Response to audience comments at ADI: "TUSD Board To Consider Superintendent’s Goals, Denver Junket"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for caring enough to read about the TUSD School Board race, have an opinion about us candidates, and ask for more information.  We are all entitled to our opinions, but we should remember that they say more about us than they do about what we criticize or enjoy.

You are welcome to check my blog (http://sedgwick4tusd.blogspot.com/2016/10/action-plan.html), my website (sedgwick4tusd.com), my Facebook fan page (https://www.facebook.com/sedgwickforschoolboard2016/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel), or friend me on my personal FB page (https://www.facebook.com/ms.sedgwick.90).  I have opened up my personal page to you to demonstrate with my actions that I have nothing to hide, and I have the courage and integrity to accept your input and feedback about my performance.

For your general information, I am originally from Nogales, AZ., and I have an MSEd from UPENN, twelve years of teaching experience, and I am now a third-year law student at the UA College of Law.  As a 3L, I represent children involved in dependencies with the State in the Pima County Juvenile Courts.  My experiences have led me to develop the skills, courage, and integrity necessary to help improve TUSD's governance, as the current board has not managed to do in the past four years. They are proud of their decisions; however, they have consistently voted to spend only $.49 out of every dollar in the classroom.

I can help.  I will work to raise classroom spending from $.49 to $.70--before the end of four years.  I will also work to reinstate the counselor, librarian, and custodian positions that the current board has voted to cut (to make room for more administrators).  I would vote to cut the number of administrators and lower their salaries so that TUSD can pay teachers and other employees what they are worth, on par with the rest of the nation.  I will not lie to the community or spin the facts to make myself look better.  I will always look to student achievement results, employee satisfaction, and community feedback to grade my own performance.  In sum, I will bring transparency, accountability, and integrity to the TUSD School Board.

Choose wisely this November, but above all--please--change the board.  Our students are worth more than $.49, worth more than TUSD's ever-increasing number of administrators, and they deserve more from board members than fact-spinning and ego-selling.  We can elect to have TUSD governed better, more efficiently, more effectively...we just have to change the board.  Let us choose wisely and vote for the people who best represent us this November.  I hope to see you on Facebook--

Rachael Sedgwick