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12 to vie for TU, Kyrene school board seats BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
A look at the candidates appears on pages 15-16.
A
t a time when elected and appointed school district officials are struggling to meet students’ needs in the shadow of the pandemic, four men and eight women from Ahwatukee, Chandler and Tempe will be vying in November for one of Arizona’s most demanding unpaid jobs – a seat on a governing board. After making it unscathed past the July 20 deadline for challenging petitions, four women and one man will be on the Nov. 3 ballot for the Kyrene Governing Board while four women and three men will be doing the same for the Tempe Union High School District board.
Kyrene files suit against vaping product kingpins
Three seats are open in the nonpartisan elections for both boards and at least one newcomer to the Tempe Union board and two on the Kyrene board are a certainty because of retirements. The field includes two incumbents on the Tempe Union board – Berdetta Hodge and Sandra Lowe, both Tempe residents – and one incumbent on the Kyrene board – Michelle Fahy of Chandler. Changes on both boards will result from longtime Tempe Union board member Michelle Helm’s decision to call it quits after
completing her fifth term – 20 years – at the end of this year. In Kyrene, John King and board President Michael Myrick are not seeking reelection – although Myrick will be vying for a seat on the Tempe Union board. The Tempe Union race also features the youngest candidate among all 12 seeking a board seat in one of the two districts. Armando Montero, a 2019 Desert Vista High grad, has thrown his hat into the ring. He also is one of four Ahwatukee residents seeking board seats – two each for each board. Tempe residents include three Tempe Union and two Kyrene candidates while two Chandler residents are in the Tempe Union race and one is seeking a seat in Kyrene.
Reopening protest
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
K
yrene School District has joined a number of others across the nation in filing a federal lawsuit against the world’s largest manufacturer of e-cigarettes and vaping products and makers of similar items. The suit was filed in San Francisco U.S. District Court July 15 against JUUL Labs, Phillip Morris USA, NuMark and Altria Group, as well as many other manufacturers whose names have not yet been tracked down. It is one of many that large and small districts have filed
see VAPE page 6
While parents supporting campus reopenings were to gather for a protest at the State Capitol last night, July 28, Matthew Camba and other parents held a mobile anti-reopening protest in the Tempe Union school district last week. School districts will make their reopening decisions, as reported on page 12. (Pablo Robles/AFN Photographer)