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Student, not yet 18, runs for TUSD board

Forget that idea that young people aren't interested in politics. Devin Mauney, a University High School student, is running for the Tucson Unified School District governing board in the Nov. 2 general election. Mauney's not even old enough to vote. But he'll turn 18 on Sept. 11, when he will not only be able to cast a ballot but also become eligible to run for the board in TUSD, the area's largest school district. District veterans say they can't remember any other student running for the TUSD board before. Teens running for public office are uncommon, although South Tucson City Councilwoman Jennifer Eckstrom was just 18 when she was elected in 1995. But Eckstrom had a family political dynasty backing her. Her father, retired Pima County Supervisor Dan Eckstrom, started his political career on the council and she had already worked on multiple election campaigns. Marana Unified School District officials say an 18-year-old graduate unsuccessfully ran for the school board in the past decade. Former Nogales, Ariz., Mayor Louie Valdez was 20 when he was elected to the local school board in 1992, serving as board president from July 1992 to December 1993. Mauney, who said he researched campaign finance reports of past candidates, estimates it will cost at least $5,000 to finance a campaign. Mauney doesn't have the money on hand but believes he can muster adequate support from "students and families - and there are some teachers who would be willing to help in more peripheral ways. Students and families are the groups that I really want to reach. "I think it's really difficult reaching a demographic that is not your own. Hopefully, my candidacy will get more young people out voting, and certainly that's one of the goals of me running. That is definitely a sort of peripheral goal of the whole campaign." Aside from his mother and younger brother, Mauney has no family in Tucson and no family member who has ever run for public office. As for his platform, "I really think the district needs to do a better job of creating communities within schools," said Mauney, who will begin his senior year later this month. The district should do more to celebrate student successes, he said. TUSD also loses students to other districts and charter schools that offer preferable academic and extracurricular programs, which the board should do more to support, he added. Mauney, with a 4.0 grade point average, said he started thinking about running in February because a teenage friend in Tennessee serves on her local school board. He started researching what public offices he could hold at age 18 and came up with two: the TUSD school board or justice of the peace. "A lot of people have just been checking and making sure it's really what I want to do," Mauney said. Much of his inspiration comes from volunteering for the United Methodist Church. In TUSD, eight people - including incumbents Joel Ireland and Judy Burns - filed by the Wednesday night deadline to run for three open seats on the governing board. But can a high school student serve in a public office and still concern himself with regular high school worries like homework and preparing for college? "I think I'd be crazy if I didn't have concerns," Mauney said. "I think it's possible to do both." Meleah Whetstone, Mauney's mother, said she believes his interest was sparked in January during a trip to Washington, D.C., where they visited the lobbying arm of their church and watched a vote on the Senate floor. "He saw, very quickly, in order to have any influence on what happens in the world, you have to be involved in the political process," Whetstone said. "He said, 'Well, you know, instead of being a lobbyist for the church, maybe I should hold office.' He's really an ambitious kid." Board member Burns applauds Mauney. Although she has never met him, Burns has informed students during guest lectures that even students who are 18 can run for the governing board. "I find it very refreshing," Burns said. Students "just have a perspective that we couldn't know. Once they start telling us about it, we understand it. It's very interesting to see this young man run." Burns agreed with Mauney that individual campuses should be allowed to form small communities and have more input in board actions. "We transfer people around all the time without any input from the school," Burns said. "I agree with him there. There should be more control at the site." Guadalupe Elena Parra, an adjunct assistant professor in the psychology program at the University of Arizona and a fellow first-time TUSD candidate, supports Mauney. "I think it's very commendable on his part to be concerned about the education that he and his peers are having. It's something that's to be admired, that being so young, he already has concerns about the impact that the educational system has," she said. If elected, Mauney has resolved to attend the UA, where he already has a scholarship. If not, he'll consider attending out-of-state schools. If elected, Mauney will join the other TUSD board members in making some major decisions, including hiring a superintendent to replace Stan Paz, who resigned under pressure in April.