Weeshoff: 3 Scottsdale Schools candidates to vote for

The most important races in an election are often the down ballot races.

These races are nonpartisan and they are frequently the ones that affect our community the most.

One of those is the SUSD school board. We have six candidates running for three positions and four of them support all our students and families and will strengthen our district. Here’s why Julie Cieniawski, Rose Smith and Zach Lindsay have earned my vote and I hope will earn yours too.

Julie is a beloved retired teacher from the Desert Mountain community.

She has long been a supporter of our students, teachers and programs at Desert Canyon Middle School. She has also been a leader of our local teachers association, helping build trust between our teachers and our district.

In a state where we have a teacher shortage crisis, having a teacher on our school board has the potential to make our school a destination for the most qualified teachers and help retain the talented teachers we already have. With her experience, she will make sure our students, teachers and classrooms have what they need to be successful.

Rose has worked at SUSD providing administrative support for secondary schools (middle and high school) and since retiring, has been a strong SUSD advocate and volunteer. As a leader of the classified association, she helped strengthen employee whistleblower protection and helped discontinue unfair employment practices to support our lowest paid, but very essential workers, such as nutritional services, paraeducators, bus drivers, et al.

As an advocate she helped bring forth evidence to indict the former CTO under Birdwell. As a volunteer she’s at Scottsdale Parent Council meetings, public input meetings for hiring a new superintendent, and has helped with SUSD’s override.

Rose knows K-12 education well from her time working at the district and as a leader of the Scottsdale Support Professional Association. These classified positions are often the most difficult positions to fill.

I know at our school, some of the part time positions stay unfilled and in the past we have had to ask for volunteer help. Because Rose has worked for the district, she also knows how to review budgets, procurement and data analysis.

With her experience and dedication to SUSD, she will be an asset to our board.
Zach works in the financial field, and has been a dedicated SUSD advocate and volunteer at the district level and at his daughter’s local SUSD elementary school.

He has helped expose corruption in the past SUSD administration under Birdwell and fought for Kiva to be a priority on the campus rebuild list and to build the Kiva community. As an advocate for elementary students and families at Kiva, Cochise and throughout SUSD he knows our concerns as parents and has the experience to help us get the results we need.

If elected, Julie, Rose and Zach are ready to hit the ground running in January.

They are knowledgeable about policy, protocols and finance of our schools.

All three care that our students, teachers and staff have the best environment and the tools to facilitate a successful education for our students. And all three love this community and have worked to make it a better place for our families.

Julie, Rose and Zach are from different backgrounds and political affiliations but they agree that SUSD is worth fighting for, for our students, our families and the future of our community.

Editor’s Note: Laura Weeshoff is a Scottsdale resident.