By james art 
Trish Olson | Scottsdale
Of the many opinions that have been offered about the SUSD school board race, I notice an interesting trend.
Individuals supporting Jacobs, Beasley and Hassler continue to say that SUSD is in dire straits, while backing up their claims with actual – and shocking – data. Consider the repeated statistic that only 34% of SUSD 9th graders are proficient in science and less than half of 8th graders are proficient in math. More than 2,200 students have left SUSD in the past few years.
The community provided detailed approvals for Jacobs, Beasley, and Hassler. Scottsdale City Council member and member-elect Kathy Littlefield and Jan Dubauskas also gave fact-filled endorsements. Jacobs, Beasley and Hassler have done their research and identified issues that need to be addressed.
In stark comparison, the opinions in favor of their opponents have in common a love of public school, community pride, a desire for pleasant school board meetings, and a concern for home values. While this is warm and fuzzy and sentimental, it ignores the real issues facing our schools.
Either Pitinsky, Sharkey, and Lewis are unaware of the true state of SUSD, or worse, they seem to want to hide the decline in our children’s education in the name of their home values.
All three of my children are high school students in SUSD and have continuously attended school in this district since preschool. I attended school in SUSD from kindergarten through graduation and it is clear to me that SUSD has real problems. Issues that negatively affect the children of Scottsdale and that negatively affect Scottsdale. As a community, we owe it to our children to offer the “world class” education that SUSD promises in its marketing campaigns.
Gretchen Jacobs, Jeanne Beasley, and Drew Hasler proved they are committed to taking their roles seriously. They deserve my vote.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcome at [email protected].