At Tuesday night’s TUSD Governing Board candidate forum the topic of allegedly illegal contributions continued to haunt Board members Cam Juarez and Kristel Foster. Juarez and Foster accepted contributions from Rob Brooks, whose firm, ESI, supplies teachers and other staff to the District.
The acceptance of contributions after voting to award ESI a $21 million contract has cost Foster and Juarez support. In the case of Juarez, the pay-to-play scandal cost him the endorsement of Arizona State Representative Bruce Wheeler. Wheeler withdrew his endorsement, according to David Morales of the Three Sonorans, due to the fact that Juarez had said he would return the contribution and then failed to do so.
Listen to Morales, who appeared on the James T. Harris radio show prior to the forum here.
The Dietz Neighborhood Association sponsored the forum at Palo Verde High School. District officials initially attempted to block the association’s forum by denying the group access to the facility.
Immediately prior to the forum, the TUSD Whistleblowers issued their 38th open letter to the community which included their endorsements. The Whistleblowers include TUSD administrators, teachers, retired administrators, parents, and grandparents.
“It should not be of any shock to you that from the start of our endorsement process Kristel Foster and Cam Juarez did not even make the first cut,” wrote the Whistleblowers. “Based on their broken campaign promises from four years ago and their rubber-stamp actions during their term, we believe that they have let the community down. We strongly encourage individuals to replace them with Board members who will be fully engaged in their governance roles in a transparent and ethical manner.”
The group endorsed Betts Putnam Hidalgo, Brett Rustand, and Rachael Sedgwick.
A Dietz attendee stated, “Betts, Brett, Lori (Riegel), and Mark (Stegeman) performed well. They were really powerful. Sedgwick seemed to be okay at first until she started focusing on herself and then she melted down.”
TUSD Governing Board member Michael Hicks said after the Dietz debate that he was “disappointed that Cam and Kristel misrepresented many of their votes. Kristel claimed that we only lost a few kids this year. How does she know? King Sanchez,” said Hicks referring to Superintendent H.T. Sanchez, “and the G-Crew haven’t shown the rest of us the enrollment numbers.”
Under the leadership of Board president Adelita Grijalva, who appears to control Juarez and Foster, the District has lost thousands of students to neighboring districts.