Tiffany Hawkins for DVUSD

My name is Tiffany Hawkins. I am running for Deer Valley Unified School District School Board. I am an alumni of Deer Valley HS, with three children in the district currently. I’ve been married to my loving and loyal husband for over 17 years. I grew up in the heart of Deer Valley and have watched my family grow in the same neighborhoods as I did. In my early career, I spent over a decade managing a Top 100 Corporation as Lead Auditor in the Revenue Processing Center. Proudly our team maintained a less than 1% error rate throughout my tenure. In my time there, I learned vital lessons of patience, accuracy, consistency and compliance, and the necessity of those qualities.

As life takes us down different paths, I transitioned from work to home life with my family, to watch them grow and learn, wondering what new things they would discover. Early on with my children, I was seeing in our district, things were not the same as when I was making my way through school. As I continued to observe all the changes, it was apparent the leadership was struggling and lost their sense of purpose and direction.

Over the years, I worked to research laws and policies that would help urge the District to build a more consistent and coherent bullying/harassment policy. The end result was a rewritten policy that was improved, but still lacks enough protection for students. My auditing was used to help guide the district in putting together a version of the policy, to provide as a strong starting point for improvements. A small step in a better direction, but more work can be done to make student safety, a top priority. By attending Board meetings, I am more directly involved now. I am confident in making better changes by working together.

I have met with staff from around the district experiencing these changes. During conversations, I was happy to hear many positives. They also shared some concerns. As I listened, I became more aware how these situations affect our children’s educational journey, and how they occur amongst our students. Strongly noting: lack of support from Admins, severe discipline/disturbance issues in class, lack of staff or resources. I am honored for the time and conversations with the students, parents and community, in which I could provide my knowledge, for processes, forms and policies that would be helpful in their concerns. I am thankful of these conversations, which have guided me in finding the right questions to provide direction on school policy. They have been inspirational in driving my passion.

After speaking with the community, I was compelled to reach out to the next level of support to find resolution to our shared concerns. I was afforded the privilege to meet with State Superintendent Tom Horne, a few Senators and House Representatives. There was agreement on the need for policy changes. In this meeting it was agreed, that districts are lacking accountability for discipline follow through. Allowing disruptive students to remain in class, which is contributing to youth altercations, and reduced academic performance. Listening to the community and States leaders, I am firm in my decision to run for school Board.

Looking back on my personal experiences, I learned to work through the processes, and find effective ways of bringing needed attention and changes to these overlooked issues. I will continue my work to bring consistency of consequences in our discipline process, for the safety of all students and staff throughout the district, so all are held to the same standard. One of my goals is to sharpen and reinforce communication, to enhance community confidence and make a positive impact for all students in DVUSD. I will seek out avenues and make pathways that encourage community input and find solutions.