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Heather Rooks
From Ballotpedia
This page was last updated during the official's most recent election or appointment. Please contact us with any updates.
Heather Rooks is an at-large member of the Peoria Unified School District in Arizona. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.
Rooks ran for election for an at-large seat of the Peoria Unified School District in Arizona. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Rooks completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Heather Rooks was born in Arizona. She attended Glendale Community College.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Peoria Unified School District, Arizona, elections (2022)
General election
General election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large (2 seats)
Heather Rooks and Melissa Ewing defeated Devon Updegraff-Day in the general election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Heather Rooks (Nonpartisan)  | 36.4 | 42,442 |
| ✔ |  | Melissa Ewing (Nonpartisan) | 32.9 | 38,324 |
| Devon Updegraff-Day (Nonpartisan) | 30.2 | 35,223 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 579 | ||
| Total votes: 116,568 | |||
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Endorsements
To view Rooks' endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Heather Rooks completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rooks' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Heather Rooks is a wife, mother of four children and Co-Creator of West Valley Parents Uniting in Arizona. Heather grew up in the Peoria Unified School District and is a proud graduate of Sunrise Mountain High School. Before becoming a wife and mother, she spent 3 years at Glendale Community College studying for an education degree. Heather started this journey when her autistic child was denied a mask exemption at school. From there, Heather met Devon Updegraff-Day and together they have spent the last year advocating for children’s education along with parental rights. Heather has attended board meetings in the Peoria Unified School District and she has found a way through public records to share the truth. Through this journey, she has met many parents who have also joined together to stand up for their own children’s education and choices. Her husband, Aaron Rooks and her family are supporting her candidacy for Peoria Unified School Board Member in the 2022 election. Together Heather Rooks and Devon Updegraff-Day will bring back academics, transparency and partnership with parents.
- For the past three years I have been asking for information and questions to which answers should be readily available and yet are not. I witnessed parents trying to stand up for their parental rights in education to later be ridiculed for doing so. I was done listening to excuses and not having any resolutions. It is time for a board that listens to parents. I will stand up for student's academic education in Peoria Unified. I will stand up for parental rights, transparency and accountability.
- Academic performance is our biggest challenge. Overall, more than half of our students in PUSD are only partially or minimal proficient in language skills (ELA) (58%; pre-Covid 55%) and Math (64%; pre-Covid 52%). It seems like the longer a student stays in PUSD schools, the lower their performance — ELA 3rd grade 58%, 10th grade 66%; Math 3rd 57%, 10th 64% are only minimally or partially proficient. This is unacceptable to our parents, taxpayers and many legislators funding the system. We must support the students with their academic needs and work with the parents who are wanting support for their child. We need to bring in more classroom support like tutors and teacher assistants.
- This is a crucial time right now for Peoria Unified students who need academic support and parents who are wanting their rights to be protected. We have parents who ask for help because of what’s happening to their children in certain classrooms. We have employees who reach out to us for concerns of the way the Peoria Unified School District is headed. Many teachers have left because of the forced ideology by the district onto the teachers. There are two seats open this coming November and the only way we can save the children’s academic future, protect the parent’s rights and support the employees is if Devon Updegraff-Day and myself are both voted for on the ballot this election.
In Arizona we have the Parental Bill of Rights, and I am a huge advocate for parent's rights. Parents know what is best for their child and that needs to be honored in the Peoria Unified School District. After this year, parents have realized Peoria Unified School District needs to restore the trust that has been broken. I have so many inspiring memories from growing up in the Peoria Unified School District. My learning experience was knowledgeable, memorable and I wanted the same experience for my own children.
Children these past two years have suffered tremendous learning loss due to unnecessary school closures and online learning. Peoria Unified School District has repeatedly shown their main focus is how their school's "look". This needs to change for our children's future. We can accomplish this by focusing on the core academics - Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Science and History. That is how students remain first. Curriculum Transparency has been a difficult concept for the Peoria Unified School District. Parents shouldn't have to jump through hoops to find out what their children are learning. State Standards, Curriculum, Online Resources, Textbooks, Library books and the SchoolNet Teacher Portal has to be easily accessible for parents to view. We need to have a better process of resource approval for classrooms. I will make sure to hold the district accountable for our staff, parents and community.
Children these past two years have suffered tremendous learning loss due to unnecessary school closures and online learning. Peoria Unified School District has repeatedly shown their main focus is how their school's "look". This needs to change for our children's future. We can accomplish this by focusing on the core academics - Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Science and History. That is how students remain first. Curriculum Transparency has been a difficult concept for the Peoria Unified School District. Parents shouldn't have to jump through hoops to find out what their children are learning. State Standards, Curriculum, Online Resources, Textbooks, Library books and the SchoolNet Teacher Portal has to be easily accessible for parents to view. We need to have a better process of resource approval for classrooms. I will make sure to hold the district accountable for our staff, parents and community.
Family is everything to me. I look up to a lot of my family members who have wisdom, courage and advice. My mom has always taught me to have courage and be kind. She raised my sister and I to have respect for our Country and be thankful for what we have. So, I instill those values into my children with my Husband. I also look up to my grandmother who was a teacher and loved teaching me about History. Her excitement and joy when teaching her grandkids about the History of our Country and the world was always rememberable to me. My husband is a great father to our 4 children, and I look up to him often. His adventurous and outgoing personality inspires me to open up more when meeting new people. And the last person I look up to is my cousin who lives up North in Show low, Arizona. I know I can always call her up and she will listen to anything I am needing advice on. Her wisdom and courage are the examples I would like to learn from. I don't necessarily want to be a follower. I would like to be a leader and I think looking up to my family members I mentioned above will help guide me to better help the Peoria Unified students, parents, staff and community.
"Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of
freedom"
2nd President of
The United States of America
Integrity, Transparency and Courage are the most important principle to me as an elected official.
I was attending Frontier Elementary when September 11th happened, and it was the most horrific thing I remember as a kid. My mother had picked up my sister and I from school when it happened, and the school was crowded with parents getting their kids. We watched the news and our mother explained what had happened. I couldn't understand why anyone could hurt so many people and attack our country. I loved our country as a child and teach my kids about loving our country. My husband and I will make sure our children know of what happened on 9/11 because it's important to understand how awful that day was.
My first job I started as a hostess at age 16 at Top Shelf Mexican Restaurant. I worked there through high school and college about 9 years. I worked my way up to server.
According to state statute, the elected governing board responsibilities include hiring and firing the superintendent, approving the district budget, and approving policy and contracts.
The Peoria Unified School District voters
By providing an academic education and bringing in more support of areas that students are struggling in.
I believe the staff we need to hire should be based off of their ability to teach in the classroom or how they take on leadership roles.
The district has focused too long on thinking they are responsible to raise the child. The focus needs to be brought back to an academic education and leave the parenting to the parents. This has been in the way of a quality education the Peoria Unified students need.
I would love to see more technical training and partnerships for apprenticeships. We need to create more opportunities for the students in Peoria Unified. I would also like to focus on reading levels for the younger grade levels with an emphasis on phonics and reading interventionists. I would also like to bring in more traditional learning and getting back to the basics.
By holding the administration accountable and stop the insane amount of overspending. The legislature supports public education through funding which it has increased by approximately $600 million this last legislative session but it never reaches the classrooms to help the students or teachers.
I will work on providing SRO officers to all schools in the Peoria Unified School District. We need to ensure students are protected and parents want to know that their child is safe at school. SRO officers are trained professionals and will provide the security schools need for the children.
I believe the mental health needs to be addressed with involving the parents and suggesting to them outside resources that can help. The role of a school is to provide an education.
I saw the horrible effects of closing down schools did to children and their academic education. I will not support closing down schools, quarantines or masking of children.
We need to have more opportunities to bring parents to the table and listen to their ideas. I would like as a board member to have monthly meetings with parents who want to be more involved in the district.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 23, 2022
