Veronica Gay resigns from MUSD school board

Veronica Gay has resigned from the Maricopa Unified School District governing board, citing her reason as moving back home to California.

She is the fourth board member to resign since 2007. Her resignation was effective Tuesday.

Gay, who ran on a platform of higher property taxes to fund better schools, was elected along with Leslie Carlyle-Burnett and Torri Anderson in November, defeating Tim White and City Councilman Leon Potter.

She served nine months out of her four-year term.

Filling the vacancy now goes to Pinal County Superintendent of Schools Jill Broussard.

“We haven’t started the whole process (of selecting a new board member) yet,” said administrative clerk Brenda Thwaits. “We haven’t received anything official yet from (Gay).”

The process, though, involves Broussard selecting an applicant to fill Gay’s vacant seat until the 2016 election. Anyone living in the Maricopa school district can apply and interview for the position. The county superintendent’s office will release a statement when it begins its search for a new board member.

The process takes around one month to complete.

“We’re trying to get this done as soon as possible because it’s better to have a full school board,” Thwaits said.

The board has faced other vacancies.

In 2011, Geoff Goddard resigned early in his term over what he called the “predetermined selection” of a deputy superintendent saying it was all part of an act.

***ADVERTISEMENT***Lori Glenn resigned before a school board meeting in 2010. In 2007, Shannon Johns resigned after nine months when he discovered it would cost too much to set up a Montessori preschool; he moved out of state.

A political action committee to remove then-board member Timothy White was formed months before White was accused of assaulting a female school employee in a parking lot after a September 2007 school board meeting. His recall failed after 300 votes where thrown out by Pinal County because of voters not registered to vote in the city of Maricopa, leaving the total number of signatures below the minimum 606.

White’s term ended in 2010.