Continental School Board seeks candidates

Voters in Continental School District No. 39 will elect three board members in November, and so far, no one has announced for the seat of President Bonnie Klahr, who says she won’t run again after serving eight years.

Incumbents Chet Davis and Peter Schmerl plan to seek re-election, said Klahr in a short interview Thursday.

Two other board members, Donna Rheingold and Dick Roberts, aren’t up for re-election this year.

The district, with just one school, is one of the state’s better ones, and State School Superintendent Tom Horne came here in January to present it with the state’s No. 2 Highly Performing award.

Former Superintendent Gaye Leo credited the work of the teachers. “If you go back to what research shows, the single biggest factor in any achievement picture is quality teachers who work with kids.”

The district has about 380 students in preschool through eighth-grade. There are about two dozen teachers.

The classes are small with fewer than 24 students each.

Getting on the ballot will require 89 voter signatures on the nominating petitions.

To be eligible to run, a person must have been a resident of the district for at least a year before the voting—Nov. 4.

Deadline to submit petitions to the county superintendent’s office is Aug. 6.

Candidates must also submit a photo and a 500-word statement.

A statement from Pima County School Superintendent Linda Lee Arzoumanian said candidates must file nonpartisan nominating petitions with sufficient valid signatures, a nomination paper, affidavit of qualifications and campaign finance law statement, and either a statement of organization or the $500 threshold exemption statement.

Susan Hankinson, elections specialist in the county school superintendent’s office, said people thinking of running can get an election packet.

“They can call me and I’ll send it right away,” she said.

Hankinson’s direct line is 740-8037.

She suggested that candidate petitions should have more than 89 signatures in the event any are declared not valid.

In the packet are nomination petitions, the statements a candidate must file and a checklist and time line for candidates to follow.

“All candidate statements shall be either typewritten or electronically submitted,” said one of the statements in the packet.

The statements will be posted verbatim as they are received, unless a candidate requests that typographical errors be corrected.

The candidates’ statements will be posted on the county superintendent’s Web site at schools@schools.pima.gov.

One of the things the instructions say is that candidates will be limited to campaign expenses of no more than $500.

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749