Douglas F. Arbetter

Douglas F. Arbetter

Education

High school

Doherty Memorial High School

Personal

Profession

Student

Contact

Personal website

Douglas F. Arbetter was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Worcester School Committee. He did not win a seat in the general election on November 5, 2013.

Biography

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Douglas Arbetter resides in Worcester, Massachusetts. Arbetter graduated from Doherty Memorial High School in 2009 and was a senior at George Washington University at the time of his candidacy, studying International Affairs with a concentration in Global Public Health. He has interned with both Congressman Jim McGovern's office and the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.

Elections

2013

See also: Worcester Public Schools elections (2013)

Douglas Arbetter ran unsuccessfully against eight other candidates for one of six at-large seats in the general election on November 5, 2013.

Results

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

Funding

Douglas Arbetter reported $2,250.00 in contributions and $2,128.09 in expenditures to the Worcester Election Commission, which left his campaign with $121.91 on hand.

Endorsements

Douglas Arbetter received an endorsement for his campaign from the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund.

Campaign themes

Arbetter's campaign website listed the following campaign themes for 2013:

ENCOURAGE, NOT DISCOURAGE It is important that students are being encouraged, not discouraged from taking a rigorous course load. Many students who do not qualify for reduced Advanced Placement (AP) Exam fees often have to make the decision to not take as many AP courses as they would like because of the financial burden the exams have on their families ($89/exam). This means that our students can not be as competitive as they could be applying to college. Therefore, the Worcester Public Schools, in partnership with the Worcester Educational Development Foundation should provide funding opportunities for qualified students taking three or more AP exams in a single academic year. MAKE STUDENTS MORE PREPARED AND MORE COMPETITIVE Expand High School Social Science Curriculum For college-bound students, taking introductory economic courses and introductory civics courses in high school would make them competitive applicants, as well as competitive students Offering these courses would also open the doors for students to expand their Advance Placement options For career-bound students, taking introductory economic courses, financial literacy courses and introductory civics courses at the high school level would allow them to have a basic, but an important understanding of concepts such as banking, government, and taxation. Expand Nontraditional Learning Opportunities for High School Students Increase the number of students participating in dual enrollment programs at local colleges. These programs give students experience learning in college settings and provide them opportunities to take unique courses not offered in high school. Increase the number of students participating in Virtual High School courses. Virtual High School allows for students to take courses that cannot currently be offered in the school. Offer an International Baccalaureate program for students who wish to be academically challenged by the IB curriculum and acquire college credit in high school outside of the Advanced Placement program. Expand the World Language Program Increase the courses of Mandarin Chinese offered; up to the AP level Offer globally significant languages such as Arabic and German Offer community significant languages such as Vietnamese END THE BLAME GAME Holding teachers accountable is important. But, putting a 100% of the blame on teachers when students are failing is not only unfair to the teachers but unfair to the students. On page 101 of the FY13 budget, it is stated that "the teaching staff is responsible for ensuring that all students achieve college and career readiness skills." Teachers can not ensure that students are achieving college and career readiness skills when they are too afraid to intellectually challenge students because they fear of getting in trouble, and thus dumb down the material. In order to solve this problem, administrators, teachers, parents and students need to be involved in the dialogue. Those affected by policies should be given opportunities to influence those policies. As a member of the School Committee I will ensure that this happens.

Note: The above quote is from the candidate's website, which may include some typographical or spelling errors.

Recent news

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Douglas F. Arbetter News Feed

See also

• Worcester Public Schools, Massachusetts
• Worcester Public Schools Elections (2013)

External links

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• District page
• Campaign website
• Facebook page
• Twitter page