To give residents another opportunity to learn more about the Peoria Unified School District governing board candidates, Independent Newsmedia submitted a second questionnaire inquiring about their stance on certain issues.
Two seats are open on the board, with three candidates running — Melissa Ewing, Heather Rooks and Devon Updegraff-Day.
This batch of questions were going to be used in a candidate forum sponsored by Independent Newsmedia planned for Aug. 30. However it was moved to virtual due to safety and security concerns, among other issues. Ultimately the forum was canceled because of the safety concerns, including concerns from Rooks, as well as because of the reactions from the Rooks and Updegraff-Day campaigns.
In the interest of providing voters with the information they need to make an informed decision at the ballot box, here is the second of three articles that will feature questions that were going to be used at the candidate forum.
Devon Updegraff-Day
What can you do to promote the importance of bonds/overrides to voters?
Taxpayers have zero confidence or faith in Peoria Unified School District’s ability to manage their $400 million budget responsibly or effectively. Until the board can prove to the community that they are willing to problem solve and attempt to find solutions without solely relying on the passing of a bond, the board has no business promoting a bond to the community.
Peoria Unified School District has requested local taxpayers to approve a bond request for the past three elections. With each bond and/or override attempt, it cost the district between $102,000 to $133,000 just to get the bond or override on the ballot. The district’s repeated plan of action is to rely solely on the taxpayers. With each rejection of the bond, the district chooses to simply wait until the next election season to try again. The district has not been proactive nor attempted to create a contingency plan. Their lack of planning or inability to address a growing problem has left them in a difficult situation. Tough decisions will have to be made to keep campuses safe and productive. Student variances need to be examined, cutting wasteful spending, and researching various grants to help cover the cost of new school construction are all required tasks.
Public health has become a very important issue over the last few years. How important is it to protect against a pandemic and its spread? And how do masks and vaccines play into this for you?
As the only candidate with any medical education, training, and experience, I believe the entire district COVID-19 safety measures were a complete failure. I recommend anyone reading this to search for the New York Times article, “The Untold Story of the Birth of Social Distancing.” The concept of school closures, quarantines and social distancing was all based off a class project of a 14-year-old girl.
Medicine is based off risk versus benefit. COVID-19 destroyed that. The risk to children associated with school closures and/or quarantines was astronomical, with little to no benefit. The district operated off fear, not logic. However, I do not live in a state of fear, and I most certainly do not make decisions based off fear.
Melissa Ewing
What can you do to promote the importance of bonds/overrides to voters?
Public schools should be fully funded by the state so that the districts do not have to ask local residents to provide the funding shortfall. I will advocate to legislative leaders to support fully funding public schools and I will work to ensure the need is crystal clear.
Transparency is critical. We must provide accurate information on school funding and why and under what circumstances bonds and overrides are needed. This can be done by partnering with parent groups, such as PUPC or PTA/ PTOs to hold town hall meetings to educate, inform and encourage involvement in the bond/override process.
Public health has become a very important issue over the last few years. How important is it to protect against a pandemic and its spread? And how do masks and vaccines play into this for you?
School safety is always the number one concern. The district must work closely and collaboratively with health experts and concerned parents to ensure that students are able to learn in a safe and healthy environment.
PUSD has developed a comprehensive health plan with regards to managing illness within the schools and taken important steps such as installing air filters in classrooms.
Unfortunately, the pandemic became a divisive issue in our schools. While I would encourage cooperation and reasonable efforts to prevent illness in our schools, I respect that there are differing opinions on the subject, and I would, as always, seek to find win-win solutions for families, parents and staff.
Heather Rooks
What can you do to promote the importance of bonds/overrides to voters?
For me to discuss the importance of bonds and overrides, I need to see a change in direction of the Peoria Unified School District. Why is no one trying to think outside the box when it comes to bonds/overrides? We should be looking at grant programs and outside organizations for grants to fix our schools.
Public health has become a very important issue over the last few years. How important is it to protect against a pandemic and its spread? And how do masks and vaccines play into this for you?
I will not support shutting down schools, masking children against their parents’ wishes and quarantines that caused severe stress on students. I will always leave the choice up to the parents when it comes to the upbringing of their child. I will not support mandating the COVID-19 vaccine on students or staff. What the public should also know is our legislators recently passed a law that states the Maricopa County Health Department can’t add the COVID-19 vaccine to the child immunization chart for students to attend school. There is also a law in Arizona that gives exemptions to families on children vaccines.
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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