2020 Star Opinion: TUSD Governing Board

The Arizona Daily Star endorses Adam Ragan, Dr. Ravi Grivois-Shah and Natalie Luna Rose to be the next Tucson Unified School District Governing Board members.

With no incumbent members running in this year’s election, new faces abound. All three candidates endorsed by the Star from the six-person field on the ballot would be first-time TUSD Board members, a trait shared by all the candidates.

However, all three bring a wealth of life experience and unique insight to the position that will be sorely needed on a board known for infighting and intransigence and that will be facing a pandemic and all of the ancillary issues that arise from it.

Ragan, a current ninth grade teacher, has been active in district, local and county politics for some time, and would fulfill the need for having an active educator on the board who knows how to lobby.

Grivois-Shah, in addition to being the medical director at Alvernon Family Medicine, is a TUSD parent and active local PTA member at one of his children’s schools. He brings medical expertise to a council that may need help parsing out the logistics and outcomes of policies both now and post-COVID.

Luna Rose, the current communications manager for the Arizona Center for Disability Law and a TUSD parent, will be an advocate for a community that is often left out of the decision-making process.

Together, these new additions to a board that had become staid and devoid of new ideas should help reinvigorate a district that always seems to find itself a step behind.