Ward 4 State Board of Education Special Election

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else suspect that one O’Leary supporter has written a lot of these posts?

Not particularly. My neighborhood has a preponderance of Henderson signs, but I was driving through Crestwood yesterday and it was all O'Leary. I think he has a good amount of support.

(I forgot to vote this morning so I can't call myself an anybody supporter )

[Anonymous]

Polls are open until 8 PM 18:40

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else suspect that one O’Leary supporter has written a lot of these posts?

Not really. The only ppl I have discussed it with in real life are voting for him. Tho a neighbor has a sign for Eleni.

[jsteele]

Congratulations to Frazier O'Leary:

https://electionresults.dcboe.org/election_results/2018-Special-Election

[Anonymous]

Just 7.78% turnout.

[Anonymous]

Just read O'Leary's 5 questions and he was spot on with his responses.

Seeing Todd campaigning the other day on Georgia Ave. for Henderson was a no-no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just 7.78% turnout.

The timing was terrible and if it wasn't for this board, I'd barely have known about it.

We were also assigned to a different polling place than usual which I'm sure was confusing for some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel good about the level of interest and talent in this race and bad for those who lose. Really. I wish we had more races with people this good.

HOWEVER, I voted for O'Leary.

I had met Rhonda at activist type settings before. She was very useful and someone good to be around! Really! However, the problem is that she is too integrated into DC politics and in particular the Fenty-Bowser-Todd Green Machine patronage network. I do not need to vote for anyone else to amplify and "work with" these voices. I think that based on my feel for her, that if she wasn't part of the Green Team/Fenty/Bowser/Todd/Democratic machine but stood in opposition to it, I would actually be quite happy to have voted for her. And if she does win - which is a distinct possibility - I hope that she shows the intelligence and ability she has as an independent and effective voice for DC's students' future.

O'Leary certainly appears to have a big heart and has stood up for students and those working hard in the system through literally all of modern DCPS history. He has spirit and a good gut sense of things and who really needs advocacy in this system. He didn't seem sharp on policy and the scope of this job. And the general shoulder-shrug sense that he-worked-hard-and-so-did-his-students-and-bad-things-happened-to-them-and-no-one-graduated-actually-knowing-anything-or-prepared-for-much gave me pause - would voting for him be an endorsement of the status quo, where staff put in work (to a certain extent), students don't really engage, and we get a whole bunch of lifelong losers out of DCPS who really should be a new generation to bring DC to greatness? BUT I have a sense that his off-the-cuff remarks in opposition to the Mayor's team's 1984 education doublespeak and juked stats would be the right use of the bully pulpit the position serves. AND I feel like as the challenges of the particular position comes up, people who are activists like myself will be people he will listen to on policy concerns. Like actually listen, and espouse constituent views, without tempering them to meet the Mayor's plans.

Elani Lawrence would be someone I would be proud to have on the SBOE. DC SBOE should have someone who really knows the challenges of families with kids who speak Spanish at home and promised themselves only one thing; that their kids would have better lives than theirs. I think she could really bring that, along with a focus on the northern part of Ward 4 that is welcome during this particular time frame.

Tauriainen would also be a great choice in terms of energy, quality, and ideas and well-tailored to the position. The specific concerns I have would be about accommodation with charter points of view and something elitist in his approach to others - it feels like his message is that he's been successful, so we should give him this job. That to me does not sound like someone who wants to listen to constituents and put their views on an equal footing with his own or those of others on the Board.

All that said I will reiterate - if I had a chance to vote for several candidates in a citywide field, there's a good chance I would prefer all of these candidates over any from any other part of DC. Honestly, I think I will be happy for any winner, though I am getting to the point where opposition to the presumptuousness of the Mayor's political team and administration is becoming more important to me than the rest.

Agree that Henderson should not have come out the gate with Todd and Bowser support. She came off like their crony, right after the Reeder mess. Shame because she might have done well if judged on her own merits. She should actually run against Todd for W4, but probably won’t now because he supported her in this race.

[Anonymous]

Wow--talk about a low turnout election. (Just looked at the link someone helpfully shared earlier.)

[Anonymous]

Turnout number doesn’t include curbside or special ballots

[Anonymous]

The election workers looked excited to have a voter when I walked in around 5 pm. My husband voted closer to 7 pm and he said a few other people were there.

[Anonymous]

It’s a special election weeks after another boring election, that was barely advertised, what were y’all expecting?

[Anonymous]

My neighborhood had the highest voter turn out.

[Anonymous]

Why didn’t they just have one precinct? What a waste of resources

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighborhood had the highest voter turn out.

Hi neighbor.