There’s an unprecedented 12 candidates seeking 3 positions on the Tucson Unifed School District (TUSD) Governing Board in 2012. And 54 people applied for a vacancy on the board last year. Why such popularity for a volunteer four year term on the school board of the largest school district in Tucson? With the recent elimination of the Mexican American Studies program at TUSD, more interest has been directed to these positions on the board, whose mission is to set policy for the school district, and to advise the appointed Superintendent.

Here’s a recap of who’s run for the five board seats in the last 10 years:

2002 (2 seats)
Bruce Burke (attorney) – winner
Adelita Grijalva- winner
Rosalie Lopez (attorney), incumbent
Cynthia Schiesel

2004 (3 seats)
Judy Burns – incumbent, winner
Marilyn Freed
Joel Ireland (attorney), incumbent, winner
Devin Mauney
Elena Parra
Pam Perry
Alex Rodriguez, winner
Armand Salese (attorney)

2006 (2 seats)
Bruce Burke, incumbent, winner
Miguel Cuevas
Adelita Grijalva, incumbent, winner

2008 (3 seats)
Judy Burns, incumbent, winner
Miguel Cuevas, winner
Mark Stegeman, winner

2010 (2 seats)
Adelita Grijalva, incumbent, winner
Michael Hicks, winner
Miguel Ortega
Armand Salese

54 people applied for a vacancy (after 3 term board member Judy Burns’ death in October, 2011) including former 2 term board member Bruce Burke, former candidates Marilyn Freed, Miguel Ortega, & Armand Salese. For the complete list go to the Tucsonsentinel.com article. Political newcomer Dr. Alex Sugiyama was appointed to that seat in December, 2011.

2012 (3 seats)
Twelve candidates running including incumbents Cuevas, Dr. Stegeman and Dr. Sugiyama. Click here for previous post about the official list.

The board member to go on successfully to higher office has been Raul Grijalva (served on TUSD board 1975 to 1986), then went on to become the District 5 Pima County Supervisor (1989 to 2002), and CD 7 Congressman, where he has now served 10 years. His oldest daughter Adelita was first elected to TUSD board in 2002, 10 years ago, and is up for re-election in 2014.

See full board history (1884 to present) at:
http://www.tusd1.org/contents/distinfo/Documents/boardmembers.pdf

1 term board member Rosalie Lopez (1999-2002) ran unsuccessfully against Raul for Supervisor in 2000 as a Republican, then was upset in the 2002 board election by Bruce Burke & Raul’s daughter Adelita.

Former 3 term board member attorney Eva Bacal (1979-1990) ran unsuccessfully for CD 8 House in 2004 as a Democrat and lost to Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe. Incidentally Eva’s daughter attorney Susan Bacal serves as a Justice of the Peace for Pima County Consolidated Justice Court, Precinct 8.

Former 2 term board member Dr. Brenda Even (1991-1998) ran unsuccessfully for Pima County Board of Supervisors District 4 in the Republican primary of 1998 and lost to incumbent Ray Carroll, who had been appointed to replace her late husband Supervisor John Even. She was then appointed to the PCC Board of Governors in 2001 and was elected twice, is serving till Dec. 2014.

From Tucson Education Association website (click here):

After interviewing the majority of candidates, Cam Juarez and Kristel Foster overwhelmingly demonstrated TEA values and commitment to quality public education. We believe these two candidates who share our values will be able to lead TUSD in a positive direction in the future. Educators, students and the community will benefit with Kristel and Cam serving on the TUSD Governing Board.
Vote for Cam Juarez and Kristel Foster for TUSD Governing Board.
Tucson Education Association Political Action Committee (TEAPAC)

Camy Juarez

Kristel Foster

TEA’s mission is “To secure professional status and respect for public school employees and to promote quality public education”.

Juarez works as a neighborhood reinvestment project coordinator, and Foster is a program specialist at Sunnyside School District language acquisition dept.

Read my previous blog post about the 12 official candidates seeking the 3 volunteer positions on the Tucson Unifed School District governing board (click here).

Current TUSD board member & former President, Dr. Mark Stegeman is seeking re-election and he will be speaking at Drinking Liberally on September 5, 6 p.m. at The Shanty, 401 E. 9th St. Dr. Stegeman was elected when he, Miguel Cuevas, and Judy Burns ran unopposed for the 3 board seats in 2008. A TUSD governing board candidate forum is also scheduled for September 26 by Drinking Liberally, same place, same time.

And I hear that the Saguaro Eastside Democrats will be hosting a TUSD candidate forum on Monday September 17, so save that date to hear from these and other candidates. This is a non-partisan race so all twelve candidates will be invited to that forum.

Attend these upcoming forums and vote wisely on or before November 6.

Yesterday was the official deadline for any court challenges to the petitions submitted by those running for Tucson United School District Governing Board. There were none filed per Ricky Hernandez, Chief Financial Officer for the Pima County School Superintendent.

I reported on the previous filing deadline of August 8, when 12 people submitted petitions (click here for earlier article).

Since August 8th I was able to find out more information on the 12 candidates. Here’s the updated official list, with campaign websites for those who have one:

–Menelik Bakari, retired teacher, Doolen Middle School
–Debe Campos-Fleenor, Allstate insurance agent
–Don Cotton, retired postal worker, owner of online printing business, www.cottonfortusd.com
–Miguel Cuevas, current Board member & President; Project Coach at AFNI, www.votemiguelcuevas.com
–Ralph Ellinwood, attorney (criminal law), www.futuretusd.org
–Kristel Foster, former UA clinical assistant professor in education (3 years), program specialist at Sunnyside School District language acquisition dept., www.fosterfortusd.com
–John Hunnicutt, husband of blogger Loretta of “Arizona Daily Independent”, businessman/owner of Philanthropy and Paytran, www.johnhunnicutt4tusd.com
–Camy Juarez, neighborhood reinvestment project coordinator, www.juarezfortusd.com
–Robert Medler, VP of Government Affairs, Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce, www.medler4tusd.com
–Elizabeth “Betts” Putnam-Hidalgo, part-time teacher & activist, www.betts4tusd.com
–Mark Stegeman, UA associate professor of economics, current board member & former President, www.stegeman4tusd.com
–Alex Sugiyama, UA lecturer of economics, current board member, www.sugiyamafortusd.com

Although this is a non-partisan race, here’s the party registration for these twelve per Pima County Recorder’s Office:

Democrat: Miguel Cuevas, Don Cotton, Ralph Ellinwood, Kristel Foster, Camy Juarez, Betts Putnam-Hidalgo, Mark Stegeman
Green: none
Independent/No Party Preference: Menelik Bakari
Libertarian: none
Republican: Debe Campos-Fleenor, John Hunnicut, Robert Medler, Alex Sugiyama

The incumbents in this election are Miguel Cuevas, Dr. Mark Stegeman,and Dr. Alex Sugiyama. Cuevas & Stegeman were elected in Nov. 2008. Sugiyama was selected from a total of 54 applicants who applied for the vacant seat last year after TUSD board member Judy Burns passed away suddenly in October. He was appointed to that seat by Pima County School Superintendent Dr. Linda Arzoumanian in December, 2011. Bakari, Campos-Fleenor, Ellinwood, Foster, Medler, and Putnam-Hidalgo had also applied for the vacant seat.

View their campaign websites (if any), attend debates/forums with these candidates and vote wisely on Nov. 6.