Contender disputes claims surrounding Higley school board write-in candidacy

By Tom Blodgett
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Kathleen Richards says there was no elaborate plan behind her last-minute filing for a vacant Higley Unified School District governing board seat — just a text message, a looming deadline and a decision to run.

Richards, one of two qualified write-in candidates for the two years remaining on former Board Member Scott Glover’s term, is pushing back against questions about how she and Travis White learned about the vacancy quickly enough to file July 20.

The circumstances surrounding their filings have drawn criticism from Maricopa County School Superintendent Shelli Boggs and others because Glover’s resignation became official on the final day candidates could qualify as write-ins for the Nov. 3 election.

Richards said Glover sent her a text the morning of July 20 telling her he had resigned.

“That is the extent of the information that I was given,” Richards said.

She said she then researched what the resignation meant for the seat and concluded she could file as a write-in candidate because a regularly scheduled election was already approaching. Write-in paperwork had to be filed in person.

Richards said she expected the county superintendent’s office to publicly post information about the vacancy and the filings, potentially allowing others to qualify before the 5 p.m. deadline.

Instead, Boggs, in a statement released Aug. 21, said she decided the vacancy should be filled by appointment after receiving legal advice that the seat should not go on the November ballot.

White subsequently sued Boggs and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Julie Mata ruled Aug. 19 that the seat must be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot and the write-in filings processed. The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld the ruling Aug. 21.

Richards said she considered challenging the county's decision herself but could not afford to pursue litigation.

“If I had the financial means, I would have also — not happily,” she said.

Boggs has said the issue goes beyond whether state law ultimately required an election. She questioned how White and Richards could have learned about the vacancy and appeared at her office so quickly when the broader Higley community did not know the seat was available.

Glover's resignation letter was hand-delivered to Boggs' office at 8:29 a.m. July 20. White and Richards arrived at 10:43 a.m. seeking to file, according to a timeline released by Boggs' office.

Boggs previously said the sequence created an unfair situation in which information about the vacancy effectively gave some people access to the ballot that others did not have.

Questions also surfaced at HUSD's Aug. 11 board meeting, when district taxpayer Pam Ingermanson alleged White and Richards had coordinated with Glover. Board Member Anna Van Hoek also objected to White being among three candidates the district forwarded to Boggs for possible appointment.

Richards rejects the suggestion that Glover's resignation was orchestrated to allow her or White to file.

“I wish I could give you your Hollywood movie,” Richards said.

Richards said Glover's house being placed on the market earlier in the year had prompted speculation among people in the district that he might eventually leave. She said she later learned the house had sold but knew Glover continued to live within district boundaries.

She said she assumed he intended to finish his term.

However, Richards also acknowledged that she and White did not simply happen to be at the county office at the same time. Before deciding to file, she said she wanted to know whether at least one other person was willing to pursue the seat because of her experience running for the board in 2024.

Richards finished fourth in that election for three seats. She did not file to run for either of the two four-year HUSD seats up for election this year.

She said the contentious nature of the 2024 campaign made her reluctant to put herself and her family through another campaign. But Glover's unexpected resignation presented a different situation.

Richards said she does not know how many people Glover told about his resignation or why he chose July 20 to submit it.

Glover previously said he and his wife had planned to move overseas after retirement but expected him to complete his four-year board term. Their plans to move to Portugal came together more quickly than anticipated, leading to his resignation.

Richards said Glover's timing unquestionably complicated the situation.

“I wish that he would've been able to figure out a way for whatever reason to see it through to the end or perhaps not wait until the last minute so that it didn't set off alarm bells needlessly,” she said. “But he was in control of that, not anyone else.”

Richards also disputes criticism that the court ruling leaves Higley voters with only two choices because White and Richards had advance knowledge unavailable to other potential candidates.

She contends the county superintendent's decision not to recognize the vacancy for election purposes prevented other residents from learning about it while there was still time to file.

“The only reason that we are the only options is because Shelli Boggs didn't follow the law to begin with,” Richards said.

Had the vacancy and initial filings been made public that day, Richards said, other residents — including some of the 12 people who later applied through HUSD's appointment process — could have filed before the deadline.

HUSD's board ultimately recommended Brooke Garrett, Kimberly Jackson and White to Boggs after a community survey. Garrett received 210 selections, Jackson 147, White 119 and Richards 114.

The appointment process became moot after the courts ordered the election.

Richards said she wants the campaign to move beyond the controversy surrounding the vacancy and toward issues facing HUSD, including declining enrollment and the continuing phaseout of voter-approved bond and override funding.

“I would like to keep the focus on the kids, our district,” Richards said. “There are a lot of more important things to discuss about how do we capture more families into our district?”

Richards and White's names will not be printed on the Nov. 3 ballot. Voters must write in the name of their preferred candidate, and votes cast for someone who did not qualify as a write-in candidate will not count.

The two-year race will be separate from the election for two full four-year HUSD board terms. Board President Amanda Wade, Van Hoek and challenger Michelle Morris are running for those seats.

Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him on X at @sp_blodgett.

Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@iniusa.org

Meet Tom
Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.

Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.

Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism. 

Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.  

Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).