Compton Unified School District elections (2015)

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2015 Compton Unified School District Elections
General Election date:
November 3, 2015
Table of Contents
About the district
Method of election
Elections
What was at stake?
Candidate survey
Key deadlines
Additional elections
External links
See also
California
Compton Unified School District
Los Angeles County, California ballot measures
Local ballot measures, California
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Three seats on the Compton Unified School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015.[1]

Incumbents Micah Ali and Skyy Fisher sought re-election to their seats. Incumbent Emma Sharif did not run for re-election. Other candidates seeking the three seats were Richard Alatorre, Lizette Arevalo, Barbara Calhoun, Charles Davis, Arturo Frazier, Maria Hechavarria, Carol Jordan, Justine Landeros, Jolena Lomax, Janette Mora, Sandra Moss, Francisco Orozco, Diana Padilla, Denzell Perry, Gregory Pitts, Jerry Randle, Kim Smith and Omar Spry.[2][3] Ali, Davis and Moss won the election.[4]

Davis was already a member of the Compton Unified Board of Education. His term was not supposed to be up for election again until 2017, but due to the at-large election process, he was able to run early. His election to a different term left a vacancy on the board.[4][5] Arevalo and Orozco ran together as a slate.[6] Marketta Martin initially filed as a candidate, but she withdrew from the election.[7]

Citizens of the district had a number of issues to consider when voting in this election. There were several calls for board member resignations in 2015. Incumbent Skyy Fisher was on trial for a felony charge involving a sex act at the time of the election. Parents, community members and community organizations called for his resignation, but Fisher did not step down from his position on the board. He lost his bid for re-election.[4][8][9] There were calls for the resignation of all district board members as well as Superintendent Darin Brawley following 80 teacher layoffs after the 2014-2015 school year.[10] In September 2015, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that students could be considered disabled as a result of trauma. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed against the Compton Unified School District.[11] In addition to voting on the district’s next three school board members, voters in the district had to decide whether or not to pass a $350 million general obligation bond in the general election.[12]

See also: What was at stake in the Compton Unified School Board election?

See how this race compared to past school board elections in both the district and the state in the "Election trends" section. Challengers Barbara Calhoun and Arturo Frazier participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read their responses, check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section.

About the district

See also: Compton Unified School District, California
Compton Unified School District is located in Los Angeles County, Calif.

Compton Unified School District is located in Los Angeles County in southwestern California. The county seat is Los Angeles.[13] Los Angeles County was home to 10,116,705 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[14] During the 2012-2013 school year, Compton Unified School District was the 51st-largest school district by enrollment in California and served 24,710 students.[15]

Demographics

Los Angeles County underperformed compared to the rest of California in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 30.7 percent for California as a whole. The median household income for Los Angeles County was $55,909, compared to $61,094 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level was 17.8 percent, compared to 15.9 percent statewide.[14]

Racial Demographics, 2013[14]
Race Los Angeles County (%) California (%)
White 71.5 73.5
Black or African American 9.2 6.6
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.5 1.7
Asian 14.6 14.1
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 0.4 0.5
Two or more races 2.9 3.7
Hispanic or Latino 48.3 38.4

Presidential Voting Pattern,
Los Angeles County[16]
Year Democratic Vote Republican Vote
2012 2,216,903 885,333
2008 2,295,853 956,425
2004 1,907,736 1,076,225
2000 1,710,505 871,930

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

Compton Unified seal.jpg

The Compton Unified Board of Education consists of seven members elected at-large to four-year terms. Board members are elected on a staggered basis every November of odd-numbered years. There are no primary elections. Four seats were up for election on November 5, 2013, and three seats were on the ballot on November 3, 2015.[1][17]

School board candidates had to be at least 18 years old, residents of the school district and qualified voters. They could not be employees of the school district while in office.[17] To get on the ballot, candidates had to file their declaration of candidacy with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk by August 7, 2015.[18]

To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by October 19, 2015. Voters could cast vote-by-mail ballots from October 24, 2015, through Election Day.[18] Photo identification was not required to vote in California.

Elections

2015

Candidates

At-large
Micah Ali Green check mark transparent.png Skyy Fisher Richard Alatorre Lizette Arevalo Barbara Calhoun
  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2007-2015
  • Graduate, California State University at Dominguez Hills
  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2011-2015
  • Graduate, California State University at Dominguez Hills
  • Communications manager, Engineers and Architects Association
  • Businessman
  • Member of candidate slate with Francisco Orozco
  • Graduate, University of California at Santa Barbara, Columbia University and the University of California at Riverside
  • Student and graduate student instructor, University of California at Riverside
Charles Davis Green check mark transparent.png Arturo Frazier Maria Hechavarria Carol Jordan Justine Landeros
  • School board member
  • Graduate, California State University at Los Angeles
  • Retired clerk, City of Compton
  • Consultant, designer and minister
  • Graduate, California State University at Dominguez Hills
  • English tutor
  • Educator
  • University student
Jolena Lomax Janette Mora Sandra Moss Green check mark transparent.png Francisco Orozco Diana Padilla
  • Educator
  • Teacher and personal trainer
  • Graduate, National University
  • Deputy probation officer, Los Angeles County Probation Department
  • Bilingual special education advocate
Denzell Perry Gregory Pitts Jerry Randle Kim Smith Omar Spry
  • Student, University of California at Irvine
  • Research assistant, University of California at Irvine
  • Director of programs and operations at the Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club
  • CEO and co-chairman, United Children's Foundation for Progress
  • Graduate, University of California at Irvine and California State University at Dominguez Hills
  • Teacher, Hawthorne School District
  • Teacher, contractor and administrator

Election results

Compton Unified School District, At-large, General Election, 2015
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Micah Ali Incumbent 15.7% 2,282
Green check mark transparent.png Charles Davis 9.7% 1,412
Green check mark transparent.png Sandra Moss 8.3% 1,204
Gregory Pitts 7.2% 1,049
Carol Jordan 7.0% 1,021
Barbara Calhoun 6.6% 960
Richard Alatorre 6.4% 932
Jerry Randle 5.5% 795
Skyy Fisher Incumbent 4.4% 637
Arturo Frazier 4.2% 612
Francisco Orozco 4.2% 602
Lizette Arevalo 3.8% 547
Diana Padilla 3.2% 466
Kim Smith 3.2% 457
Omar Spry 2.7% 387
Justine Landeros 2.3% 331
Denzell Perry 1.8% 258
Maria Hechavarria 1.7% 242
Janette Mora 1.1% 161
Jolena Lomax 0.9% 135
Total Votes 14,490
Source: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 24, 2015

Endorsements

The following table details some of the organizations and officials who have endorsed candidates in this election. A list of candidates with additional endorsements can be found in the list below the table.

Candidate endorsements
Endorsement Micah Ali Richard Alatorre Barbara Calhoun Charles Davis Arturo Frazier Maria Hechavarria Sandra Moss Francisco Orozco Denzell Perry Gregory Pitts
Political parties
Democratic Party Los Angeles County Democratic Party[19]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Community organizations
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO[20]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
SEIU Local 99[21]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Compton Teachers' Union[22]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Evolve[23]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Local elected officials
Compton Mayor Aja Brown[22]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}

The following candidates received additional endorsements. Click on their names to see their full list of supporters.

Campaign finance

Campaign Finance Ballotpedia.png
See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2015

At the time of this election, the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staffers requested this information, but the only free method of viewing the files was at their office.

The Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk targeted the end of 2018 to make school board candidate campaign finance reports available online for free. From that point forward, Ballotpedia began including campaign finance data for Los Angeles County school board candidates.[24][25][26]

Campaign finance reporting requirements in California vary depending on how much money candidates spend or raise. For candidates planning to raise or spend less than $1,000, an Officeholder and Candidate Campaign Statement Short Form (Form 470) must be filed with their county or city elections office. If candidates plan to spend up to $1,000, including their own funds, they must also file a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501). "If a candidate does not raise any money and personal funds are used only to pay filing or ballot statement fees, the candidate is not required to file the Form 501," according to the Fair Political Practices Commission. If candidates raise money outside of their own funds, a separate campaign bank account must be established.[27]

Candidates raising or spending more than $1,000, including their personal funds, must file a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501), file a Statement of Organization (Form 410) and establish a separate bank account for campaign funds. They must then file Recipient Committee Campaign Statements (Form 460) to disclose their contributions and expenditures throughout their campaigns. If they receive more than $1,000 from a single source within 90 days of the election, they must file a 24-hour Contribution Report (Form 497).[27]

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If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at elections@ballotpedia.org.

Past elections

What was at stake?

2015

Election trends

School Board Election Trends Banner.jpg
See also: Compton Unified School District elections (2013)

With three of the seven seats up for election on November 3, 2015, nearly half of the Compton Unified Board of Education had the potential to change hands. Two of the three incumbents filed to run for another term, ensuring that at least one newcomer would join the board. One newcomer did join the board, and one incumbent won re-election. The other seat went to a sitting member whose term was not up until 2017.

With 18 candidates challenging the remaining incumbents, an average of 6.7 candidates ran per seat in this race. That was much higher than the state average of 1.91 candidates per seat in California's largest school districts in 2014.

Though 6.7 candidates per seat was the highest average in recent years, the high number of candidates in Compton Unified was not unusual. An average of 3.25 candidates ran for each seat in 2013, and an average of four candidates per seat ran in 2011.

Issues in the election

Measure S
See also: Compton Unified School District Bond Issue, Measure S (November 2015)

The Compton Unified School District asked voters to approve Measure S, a $350 million general obligation bond on November 3, 2015. A 55 percent supermajority vote was required to approve the measure. The measure was passed with 55.94 percent of voters casting ballots to approve it.[4]

The bond question appeared on the ballot as follows:[12]

Micah Ali
“ To make schools modern, safe and inspiring; shall the Compton Unified School District issue $350,000,000 in bonds at legal rates to reconstruct local schools and facilities, including research libraries, modern classrooms and science labs, media and performing arts centers, technology centers and athletic complexes; improve safety, security, roofing, plumbing, heating, electrical, and other systems; with mandatory audits, independent citizen oversight, no money for administrator salaries, and all funds staying local?[28] ”

Micah Ali, incumbent and president on the Compton Unified Board of Education, spoke in favor of the bond. He said, "To accelerate the dramatic improvements we made with student performance will take an investment from the community. If our children are going to be career and college ready for the 21st-century economy, they deserve to learn in 21st-century facilities.”[29]

Issues in the district

Compton board member on trial for felony charge
Skyy Fisher

Compton Unified school board member Skyy Fisher was on trial for the felony charge of oral copulation of an unconscious person at the time of the election. The trial started September 21, 2015, in the San Diego Superior Court.[8]

The case focused on an incident that happened in April 2014 between Fisher and the alleged victim, who testified at a preliminary hearing in 2014 that Fisher had committed a sex act on him while he was asleep. The alleged victim, known as Steve, said he woke up while the sex act was being performed, and he went to the police. In May 2014, a search warrant was issued to collect Fisher's DNA, which was found to be a match to DNA collected from Steve. Fisher later apologized for his actions and was arrested by U.S. Marshals. According to The Front Page Online, prosecutors on the case had a recorded message of Fisher admitting to a non-consensual sex act.[9]

After news of the incident and court case became public, a number of parents, community members and community organizations called for Fisher's resignation from the board, but he did not comply to those requests.[8][9] He ran to keep his seat in the general election on November 3, 2015, but he did not get re-elected to the board.[4] If he had won his re-election bid, he would have had to vacate his seat if convicted, according to state law.[30]

Lawsuit seeks abuse and violence training for district staff

Five students and three teachers from the Compton Unified School District filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the district failed to properly educate students who had suffered from traumatic experiences. The lawsuit sought an injunction to require the district to train its staff in understanding and recognizing the effect of abuse and violence. In response, the district requested the lawsuit be thrown out.[31]

Public Counsel, a Los Angeles-based pro bono law firm, and Irell & Manella LLP filed the lawsuit on behalf of the students and teachers. Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel, said the lawsuit was about equal access to education. "They are being stopped at the schoolhouse door. They come to school not even knowing they suffer from complex trauma but then they are treated differently," he said.[31]

The district maintained that teachers were already being trained in "trauma-sensitive practices" and that it responded to students who had experienced trauma on an individual basis. The district's attorneys said the lawsuit infringed on the district's right to train its staff. One attorney said that if the judge ruled in favor of the lawsuit, all Compton Unified students could be labeled as having "complex trauma" because of their socioeconomic background.[31]

On September 30, 2015, U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald ruled that students who grow up in violent or poverty-stricken neighborhoods could be considered disabled and, if they are considered disabled, they should be treated as school districts are required to treat traditionally disabled students. Fitzgerald maintained, however, that experiencing trauma did not automatically mean a student would suffer "from cognizable trauma-induced disabilities" or that they had been denied an equal education. He denied the injunction and did not require the district to administer additional trauma training.[11]

Teacher layoffs lead to call for resignation of board members

About 80 Compton Unified teachers were told they would be let go after the 2014-2015 school year, due to what Superintendent Darin Brawley called a "California problem." The Compton Democratic Club, however, blamed the layoffs on the district's inefficient government. The group protested school board meetings in the spring of 2015 and collected over 400 signatures asking Brawley and all of the district's school board members to resign.[10]

Francisco Orozco

Brawley said the layoffs were necessary because the Quality Education Investment Act was cut from the state budget. The district had to layoff the teachers who were paid with funding from that program, but Brawley said the district should focus on the positive. "In Compton we are proud that we were able to reduce the number of layoffs by 60 teaching positions through our Local Control Accountability Plan, budget cuts and reassignments," said Brawley.[10]

Francisco Orozco, head of the Compton Democratic Club and a candidate for a Compton Unified school board seat in the 2015 general election, said the district could have avoided the layoffs if its leaders had reallocated funds years ago. "We’ve had years of inefficient local government and this government hasn’t done its job so it’s time for them to go. We want them gone," said Orozco.[10]

Board president Micah Ali agreed with Brawley. "There’s no school board in Los Angeles County that wants to lay off teachers. The issue of teacher layoffs is a California issue," Ali said.[10]

Ballotpedia survey responses

Candidate Connection Logo - stacked.png
See also: Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey

Two of the 20 candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from challengers Barbara Calhoun and Arturo Frazier.

Top priorities
Barbara Calhoun.jpg

When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Calhoun stated:

“ Compton schools do not have any type of advocacy at their schools for crisis intervention, advocate for our homeless/foster care students, smaller class sizes. more arts, teacher mentorship.[28] ”
—Barbara Calhoun (2015)[32]
Arturo Frazier

When asked what his top priority would be if elected, Frazier stated:

“ Better teacher pay

District-wide Facility Repairs and upgrade
Fiscal solvancy[28]

”
—Arturo Frazier (2015)[33]
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 their rankings:

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

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

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Compton Unified School District election in 2015:[18][34]

Deadline Event
June 8, 2015 - August 7, 2015 Candidate filing period
July 31, 2015 Semi-annual campaign finance report due
August 5, 2015 - November 2, 2015 24-hour campaign contribution reporting period
September 7, 2015 - October 20, 2015 Write-in candidate filing period
September 24, 2015 Pre-election campaign finance report due
October 19, 2015 Voter registration deadline
October 22, 2015 Pre-election campaign finance report due
October 24, 2015 First day voters can cast vote-by-mail ballots
November 3, 2015 Election Day
February 1, 2016 Semi-annual campaign finance report due

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: California elections, 2015

The Compton Unified School District election shared the ballot with an election for two seats on the Compton Community College District Governing Board and with Measure S.[12][35]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Compton Unified School District' California. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Compton Unified School District elections (2015) - Google News

See also

Compton Unified School District California School Boards
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Seal of California.png
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, “2015 Scheduled Elections,” accessed January 27, 2015
  2. ↑ Compton Unified School District, "Board Members," accessed January 27, 2015
  3. ↑ Los Angeles County, California, "Candidate List," accessed August 11, 2015
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 24, 2015
  5. ↑ Abbey Smith, "Phone communication with Charles Davis," October 20, 2015
  6. ↑ A Better Compton, "Your Candidates for a Better Compton School District," accessed October 15, 2015
  7. ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Final List of Qualified Candidates," September 1, 2015
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Compton Herald, "Skyy De’Anthony Fisher: Day of reckoning for Compton School Board trustee," September 17, 2015
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 The Front Page Online, "Is Skyy the Limit for Compton Board Member?" September 18, 2015
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 NBC Los Angeles, "Group Calls For Resignations Over Compton Teacher Layoff Plans," April 22, 2015
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 NPR, "Ruling In Compton Schools Case: Trauma Could Cause Disability," October 1, 2015
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Los Angeles County Elections Office, “Measures appearing on the ballot on November 3, 2015,” accessed September 8, 2015
  13. ↑ Geology.com, "California County Map with County Seat Cities," accessed July 1, 2014
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 United States Census Bureau, "Los Angeles County, California," accessed January 13, 2015
  15. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 29, 2015
  16. ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Past Election Results," accessed July 1, 2014
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Compton Unified School District, "Policies," accessed August 6, 2015
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Calendar of Events," accessed July 29, 2015
  19. ↑ Los Angeles County Democratic Party, "Endorsements," accessed October 15, 2015
  20. ↑ Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, "Endorsements," accessed October 15, 2015
  21. ↑ SEIU Local 99, "Making Politics Work for Us: School Board Endorsements for Nov 3 Election," accessed October 15, 2015
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Facebook, "Richard Alatorre for the City of Compton," accessed October 15, 2015
  23. ↑ Evolve, "2015 Endorsements: November 03, 2015 Election," accessed October 15, 2015
  24. ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed July 2, 2014
  25. ↑ Daniel Anderson, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," October 7, 2016
  26. ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," January 2, 2018
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Fair Political Practices Commission, "Local Candidates, Superior Court Judges, Their Controlled Committees, and Primarily Formed Committees for Local Candidates: Campaign Disclosure Manual 2," accessed August 5, 2015
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  29. ↑ Compton Herald, "Compton Unified places $350 million bond on November ballot," June 25, 2015
  30. ↑ California Government Code, "SECTION 1770-1782," accessed October 16, 2015
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Los Angeles Times, "Compton Unified fights a lawsuit over children's 'demons,'" August 20, 2015
  32. ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Barbara Calhoun responses," September 18, 2015
  33. ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Arturo Frazier responses," October 19, 2015
  34. ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
  35. ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections - 11/3/2015," accessed July 29, 2015
2015 Compton Unified School District Elections
Los Angeles County, California
Election date:November 3, 2015
Candidates:At-large: • Incumbent, Micah Ali • Incumbent, Skyy Fisher • Richard Alatorre • Lizette Arevalo • Barbara Calhoun • Charles Davis • Arturo Frazier • Maria Hechavarria • Carol Jordan • Justine Landeros • Jolena Lomax • Janette Mora • Sandra Moss • Francisco Orozco • Diana Padilla • Denzell Perry • Gregory Pitts • Jerry Randle • Kim Smith • Omar Spry
Important information:What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot
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