Sherry Boggs, the Republican candidate for Maricopa County school superintendent, is pinning her platform on elevating the voices of parents and teachers while rooting out the political agenda she says pervades classrooms.
Her Democratic opponent this November is a colleague she has worked with for two years.
Boggs, 53, and Laura Metcalfe, 57, both serve on the board of East Valley Institute of Technology, Mesa’s career and technical education district known as EVIT.
The winner will run the Maricopa County Regional School District, which maintains homeschool and private school records, oversees district elections, provides education in juvenile detention and operates a residential high school.
The winner will also appoint members of the governing board should a vacancy arise in any of Maricopa County’s 58 school districts. That means they could potentially be involved in shaping districts across the Valley.
Here’s what you need to know about Shelly Boggs.
Shelley Boggs is a former hairdresser
As a young mother, college was not an affordable option for Boggs. The Arizona native went to cosmetology school instead and spent the first 10 years of her career as a hairstylist, before making her way into the classroom as a cosmetologist at EVIT from 2002 to 2014.
She said she viewed her role as that of a job trainer and ran a tough ship with high expectations. From skin diseases and disabilities to people management and self-confidence, she said students learned “much more” than just getting their hair done and were encouraged to use their talents in creative ways. Ta.
Ms Boggs herself got creative in 2015 and founded Happy Hair Band, a charity that donates wigs to children who have lost their hair during cancer treatment.
She then worked at high schools in Chandler Unified School District, Queen Creek Unified School District, and Florence Unified School District, but left the classroom altogether in 2020, citing the “rise of far-left politics.”
Her resume lacks comparable administrative experience to Metcalfe, who previously worked for the county supervisor’s office and the accommodation district it oversees.
Boggs presented that as a strength, not a weakness.
“I think the biggest problem in our education system at the moment is administration, because they can’t see beyond the administrative role. As a teacher, people are different from someone in administration. Trust me,” Boggs said.
Boggs was accused of defaming school leaders and bullying students.
The reasons for Mr. Boggs’ resignation from EVIT in 2014 vary depending on the source.
In 2020, an election commission backed by labor groups representing EVIT faculty created an attack ad accusing her of bullying students, accusing her of being “forced to expel” her. Boggs ran unsuccessfully for the Maricopa County Community College District Board of Supervisors that year.
According to the ad, “several parents” complained about Boggs’ behavior toward her children, and that Boggs allegedly belittled them for “wearing what she called ‘Walmart clothes.'” are. The sender of the email cited a December 2013 complaint prepared against her by the EVIT board but later withdrawn. School boards typically make statements like this when considering employee discipline.
After Boggs resigned, EVIT’s lawyers sent her two cease and desist letters and threatened to sue for defamation.
The May 2014 letter alleged that Mr. Boggs falsely portrayed the circumstances of his resignation, claiming that EVIT paid taxpayers’ money for his resignation. She also accused the superintendent of being intoxicated at a student event, according to the letter.
According to the 2017 letter, Boggs slandered one EVIT administrator by calling him “evil and corrupt” and another “scum” who “hurts innocent teachers and students.”
Boggs denied the allegations in the letters and mailers, saying they were fabricated by administrators who were trying to get her over her relationship with the former superintendent and her sister, who was the district’s principal. She said the fiasco changed her perspective on civic engagement.
“This is why I registered to vote. I said, ‘This is wrong. This shouldn’t happen to teachers. This is hurting students,'” Boggs said. Ta.
She said one of her first tasks when she was elected to the EVIT board in 2018 was to overhaul the district’s culture and leadership, starting with the superintendent.
During Boggs’ tenure, the EVIT board created a human resources department to address employee concerns, which Boggs said could help vulnerable teachers like her.
EVIT also reduced the proportion of administrative staff compared to other staff and increased teacher salaries by at least 40% during its tenure.
Boggs said her two accomplishments that she is most proud of are building apartment-style housing for older students leaving nursing homes and helping start the successful EVIT program. support the bill This will allow career and technical education districts to offer associate degrees.
Metcalfe said she believes there is truth to Boggs’ story of being harassed by administrators because she has experienced retaliation herself. Because of the workplace culture, Ms. Metcalf left EVIT in 2007 after just one year, during which time she led the teachers union.
Who is supporting Shelly Boggs?
Boggs is the state outreach coordinator for Moms for Arizona, a conservative group that works with parents who want to learn more about America and be involved in their children’s education.
The organization’s mission is to “nurturing patriots and promoting freedom,” and its website encourages parents to: Share about curriculum“Putting politics first” policies and practices.
Mr. Boggs also worked as an administrative assistant to Arizona State Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek). He is one of 18 people subsequently indicted by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for falsely identifying Donald Trump as Arizona’s 2020 presidential candidate.
Hoffman joined a list of several celebrities supporting Boggs’ campaign, according to a now-deleted endorsement page on her website.
Other supporters include Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert. Rachel Walden, a Mesa Public Schools board member who sued the school district over guidelines supporting transgender students; Riley Gaines is a former University of Kentucky swimmer who advocates against transgender athletes playing sports that align with their gender identity.
Boggs’ campaign website also touts the endorsement of Queen Creek Unified board member James Knox, who recently published a sexually explicit and vulgar meme about Vice President Kamala Harris. He received criticism after posting it on social media.
Metcalfe condemned Knox’s actions in a statement, saying Boggs was “allied with far-right, negative and deeply unprofessional people” and added: “She herself has demonstrated poor behavior unbecoming of public office.” He has a documented history.”
But Boggs said voters should consider the public records of those who support her, not their personal actions. She said she disagrees with Knox’s social media posts but supports his record as a board member. Knox was the only member of the Queen Creek Unified Board last year to vote against a call for a bond election to accommodate the district’s growing student population.
She said she believes attempts to label her a far-right extremist are unfounded.
“All they can do is lump me into the usual conservative rhetoric that they have to exclude, because if they actually look at my background, what I started doing, , because if they take away what I’ve done in education, they’re going to lose out by a lot,” Boggs said. Said.
What will Sherry Boggs do if she wins?
During his campaign, Boggs has been a vocal advocate of depoliticizing America’s classrooms. At the same time, she said she doesn’t want schools to teach about racism, that transgender students shouldn’t have access to facilities that align with their gender identity, and that schools should be prevented from talking about pronouns.
Speaking at former President Donald Trump’s Glendale rally in August, she asserted that schools are “battlefields.” Boggs said the comment earned her some backlash, but the battle she was referring to was the growing rift between parents and teachers.
“I don’t have a political agenda. My purpose is to help children, to help teachers, to repair broken relationships with parents,” Boggs said.
She pointed to resources for teachers as the source of much of her concern. Educators often obtain materials from websites with tens of thousands of options to choose from. She wants stricter regulations on what teachers can use.
However, that is a policy decision of each school district’s board of directors. Boggs acknowledged that her primary role is one of support and that she has no authority over district policy.
If voters don’t remember anything else, make sure you fight for their voices, work with your county board of supervisors to ensure fiscal responsibility, and provide strong professional development opportunities for teachers. He said he wants people to know about giving and “responsible education.” Note school board appointments for districts with vacancies.
“I may not have every academic or administrative degree, but people like to follow people who are strong in their beliefs and values, especially in the field of education,” Boggs said. spoke.
Here’s where to contact the reporter: nicholas.sullivan@gannett.com.
