategic Plan. Whether a student is receiving Special Educational Services, is an English Language Learner, is below/at/or above grade level academically, it is important that teachers meet each student where they are and provide them with the instruction, guidance, opportunities, and supports necessary to help them achieve their academic, musical/artistic, physical, social, and emotional potential. Our teachers need ongoing district support in order to function optimally towards meeting these goals. I will work to ensure that they continue to receive this support. I believe that it is important for our district administration to listen to the professional experts - our teachers - when making decisions about which curriculum, educational programs, interventions, and supports to implement. These decisions have to be driven by research based educational methods that have been demonstrated to help children achieve academic proficiency. High quality teachers will guide us towards eliminating the academic achievement gap that persists for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, students of color, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities, a goal that is important to me. Offer collaborative solutions to increasing student enrollment and equity issues our district is facing If elected to serve as a member of the school board, I will offer collaborative solutions to increasing student enrollment and equity issues we are facing. I attended multiple Town Hall Meetings during April 2015 in order to personally hear from as many people as possible in both of our district's cities about their thoughts on the Next Steps Advisory Committee's proposed options. I am happy that the district committed to carrying out a process that involved as many of our district's stakeholders - students, parents, teachers and other staff, and community members - as possible in order to arrive at a community supported plan to be presented to the school board for their consideration. I am even happier that the school board voted unanimously to place a bond measure on November 2015 ballot and I fully support the bond and encourage you to learn more about it and vote for it. Passage of this bond is crucial to making it financially possible for our district to add capacity through additional classrooms, facilities, buildings. Strengthen communication among all stakeholders - parents, students, teachers/staff, the community - and the administration and school board I believe that the continuous improvement of two-way communication among all stakeholders - students, parents, teachers/staff, the community - and our district administration and school board is essential to the overall quality of our school district. Parent engagement is linked to student academic success, and parent engagement is increased when parents feel there is great communication between home and school and the district. I support ongoing outreach efforts to involve as many stakeholders as are interested in communicating with our district administration and the school board. I have an "open door" policy and am always interested in hearing from you directly! You can reach me on my cell phone at 510-932-8400 or via email at info@nancy4schoolboard.com .[7] |
” |
| —Nancy Kohn Hsieh, (2015)[9] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Nancy Kohn Hsieh' 'San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District, California
- San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 San Mateo County Elections Office, "Consolidated Municipal, School & Special District Election Tuesday, November 3, 2015: Roster Of Candidates," accessed August 10, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 San Mateo County, "November 3, 2015 Consolidated Municipal, School and Special District All-Mailed Ballot Election: San Mateo-Foster City School District Members, Governing Board," accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ Smart Voter, "Governing Board Member; San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District Voter Information," accessed October 22, 2013
- ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ The Daily Journal, "Editorial: Ng, Kohn Hsieh for San Mateo-Foster City school board," October 13, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Nancy Kohn Hsieh for San Mateo-Foster City School Board November 3, 2015, "Endorsements," accessed October 30, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Nancy Kohn Hsieh responses," October 3, 2015
- ↑ Nancy Kohn Hsieh for San Mateo-Foster City School Board November 3, 2015, "Priorities," accessed October 30, 2015
| 2015 San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District Elections | |
| San Mateo County, California | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Audrey Ng • Nancy Kohn Hsieh • Bryan Williams |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
