David Ray (Colorado)

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David Ray

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Douglas County School District Board of Directors District F

Successor: Valerie Thompson

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Personal

Birthplace

Lawson, Mo.

Religion

Christian

David Ray was a member of the Douglas County School District Board of Directors in Colorado, representing District F. He left office on November 30, 2023.

Ray ran for re-election to the Douglas County School District Board of Directors to represent District F in Colorado. He won in the general election on November 5, 2019.

Ray completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Ray was first elected on November 3, 2015. David Ray won the general election on November 3, 2015.

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Ray's education experience includes serving as principal at South Elementary School in Castle Rock and opening three different schools in Highlands Ranch and Parker. Following this, he retired and was contracted by the Douglas School District to begin a new outdoor education center in Larkspur.

Elections

2019

See also: Douglas County School District, Colorado, elections (2019)

General election

General election for Douglas County School District Board of Directors District F

Incumbent David Ray defeated Kory Nelson in the general election for Douglas County School District Board of Directors District F on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David Ray (Nonpartisan)	54.1	50,171
		Kory Nelson (Nonpartisan)	45.9	42,490

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 92,661
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2015

See also: Douglas County School District elections (2015)

Three of the seven seats on the Douglas County School District Board of Directors were up for election on November 3, 2015. Seats in Districts A, C, and F were on the general election ballot.

District A incumbent Craig V. Richardson faced challenger Wendy Vogel. Anne Marie Lemieux challenged incumbent Kevin Larsen for the District C seat. The District F race included incumbent Richard Robbins and challenger David Ray. Vogel won the District A seat, Lemieux secured District C, and Ray was elected to District F.

Results

Douglas County School District, District F, General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
David Ray	59.2%	51,048
Richard Robbins Incumbent	40.8%	35,189
Total Votes		86,237
Source: Douglas County, "Official County Results," accessed December 21, 2015

Funding

Ray reported $19,015.34 in contributions and $2,595.85 in expenditures to the Colorado Secretary of State, which left his campaign with $16,419.49 on hand as of October 30, 2015.

Campaign themes

2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

David Ray completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ray's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a retired educator (30 years). My career has included serving as a teacher of elementary grades, principal, outdoor education director, and Chief Academic Officer. Both my children completed their K - 12 education in DCSD schools. I have an M.A. in Educational Administration and a M.A. in Clinical Counseling. I am completing a 4 year term as Board Director (the last two as President).

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I want to conitnue stabelizing and growing our District to regain its "lighthouse" educational reputation for the sake of our students.
• I want to continue to focus the Board's goals on 5 essential areas: Academic Excellence, Outstanding Educators and Staff, Safe and Positive School Cultures, Collaborative Relationships with Parents and Community, and Financial Stewardship
• I want to remain focused on the Board's role to write policy that enables staff and experts to do their jobs, and serve as a bridge between the community and school system.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

School safety and elimination of violence

Local control of the educational system
Recruitment and Retention of high quality educators
Adequate funding for an education in which our students will thrive

Maintaining the principles of public education

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Wonder a novel by R.J. Palacio. "When give the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind." "Strong people don't put others down,. They lift them up."

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

The ability to seek to understand and modeling inclusive practices were all voices are heard.
In addition the ability to be transparent with processes that lead to decision making and following up with clarity around how the need was validated and what considerations were made before decisions were made.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To continually ask the question, "How is this decision and/or policy going to benefit the educational experience for all 68,000 students?"
Core responsibilities include: holding the superintendent accountable for an educational system that ensures all students are realizing their potential; setting policy that enables all employees to thrive in their positions that promote each student's success; and maintaining a pipeline to the community to ensure that practices and experiences are reflective of the community's values and priorities.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

The primary job of a school board director is to hold the Superintendent accountable for ensuring that all systems in the organization are working for the benefit of its students. In addition, the Board sets policy that ensures that desired outcomes expectations for all facets of the organization are clearly defined.

Who are your constituents?

Students, staff, parents, community, and partners who invest in public education.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

Hold the superintendent accountable for carrying out the Board's goals ensuring all students have equitable access to schools that promote their cognitive, physical, social and emotional needs and builds on their strengths. This includes recognizing that equitable does not always mean "equal," and distribution of resources must be based on students' unique needs as opposed to a rigid formulaic approach. In addition, I support the regular and systematic approach of collecting satisfaction feedback and input from students, staff, and the community.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

I currently provide multiple opportunities for community members to interact: coffees, regional opportunities to have informal conversations with small groups, and communications through email and phone. I would target stakeholders that have a vested interest in our students as well as those who also support their development: law enforcement agencies, first responders, faith-basked organizations, other elected officials (e.g. county commissioners), and business that will directly benefit from our graduates.

What will you do to build a better relationship with parents in the district? What plans do you have to be inclusive of parental involvement?

I have established multiple vehicles for parents to access me as a Board Director: social media, email, published phone contacts, individual meetings, coffees, and regional meetings ("Board Unplugged") to encourage these interaction. In addition I voted to approve a third party research team to conduct an extensive survey though town hall meetings and digital means to ensure that as many recipients as possible. Public comment and visibility as district events are also opportunities for me to engage with our parents. In addition the Board maintains multiple committees that advise the Board on various topics (e.g. District Accountability Committee, Long Range Planning Committee, Fiscal Oversight Committee, Special Education Advisory Council, Bond and Mill Levy Override Oversight Committee, and Safety and Security Committee.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

Yes. An Equity Committee was launched to monitor and encourage Human Resource practices for recruitment of a diversified candidate pool and hiring practices that reflect the diversity of our student population.

What issues get in the way of quality education? How would you address these obstacles?

Over assessment of students. I have advocated at the State level for reasonable accountability practices that reflect meaningful assessments that educators can use in prescribing instruction for students.

Too many mandates from the State level (e.g. high stakes testing) can interfere with quality instructional time. I have lead the Board to setting legislative priorities request a reduction in federal and state mandated student assessments. In addition these priorities emphasize the need to accountability practices should be based on local measures that inform instruction.

What constitutes good teaching? How will you measure this? How will you support advanced teaching approaches?

Good teaching begins with positive student-teacher relations that assure students that the teacher cares about them as individuals. In addition, student engagement needs to be emphasized over compliance. The tool for evaluating educators need to reflect best practices and evidence-based techniques. These are supported through the Board approval of performance evaluation rubrics, receiving recommendations from an employee council representative all all department and employee groups, and measured through monitoring reports provided by the Superintendent.

What type of skills should students be learning for success in the 21st century?

Civic Responsibility

Financial Literacy
Global Awareness
Health and Wellness
Problem Solving
Resiliency

Systems Thinking

How might you improve the value of a high school diploma? What should a 21st century diploma reflect?

By promoting multiple post graduation paths: college, military, trade, career/tech ed, and career readiness. A 21st century diploma should not only reflect assurance that graduation competencies have been met, but diploma should also list industrial certifications and emphasized skills strands that the student has mastered for the paths listed.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

We are increasing students' opportunities to receive industrial certifications prior to graduation and expanding opportunities for concurrent enrollment where students can achieve college credit while in high school. I believe the curriculum should be expanded to expose students more career based experiences that might clarify their areas of focus whether going to college or going directly into the work force.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

Building trust with the community has been critical when asking for additional revenue. We were recently successful in passing both a Bond initiative and mill levy override. In addition we contact our legislators on a regular basis to provide direct understanding of the financial needs of our schools. On a number of occasions, we have joined other school boards to advocate for state initiatives that will increase revenue for our schools.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

School safety needs to be a multi-faceted approach that promotes a comprehensive plan that includes: mental health support, systematic monitoring of school cultures, staff trained in monitoring student behavior, effective and consistent threat assessment protocols, tools that encourage bystander reporting, and accessibility of sharing information with community agencies that support public safety. In addition, I believe that we take direction from experts in the field who have committed a life time and career to public safety. This includes our law enforcement agencies, first reconsiders, and district security personnel.

How might you support the mental health needs of students/faculty/staff?

We passed a mill levy override that ensured, for the first time in District history, that a full time counselor is on staff at every elementary school. In addition this funding supported increasing accessibility of secondary students to mental health providers. Policies have been defined that communicate the expectation of supporting staff whether through confidential employee assistance programs and/or a clear appeals process for addressing metal health supports.

What role do you imagine technology playing in (and outside) the classroom in the future? How would you prepare the district for this?

Technology is a tool for achieving multiple learning goals and enhancing instructional practices in all areas. The role of technology is to make the world more accessible and increase the ease of navigation. Ensuring that digital resources are updated and provided to all students is secured through the budgeting process and definition of graduation competencies.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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• Douglas County School District, Colorado
• Douglas County School District elections (2015)

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