Political Endorsements for Jason Haap

Green Party of Ohio and the Southwest Ohio Green Party

The Green Party is excited to have Jason Haap as our first candidate for the CPS Board. He has the special combination of intelligence, compassion, and courage that we look for in candidates. He also has an impressive range of classroom experience, having worked with students from a wide variety of backgrounds. His creative and forward-looking platform shows that he's put a lot of thought into how we can improve our public school district and that he's interested in trying new ideas here that have worked in other cities. Finally, his background as a media activist has sharpened his critical thinking skill and his tendency to challenge points of conventional wisdom. For all of these reasons, we think Mr. Haap will bring new enregy to the CPS Board and inspire them to meet their challenges with a balance of responsibility and ingenuity.

-Josh Krekeler, Southwest Ohio Green Party

CityBeat

[Jason Haap's] thoughtful proposals, particularly cutting administrative costs at the same proportion as any cuts for student services, are alternative and progressive.

Also from CityBeat: Haap has laid out more detailed and specific policy proposals than the other candidates including incumbents, who largely stick to vague soundbites like “improve test scores.” His noteworthy proposals include proportional cuts for central office administrators, an anti-harassment policy for gay and lesbian students and details on funding an arts program. We’re glad someone is taking the race seriously.

CincyPAC

CincyPAC is a political action committee geared towards educating city official candidates and holding them accountable to moving Cincinnati forward, ensuring that the city appeals to young professionals. We are a non-partisan group made up of Greater Cincinnati professionals, diverse in profession, background and political viewpoints.

Equality Cincinnati PAC

Equality Cincinnati PAC has agreed to endorse your race for School Board. We would like to thank for you the time and energy you put into in seeking the Equality Cincinnati PAC endorsement for your campaign. Once again this year we were overwhelmed by the overall responses from many candidates in all races to our offer of endorsement. We are heartened by the progress that the city has made in the past several years towards full inclusion.

Back2Stonewall.com

With his experience, and dedication to the public education system and his recognition that ALL children need to be nurtured and protected, Back2Stonewall is proud to endorse Jason Haap, Green Party Candidate as its pick for the Cincinnati School Board who will represent the needs, hopes, and aspirations of all parents and students on the Board of Education.

-Will Kohler, Back2Stonewall.com

Professional References for Jason Haap

Jason Haap has been a high school teacher since 1997. Find out what some of his principals and former superiors say about his professionalism.

Jan Kennedy, former Principal, Purcell Marian High School

Jason Haap is one of the most effective and innovative teachers with whom I have had the pleasure to work. His students routinely complain about him until they realize that he has taught them to think, critically and creatively.

He is motivated by the best interests of the students, rather than the smooth operation of the bureaucracy. He will be a thorn in the side of any educational institution that resists change for the benefit of its constituents.

Richard Hague, former English Department Chair, Purcell Marian High School

If I were interested in the means and ends of education, and had no books to consult, and no first-hand experience of the classroom, I would talk with Jason Haap. In a few hours, I would have several things to do that just might fix it, and several more things to think about which he has thought about: justice, appropriateness, reform, the good riddance of stupidity and inertia. Though deeply embedded in the practice of education, he is able to see it more clearly than many, and we ought to listen to, and act on, his descriptions of what he sees.

Dr. Hope Davis, former English Department Chair, Purcell Marian High School, current professor of literacy, Indiana University

I have known Jason Haap for over ten years, and in that time I have marveled at his ability to encourage and cultivate critical thinking and creativity in his students. In his classes, Jason held his students to high standards, and the students rose to meet them, regardless of how they performed or were perceived in other classes. Jason’s drive to educate students went beyond earning passable grades to instilling an expectation that they were responsible for their own learning and achievement, both within and outside the school walls, and the students responded. Demonstrating a true belief in and passion for social justice and personal intellectual curiosity, Jason inspired the students to push themselves beyond what they thought they were capable of doing, and I watched this type of rigorous growth and development occur in his classes year after year.

Jason’s expectations for his colleagues were as rigorous as his expectations for the students in his classes. As a teacher in the English department at Purcell Marian High school, Jason was never satisfied with the status quo, and continually directed his energy and talents toward learning about, implementing, and refining educational practices that required students to be thoughtful and reflective – and he worked to share those ideas and strategies with others. A school board member should actively demonstrate the very same qualities of resourcefulness, critical reflection, and committment that Jason has showed throughout his career as a teacher. In addition, an effective school board member should have not just the desire, but the expectation that all students can succeed in school, with the knowledge of how to actualize this goal. I am convinced that Jason’s strength’s in these areas can only benefit the students in the CPS schools, and the community at large.

Deland McCullough, former principal, Harmony Community School

Jason Haap has a strong desire to educate and to inspire. During his time at Harmony Community School, he engaged his students and he made their education meaningful and challenging. He was an out of the box thinker, and he was dynamic at creating and sustaining a buzz surrounding current or upcoming initiatives. His classes were lively, standards based, and consistently laced with items that sparked lifelong learning.

As a part of our building leadership, he constructively challenged the role of the educator and of the administration with new ideas and different approaches. He was a team player and a true champion for education and the doors it opens.