Sharon Tuttle

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Sharon Tuttle

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Graduate

University of Phoenix, 2010

Personal

Birthplace

Topeka, Kan.

Profession

Middle school teacher

Contact

Campaign Facebook

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Sharon Tuttle ran for election for an at-large seat of the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board in Arizona. She lost as a write-in in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Tuttle completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Tuttle was born in Topeka, Kansas. She earned a bachelor's degree in 2008. Tuttle earned a master's degree in business accounting from the University of Phoenix in 2010 and a master's degree in educational leadership from Western Governors University in 2019. Her professional experience includes working as a middle school educator. Tuttle has also worked in curriculum design and management, teacher development and mentoring, and process development and improvement. She also has had experience in servant leadership, data-driven instruction, accounting and business management, community relations engagement, restorative practices, state and district assessment collaboration, and collaborative and proactive solutions. Tuttle has also worked as an advocate and leader for equity and education.

Elections

2020

See also: Chandler Unified School District, Arizona, elections (2020)

General election

General election for Chandler Unified School District Governing Board At-large (3 seats)

Incumbent Barbara Mozdzen, Joel Wirth, and Jason Olive defeated Sharon Tuttle in the general election for Chandler Unified School District Governing Board At-large on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Barbara Mozdzen (Nonpartisan)	33.3	75,592
✔	Submit photo	Joel Wirth (Nonpartisan)	31.3	71,026
✔		Jason Olive (Nonpartisan)	30.1	68,402
		Sharon Tuttle (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	2.4	5,353
		Other/Write-in votes	3.0	6,761

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 227,134
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• David Evans (Nonpartisan)

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Sharon Tuttle completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tuttle's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Throughout my career, I have been passionate in my commitment to students and educators through amplifying individual voice, developing students' interest, and instilling a sense of dignity and worth among all. I have been a teacher since 2013, and spent 3 years in CUSD as an elementary teacher. I served on the Chandler Education Association Executive Board in Chandler working with district administrators and staff to improve our school system. I am currently teaching in Casa Grande ESD as a middle school ELA teacher. I have earned a Bachelors in Business Accounting, a Masters in Management, and a Masters in Educational Leadership. I am K-12 certified with endorsements in SEI, English and also have the K-12 Principal certification.

All four of our children are enrolled in CUSD and are at 4 different campuses because they all have differing needs. One of our children also is in Special Education, which gives us a keen perspective of the services provided to our SPED students. I want to see Chandler give every student, not only an equitable education, but one that thrives and beats the odds. I will work tirelessly to inspire and advocate for the CUSD community, so we can build a culture of collaboration, reinvention, and seeking to put kid's needs first. I am a Latina woman, who will advocate for you as a parent, educator, or community member to ensure we have the best district and parents continue to choose CUSD.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I believe CUSD's greatest challenge right now is effective collaboration and communication with ALL stakeholders. There is a culture of delaying decisions or making single-handed decisions that impact the school system and families, which creates confusion and frustration on all sides. Better collaboration and communication in the past could have brought the community together and given parents a chance to learn more about the district and staff, instead of building walls and barriers to building productive relationships.
• I am an official advocate for Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (by Dr. Ross Green, author of Lost at School, Kids We Lose and The Explosive Child) in and out of the classroom to help students solve problems, instead of relying on disciplinary measures that typically fail in helping our kids succeed in any environment. This program supports student choices, provides space for their dignity to remain in tact, gives them tools to self-advocate, increase their confidence and improve mental health.
• I am also a Youth & Educator Mental Health & Wellness Advocate and have designed programs to address the need for mental health awareness. I spent the better part of last school year advocating and creating curriculum to address the needs of our student's and educator's well-being and mental health. I helped to design the OneGilbert initiative, partnered with Stand Up Speak Up Save a Life and launched a new business dedicated to educator mental health and well-being.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am an advocate for education through and through. I am in full support of any policy that directly improves the lives of students and their ability to succeed. My first question when designing a lesson or implementing a management strategy is, "Is this what's best for the student?" I will always base my decisions on students first, then staff, then the community. When we provide educational opportunities to our students, the entire community benefits.

Chandler has always been a sought-out district by educators because of the reputation and ability to provide resources and programs that families desire. Educator retention is rapidly declining in our state due to the lack of respect towards the profession and appropriately funded resources, therefore employees have a lot of choices when it comes to seeking employment. I believe that increasing benefits and compensation would create a more competitive recruitment of experienced educators and provide incentive to stay in the district and remain in the profession.

Working alongside Super Q and representatives from each department, we can creatively raise funding and determine what cuts we can make that will not impact classroom size, equitable resources, or the quality of certified educators. Through my experience in accounting and education, I believe we can find ways to ensure it does not impact educator's ability to teach or student's ability to learn.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

It may sound cheesy, but I really do look up to my parents and my family. My parents have had a life where not everything was easy or predictable, but they always relied on each other and our family to make each situation work. My father is an immigrant from Mexico (on a student visa) and my mom grew up mostly in the mid-west. Their upbringings and childhood come with a lot of wisdom and experience for me to learn from. We definitely have not agreed on everything in life, and even now we have our differences, but I appreciate their perspective and ability to get me to see all sides before making decisions. They challenge me and support me. My mother retired from teaching and was a major influence in my decision to become a teacher. My oldest sister is a principal out of state as well. Both are my education advisors, they have always focused on students first and how we can come around them and support them in their educational journey.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like my kids, my family, and the people who knew me to know that I always advocated for kids, who did the right thing even if it wasn't the popular thing to do or it was a difficult position to be in. I would like to be remembered as someone who stood by their values when it would have been easy to go low and defend myself. I would like to be remembered as someone who listened, empathize, and sought to understood others.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

I have always deferred to the definition of a governing board member to the stated purpose on the ASBAs site.

School board members are responsible for broad, forward-thinking, minute analysis and decisive action in all areas that affect students and staff in their schools. Some roles and responsibilities are implicit. Others are specifically mandated (A.R.S. §15-341) or allowed (§15-342) by Arizona law. Everything board members do is focused on providing the best education possible for every child in their community.

They set the direction, establish the structure, provide support, ensure accountability, advocate for students, abide by the code of ethics, and most of all listen and provide an avenue of effective communicate between myself and the community.

Who are your constituents?

Students, families, staff of CUSD, and the community.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

Throughout my career, I have been passionate in my commitment to students and educators through amplifying individual voice, developing students' interest, and instilling a sense of dignity and worth among all. I have dedicated my career to each of these pursuits. I hold my certification in K-8 Education with SEI and English endorsements. I attained a master's degree in Educational Leadership and earned K-12 Principal certification. I taught in Chandler at San Marcos for three years, was on the executive board for the CEA, and all four of my children are enrolled in CUSD, so I have a diverse experience with multiple populations in the community.

I am a strong advocate for Collaborative and Proactive Solutions in and out of the classroom to help students solve problems, instead of relying on disciplinary measures that typically fail in helping our kids succeed in any environment. I believe we need a cultural shift away from suspensions and reactive disciplinary models that have hurt our students more than helped.

I have taught ELL students, gifted students, high-achieving students, students with PTSD, students with social-emotional issues, and students who fall everywhere in-between. I want to see Chandler give every student, not only an equitable education, but one that thrives and beats the odds. I will work tirelessly to inspire and advocate for the CUSD community, so we can build a culture of collaboration, reinvention, and seeking to put kid's needs first.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

When I make decisions I look for those who are experts in the field, examine who will be impacted, and what are the intended and unintended consequences of any decision. I value pulling from the wisdom of those who have walked the path before and exploring research to make informed decisions. With that said, there will be times when decisions have to be made unilaterally because of time limitations or privacy concerns. Because of this reason, it is important to have continuous and consistent conversations with all community stakeholders and to continually educated myself on issues affecting schools to ensure myself and the board would be informed at any time to make wise decisions.

For many years, I have built relationships with many administrators within the district, business leaders, community organizations and city leaders. More specifically, I have worked with the Town of Gilbert to build a relationship between the mayor and school leaders, and I also helped to develop the OneGilbert initiative.

I do my best to listen and build relationships, not only with people who agree with me, but those who have a different perspective. It doesn't always mean we will change each other's mind, but both sides need to be represented.

What will you do to build a better relationship with parents in the district? What plans do you have to be inclusive of parental involvement?

When I was a teacher in Chandler, I sat on the schools PTO as the teacher representative. I also worked on the PTOs of my children's schools. I believe parents needs to be sitting at the table when major decisions are made. The district needs to involve parents to ensure they understand what policies are implemented or reviewed, why, and are able to voice any concerns before any board meeting occurs.

When I started campaigning I opened up my time to hold virtual town halls focused on specific groups; parents, certified, classified, and community members. I plan to continue this practice as it gives people access to the board without having to drive in person to a board meeting or write a letter for submission. This practice will also give me the ability to ask clarifying questions and discuss solutions.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

The loss of art and play in elementary education has shown to have some negative unintended consequences to development socially and academically. I would like to see CUSD bring a consistent art program to the elementary programs, as well as looking to adding a Fine and Performing Arts school into the fold. Many students, including 3 of my own, learn more effectively through creation of music and tactile arts. If CUSD really wants to be the best option for families in Arizona, then we need to recognize that we have a population of students who learn through movement and creation. While, art masterpiece is nice to have, it is not a consistent program and it is not equitable throughout the district for all students.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

I absolutely believe that Arizonans need to invest in their communities more because underfunded schools affect all of us wether or not you have children in the public school system. The state government has failed school systems and has not lived up to to their constitutional responsibility of quality free education for all. If they had, Prop 208 would not be necessary. We have waited for them to appropriately fund education and they have had over a decade to come up with a plan that sufficiently places funds in schools. They have failed to act, so educators are taking on that responsibility. When we lift up one, we lift up the whole community.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

I am an advocate for Collaborative and Proactive Solutions in and out of the classroom to help students solve problems, instead of relying on disciplinary measures that typically fail in helping our kids succeed in any environment. I am also a Youth & Educator Mental Health & Wellness Advocate and have designed programs to address the need for mental health awareness. We need a cultural shift away from suspensions & reactive disciplinary models that have hurt our students more than helped. The district should be hiring more skilled mental health professionals for each campus and training staff on de-escalation and more effective strategies to support student social emotional health and self-advocacy skills.

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.

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