January 2, 2022 | www.santansun.com
Relentlessly local coverage of Southern Chandler
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022
Out with the old, and in with the new year
2021 in Chandler: Hope, 2022 promises election intrigue in Chandler joy and tragedy BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
Chandler saw both tragedy and reasons to celebrate in 2021. Here is a countdown of 12 top events in Chandler in 2021.
12. Field of Honor veterans memorial. Chandler officially opened its
new memorial to military service members on Veterans Day. The large space at Veterans Oasis Park uses the U.S. flag as inspiration, with light boxes taking the place of stars and stripes.
Hundreds turned out for the opening and most were impressed. In addition to the light boxes, there are 13 stations that pay tribute to Chandler-area veterans and their stories. Also, the Korean War-era Sabre Dog plane that has been part of the city’s history since 1961 was moved to be an anchor at the park.
11. Voters approve bond, override requests. In November, voters again backed the city’s bond request See
REVIEW on page 6
BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
The new year will include a city election and it’s likely one of the hot topics will be if Chandler should pass a non-discrimination ordinance or not. The mayor and three council seats will be up for grabs in August’s primary election – as are two seats on the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board, where incumbent Lindsay Love has announced she will not seek reelection. Two council seats will be open as incumbents Rene Lopez and Terry Roe
are termed out. As of mid-December, nine people have announced their intention to run for those three council seats. One of them is incumbent Matt Orlando. And three already have filed for the nonpartisan school board races, where there is no primary election. The actual number of council candidates won’t be known until April, when they must file petitions with enough qualified signatures. More candidates can enter the race and some of those See
PREVIEW on page 8
Educator cites CUSD ‘blind spots’ in threat prevention BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor
A Chandler educator and advocate for improving mental health services for young people told Chandler Unified Superintendent Frank Narducci that the district has no unified plan for preventing or handling school-shooting threats. In a detailed letter, Katey McPherson urged Narducci to work with his aides to develop a multi-layered strategy that includes educating students and expanding mental health services for them, developing a cohesive plan that all schools would follow in the event of a threat and training staff on how to implement that training in the event of an emergency. Stating that the district follows “the Chandler Way” in which “each site sort of does its own thing and there is not much cross-collaboration between elementary and secondary or within your internal teams,” McPherson told Narducci that district colleagues and Chandler Police and other outside experts confirmed that “on this important subject, we have no true ongoing and pervasive tiered training in place.” A mother of four Chandler Unified students, McPherson said she was motivated to examine what the district has in place for a personal reason: “my family has become victimized by the recent events in Michigan.” She was referring what happened to a school complex 25 miles away from
Oxford High School in Michigan, where on Nov. 30 a 15-year-old student fatally shot four students and wounded seven other people. A few weeks after that shooting, McPherson wrote Narducci, “my sister received a phone call that no parent every wants to receive….A student was reported to have brought a gun to campus and was not able to be located. Over 7 county and local police agencies responded including a SWAT team with several helicopters.” The entire complex of three high schools was locked down for six hours and parents were receiving texts for five to six hours, McPherson explained, stating: “I can’t imagine being my sister and receiving texts for 5-6 hours about the situation and it is one conversation that I never want to have here in CUSD. Their executive leadership team and board are receiving quite the backlash for their lack of preparation.” She also noted that widespread anguish and chaos among parents erupted as 60 districts around Oxford shut down due to copycat threats and reports of guns on campus “largely due to anxiety and no awareness of this being a crime to fake a threat.” She also suggested that a strong education and training program could easily be funded with about $150,000 of the district’s third round of federally-fuSee
CUSD on page 16
At age 10, Cal Shropshire is already doing his part to protect Mother Earth and make sure that Chandler residents follow the city rules on recycling. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)
Mother Earth, city have an ally in Chandler boy BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
Chandler resident Robert Nark walked out to collect his trash and recycling bins after the collection truck came. He found a handwritten note
stuck on a bin. “Good job!” There’s no mystery who wrote it. Ten-year-old neighbor Cal Shropshire has earned the nickname “Recy-CAL”
F E AT U R E D STO R I E S Chandler Library may ditch late fees . . . . . . . . . . . .NEWS . . . . . . . . . . Page 4 Houses coming to iconic EV farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BUSINESS . . . . . . . Page 26 Chandler students in for Flinn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .NEIGHBORS . . . . . . Page 31 New guide to hiking South Mountain . . . . . . . . . . .GETOUT . . . . . . . Page 37
See
RECYCLE on page 2
More News . . . . . . . . . 1-25 Business . . . . . 26-29 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 30 Neighbors . . . .31-36 GetOut. . . . . . .37-39 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Directory . . . . 41-42
