The Arizona Daily Star endorsed three candidates for the Governing Board of Tucson United School District (TUSD) and Pima Community College (PCC) today. Click here for the editorial.

Here’s whom their editorial board recommends for three seats:

Ralph Ellinwood
Betts Putnam-Hidalgo
Mark Stegeman (incumbent)

This week the Tucson Weekly endorsed Ralph Ellinwood and Cam Juarez for TUSD school board, with “honorable mentions” to Betts Putnam-Hidalgo and Kristel Foster. Read their endorsements, click here. The Weekly did not endorse for the PCC governing board.

The three incumbents on the TUSD board seeking election are Miguel Cuevas, Dr. Mark Stegeman, and Dr. Alex Sugiyama. This is a non-partisan race, with 12 candidates running. For more info the official twelve candidates, click here for my previous blog post, with campaign websites (updated).

And for the Star’s endorsements for Pima Community College governing board in which their editorial board urged change and voting for the political newcomers: http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/change-is-imperative-vote-for-lee-and-fridena/article_ddf76307-5b9f-57ab-b7eb-ac0f4528882a.html:

Sylvia Lee (District 3)
Richard Fridena (District 5)

The incumbents at PCC are “Vicki” Marshall (District 3) and Marty Cortez (District 5).

Another TUSD candidate forum coming up next week:

Save our Students: Save our Schools
TUSD Candidate Board Forum
How will you vote to make sure your child is getting the best education possible?

Our students/children deserve excellent public education and YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT! Learn where school board candidates stand on what matters most to our families:

Description:
(1) Safe transportation to neighborhood schools

(2) No small school closures

Lemonade, Coffee & Pan Dulce!

Join us October 16th 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at St. John’s Catholic Church (12th Ave and Ajo, 602 W. Ajo Way).

Early voting for the AZ General election began on October 11. Vote wisely on or before November 6.

Reminder: TUSD candidates’ forum tonight at Drinking Liberally, The Shanty, 401 E. 9th St. (NE corner of E. 9th St. and 4th Avenue), at 6 p.m. Seven of the 12 candidates
(all Democrats) have confirmed attendance: Don Cotton, Miguel Cuevas, Ralph Ellinwood, Kristel Foster, Camy Juarez, “Betts” Putnam-Hidalgo, Dr.Mark Stegeman. The event will be moderated by Blog for Arizona blogger/former educator David Safier.

And three other upcoming forums listed below in October:

A free forum for the Board candidates for the Tucson Unified School District will be presented from 6:30 to 8:30 PM on Monday, October 1, at the YWCA building, 525 Bonita Ave. Sponsors of the forum are the Tucson YWCA, the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson, the Metropolitan Education Association, and Voices for Education. The moderator will be Greg Hart, formerly head of Pima County’s Adult Education (1982-2007) and currently Founder and President of The School, Inc. for struggling youth. All candidates for the three open positions in this non-partisan election have been invited.

12 candidates (including the 3 incumbent board members) are seeking these 3 positions. Click here for earlier post about the 12 official candidates, and another blog post about who’s run for TUSD governing board in the last 10 years (click here).

Other forums on October 4th and 10th:

Save TUSD’s Neighborhood Schools will host a forum at El Casino Ballroom, 437 East 26th St., Thursday, Oct. 4, from 6:00-8:30 p.m. More info on this group on their Facebook page.

A Candidate Forum for TUSD Governing Board will be held on October 10, 7 pm at the Multi-Purpose Hall of Tucson Estates, 5900 W. Western Way Circle, Tucson, AZ 85713. It is sponsored by the Education Watch Committee of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Vote wisely on or before Nov. 6.

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.