In the Peoria Unified School District, three people have submitted their signatures to run for two seats that will be vacated by Cory Underhill and Rep. Beverly Pingerelli, R-Peoria.
They are Melissa Ewing, Heather Rooks and Devon Updegraff-Day, according to the Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent.
The race for school board will conclude with the Nov. 8 general election.
The Peoria Independent will be hosting a candidate forum and publishing Q&As so that readers can learn more about where the candidates stand on specific issues.
Four candidates submitted statements of interest, but Amy Sexton did not submit signatures.
Starting June 11, the candidate filing period for the November election was open until 5 p.m. July 11, according to the Maricopa County School Superintendent’s website.
During this period, the superintendent’s office collected the candidates’ nomination papers along with their nomination petitions. Candidates had to collect a minimum of 400 nonpartisan petitions, or signatures, to have their name appear on the ballot.
Ewing has been involved with Peoria schools for six years as a substitute teacher and has a Master of Counseling degree and Master of Education degree. She and her husband have lived in the Peoria school community for more than 15 years, with two teenagers who have attended PUSD since kindergarten.
Rooks is a stay-at-home mother and has been married to her husband for 11 years, with four children who attend PUSD. Both parents graduated from Sunrise Mountain High School and attended Frontier Elementary.
Updegraff-Day has been a dermatology physician assistant for almost 14 years, and co-owns a dermatology medical practice. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology with a minor in anthropology and will be receiving a doctorate in health sciences later this year. She has been married for 13 years and has three children ages 12, 9 and 4, who do not attend Peoria Unified.
Updegraff-Day ran for PUSD school board in 2020, but lost.
Although the candidate filing period has ended, there is still a 10-day challenge period where one’s candidacy can be challenged with Maricopa County Superior Court, as explained on the superintendent’s website.
This period for the governing board elections is from July 12 to 5 p.m. on July 25. Additionally, write-in candidates must also be submitted by July 25 no later than 5 p.m.
Going forward, the “certified” candidates who have filed have until Thursday, Sept. 15, to submit their candidate statements and photographs to the office of the county superintendent.
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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