Leila Counts is the newest member of the TUSD Governing Board.
In recent years, the five member board has generally divided into two camps, voting 3-2 on contentious issues. The majority has shifted back and forth from election to election.
Prior to Counts’ election, Michael Hicks, whom she replaced, tended to vote with Mark Stegeman and Rachel Sedgwick. Many people expected Counts to ally herself firmly with Adelita Grijalva and Kristel Foster. However, her first vote on the board concerned how long the president’s term should be, and Counts voted along with Stegeman and Sedgwick to create two half year terms with Stegeman serving the first term, rather than having one person lead the board for the entire year. Her decision upset many educational progressives who felt betrayed by her vote.
I interviewed Ms. Counts recently. Here is our conversation, edited for clarity.
In your first minutes on the TUSD board, you walked into something of a buzzsaw when it came to choosing the board president. Do you think you made the right decision?
As I stated when this thing first exploded, I was put in a very hard position. What I heard from thousands of voters when I knocked on 20,000 doors over the summer was, number one, fix our schools, and number two, fix the dysfunction on the board. Everybody is sick and tired of the fighting. Everyone is ashamed of the behavior on that board.
As a parent, I would watch those board meetings and was appalled by the divisiveness and very unprofessional behavior. That was a large reason why I decided to run.
Keeping the practice of six month terms for the president and clerk is not ideal, but it shows we are willing to share power, that this board does not belong to one side or the other. It belongs to the people. We are a public board, and we are going to work together for our students and our community.
In hindsight I would do the same thing. I’ve become the balancer and referee sometimes. It’s not a position I like, but I’m OK with taking on that responsibility, because it’s needed. We need to work together if we hope to get anything done.
Mark Stegeman served the first half year term as president, then the office transferred to Adelita Grijalva. Was it a good transition?
Yes, it happened very smoothly. I nominated Adelita, and she accepted the nomination. I’m happy she’s our president now.
What do you see as your role on the board?
I think I bring balance. I really try to come at our issues with a balance of my head and my heart and look at things objectively, then try to make the best decisions I can independently.
What are some of the most important votes which have happened during your 7 month tenure?
The decision to hire an internal auditor was a big vote. We’re hearing from the public that they want transparency and accountability when it comes to our budget in TUSD. We have a lot of room to grow in that area.
Standing up for Native American students was another big vote. Hanging the Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’Odham flags [in the Board room] and allowing Native American students to wear their traditional regalia for graduation ceremonies really showed our values as a board and a district and our respect for our students, for the different cultures that are part of the TUSD community. It was a huge area for moral growth and inclusion.
The third vote would be the budget. The budget negotiation was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, because there was so much I wanted to accomplish that we really didn’t have the funds for, but I’m proud we brought teachers above $40,000 as a starting salary. That was a huge improvement. It shows respect, it values the profession of teaching. Our educators, our social workers, everybody got a $1,500 raise. I’m very proud of that.
What about the vote on the new Family Life curriculum?
We’re still in process with that. We have to hold two public hearings, which we’re going to be doing this month.
Do you think the board is united on the Family Life curriculum?
It’s hard to tell. I know Kristel Foster, Adelita Grijalva and myself said that we support the curriculum revision our board-appointed committee has given to us and we’ve publicly stated that. I don’t think Mark Stegeman or Rachel Sedgwick have made any statements, so it’s hard to say. In a lot of areas, especially socially, our board has similar beliefs and it could definitely be united on this. I hope so.
What are some of the concerns you have for the district?
Being 49th in per pupil funding in the country, we can’t get around that. As I said about the budget, it was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do to make those decisions. We have a starved district, we have starving schools, I can’t shy away from that reality.
Capital funding isn’t exciting or sexy, but — this was a shocking fact to me. In HVAC [Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning] alone, TUSD has $250 million in deferred maintenance. We’re not talking about plumbing, we’re not talking about electrical, we’re talking just about air conditioning and heating, $250 million in deferred maintenance. We are patching up old, rundown equipment that keeps our students healthy, well and safe, cool in the summer and warm enough in the winter so they can learn. If we can get the state funding we need for this old, historical district to fix these buildings so our students are safe, that would be a huge accomplishment for me.
As I said in my campaign, I would like to see a lower teacher/student ratio, and higher educator salaries to retain and bring in great educators who will really mold our kids and have the positive effects that great teachers can have.
Our funding means the progress we can make is extremely limited, although I think we’re doing a good job of it, we are improving in a lot of ways. For instance, with enrollment, just over the summer having our schools open for summertime enrollment, we had 10,000 families enroll their students. We’re making gains when it comes to some big, systemic problems the district has been facing for many years.
I support the educators and parents and community members who marched for RedforEd, I think we need to do it again. It’s not acceptable that we’re 49th in per pupil spending. We’re not going to get the change our students deserve and that we need in order to make big progress in our schools.
Do you see problems in the district concerning discipline?
We did a lot of work last year. We rebuilt the student code of conduct based on restorative practices. We provided trainings and we continue to provide high quality training and support for the educators at our schools to implement it correctly. The teacher surveys that came back on that were overwhelmingly supportive of how things are going as far as discipline in our district, and the parent surveys were overwhelmingly positive.
Can you give a short definition of “restorative practices”?
It’s hard to describe in a nutshell. To me, restorative practices can be summed up as student responsibility and accountability for their behavior. Instead of suspension or expulsion or pushing students away from the school community, it is bringing them in by helping them take responsibility for their actions and behavior. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of support. It’s an ongoing process. Every year we need professional development around it. We can’t just put it on the back burner. This is about lives and personalities and social dynamics that come to us every year. We have to continue to support it.
Are there disagreements about student discipline among board members?
I think we did a phenomenally good job of coming together on the discipline issue, I was pleasantly surprised, but there are still fundamental differences of opinion on restorative practices, how discipline should be implemented in our schools. We came to a good middle ground that the parents and teachers are obviously happy with.
What are some other issues where board members disagree?
I think often times there’s conflict in the speed at which progress is made. I myself am a person who likes to get things done quickly and have fast change, fast progress, but I understand that sometimes lasting change is slow change. I’ve had to accept that truth and work with it.
The funny thing is, I’m the swing vote on the speed in which things are implemented as well. Sometimes my nature takes over and I just want it done fast, and other times I understand the necessity of having a slower progress.
Are you glad you made the decision to be on the school board?
A lot of people ask me if I’m happy doing this unpaid, volunteer work for a historically dysfunctional and contentious board. Although it is very difficult work, it is so rewarding. As an advocate for children, families and educators for the past 20 years, it is fulfilling to actually make and see the progress that can get done to help the district’s children and families.
This article appears in Aug 15-21, 2019.
Edited for clarity? Who wasn’t clear you or her?
Shari 07, you see the statement about an interview being edited for clarity at the top of many interviews. It means that what you’re reading isn’t word for word, everything Leila Counts said, but it’s her words and her ideas.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts and opinions, David! As I said, I am glad to be taking on this challenge- TUSD board work. To serve our students, families and TUSD educators has been one of the greatest joys in my life!
Very very proud of you Leila. Being a swing vote is painful, especially when you are not aligned with one side or the other. But you are doing great! Volunteer WORK ( because it IS WORK!) is not easy but it is rewarding because you know that you are doing the right thing for the kids in TUSD. Our family is very proud of you! You come from a long tradition of TUSD teachers Starting with your grandmother Mary Stirling
An internal auditor is good, if the position is structured in the right way. Appropriate disciplinary standards are good, but it is not clear from what is written here exactly how the standards function. As usual, the devil is in the details, and you only get the details by attending board meetings and reviewing budgets, not by reading this blog and taking what elected officials tell you at face value, without cross checking it.
As David carefully presents the case, Ms. Counts seems to be trying to make a positive difference. OK, so let her set aside her campaign story about the contrast between a few TUSD kindergartens she observed as a parent and how they differed from one (unspecified) local private school. Let her act like someone taking responsibility for governance and accurate reporting to the public and begin foregrounding what progress is being made on filling the districts classrooms with qualified teachers.
In this blog, let David replace his bar graphs on declining TUSD enrollment, which he explains with reference to the supposed racism of thousands and thousands of local parents who have withdrawn students from TUSD schools and / or with reference to charter and voucher policies implemented by the AZ legislature. Let him replace those bar graphs with bar graphs showing % of each public district where classrooms do not have a contracted, certified teacher in place, and let those bar graphs be supplemented with bar graphs that show entry level salaries and average salaries in every district. He can compare those public district vacancy rates and salary levels with vacancy rates and salary levels in charters and privates if he likes, and he can break the privates down into parochial, independent, and other. That would also be interesting, and would give us a much clearer and less partisan, less ideologically driven picture of what is going on in this state.
Finally, let the Democratic Party start admitting that all PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!! are not functioning at the same level, that the problems in some districts are exacerbated but not necessarily caused entirely by lack of funds, and that public funds applied in support of a child receiving a good education in ANY setting are not misapplied, though it is certainly the case that the entire system needs equity reform, more meaningful standards, guarantors of fiscal transparency and much, much better oversight than it gets in Arizona.
Leila, I’m sorry to hear you share an echo chamber with David Safier. I wish we could replace you with the person who wrote the comment immediately above.
To “Please address vacancy rates”: I want to correct the impression that I presented the case for Leila Counts’ position on the board. I asked questions, she answered them, and I put her words and her answers in the published interview.
No one said you endorsed her, David, or “made the case for her position on the Board.” But in the way you structured this, you did give the impression that she is trying to make a positive difference. If your editorial / sponsoring role in presenting that case is not clear to you, ask yourself these questions:
*Did you decide to feature her in your blog?
*Did you compose the introductory paragraph to this blog post?
*Did you decide which questions to ask, and did you refrain from asking other questions, like, for example, a question about the discrepancy between her highly qualified TUSD Kindergarten teacher story and the vacancy rates in the district?
*Did you decide on the photo that appeared with the interview? (An important propaganda technique, as we note from the way ADS sometimes uses unbelievably unflattering photos of certain political candidates, e.g. the candidate who ran against Dustin Williams for Pima County Superintendent of Schools.)
https://thisistucson.com/schools/who-should-i-vote-for-pima-school-superintendent/article_34cbeca4-8051-11e6-985d-d757375af9c3.html
*Did you treat Ms. Counts as you have sometimes treated other local figures who try to engage in advocacy related to TUSD, like the organizers of TUSD Kids First?
https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2016/10/10/more-on-the-financial-backers-of-tusd-kids-first
Q.E.D.
P.S. Your involving yourself in this Counts controversy and the role you are choosing to play is actually quite interesting. Almost makes me want to attend T.U.S.D. Board meetings again and observe the interplay among the new set of players, including Ms. Counts. Almost, but not quite. I learned about as much as I need to know about Ms. Counts by looking at the list of those who endorsed her on her campaign website. Speaks volumes, to those who know the language. As does who did not endorse her formally, but was probably in the background. As does this blog post…
Too bad the interviewer didn’t say what Family Life curriculum is. Never heard of it.
She sounds like she’s doing a fine job.
The Family Life curriculum is available for review on the district’s website. See, for example, its Scope and Sequence here: http://curriculum.tusd1.org/Portals/TUSD1/Curriculum/docs/Review/FLC/FLCScopeSequence.pdf
It will be controversial because many constituents will view it as taking over the teaching of values / morality topics that properly belong in families and religious communities.
As for Ms. Counts, she won’t be doing a fine job until she drops the misleading story about highly qualified Kindergarten teachers. (See her first comment on this blog: https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2019/07/05/why-the-common-wisdom-about-tusds-declining-enrollment-is-wrong )
People who’ve seen the way the district operates find it very hard to believe that someone capable of dealing with the REALITIES of TUSD would use a narrative like that, which has little to do with the actual state of professionalism in the classrooms, including the FACT that many classrooms in the district are currently filled with a rotating cast of long-term subs who do not have teaching certification.
https://tucson.com/news/local/fewer-teacher-vacancies-this-year-but-it-s-still-a/article_645543b6-2a73-5dc1-b1ac-a50e7f4e292e.html
What, in this context, is with the talk about reducing class sizes? Is she not aware that the Sanchez initiative to reduce class sizes in TUSD was a large part of what created the current vacancy problem? Is she not aware that filling vacancies has to be achieved before “class sizes” can be further reduced, and that in fact if the district cannot raise salaries enough to recruit qualified teachers for every classroom, less damage might be done by RAISING class sizes to get more children into classrooms with qualified teachers? Why is there no specific reference to the vacancy problem and how exactly it is being addressed in the interview above?
The local machine likes to find pretty, earnest young candidates to be its public face. To some of us who used to be earnestly SUPPORTIVE OF TUSD!!! and then ran smack into the reality of some institutionally embedded bad behaviors, this looks a lot like the latest example of the same old story.
Perhaps she will stop talking in platitudes and campaign slogans and start being clear about the real obstacles to the delivery of good education and how exactly they are being addressed.
We’ll see.
And let’s hope they tell the kids the truth about Planned Parenthood.