Chandler school board: Mendoza, Heap, incumbent lead as vote count winds down

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Two challengers and the lone incumbent seem likely to secure Chandler Unified School District Governing Board seats after Tuesday morning results reporting from Maricopa County Elections.

Six candidates are seeking three seats in the district and voters choose as many as three candidates for the available seats. Only the top three vote-getters will earn seats on the board, and it appears Mendoza, Ryan J. Heap and longtime incumbent Barb

Mozdzen will win the four-year terms that start in January.

Reports on Monday, Nov. 11 the voter turnout passed the 80% mark. In 2020, the Arizona statewide voter turnout for the presidential election was only 79.9%.

Tuesday, Nov. 12, the county’s morning report showed 145,282 ballots cast for Chandler school board seats, for turnout of 83.19% of the roughly 180,000 registered voters in the district.

Mendoza is still the top vote-getter in the CUSD board race. She had 57,818 votes, or 19.43% of the votes reported by Nov. 12.

Mendoza has maintained a first-place lead over Ryan J. Heap since the beginning of vote reporting, though it has shrunk. Heap was running second with 56,450 votes, or 18.97%, as of the morning of Nov. 12.

Running a distant third, though hanging onto to the final seat on the ballot, as of Nov. 12, was Board President Barb Mozdzen, the lone incumbent in the race. She had 49,579 votes, or 16.66%, and seems to have stabilized a steady 3,000-vote lead over fourth-place Leanna DeKing.

DeKing ran fifth most of the first week of reporting before moving into fourth place. She had 46,436 votes, or 15.61%.

Challenger Zeyna Pruzhanovsky, who easily collected the most petition signatures to get on the ballot, was in fifth place as of Nov. 12, with 45,647 votes, or 15.34%.

Eloyce Gillespie has 41,619 votes, or 13.99%.

Board members Jason Olive and Joel Wirth decided to not seek re-election to the five-member board. Mendoza, Pruzhanovsky and Mozdzen are running as a “ticket” that has its own website.

Heap, Gillespie and King appear to have a much different approach to education. DeKing and Gillespie were endorsed by the Arizona Legislative District 12 Republicans.

Mendoza told the Chandler Independent keeping the short- and long-term best interests of the students in mind will be a top priority.

“I ran on a student-centered campaign,” she said. “I’m humbled to be able to serve and give back and work together, with all alliances. We have curricula that serve many types of students and I’m excited for that.”

Mendoza said she’s disappointed voters apparently didn’t value Pruzhanovsky’s candidacy. Mendoza said she value Pruzhanovsky’s voice, as the longtime teacher in a local Indigenous district has a “heart of gold.”

Mendoza also said as a lifelong learner, she considers board membership part of her learning journey. Not only does she have many professional peers to consult with regularly, but she also sees board members’ process as learn-as-you-go.

“One of my strengths is that I never stop working to improve and to help others — the board, teachers, students, families — improve,” she said.

Mendoza said one concern raised by voters as she campaigned around the district was ensuring equitable and needed resources are available at all campuses. She said even though school-of-choice can and should be a CUSD selling point, she’s been reminded during the campaign that transportation and busing represent huge sets of issues for many district parents.

Mendoza, Heap and Mozdzen will be part of a board that will have a $487 bond proposal that voters appear to have rejected in the Nov. 5 election, including what that means in terms of finding ways to pay for repairs and improvements and in what that rejection says about CUSD voters.

The district will almost certainly need to take an override spending authorization to voters in November 2025.

“We’ll just have to look at a lot of balances and factors, make plans and take action,” Mendoza said.

Mozdzen, in third place and therefore less presumptious about the results at the time she replied to Chandler Independent questions, said with more than 40,000 ballots left to be counted in Maricopa County, on Nov. 12, she was “somewhat optimistic” she’ll be elected to one of the three seats.

Even though voters didn’t choose all three on her candidate team and it appears Pruzhanovsky won’t win a seat, Mozdzen is encouraged by aspects of this election — especially the level of voter participation.

“The election turnout is 83% — which is really great,” Mozdzen said. “I’m disappointed that the bond will probably fail. This bond was expected to help with aging infrastructure, preventative maintenance, transportation and technology updates, and facility modernization to remain competitive. While the district had plans in place either way, the bond not passing delays important updates and could impact staff and student retention and success due to outdated infrastructure.”

Mozdzen said she’s already personally thanked many people who helped with the campaign.

“I’d like to publicly thank my husband and family for their support, along with the many individuals and organizations that endorsed, assisted and had faith in me,” Mozdzen said.

Heap said he thinks the district’s bus driver shortage will be one of the many tough challenges the new board will need to confront immediately.

“I think improving the pay scale would help, but maybe we need staff to look at routes and see what creative solutions we can find,” Heap said.

Heap said one of the biggest surprises he experienced on the campaign trail this past year was being called “a racist, a bigot and an extremist.”

He made comments about trans youth and bathrooms during public input at one board meeting this year, apologizing at the following meeting.

Heap said there weren’t really many surprise issues raised by voters to him during the campaign. He said student safety came up often.

Heap described running for office as a nearly constantly eye-opening experience. He said another surprise was that former CUSD Superintendent Camille Casteel and a sitting board member who didn’t seek re-election, Joel Wirth, both endorsed his opponents in the race.

Heap said he also noticed that elections lead to labeling. For example, he said, his identity as a parents-rights advocate led to an unfair assumption he’s against the concept of taxpayer-funded public schools.

“I love public schools, my kids have grown up in them; I’m a proponent,” Heap said. “We think we understand how people feel about certain issues, but once we get to know someone, you understand how people don’t match their label.”

Heap said he also wants to improve the perceived trust level the public appears to have in CUSD. Some change in that area could happen, he says, if there were a more friendly public-input process.

“I realize there are laws, rules, bylaws to follow, but I think the board could do more to be gracious to people making public comments,” Heap said.

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.