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Wednesday, November 11, 2020
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HOW TO HONOR
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LOCAL INVENTION
MICHELLE FAHY
WANDA KOLOMYJEC
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BERDETTA HODGE
SARAH JAMES
ARMANDO MONTERO
Down-ticket, only school boards changed dramatically BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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MARGARET WRIGHT
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y the end of last week, the much-vaunted “blue wave” in Arizona pretty much became a trickle for down-ticket races. One thing that did change dramatically is the composition of both school district governing boards impacting Ahwatukee as voters returned one incumbent and two newcomers to each entity, according to unof�icial results. In the Tempe Union race, while Governing
Board President Berdetta Hodge led the �ield of eight candidates seeking three open seats, twoterm member Sandy Lowe fell to 2019 Desert Vista High School graduate Armando Montero and Chandler teacher Sarah Lindsay James appear to have taken second and third place, respectively, according to unof�icial results. In Kyrene, incumbent Kyrene Governing Board member Michelle Fahy led the �ive educators seeking three board seats while Tempe biology professor Margaret Wright locked in second place.
For a while, a nip-and-tuck battle for third place pitted Ahwatukee residents Trine Nelson and Wanda Kolomyjec against each other. But Kolomyjec appeared by Monday to be winning by 474 votes in an election where 95,515 ballots were counted so far district-wide.. For the most part, however, the outcome of races below that of U.S. Senator and the President, told a story of Democratic hopes dashed. One by one, outcomes for county races –
dication it was considering an expansion of its current hybrid learning model. The benchmarks released by the county the day after the board’s Nov. 4 meeting showed that two of the three metrics that districts rely on for guidance on closing or opening campuses were in the minimal virus spread category and the other showed moderate spread. “Our plan has always been to monitor the metrics provided by the state,” Superintendent Dr. Kevin Mendivil told the board, not mentioning the state’s change in advice that recommended districts close only if all three benchmarks show substantial virus spread.
Cases per 100,000 people rose from 74 the week of Oct. 17 to 87 the week of Oct. 24, putting that benchmark in the moderate spready category. The data are 12 days old when the county posts them. The percentage of positive new test results rose from 4 to 4.2 percent but that remained at a level for minimum virus spread, as did COVID-like symptoms in hospital visits, which rose from 3 to 4 percent. Kyrene showed similar levels for all three
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Tempe Union says virus ‘trending in wrong direction’
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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mid surging virus cases in many parts of Maricopa County and the state, Tempe Union of�icials appear on course to keep classrooms open to students only two days a week for the foreseeable future. Assistant Superintendent Sean McDonald last week told the Governing Board the county’s COVID-19 metrics for the district as well as ZIP codes within and outside Tempe Union’s boundaries “are trending in the wrong direction” and the administration gave no in-
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2021-22 Enrollment Begins January 12 www.kyrene.org/discover #discoverkyrene