Endorsements:
Gary Nine is an experienced, successful, long term educator – not a well meaning politician who has been to a school.
He is someone you can trust and respect in these most difficult of times. Our children’s and grandchildren’s future depends on the next decisions in this important office.
1. Gary Nine will not lead you away from a quality education for your child by making choices that will support party loyalty over best practices.
2. Gary Nine will not offer a position prior to examining the facts.
3. Gary Nine will not support any agenda at the expense of Arizona students.
4. Dr. Nine will look for true solutions, not just someone to blame.
These are tough times that deserve tough answers focused on the real needs of students in Arizona. I encourage you to examine the issues and keep a quality public education as an important goal for our state. I encourage you to do so by voting for Dr. Gary Nine.
Dr. Donald Enz,
Arizona State Director
North Central Association
Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement
I cannot think of anyone better to be Arizona’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction than Dr. Gary Nine. He is a man of integrity – a man of his word. He is NOT a politician – he is an experienced educator who puts KIDS FIRST, truly! As Superintendent of FUSD, he has proven his strength and intelligence through quick, thoughtful, decisive actions with outstanding results in educating our precious children. As our state faces ridiculous financial cuts in funding for public education, Dr. Nine was the first to stand up – to speak out for our kids. He says things that make certain politicians of his own party very angry at him, yet he dares to speak the “common sense” truth we ALL need to hear. I admire him for taking a stand for our kids. I have an enormous amount of respect for Dr. Gary Nine. Finally, we will have a person in the position of leading our state’s public education that we can count on to put our KIDS FIRST!
Rachel Courtright,
Proud Mother/Activist/Child Advocate
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dr. Gary Nine since 1988. As principal and associate superintendent of my district, he demonstrated over and over again exceptional leadership qualities. By applying educational research and evaluation methods, establishing a trusting, caring relationship with staff, parents and students, placing the education of students above all else, and keeping the course year after year, Gary’s vision for our school and district became the vision for those he employed to educate our youth. Many times I have heard Dr. Nine use the phrase “If it is educationally correct, it must be administratively possible”. He kept this course with all his leadership decisions. Gary is truly a KIDS FIRST kind of guy!
Patty Smith,
Apache Junction Unified School District
Gary Nine is first and foremost an educator. Students are at the heart of his philosophy, his goals, and his efforts. He speaks straight to the issues, honestly, ethically, and succinctly. He inspires hard work, productivity, trust, and loyalty, and those he leads know exactly where they are headed and why they need to get there. Arizona’s students, teachers, and educational leaders would surely view his leadership and sincerity as a welcome change from “politics as usual” to educational solutions for trying times.
Sharon Smith,
Former District Title I, Curriculum, and Testing Director
I was born and raised in Florence, Arizona. My husband Ed and I raised our three children in this community. I have always been involved in our community including, for the last six years, directly in the education of all of the children. The Florence School District has experienced incredible growth during the past few years. This growth brought a lot of good to our community and a lot of challenges to our school district. At a time when we thought the challenges were going to overtake us, the Florence Unified School District hired Dr. Gary Nine.
I was not confident that Dr. Nine would be able to do the job when I first met him. I thought he was a “retired” administrator who wanted to come in and just collect a paycheck. I was wrong. He presented a philosophy that matched our beliefs – KIDS FIRST. Since I met Dr. Nine over two years ago, every decision he has made is based on that philosophy, which later became our vision. He is a leader who not only knows about education, he knows about children.
Dr. Nine works tirelessly – coming in to work before anyone arrives and leaving late in the day after attending school functions or visiting the school sites. He leads by example, always with a positive attitude, a great smile, and a hearty laugh. He is trustworthy the old-fashioned way; his word is his bond. More importantly, he communicates clearly. When mistakes are made, he lets the community know and he resolves them. He brings accountability and transparency to education.
I invite you to join me in supporting Dr. Gary Nine for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. His work ethic is matchless; his vision is clear and focused on kids; his knowledge in education comes from over 20 years of experience as a teacher, coach, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. His attitude is positive and refreshing, and he is a man of integrity. Dr. Nine’s record speaks for itself. He has the common sense to bring back to education what it needs. I am confident that electing an educator of Dr. Gary Nine’s caliber as the State Superintendent will greatly benefit the children of our state. It will be a privilege to have a “real” educator in the most important position in education at the state level, instead of a politician.
Dr. Gary Nine is really a 10!
Rose Marie Manjarres Monks,