June 19, 2022 | www.santansun.com
Relentlessly local coverage of Southern Chandler
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Parents, students plead for help from CUSD BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
A community shocked by three recent suicides of Chandler Unified School District students spoke out June 8 and told the Governing Board to do more to address the mental health of young people. “No parent should ever, ever have to cut their child down,” said Chad Day, whose son Pierson, a Perry High freshman, hung himself on May 24. “You reached out to me and asked me if we need anything,” Day told Superintendent Frank Narducci. “We
don’t need anything financially, but what we do need is you to help us with this community, Mr. Narducci.” Day said some students asked him to address the board and support them in their call for help. “It is a shame that they have to come in here and ask for this,” Day said. “It’s up to you to do something about this. If you don’t, we will find someone who will, I promise.” Members of Arizona Students for Mental Health also called for more action. They asked for the formation of a student action board in all CUSD junior
high and high schools. The students on those boards would meet monthly with school officials to discuss issues they are experiencing. They also want students, teachers and staff at all those schools to get mental health first aid training from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing so that they can recognize the signs of someone who might be in trouble. In 2019, the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 1468, mandating all public school staff be trained in an evidence-based, best practice suicide prevention training at least once every three years.
“I saw firsthand how a lack of mental health resources in school affected my friends and family,” said Maya Lehti, who is 13 and a rising eighth grader at Santan Junior High. “I have found that it is very hard to watch my loved ones struggle … there isn’t much out there to help them.” Jayden Riecken, a 15-year-old rising sophomore at Basha High School, said, “I’ve had my own fair share of struggles with mental health and I feel that a lot of the time there’s no one I can go to for help. See
CUSD on page 22
Wife's illness forces sad end for S. Chandler shop BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
It’s easy to forget that life can change in a moment. One moment is forcing Richard and Connie Finkbeiner to sell their Chandler business of more than 20 years. They plan to close Connie’s Jewelry Gallery and Clock Shop at 1900 W. Germann Road forever around the end of June. Connie had just dropped her grandchild off and was returning home in February of 2017. She stopped at a stop sign. There was a utility box blocking her view. She leaned forward, and turned her neck to try and see around it. It was that moment that her car
South Chandler jewelry store co-owner Richard Finkbeiner. said he has to close his Chandler jewelry store so he can care for his wife Connie, who owned Connie’s Jewelry Gallery and Clock Shop with him for more than 20 years..
was hit from behind by a maintenance truck. Richard says he’s been told the other driver was distracted. “You know, a kid being irresponsible and we think he was on his phone,” Richard said. “I mean, it took everything. It took my wife’s life, she’s in a bed ... and it’s taking my business. I can’t run this business on my own and I can’t find anybody who has, Connie’s been doing it for like 35 years, ...the business worked because Connie developed trustworthy relationships with her clients.” There’s another reason they are closing their business, which has been at the corner of Dobson and Germann since See
(David Minton/Staff Photographer)
JEWLERY on page 3
Taxpayers covering $377.5K in council pet projects BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
Each year Chandler City Council members get a contingency fund to spend money on projects they deem important for the community. This year councilmembers awarded $10,000 to explore blockchain record keeping, $17,000 for two award recognition ceremonies that were started this year – and an additional $10,000 for the Endzone Experience, the city’s non-sanctioned Super Bowl party. The projects in all total $377,500 of the city’s $1.35 billion budget Council approved last week. Council also approved a capital improvement budget of $1.66 billion. Vice Mayor Terry Roe voted against the package of budget amendments. “Historically, we’ve talked about these items individually and that can take a long time,” Roe said. “This year we probably could have done that, forced a vote in a study session, but we didn’t.”
Council changed how it voted on the amendments because of the pandemic. In 2020, there were no amendments. Since then, members have been voting on them as a group instead of individually. Roe said he voted against the amendments because he objected to spending $74,000 – the highest amount among the individual items – for a portable, solar-powered electric vehicle charging station for city-owned vehicles. Here’s a look at some of the items the Council awarded funds to: Endzone Experience: First, don’t call it a Super Bowl party. This is not in any way an official NFL event and the city doesn’t want to fight with copyright attorneys. It just happens that it will be staged about the time the Super Bowl will take place in Glendale on Feb. 12. Kim Moyers, the cultural development director for the city, says the Endzone Experience will be an event for the community. First, it will allow some Chandler youth to showcase their skills
for college recruiters. “It’s basically working with a lot of the high school students on how if they’re interested in playing at the collegiate level, [or] if you’re so fortunate to play at the collegiate level, what it would take to get to the professional level,” she said. “They are going to do some, like some scrimmaging and that type of thing so that people have an opportunity to see some of the amazing athletes that Chandler has.” Council had already approved
$25,000 for that part of the Endzone Experience. Councilmember OD Harris asked for an additional $10,000 from the contingency fund to improve it. Moyers said they plan to stage a number of events on Super Bowl weekend where people in the community can participate. Since that money has just been approved, they have not planned out exactly what those activities will be just yet. Chandler has some of the top high
F E AT U R E D STO R I E S CUSD gives itself high marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .News . . . . . . . . . . .Page 8 Sellers market beginnign to fade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Real Estate . . . . Page 27 Chandler yo-yo factory America's biggest. . . . . . . .Business. . . . . . . Page 30 Sun Lakes author pens new novel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .NEIGHBORS . . . . . Page 40
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PARTY on page 6
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