Julie Freedman
From Ballotpedia - Reading time: 6 min
Julie Freedman was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Conejo Valley Unified School District school board in California. Freedman was defeated in the at-large general election on November 8, 2016.
Freedman participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections[edit]
2016[edit]
Two of the five seats on the Conejo Valley Unified School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. In their bids for re-election incumbents Peggy Buckles and Betsy Connolly faced challengers Sandee Everett, Julie Freedman, Angie Simpson, and Marlon Delano Williams. Connolly won re-election to the board, and Everett won the other seat on the ballot.[1][2]
Results[edit]
| Conejo Valley Unified School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Sandee Everett |
25.84% | 24,666 |
| Betsy Connolly Incumbent |
18.47% | 17,633 |
| Angie Simpson | 18.29% | 17,458 |
| Peggy Buckles Incumbent | 16.76% | 15,997 |
| Marlon Delano Williams | 10.82% | 10,325 |
| Julie Freedman | 9.69% | 9,246 |
| Write-in votes | 0.13% | 125 |
| Total Votes | 95,450 | |
| Source: Ventura County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results," accessed December 5, 2016 | ||
Funding[edit]
Freedman reported no contributions or expenditures to the Ventura County Registrar of Voters in the election.[3]
Endorsements[edit]
Freedman was endorsed by the community organization Evolve.[4]
Campaign themes[edit]
2016[edit]
Ballotpedia survey responses[edit]
Julie Freedman participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on September 21, 2016:
| “ | I have been actively involved in the schools for the past 13 years and feel I can bring a fresh perspective to the board and ensure that CVUSD is an innovative leader in education for this generation and generations to come.[5][6] | ” |
Ranking the issues[edit]
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 |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | I ranked improving relations with teachers and school choice at the bottom as I feel we have good teacher relations and good school choice options already.[6] | ” |
| —Julie Freedman (September 21, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues[edit]
The candidate was asked to answer nine 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.) |
|---|
| Yes. This really depends on the WHY. It is not a yes or no for me. I do believe in different education options. Every child learns differently and many benefit in a different environment. However, I think we should always try to implement these programs in our current schools first. If our schools cannot provide the programs, then charter schools are a good option. Our job is to ensure that we educate our students today and in the future by giving them the tools required for college and/or career readiness. |
| 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 only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. They are very limited in the subject matter they test for. There is a lot more to a student’s achievement than those few subjects. Additionally, many students who are very smart do not perform well on timed test. All three of my children are in the GATE program, all high achievers, yet two of them score highly on standardized test and one barely passes. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| I believe that our new state standards are very strong and will be an improvement on how we educate our future generations and will better prepare them for the real world. My main concern with the program is the lack of professional development and training that the teachers have received. Additionally, I believe there are too many misconceptions on the program, and therefore the parents and community are not supportive of it. |
| 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? |
| Offer additional training options. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. It would depend on what was the cause, and how underperforming was defined. In most cases, support and training should always be offered first. |
| 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? |
| I feel expulsion should be used as a last resort. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers There isn't one factor that makes for a successful classroom; it is the students, the teachers, the parents, administration, curriculum, tools, support and so much more. If any one area is lacking, it can affect all other areas. |
About the district[edit]
The Conejo Valley Unified School District is located in Ventura County in southern California. The county seat is Ventura. Ventura County was home to 850,536 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[7] The district was the 73rd-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 20,142 students.[8]
Demographics[edit]
Ventura County outperformed California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 31.6 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 31 percent of state residents. The median household income for Ventura County was $77,335, compared to $61,489 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty in the county was 11.5 percent, while it was 16.4 percent statewide.[7]
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
Recent news[edit]
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Julie Freedman Conejo Valley Unified School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also[edit]
- Conejo Valley Unified School District, California
- Conejo Valley Unified School District elections (2016)
External links[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ Ventura County Registrar of Voters, "Qualified Candidate List," accessed September 2, 2016
- ↑ Ventura County, "Semi-Official Final Results," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Ventura County Registrar of Voters, "County of Ventura Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed February 8, 2017
- ↑ Evolve, "Endorsements: November 8, 2016 General Election," accessed October 13, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Julie Freedman's responses," September 21, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 United States Census Bureau, "Ventura County, California," accessed July 6, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Ventura County Registrar of Voters, "Historical Election Results & Statement of Votes," accessed July 16, 2014
| 2016 Conejo Valley Unified School District Elections | |
| Ventura County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Peggy Buckles • Incumbent, Betsy Connolly • Sandee Everett • Julie Freedman • Angie Simpson • Marlon Delano Williams |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
EncycloReader
is supported by the 
KSF