Meet the Candidate: Yuma County Supt. of Schools

Name: Tom Tyree

Age: 64

Office running for: Yuma County superintendent of schools

Family: Wife: Mara. Children: Tiffany and Ryan (both educators) and 5 grandchildren

Party: Republican

Education: Undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Arizona

Employment: Yuma County superintendent of schools

To what organizations do you belong? Vice president of the Arizona State Board of Education, Western Arizona Council of Governments, Work Investment Board – Yuma Private Industry Council, Arizona Risk Retention Trust Board, Education Foundation of Yuma County, Southwest Arizona Future Forums and the State County Superintendents Association, to name a few.

What in your past experiences helps qualify you for this seat? I have been an educator for 42 years serving as a teacher, head basketball coach, building and central office administrator in school districts in Yuma and Mesa, Ariz., and the last 10 years as Yuma County superintendent of schools.

If elected, what is the one issue on which you would focus to improve Yuma's quality of life? Every day, the citizens of Yuma County compete against other communities, states and nations for jobs, economic growth and opportunities. We must prepare our students to be career and college ready to succeed in a new economy that values advanced knowledge and skills.

What do you think is the biggest challenge right now facing Yumans, and how would you change it? We have to improve our economy and put people back to work. Having a well educated populace is vital to our local, state and national economy, as well as to the security of our country. Our highest priority must be to provide a quality education to the students of Yuma County. To accomplish this, we must raise our educational standards, improve our lowest performing schools and reward our teachers, administrators and schools for their successes.

What would you do to make government more accessible? Whether it is government or the education of our children, the answer is the same. We must have our citizens engaged in the process and provide better transparency and collaboration in our service as elected officials and educators.

Who is your personal hero(s), and why? My parents and the many teachers and coaches who have had a positive influence on my life. I am very fortunate to have had a loving and supportive wife for 42 years and to have grown up and be educated in Yuma, Arizona.