Amanda Morrell
2020 - Present
2028
4
Amanda Morrell is a member of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District school board in California, representing Trustee Area 4. She assumed office on December 11, 2020. Her current term ends on December 8, 2028.
Morrell ran for re-election to the Saddleback Valley Unified School District school board to represent Trustee Area 4 in California. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Morrell was appointed to the board in February 2015.[1][2]
Elections
2024
See also: Saddleback Valley Unified School District, California, elections (2024)
General election
General election for Saddleback Valley Unified School District school board Area 4
Incumbent Amanda Morrell defeated Michael Stannard in the general election for Saddleback Valley Unified School District school board Area 4 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Amanda Morrell (Nonpartisan) | 55.4 | 10,208 | |
| Michael Stannard (Nonpartisan) | 44.6 | 8,218 | ||
| Total votes: 18,426 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Morrell in this election.
2020
See also: Saddleback Valley Unified School District, California, elections (2020)
General election
General election for Saddleback Valley Unified School District school board Area 4
Incumbent Amanda Morrell defeated Benjamin Yu in the general election for Saddleback Valley Unified School District school board Area 4 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Amanda Morrell (Nonpartisan) | 61.2 | 13,846 | |
| Benjamin Yu (Nonpartisan) | 38.8 | 8,764 | ||
| Total votes: 22,610 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2016
Three of the five seats on the Saddleback Valley Unified School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. Incumbents Amanda Morrell and Suzie Swartz filed for re-election and faced four challengers: Mark Tettemer, Edward Wong, Theo Hunt, and David Johnson.[3] Morrell and Swartz won re-election, and Wong won the other seat on the ballot.[4]
Results
| Saddleback Valley Unified School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Suzie Swartz Incumbent |
24.68% | 44,812 |
| Edward Wong |
21.13% | 38,359 |
| Amanda Morrell Incumbent |
20.30% | 36,855 |
| David Johnson | 16.68% | 30,284 |
| Mark Tettemer | 9.29% | 16,864 |
| Theo Hunt | 7.91% | 14,364 |
| Total Votes | 181,538 | |
| Source: Orange County Registrar of Voters, "2016 Presidential General Election Official Results for Election," accessed December 7, 2016 | ||
Funding
Morrell reported $6,909.00 in contributions and $3,900.64 in expenditures to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, which left her campaign with $3,008.36 on hand as of October 10, 2016.[5]
Endorsements
Morrell was endorsed by Saddleback Valley Unified Board of Education President Ginny Fay Aitkens and City of Laguna Hills Mayor Pro-Tem Don Sedgewick. She was also endorsed by a number of community members. A full list of her supporters can be found here.[6]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Amanda Morrell did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Amanda Morrell did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Amanda Morrell 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 October 30, 2016:
| “ | Ensure a safe learning environment with adaptive teaching and flexible classrooms to prepare all students. Provide the necessary tools, technology and professional development of staff. Work as one team to balance the budget. Ensure public understanding of financial allocations. Leverage new ideas. Improve communication and collaboration. Identify and implement a unified vision, Eliminate bureaucratic hoops. Offer choices.[7][8] | ” |
Ranking the issues
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 |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| “ | We need a sustainable model, so balancing the budget and improving relationships with teachers has to be #1 and #2. All students need to be prepared for their futures and items 3-7 might only represent a specific segment of the students so it is challenging to put them in an order when there are other specific issues our district is facing that are not listed here. Arts programs are important, they can touch all students, and help with closing the achievement gap. The adjective used is “expand” thus my ranking as #7. SVUSD needs to improve communication with all stakeholders and should be priority but it is not that listed. Giving students and parents choices will help to improve student achievement. Special education students are important too as are the kids in the middle (who seem to get left out).[8] | ” |
| —Amanda Morrell (October 30, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
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. Charter Schools need to be approved as dictated by law. The merits of an individual charter school in a district needs should evaluated on a case by case basis that seeks to add additional learning opportunities not already present within the district. |
| 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. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| While worthy, the principles behind the Common Core standards do not readily allow assessment of the student’s ability to meet the stated requirements. Standardized testing is a quantitative process that tries to assess the success of what appears to be a qualitative learning style. I have seen positive results visiting classrooms and at home with my own child but I have heard that this is not the case for all students. |
| 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? |
| 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. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. Box one should be "relieve them from classroom responsibilities" verses "terminate". Box four should say a "qualified colleague" verses "more experienced" teacher. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. This question only allows for a specific yes or no and no in between. I think a school district should have the ability to offer a combination of "across the board" and "individual pay" incentive increases to teachers. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Existing Voucher programs implemented in many states are aimed at providing opportunity for students, that qualify in specific categories (low income students, special needs students, students attending failing schools, etc), to attend private school. Given that our school district is primarily funded by the state based on a daily attendance model, the state would need to modify its position on this issue for vouchers to occur. I don't think we should allowing vouchers without qualification. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| To ensure a safe learning environment for all students by reducing the dangers of weapons, illegal drugs or alcohol, threats, harassment or property damage of occurring on school sites. It’s important that there are very specific guidelines of offenses and consequences and that it are tied with intervention programs, so an expulsion is 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 All of these factors and more are important in student success. |
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Saddleback Valley Unified School District school board Area 4 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Orange County Register, "Board appoints new trustee," February 18, 2015
- ↑ Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate Filing Log," accessed August 15, 2016
- ↑ Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate Filing Log," accessed August 15, 2016
- ↑ Orange County, "Orange County Unofficial Results for Election," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Orange County Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed November 1, 2016
- ↑ Vote for Amanda Morrell for SVUSD Board of Education on Nov. 8, 2016, "Endorsements," accessed September 26, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Amanda Morrell's responses," October 30, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
