After two decades on the Tucson Unified School District board, Adelita Grijalva is not seeking a sixth term in the November election.
Grijalva, who is also an elected member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, said her decision was based on the list of candidates interested in filling a TUSD seat.
“I chose after 20 years not to run for reelection because I was able to look at the quality of the candidates that are running. We have a lot of parents that have an invested interest in our schools, and I feel really good about that,” Grijalva said.
As she nears the end of her fifth consecutive term, she is set to tie with former board member Joel Ireland for longest-serving TUSD board member.
The TUSD governing board currently includes Grijalva, who is board president; Leila Counts; Ravi Shah; Sadie Shaw; and Natalie Luna Rose.
Counts, whose first term is coming to an end this year, also is not seeking reelection.
TUSD governing board elections are staggered. Members Shah, Luna Rose and Shaw were elected in 2020 and will see their terms come to an end in December 2024.
‘Positive moment’
Grijalva’s service with TUSD began in 2003 before she had any children, she said. Fast forward to the present, and she now has three children enrolled in TUSD schools.
During most of her time with TUSD, she was the only parent and person of color who served on the board, she said.
In an interview Tuesday, Grijalva reflected on how things have changed since the start of her first term.
“Really, what was just a positive moment for me is when this current board was totally sworn in, and you look that every single one of us are parents of children in our district, and we are the most diverse board that I think has ever been,” she said.
She listed preschool across TUSD as one of the most important measures she has worked on during her time on the board.
When she became a mother during her first board term, she confronted obstacles in finding a preschool to enroll her daughter in, she said. Most preschools only offered assistance for families that met certain financial criteria.
“I, as a person who was working, didn’t qualify because of income, but I still couldn’t afford $850 a month for preschool,” she said.
“There wasn’t a place that I could go, and so now, after 20 years, we have preschools in nearly every elementary school,” Grijalva said, adding that there are also two early learning centers, which offer services for children as young as 6 weeks.
Looking ahead, Grijalva said the district’s budget will be a big priority for governing board members next year.
“We’re going to have to deal with the reduction in (federal) funds,” she said, referring to the COVID-19 relief funding that school districts received.
Grijalva has two years left on her first term on the Board of Supervisors and said she plans to run for reelection to that office.
“I think 20 years is an honor and a privilege, and I just wanted to give some other people the opportunity to be able to serve and do the same thing,” she said. “TUSD is our home, and we’ll continue to be all right.”
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TUSD board member Leila Counts resigns her role as president citing health issues and her children needing extra help getting caught up because of learning challenges during COVID. Longtime board member Adelita Grijalva will fill out the term as president until January.
