Jen Darland

Final vote tally for TUSD Governing Board election

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Pima County Elections Division finally finished up tallying the provisional and early ballots for the 2014 General Election. Here’s the final count for the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) governing board race, which was a 9 way race for 2 nonpartisan seats.

Long term incumbent Adelita Grijalva has prevailed and had been leading since election night (November 4, 2014).  The results for the 2nd seat has been close as indicated by the final tally, with incumbent Micheal Hicks winning re-election by 517 votes.

Newcomer Jen Darland (parent/activist) who came in 3rd had received many union endorsements (including Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce) and from the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Weekly newspapers.

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TUSD Governing Bd. race still close for 2nd seat – updated

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On election night November 4, 2014 in the TUSD Governing Board race incumbent Michael Hicks was losing by 435 votes, but as of yesterday November 7 at 5:18 p.m. he is only winning by 351 votes (27,413 to 27,062) over newcomer Jen Darland. Stay tuned as the Pima County Elections Division continues to count provisional … Read more

Newspaper endorsements in TUSD Governing Board race

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Our Tucson daily newspaper Arizona Daily Star has endorsed community activist Betts Putnam-Hidalgo (who ran unsuccessfully for a TUSD seat in 2012) and political newcomer Jen Darland  in the upcoming Tucson Unified School District Governing Board non-partisan race for 2 candidates.
Candidate Jen Darland
Candidate Jen Darland
Candidate Betts Putnam-Hidalgo
Candidate Betts Putnam-Hidalgo

From the Star editorial about Jen:

Jen Darland is running for the first time after years of involvement at her children’s school and co-founding the advocacy group Arizona Education Network.

She participated in two state efforts to increase education funding, including the successful Proposition 100 in 2010, which provided a temporary 1-cent sales tax for public education and other services.

The Star says this about Betts:

Putnam-Hidalgo ran for the board two years ago, as did three other 2014 candidates. Despite her loss, she still kept up her regular attendance at board meetings. She’s also been actively involved in school site councils, served as a community representative and taught English as a second language to parents.

She speaks with enthusiasm of participating in parent leadership training through Voices for Education as a starting point for her advocacy. She describes herself as a “bulldog” when it comes the education.

Betts is a community activist and P/T teacher (“parent, volunteer and advocate for public schools”),  and  Darland calls herself a “volunteer parent education advocate” at TUSD.  Both candidates have children attending TUSD schools.

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5 of 7 Democratic TUSD board candidates to speak at DGT

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Democrats of Greater Tucson – DGT (www.tucsondemocrats.org) is hosting a forum for Democrats running for the TUSD Governing Board in the General Election of Nov. 2014.  9 candidates are seeking two seats on the board, currently held by incumbents President Adelita Grijalva and Michael Hicks.

Speaking on Monday September 15, at 12 noon at Dragon’s View restaurant, 400 N. Bonita Ave. are registered Democrats:   Rene Bernal, Don Cotton, Jen Darland, Adelita Grijalva, and Betts Putnam-Hidalgo.  Also invited but not attending: Miguel Cuevas (former TUSD school board member) and Francis Saitta.

Although this is a non-partisan race, the 9 candidates’ political party registration is known in the community.  Candidates Michael Hicks and Debe Campos-Fleenor have been speaking at the Pima County Republican Club, and are listed on the candidate page of the Pima County Republican Party, www.pimagop.org.

Bd. member and President Adelita Grijalva has been endorsed by the Tucson Education Assn. and the Tucson Metro Chamber.  Political newcomer  Jen Darland was also endorsed by the latter group. AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) is also supporting Grijalva and Darland.

Current TUSD Board member Mark Stegeman (now registered as an Independent, formerly a Democrat) is supporting fellow board member Michael Hicks and candidate Debe Campos-Fleenor, an insurance agent.

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