Five Vail School District residents are elected every to serve four-year staggered terms on the district’s governing board. The board is charged with setting the goals and policies under which the school district operates. On the ballot for the November general election are four candidates to fill three slots on the board. Registered voters residing within the boundaries of the Vail School District may cast their vote for the three they feel will be best to serve the district.

Having completed and submitted petitions to the Pima County School Superintendent Linda Arzoumanian are Allison Platt, Mark Tate, Callie Tippett, and Anthony Sizer.  Continuing seated board members are Claudia Anderson, who will move on to her seventh year, and Jon Aitkens will move into his third year of service in January of 2017.

Allison Platt

Allison Pratt

Allison Pratt, 35, is an incumbent having been appointed to fill a vacancy resulting from the resignation of longtime board member Jim Coulter in 2015. Allison lives with her family in Rincon Trails near to Ocotillo Ridge. The Pratt family moved to Vail in 2005.  Their four boys attend Vail schools. Allison has a Bachelor’s Degree from Brigham Young University in Marriage, Family and Human Development. “As a current governing board member, I have had the opportunity to attend training and conferences to help me be prepared to make important decisions and to fully understand my role as a board member,” said Mrs. Pratt.

Mark Tate, 63, first moved to Tucson in 1965 and then to Vail in 2009. He and his lovely wife Lynnette have two sons and six grandchildren. Three of the grandchildren attend school in the Vail School District. Mark has a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration. “I have spent 30 years in procurement at Raytheon and believe my business background can be of assistance in setting goals and policies for the district,” Mark Tate said as he mentioned his four years as Volunteer Coordinator and Post Secondary Success Coordinator at Vail’s Andrada Polytechnic High School.

Callie B. Tippett

Callie B. Tippett

Callie B. Tippett, 41, has lived in the Rancho Del Lago area for ten years with her Davis Monthan Air Force pilot husband MaRico and their three children. She is one of the original five organizers of the Vail Parent Network. Callie and her husband own a financial investment business. She is a competitive athlete and coach. “As a business owner and parent in Vail, I feel an obligation to use my time and talents to impact our community. I feel one of the most important contributions I can make is helping to keep Vail as one of the leaders in public education in Arizona,” Mrs. Tibbitt said as she spoke of her efforts through the Vail Parent Network to advocate to resolve school funding issues and instrumental in the restoration of the Joint Technical Education District (JTED) and other funding.

Anthony Sizer, although given the opportunity, chose not to respond.

Voter instruction will be to vote for three.

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