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Bad news for Mesa Public Schools board
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This Week
NEWS............................... 5 Chandler projects uncover infrastructure spaghetti.
BUSINESS . ................ 15 Sun Lakes business restores tired bodies.
SPORTS........................19 Perry High pitcher in toughest challenge.
GET OUT..................... 21 Cycling festival rolls into Mesa
COMMUNITY..................11 BUSINESS........................15 OPINION......................... 17 SPORTS ...........................19 GETOUT...........................21 CLASSIFIED....................24
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EAST VALLEY
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Longtime EV tech school chief may lose job BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
I
t may not be easy or cheap, but the East Valley Institute of Technology governing board is working on a separation agreement with suspended Superintendent Sally Downey. Downey, a charismatic leader and
a former Mesa Woman of the Year, was placed on indefinite administrative leave in January as the newly elected governing board asked for an investigation by attorney Susan Segal, an expert in education law. Segal’s subsequent investigative uncovered a series of alleged violations of state contract and procurement laws – including a contract to
supervise construction of a $33 million expansion in east Mesa – that are now being examined by the Arizona Attorney General’s office. The board last week met in executive session for the stated purpose of discussing a “separation
see EVIT page 4
SALLY DOWNEY
Lawmakers weep as suicide Dying wish granted bill clears two more hurdles BY PAUL MARYNIAK Tribune Executive Editor
M
andatory suicide prevention training for school personnel appeared closer to becoming a reality last week as a second House committee unanimously approved it. As their counterparts on the House Education Committee did during a March 18 hearing, some members of the House Judiciary Committee last week wept as mothers who lost teens to suicide told them their sons might be alive today had teachers, principals and other school personnel recognized their children’s plight and knew what to do about it. The bill, proposed by Sen. Sean Bowie, whose district includes parts of other East Valley cities, so far has been powered through the legislature with strong bipartisan support, particularly from Chandler lawmakers Sen. J.D. Mesnard and Rep. Jeff Weninger, whose district includes part of Gilbert. But it was the mothers of suicide victims whose testimony clearly moved
legislators to continue the process for passing the bill, which requires all school personnel who deal with students in sixth through 12th grade undergo training every three years in proven techniques for recognizing suicidal children and teens and knowing what to do to help them. “There really is a crisis when it comes to our young people and teen suicide, particularly in the East Valley,” Bowie told the Education Committee. Added five-year legislator Weninger: “I have never testified on another person’s bill in a committee that wasn’t mine. To me, this is that important through the whole state to get this done.” After what is expected to be a routine review by the House Rules Committee, the bill will go before the full chamber. Assuming it passes, it will then return to the Senate for a second approval because some changes have been made since the Senate overwhelmingly passed it last month. Both Bowie and Weninger were re
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Students from Red Mountain High School’s DreamCatchers Club made terminally ill Sue Pulvirenti, 74, ecstatic March 23 with a book-signing for the book they helped her write and publish, fulfilling a wish she thought would never be realized. For details, see page 11. (Sierra Poore/Tribune Contributor)
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