TUSD Candidates Discuss Returning to the Classroom, Budget Issues, More

1. What has money done for Tucson Unified? For years, Tucson Unified was spending over $12,000 when the state was averaging $8,000 and charters were even lower at $7,000.

   School systems like Mesa, funded at much lower levels than TUSD, has parent excellent ratings literally double those of TUSD and academic gains decisively higher than TUSD.

   All that guaranteed money did was creating a false sense of security for TUSD. They had no urgency to change. Now, its too late. TUSD can’t change their culture fast enough to save themselves.

   This article illustrates the depth of out of wack TUSD culture. TUSD needed to start up in person classes on August 17 for every parent and student willing to be in-class. Students are safer in school than at home. While in school, they wear masks. They don’t wear masks at home. Over half of all infections are taking place at home.

   Instead, TUSD engaging in politically charged delay of classes until after the election. How many students and teaching jobs will they have lost?

   Every student they lose is a vote lost for over-rides and bond elections. Soon, they will be unable to pass either bond elections or over-rides.

2. We hope that the following provides factual information to TW readers about the TUSD Governing Board candidates since so many facts have been missing from any coverage that has been provided. The TUSD Whistleblower Group sent the following letter to several thousand individuals today and will continue to share the letter until election day. Thank you TW!

   October 2020

   TUSD Whistleblower Group Open Letter/Newsletter #87

   TUSD Governing Board Candidate Endorsements

   From: TUSD Whistleblower Group – Comprised of a Large Collection of Extremely Concerned TUSD Administrators, Teachers, Parents, & Grandparents, Former Students, Retired Administrators & Teachers Who Speak and Write the Truth

   Subject: -Superintendent Gets 3 Years More on His Contract and a Salary Increase- Voted by a Lame Duck Board that Will NOT Exist in 2021
   -Endorsement TUSD Board Candidate

   *Unconscionable Action Taken by Current Board that Binds New Board to Maintain Current Superintendent Prior to unfolding our endorsement decisions for the 2020 TUSD school board election we thought it critical to expose a recent action by the current board. In many ways the action taken highlights the extraordinary ongoing arrogance and unethical conduct of the current school board.

   Most TUSD parents, employees, and residents are not aware that the current lame-duck board voted to add three years to Gabriel Trujillo’s employment contract on September 22, 2020. The contract will take Trujillo through June 30, 2023, and it included a hefty salary increase. The vote took place quietly and without input from any community segment, including those now running to fill THREE seats on the board. At the very least, we know most of the candidates were not asked for input before the duplicitous vote was taken. The action taken by the current board is tremendously self-serving, unethical, haughty, corruptly political, and locks the new 2021 board into inheriting a superintendent, regardless of their opinion about how he has performed. The locked three-year period in the contract for Trujillo to continue his bungling performance will consume the majority of the new board’s term unless the new board terminates him for cause or buys-out his contract. The new board has been set up to fail from the start.

   Of the current five school board members, three who are not seeking re-election. Three seats comprise the majority of the board seats on the board. Adelita Grijalva will undoubtedly win a seat on the Pima County Board of Supervisors and has declared that she will retain her seat on the TUSD board should she become a County Supervisor. This is just another tremendously arrogant stance that she has decided to impose on the public. Serving on two boards will divide her attention, set her up for one conflict of interest after another, and cheat two public institutions of the focused attention needed to serve as a responsible board member. Richard Elias would have never exhibited such self-serving and greedy power-grabbing conduct.

   If A. Grijalva does resign from the TUSD board, it will leave only one board member from the current board on the 2021 board- Leila Counts. Counts has proven to be a “go-along” with Mean Girls Foster and Grijalva on most votes. Kristel Foster is not running for re-election, and after eight years of observing her beastly, pathological, and cruel behavior, we are ecstatic that she is leaving the board. After he Mark Stegeman bolted, Bruce Burke was appointed by the Pima County Superintendent of Schools to take his seat. Burke is not running to gain a seat on the board. His appointment by the County Superintendent was conspired and facilitated by Foster and A. Grijalva. Grijalva convinced him to put his name in as a candidate to the Pima County Superintendent for the position, and then the two Mean Girls went to work on Dustin Williams to close the deal. Burke has always done what Adelita Grijalva has asked of him.

   Except for Adelita Grijalva, when Burke served as an elected board member years ago, he alienated all of his peers due to his shifty and unprofessional behavior. Under a public records request, he asked for records showing hundreds of his peer’s emails. Judy Burns grew to dislike and disrespect him for his cowardly and sneaky ways, and she and others believed his actions were conducted at the behest of Adelita Grijalva. Burke attempts to wear his liberal white male persona by “doing” what he thinks will endear him to the liberal community, but what he has never understood is that Tucson’s liberal community goes way beyond Adelita Grijalva’s camp. His actions have been recognized as disgusting, and many of his fellow members from St. Marks Presbyterian Church have come to see right through him. Having a few “friends” or political allies who are Latinx (as in Adelita Grijalva) does not make one liberal or legitimate. What he has done since Mark Stegeman departed is the work of Mean Girls Grijalva and Foster. He has been a rubber stamp for them. Of course, Leila Counts has just chimed in as part of the rubber-stamp chorus. TUSD students have not been served. Only Adelita Grijalva, Kristel Foster, Leila Counts, and Bruce Burke.

   Behind the scenes, Burke was instrumental in very quietly working on Trujillo’s extended contract and salary increase. He did this as a favor to his Latina friend Adelita. Burke’s concerns have never focused on Latinx children- just his “see how liberal I am” Latinx cronies. The abysmal academic achievement levels for kids of color in TUSD has never given him cause to do anything to alter the situation. Burke’s type of liberalism is, in large part, what has held people of color back. His privilege placed him in a position in which he could have worked to make systemic changes within TUSD so that kids of color would not continue to receive so much less than their affluent white peers. But Burke did close to nothing in the area of equity during his years as an elected board member. He was A. Grijalva’s patsy then, as he is now. He is no hero or savior of any sort. He is a white liberal sell-out.

   Many say that A. Grijalva will resign from the TUSD board after she gains her Pima County seat because it will become evident to her and others that she cannot keep up the pace to do both jobs. Unless an issue became controversial, Grijalva was comfortable enough 99% of the time to rubber-stamp the items that were presented to the TUSD board by the superintendent. She has been described as lazy and a prima donna. We agree with both descriptors. For the most part, she did not take the time, trouble, or interest to reach out to stakeholders that were well versed in specific areas and willing to offer a broader and, many times, more accurate viewpoint on specific issues than the information presented by the narrow-minded administration. Rachael Sedgewick is also not running for re-election and we certainly can understand why she has made this decision. The point is that the current board has made the most crucial decision that a board makes for the NEW board of 2021, which is to select a superintendent to lead TUSD in all areas of its operation. The current board has dumped an incompetent superintendent on the new board who is incapable of leading TUSD through the most minor of problems, much less that many critical problems that it faces.

   Most board members seated on the TUSD board disagree with installing a Supreme Court Justice now and believe that this should not occur until after the United States’ newly elected President is sworn into office. Yet, their logic and ethics in the Supreme Court scenario have failed to translate into the recent action taken by each of them. This has been a board of “do as I say but not as I do.” It is a board of hypocrisy, deceit, and corruption.

   Why would the board want Trujillo to stay in place, many ask? Obviously, with him at the helm, everything remains status quo, and no criticism is surfaced about the decisions made by those leaving or remaining on the board. It is a form of a COVER-UP.

   * Endorsement- TUSD Board Candidate
   Seven candidates are seeking three seats on the TUSD board. One candidate is a write-in candidate. The names of the candidates are listed further below. We have followed each candidate and viewed all Zoom candidate forums, and read each candidates’ literature and also examined the information provided on the internet. Many of us have attended various campaign events for the multiple candidates.

   The size of our group allows for extensive information gathering from hundreds of individuals in our community. Members in our group have opened up discussions with hundreds upon hundreds of individuals over the TUSD board candidates. If we have heard the same information and descriptors from distinct individuals several times, we have included the information under the candidate’s name further in the discussion below.

   Before making our selection, we established selection criteria as described.

   The endorsed candidate:
   • Is a change-maker and has the record to validate this critical characterization. The individual has worked in a community setting to make valuable and tangible changes to improve a situation for those who have been affected by the particular environment or situation;

   • Is and will be an independent leader who is responsive to those who are served and who will act on their behalf and not at the behest of self-interest, personal cronyism, and partisan politics, which has been the case for most current board members during the last seventeen years;

   • Respects the importance of transparency in conducting TUSD business so that parents, students, employees, community members, and oversight entities are kept continuously informed and invited to become involved in the decision-making process;

   • Understands what systemic racism is and faces it with courage, integrity, and solutions instead of denial and excuses, which has been the standard practice for TUSD, especially during the last two decades;

   • Comprehends the importance of focusing attention at the schools and providing the needed resources through budget allocation, staffing, materials, technology, suitable facility upkeep, and other support; and

   • Is able to and will commit the time required to thoroughly comprehend each item for which board action is recommended by the administration and gain information and perspective on critical issues beyond that of the tunnel vision information and perspective presented by the administration. Will offer opportunities to meet with parents, employees, and members of the public; and

   • Is a parent of a child or children attending TUSD schools (or has recently been a TUSD parent)and is a long-time supporter of public education.

   After an abundant amount of research and analysis of our applied criteria to each candidate, we found ONLY one candidate who met the requirements. As a result, the TUSD Whistleblower Group is honored to endorse Sadie Shaw. We strongly recommend that that you “single-shot” Sadie Shaw when you vote. We cannot, in good conscience, endorse any other candidates for varied and vital reasons. The primary reasons include:

   1.The candidate is closely tied to current board members who have failed to address TUSD’s most harmful issues to students, and the candidate is tied to political organizations or so-called “machines” which give a strong indication that the candidate will continue on the same path as their endorsers.
   2.The candidate reflects positions that would not only thwart progress in addressing TUSD’s most significant challenges but would take TUSD in a backward motion.
   3.The candidate has little to no comprehension of what systemic racism is, much less how to address it. The lack of understanding of this issue has plagued TUSD for decades and has left it as an institution deep in denial about the severity of its institutionalized & systemic racism.
   4.The candidate is ill-prepared to deal with the massive and critical issues facing TUSD.
   5.The candidate lacks an organized and viable campaign.

   Below is a list of all of the candidates with comments for each.

   Endorsed Candidate:

   •Sadie Shaw: Sadie Shaw is a current TUSD parent and is fully engaged in her daughter’s education. She has made strenuous efforts to bring about positive changes at her child’s school that would have improved the offerings for all children; however, she found that, as a parent, her voice has been virtually ignored. She understands that this is common within TUSD, particularly at schools with high ethnic/racial minority student populations.

   Shaw has long been involved in neighborhood and community issues and has served to represent her neighborhood and community’s best interests. Many who have seen her at work have said that she “channeled” their thoughts and desires about what needed to take place. Her motivation to run for the TUSD Board is driven by what she has witnessed first-hand in the substandard attention and deficient resources allocated to schools that sit in zip codes comprised of low-sociology-economic and minority populations. Her perceptions have continuously been validated by other parents and staff from schools that she views as have been historically ignored.

   Shaw is an independent thinker and leader and is not tied by obligating strings to any “I owe-you endorsements” or “political machines.” This is contrary to most other candidates in the TUSD race. Shaw’s campaign is the most grassroots campaign of all those in place, and she is the recipient of many “regular” people’s contributions and volunteerism. She is well respected within the communities that she has served as an advocate, and, as she has campaigned throughout the city, she has gained more and more respect and support.

   Shaw’s campaign is an incredibly diverse coalition of people from all over Tucson. This is not true for most of the other campaigns. She is aware of the problems facing TUSD. She recognizes that all problems must be addressed by first-fessing up to the fact that there is a specific problem and secondly- by including parents, employees, oversight entities, and other such stakeholders in the problem-solving process. TUSD does not belong to top-level administrators even though the actions and behaviors exhibited by Trujillo and his central administrators make it appear as though TUSD belongs to them and them alone. Most decisions these days are being made by a small number of bureaucrats, many of whom are not qualified to sit in the jobs they hold.

   Trujillo himself remains removed from our community and devotes more time to his Phoenician connections. He is a childless single man who cannot possibly understand the heartfelt concerns of a mother, father, or grandparent. He is a Phoenician who has never really connected to our community and his narcissistic pathology makes him care less about TUSD students of color whose academic performance continues to show TUSD’s gross neglect.

   Yet, Trujillo believes he is connected because of the bonds he has worked so hard to form with the Adelita Grijalva crowd. Trujillo has spent an excessive amount of time and TUSD dollars to gain (buy) the support of individuals, such as DeMond Holt so that he has “cover” in the Black community. Trujillo’s method of “taking” cover on issues is a form of scamming the public. He and his clan do not serve the community and should not dictate so-called solutions that have been developed in an isolated and exclusive vacuum. Trujillo does have the skill to gab, and he is excessively skilled at “BS”ing people. His talk is smooth, but his actions are nil. His approach has done nothing to serve TUSD, and TUSD’s most massive problems continue to plague the district. The problems in TUSD have grown under Trujillo’s lacking leadership.

   Shaw sees things for what they are and has not been taken in by Trujillo’s fast and smooth rhetoric that provides nothing but lip service. She will not be charmed into believing that African American, Latinx, and Native American kids are doing well in TUSD when the facts show otherwise. She recognizes the significant disparity in academic achievement in TUSD between white and non-white children, and she is aware that the administration and board have failed to address this most critical issue by insisting that they have done all that is necessary under the desegregation court order. She does not believe it for a minute, and she has said as much. Shaw is the only candidate who has spoken with those involved in the desegregation case. We know this only through what some of her campaign volunteers who have shared because they were thoroughly impressed by her actions. She understands that in the desegregation case, TUSD is the culpable party, and talking only to TUSD about the case (as the other candidates have done) is like speaking to a prosecuted serial-armed robber (with witnesses and video of his armed robberies) and hearing from ONLY the armed robber that he has done nothing wrong while ignoring those who witnessed the harm or those who were harmed. In the TUSD scenario, many believe the serial-armed robber.

   Shaw is an artist and naturally “gets” that the arts open the minds of children to learning in ways that escalate interest & attention and improve performance. But she also understands this fact based on the research on the topic. As a parent, she also knows that in TUSD the arts have been much more present in more affluent schools, which has only been partially remedied because of the desegregation court order.

   Shaw has experienced systemic racism and has used her personal experience to become educated about the issue and work to eliminate it. Shaw is willing and able to put in the time and effort to be an excellent board member. She is working to win a seat on the TUSD board around the clock, and she is committed to working as hard when she gains a seat on the board. Please give Sadie Shaw your single-shot vote.

   We have listed the remaining candidates in order of the most to least dangerous in being elected to a board seat. We know that TUSD cannot continue to recycle board member-duplicates who are made of the same ilk as Foster, Grijalva, and Mark Stegeman. These people have been proven to be all about themselves, their self-interest, and their political “power” and, of course, paying off their political favors. Students have always been the least of their focus.

   Most to Least Dangerous Candidates:

   •Natalie Luna Rose: If you want to see more of the same gross incompetency at the board and administrative level in TUSD, Natalie Luna Rose is your duplicate of more of the same. If you want a newer but same basic version of Mean Girls Foster and Grijalva, well then, Luna Rose is another one of them. However, we think it is way past time to get off the same old hamster wheel, which ends up nowhere. Do NOT vote for Luna Rose! Luna Rose symbolizes more of Grijalva and more of Foster, and more in this scenario will continue to result in LESS for TUSD students. Luna Rose was recruited to run for a seat on the board by Adelita Grijalva, who warmed up to her through one of their mutual parent organizations. Luna Rose’s endorsements are a carbon copy of those that Kristal Foster and Adelita Grijalva have received when they have run for the school board. They likely played a large part in obtaining Luna Rose’s endorsements.

   As a political favor to Luna Rose, one of Adelita Grijalva’s family members drew the artwork for Luna Rose’s campaign signs. She bragged about this as though it gave her some type of Grijalva badge of honor. Luna Rose’s boasting is a dead-give-a-away of the strong tie that Luna Rose has to A. Grijalva and how she projects the connection as an entitlement to win. The campaign sign is somewhat artistic and a play on her name with a rose and moon (luna) depicted on the sign. It is too bad that the pictured rose on the sign remains to hide its thorns since this “Rose” is full of sharp, stabbing thorns. It is nothing but sheer LUNACY that has landed Luna Rose in a position of political indebtedness to A. Grijalva and Foster. It is dangerous for TUSD.

   We find it extraordinary that Luna Rose, who is the Communications Manager for the Arizona Center for Disability Law, has a campaign website without mention of any form of offered accommodations for potential supporters who are disabled and who seek to communicate with her or otherwise view Zoom forums. She seems oblivious to the concept of accommodations while running for a board seat for a school district with the largest disabled population in Tucson and the largest population of children with disabilities. For someone who works for the Arizona Center for Disability Law, she seems pretty oblivious. A parent who has multiple disabilities brought this problem to our attention.

   During her campaign, there have been times during which Luna Rose has grown exhausted and weary, which has made her question why she is running. She has had to rely significantly on Mean Girls Grijalva and Foster to coordinate her literature drops and they have also assisted in putting her campaign signs up. Of course, she will forever be indebted to them-politically. This is the whole reason they are helping her.

   Natalie Luna Rose’s demeanor cannot be described as uplifting or inspirational. It is also not one that portrays leadership. Her behavior comes off as angry, distant, aloof, tired, and bored. There seems to be simmering anger beneath it all. Luna Rose projects a forced presence and does not warrant any confidence from voters. During one of the Zoom forums, Luna Rose sat on a sofa, leaned back, and seemed to respond to the questions that were posed begrudgingly. She was hunched over and scowling throughout the forum. It was as though she did not want to be bothered and was angry that she was “bothered.” We received very negative comments about her appearance and behavior. See for yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCuX6BH6qQc

   The spider web-like connections by Luna Rose to the Adelita/Foster clan are disturbingly obvious. Foster’s political ties to Rebecca Wicker, whose political efforts to support Foster and Cam Juarez four years ago when they ran for re-election became public as Wicker established and funded a campaign to counter a factual campaign opposing the two candidates based on their incompetency and corruption. Wicker attempted to counter an organized campaign that exposed Foster and Juarez as having accepted a $5,000 contribution from a TUSD contractor through the sneaky hands of the contractor’s wife. It forced Foster to return the dirty bribe money to the contractor. On the other hand, Juarez, even after promising to return the bribe money, failed to return his kickback money. Well, no surprise, Wicker is back in the picture supporting yet another Foster attempted infestation- Luna Rose. In her campaign information, Luna Rose provides Wicker’s business address as her campaign contact/mailing address, as illustrated on her campaign website.

   We found the following on her campaign website: http://www.nataliefortusd.com/contribute/

   Natalie for TUSD
   Natalie Luna Rose for TUSD Governing Board
   Contribute
   Make a secure contribution today with ActBlue.
   You can also send a check or money order to:
   Natalie for TUSD
   4500 E. Speedway, Suite 41 ←
   Tucson, AZ 85712

   And, below, we show Wicker’s business address:
   Rebecca Wicker – Owner – dedicated. a gluten free bakery …

   https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-wicker-74853525

   March 01, 2016 · 4500 E Speedway Blvd #41, Tucson, AZ 85712 ←

   We are a completely scratch bakery and coffee shop in east-central Tucson! I am so excited to bring …

   • Title: Owner of Dedicated. A Gluten Free …
   • Location: Tucson, Arizona

   The information below was pulled from the Wicker’s official formulation of the committee four years ago, which was put together to save Juarez and Foster. Juarez lost, and Foster squeaked through, unfortunately. In part, Wicker is to blame for Foster’s narrow re-election.
   We guess that Wicker promotes several politicians because we found the same campaign address for others (see below) and know that Foster has used the 45oo East Speedway, Suite 41 address for various reasons.

   Contact | Rex Scott for Pima County Supervisor District 1
   https://scott4supervisor.com/contact
   You can contact us via the form below, or else through our mailing address:
   4500 E Speedway Blvd, Suite 41 Tucson, AZ 85712

   The same address was found on former Mayor Rothchild’s treasurer’s documents, and Foster has referenced the address for her political use.

   The TUSD board election is supposed to be non-partisan. However, A. Grijalva and Foster have created a Frankenstein partisan election process and the partisan climate has become totally saturated in the operations of TUSD. TUSD board elections have become extremely partisan election due to what has been described above. Most of us are Democrats but take exception to how enmeshed the party is in TUSD matters. This is all thanks to Kristel Foster and Adelita Grijalva. Our students come to us from homes from all parties as well as those who do not affiliate with any party.

   We believe that Luna Rose will be a detriment to the board. By everything we have seen and heard, her ties to A. Grijalva and Foster will bind her in ways that will keep her from being anything but another one of them.

   We also find it problematic that Luna Rose’s campaign is more about street signs (one on every corner of Tucson) than any substance.

   •Nicolás Pierson: Pierson knows the least about TUSD than the other candidates and has come out of left field to run for the board. His responses to the many questions that have been asked during various forums suggest that he is willing to give the most superficial answers when he hasn’t the slightest idea of what the question means. At times he gives responses that sound rehearsed and insincere. He has never said, “I do not know.” Pierson has not been a visible member of the TUSD community and has had no known involvement over the last several years at a school or at the district level. He is a grandparent, but it remains unclear how involved he is at the schools that his grandchildren attend. A review of Pierson’s campaign website shows that the top TUSD issues he has outlined are identical to the ones that Mark Stegeman often outlined as his top priorities; High Administrative Costs; Classroom Instruction Spending; Declining Enrollment.

   Of course, Pierson has received a glowing endorsement from Mark Stegeman, who recently emailed his endorsement letter to his entire server list. Michael Hicks has been seen placing Pierson’s signs all over Tucson, so he too is involved in the campaign. And typically, there would be nothing wrong with merely endorsing a candidate or helping them out on their campaign, but what we are seeing with Grijalva and Foster and “their” candidates is a cloning of sorts. The same is true for Stegeman and Pierson. Grijalva, Foster, and Stegeman are not helping “their” candidate(s) out of the goodness of their hearts. Their campaign support is being provided in return for forever loyalty (personal and political). The divisive Stegeman vs: Grijalva/Foster dynamics need to be exorcised from TUSD which calls for preventing more of the same from being elected to any vacant seats.

   Pierson is a former U.S. Army veteran, and financial advisor, and both are impressive but do not solely qualify him to serve on the TUSD board. Absent any other qualifications, Pierson is not qualified to serve on the board. Do NOT vote for Nicolás Pierson.

   As in the case of Luna Rose, we find it problematic that Pierson’s campaign is more about street signs (one on every corner of Tucson) than any substance.

   •Adam Ragan: We have two equally important reasons why Ragan should NOT be on the TUSD board. He is a racist. Plain and simple. He can deny this fact from now until eternity, but he is a racist. He recently acted out his trigger-happy racist instincts when he accused Sadie Shaw of removing his political sign and replacing it with hers. What on earth made him think it was her and what on earth made him think it was OK to accuse her publicly? Ragan’s racist accusation is a typical racist reaction from someone who believes to be superior to the person he has accused and publicly condemned. It is a good thing Ragan is not a cop. He had NO evidence, just his racist supposition. Could he have called her and broached the subject as a concern rather than a straight-out public accusation? Sure. But, he didn’t. Hum? Let’s see, he is a privileged white man, and she is an African American woman & single parent. Shaw, of course, did not stand still for such overt racism and called him out on it, as did several community members. Ragan has apologized, but it is only because she and many in the community uncloaked his racially elitist trigger-happy treatment of an African American woman who is also a single parent. Ragan’s behavior was despicable on several levels and further exposed his sense of superiority. He obviously does not understand that when he wrongly accuses a single parent of a crime, he is also damaging the child(ren). Ragan has no children and is blatantly incapable of relating to this fact.

   Ragan has thrown out Gloria Copeland’s name when the topic of desegregation has been raised, as if using her name gives him any credibility. We call it racially condescending. We also believe that his action exposes how very little he knows about the Black community. Uttering Copeland’s name is not a ticket of credibility. We wonder if he has actually met with her. If so, we wonder if he has met with others involved in the case besides her. If not, he probably has the administration’s point of view on the case. The fact that he thinks he is being clever when he acts as he does is another sign of his assumed superiority.

   Although a huge number of our members are teachers, we find it repulsive to think that Ragan could land a seat on the TUSD board. For the last several years, Ragan has attached himself to the hip of TEA leadership with Epoxy adhesive. He sits with them at all board meetings and is widely perceived as “their” candidate (for the second time around). He is a part of the TEA leadership group by virtue of the forged friendships he has worked for over the last several years. Ragan is in a TEA trance and sees TUSD only through a union member’s eyes, which would be fine if he were looking to become the TEA president. But he wants a seat on the board, and if he wins a seat on the board when it comes time for the board to bargain with TEA, it will be as though TEA’s leadership is bargaining on BOTH sides. We support unions, but TEA has long stopped being a union. TEA is a partisan clique. The TEA leadership defends only members who are believed to be worthy of their time and resources. Many TEA members who have experienced employment problems, especially retaliation, have been left out in the cold by TEA. We have seen TEA erode into an organization that remains predominately white in membership, with a membership that remains at an all-time low. TEA is in a lot of trouble and is barely holding on to its union status due to its declining enrollment and its abysmal service to members who are continuously abandoned during their time of need. Its survival depends on TUSD board members who have chosen to ignore its low-enrollment status. TEA is looking for someone just like Ragan, whose job it will be to hold TEA’s head above the water line. This is dangerous for TUSD for many, many reasons.

   Ragan has his signs up all over Tucson, like other candidates. He has mailed out a huge and expensive two-sided glossy campaign card. Ragan has received a lot of money due to his TEA support. The glossy card is jam-packed and much too busy for a quick read. Most households will toss it. Of course, we read it to study it. The card states that every day he and his students live with the decisions made by a school board, which implies the TUSD board, on which he is seeking to gain a seat on in the November election. We found this statement intentionally misleading because there is no truth to it. He and his students live with the decisions made by the Sunnyside School Board- not the TUSD board. And as far as we know, he has never gone before the Sunnyside Board with any concerns about the decisions that the Sunnyside Board has made which harm his students or him (which is what he has implied). Most members of the Sunnyside Board have endorsed Ragan based on his lobbying to gain their endorsement. Ragan’s purposeful misrepresentation is so twisted. He is eating out of the hand that feeds him and suggesting that he has to live by their decisions but implying that it is the TUSD board. Ragan probably did not want to bite the hand that feeds him (as a teacher and as a TUSD board candidate), thus, he has never surfaced any problems he has experienced at Sunnyside with the Sunnyside Board. He seldom has, if ever, addressed the TUSD Board about decisions it has made that are detrimental to TUSD students. He has lobbied the TUSD board- but has never really complained to them about harmful things that are in place for its students. He is endorsed by Mean Girls A. Grijalva and Foster and is also in the position of not wanting to bite their mean hands. We find Ragan’s intentional misleading statement to be a sign of his willingness to LIE for his self-promotion. This is dangerous. Ragan is playing word games in his campaign and is misleading the public. It is not a good way to begin one’s political life and it yet another reason to reject him and his word games.

   Ragan wrote the following on his campaign website: “Every day, Adam Ragan goes into his classroom and gives his all for his kids & colleagues.” We have news for Ragan, so do thousands of classroom teachers. Ragan is not the answer to TUSD’s ills. He will become another ill, if elected. He has one perspective to offer, and it will take top bill every time: TEA. If he wants to represent TEA, let him. He should quit Sunnyside, become a teacher in TUSD, and run for TEA president. Do NOT vote for Adam Ragan. He is a racist, and he is narrow in his mind. Again, here is our summary of Ragan: 1. racist 2. TEA/Union tunnel vision. There are NO good reasons to vote for Ragan, and, as you can see, there are solid reasons NOT to vote for Ragan. If you know him, do encourage him to do what it takes to get on the TEA board.

   •Cindy Winston: Winston is a science teacher, which she is proud of and which she mentions several times as she speaks about her TUSD board candidacy to people. She is straightforward about how her personal tragedies have shaped her into the person she is today. There are things that we like about Winston since her approach is honest, sincere, and lively, but we are concerned that she has barely scraped the surface on issues that must be addressed by the TUSD Board. We also do not see her campaign as viable and able to support her to win. She may want to consider a run for the board in two years as she prepares better in learning more about TUSD as well as formulates a campaign that can support a competitive race.

   •Cristina Mennella (write-in candidate): Mennella is a speech-language pathologist and addresses most topics from the point of view of a pathologist, counselor, social worker, and therapist. It is all very therapeutic, and it is a narrow and “treatment” perspective. Her approach seems to see kids of color as needing to be fixed. We do not buy it. Mennella did not, for whatever reason, begin her campaign by obtaining the needed signatures to be placed on the November 2020 ballot. As far as we are concerned, this eliminates her as a candidate. It shows poor planning. We could not find a website for her campaign other than her Facebook. She, too, has no formidable campaign in place.

   •Ravi Grivois-Shah: Grivois-Shah is a family doctor with Banner Health. He serves on the TUSD Audit Committee. Out of the four audit committee meetings held in 2020, Grivois-Shah was 35 minutes late to one, absent from one meeting, and left early for a third meeting (the meeting continued for about another 30 minutes after he left). He was late just by 2 minutes to the 4th meeting. In summary, he missed 25% of the meetings in 2020; missed a significant portion of 50% of the meetings by being significantly tardy or leaving early; and attended 25% of meeting by being only two minutes late. Not a great track record.

   The Audit Committee has been without the leadership of internal auditor for most of its existence; thus, the committee has relied on TUSD administrators, who are compromised (far from independent) and who promote and hold on to the company line by virtue of their jobs. None of these administrators can be viewed as “independent” and while they each provide information to the Audit Committee it is not clear that the information is never verified. This scenario has not made for an independent entity. Upon hiring the second internal Auditor in a matter of a few years, we found it peculiar and offensive that the audit committee minutes reflect the attendance of the Internal Auditor under “others,” which does not distinguish her from administrators who attend committee meetings to “represent” their departments and/or TUSD held positions on various issues. See 1/24/20 minutes as an example of this fact:

   Others:
   Renee Weatherless, Executive Director,
   Finance Robert S. Ross, Jr., General Counsel, Legal Services
   Vanessa Hernandez, Executive Assistant, Finance
   Martha Smith, Internal Auditor
   Dave Phillips, CliftonLarsonAllen, LLC

   We find nothing on the audit committee’s web site that shows that the committee has accomplished much of anything of value for schools and its students. Under the heading “transparency” we did find three reports. The first one truly is unbelievable and, in many ways, so pathetic that it is laughable. The Internal Auditor spent a great deal of time and resources in conducting an audit to address the missing records of the Independent Auditor’s office. It seems that previous audits (of which there were likely few) and the work product associated with the audits had all gone missing and after searching for the documents it was discovered that they no longer exist. The documents just disappeared. It is unbelievable but here is the link to the document about the missing, lost forever documents.
   http://www.tusd1.org/Portals/TUSD1/District/docs/Transparency/RecordRetention.pdf

   Now, if this fact does not erode any remaining confidence in how TUSD maintains its document, we are at a loss at what it might take to show that TUSD is shrewd in skewing its data, its document, its reports. In this case, it just makes the documents go away, forever. If any documents should have been safeguarded, it should have been those of the Independent Auditor. The whole reason for having an independent auditor was to offer public transparency in budget and finance but there can hardly be transparency when reports/documents vanish from sight. This is not in line with “transparency.”

   In addition to the audit report mentioned above that concludes that documents have been lost and cannot be retrieved, the Independent Auditor conducted audits on school club funding and cash handling at the schools. It is interesting that these “small potato” auditing projects were high on the Independent Auditor’s list since there are so many questions about very large district expenditures which go unexplained and are buried in the “big” budget. She obviously has no contact with those of us at the schools, with parents, and with community members. We guess that she has been convinced, which is not very “independent,” that it is more important to go after the PTAs, the PTOs, and all the other clubs and organizations that raise and spend money for the schools than it is to conduct forensic audits on the really big tax dollars that TUSD wastes away.

   Over the last year we had heard from many schools that the volunteers who work so hard to raise money for the various school clubs had been hassled and stressed because they had not been trained properly and had not followed the proper procedures. But how can volunteers follow proper procedures when they have never been told what the procedures are that they are to follow? Those of us at the schools know that there has never been any training. Slapping an instruction sheet on the TUSD website, after the fact, is not training. The leadership from some clubs had been instructed to tell the Auditor that they had been trained, but, in fact, they had never been trained. In other words, administrators were instructing parents to lie.

   A great many parents who volunteer to serve on various school clubs felt scolded and humiliated. But good for the Independent Auditor who decided that she would instill fear into innocent volunteers at our schools! What an accomplishment! In her wisdom she decided to go where there is uncontrollable corruption in TUSD- its school clubs. We cannot help but be factious. So- to recap, in total, there are three Audit reports that are accessible to the public. One states that the Independent Auditor reports and records from the previous Auditor have totally and forever vanished due to how electronic records are destroyed after an employee leaves TUSD’s employment. (We do not believe the hype about the destruction of electronic records because it does not account for the loss of the printed documents. We are convinced that the records were intentionally destroyed by TUSD as thousands of records in other departments have been destroyed during the last few years.) The other two reports deal with club money and the handling of cash at the schools. As much misspending as is seen at the District level, it is disheartening to learn what the priorities have been for the Independent Auditor. Once upon a time, we were in total favor of the Independent Auditor position and the Audit Committee. We are now convinced that they are a waste of taxpayer money and a total joke. They both should be flushed.

   Without real leadership, it does not appear as though there have been tangible value-added products to show the Auditor’s work or that of the Audit Committee’s. This is a fact that the committee cannot escape, inclusive of Member Grivois-Shah. As members of the Committee, they are neutered without the position of Independent Auditor in place for a sustained period, and without any valuable work products to validate their existence. We question what has been accomplished by the office and the committee. It does not appear that Grivois-Shah has done much to address the reality of the situation. He, like the rest of the Committee appear to be nothing more than talking heads and even at that, since his attendance is so poor, we cannot say that he is even at the level of a talking head. It is interesting that the disappearance of the Independent Auditor’s reports and work documents has not been more of a public matter. The Audit Committee kept the information under wrap. The new Independent Auditor wrote her report, which, in total irony is found under “Transparency” on the department’s website. Someone has to go searching for reports to find it. The Independent Auditor never addressed the issue in public during a board meeting.

   After reviewing a few of the Audit Committee’s minutes and researching the Independent Auditor’s professional background, we have serious concerns about her qualifications. She has bounced around Tucson from job to job like a crazed bouncing ball. She was at Vantage West for all of ten months as a loan officer. Then she was a banker at JP Morgan for 10 months. Then she went to the Arizona Department of Revenue as a revenue auditor for 2 years. Then she went to Pima County as a lead auditor (not independent) for almost 5 years. Then she went to Raytheon as a general ledger accountant for 2 years. And finally, she wound up as TUSD’s INDEPENDENT Auditor (without any independent auditing experience). How can it be expected that the audit committee earns any level of credibility in conducting any form of auditing with a rookie at the helm. It won’t happen. The posted audit reports which can be found on the TUSD website are a disgrace to the institution. The concern relative to the TUSD school board race is that Grivois-Shah has been part of the dysfunction. He is a member of an apparent do-nothing committee that selected the current Auditor. It is all an expensive and lost opportunity. The Auditor could have chased down much bigger money issues and instead, she went after the school clubs and set up a great deal of divisiveness between the schools and their parent volunteers. Her lack of experience with public school systems may be the reason for her poor decisions but then this would take us back to our stance about her lack of qualifications for the TUSD job.

   How can a candidate for the school board address TUSD’s fiscal accountability when the single committee he has served on for quite some time seems NOT to have been accountable for performing its work? How did the Audit Committee allow for audit reports and records to permanently vanish? What has been audited, and where is the evidence of any such auditing? The meat is missing and all we have left are some cold very mushy potatoes.

   When asked about his time commitment to the TUSD board, should he be elected, Grivois-Shah has made it clear that he is not interested in what he calls micro-managing TUSD and its superintendent. We are gravely concerned that Grivois-Shah’s obligations as a medical physician at Banner will not allow him to dedicate the time needed to adequately study the items presented to the board by the administration for board action. He will, much less, have time to meet with parents and constituents who have concerns about TUSD. His attendance at the Audit Committee meetings is reflective of either his poor time management or his time constraints- or both. It is problematic.

   Grivois-Shah talks a good line on the topic of equity, but his talk becomes suspect when he makes statements about the desegregation case that are totally untrue. During a forum, he stated that people from New Jersey should not influence the case. Undoubtedly, he received the information from Trujillo or his army of bureaucrats. We checked, and there is absolutely no one from New Jersey involved in the desegregation case. We wonder if he took the time to meet with anyone but TUSD administrators to learn about the desegregation case. Maybe he flew to New Jersey to meet with them.

   It is evident that Grivois-Shah has had more than enough money to spent on winning a seat on the TUSD board. His physician friends and several of his political associates have donated a lot of money to his campaign and he has spent it! The Arizona Daily Star Sunday paper from October 11, 2020 had his campaign sticker prominently placed on the front page- upper right hand. This takes big money. Ron Barber did a robocall endorsement for him. He, too, like Ragan, mailed out a large card to voters last week. More big money.

   We cannot help but think that Grivois-Shah is running for the TUSD board as a stepping stone to another political seat in the near future. Voters should know what his plans are now. Despite what he has said, we do not understand why he is running for a TUSD board seat except to use it as a springboard.

   TUSD requires drastic strategic, systemic change. To elect candidates that are more of the same will not accomplish what is necessary to turn TUSD into an educational system that belongs to the parents and students- with its primary focus on providing them with the optimum education for kids- all kids. Please cast a single vote for Sadie Shaw for the many reasons provided in this letter. Also, please pass this letter on to family and friends.

3. I think citizen parents are maybe the best to serve on the Board as an outsider. We have watched the Grijalva machine steal campaign signs and tear apart TUSD. I am voting for Pierson. Let’s give him a try.

4. As a TUSD teacher and parent of a child entering the district next year, I am VERY invested in the future of TUSD. For that reason, I have been volunteering for Sadie Shaw’s campaign since I heard she was collecting signatures to get on the ballot.

   I cannot stress enough how much of impact it will make in terms of our community’s future to have an authentic advocate on the TUSD Governing Board. I say authentic because her aims are the opposite of political. Sadie got involved in the race as the parent of a second grader in the district who has experienced the possibilities within TUSD to become a district that truly helps the community thrive, as well as the disappointment of seeing school sites that were failing to maximize and enrich student learning experiences. As an art educator, Sadie has experienced the conditions of elementary and secondary schools within TUSD first-hand, and understands the disparities that exist between school sites and will work to identify, address, and eliminate the educational inequity that has plagued TUSD for decades.

   Unlike the vast majority of members who have used the Governing Board as a political stepping stone, Sadie is not motivated by a career in politics. In fact, Sadie is motivated to run because of the career politicians who have done nothing to advocate for the community and has failed generations of TUSD students and staff. My vote is for Sadie Shaw, and I hope you will consider giving her your vote too.

   http://www.Shaw4TUSD.com

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