After a Tuesday night meeting of the Phoenix Elementary School District No. 1 governing board, Bueno surprised and relieved parents by doing just that. But not before she got into a tense exchange with Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, whose stepchild attends school in the district.
“This meeting is my last,” Bueno said at the end of the meeting. “It has been one of the greatest honors of my professional and personal life to serve as president of this school board. This decision does not come lightly, but I view it as necessary in order for the district to begin to prepare for the upcoming school year.”
Bueno did not respond to a request for comment from Phoenix New Times.
Bueno had already become unpopular with some parents before New Times revealed her role in bailing out longtime business associate Randall Denton after he was caught in a child sex sting in March 2024. Denton had responded to a sex ad placed by an undercover cop and had still pursued a meetup after being told the girl who placed the ad was 14 years old.
Records show Bueno used her downtown Phoenix home as collateral to pay $12,500 in bail to free Denton, with whom she opened Xanadu Coffee Co. in 2020. Bueno left the business in 2022. Denton was sentenced to a year in prison last month.
The revelation of her involvement with Denton sent parent anger into overdrive, breathing new life into a preexisting petition to recall Bueno. Many parents called directly for her resignation at the board’s first meeting after New Times’ story, which Bueno skipped. Tuesday’s meeting was the first time Bueno addressed district parents directly.
In an eight-minute speech at the end of the meeting, Bueno apologized “to the many people I may have disappointed by my private decisions” and outlined her successes in office, such as increasing staff pay and improving student well-being.
“I will not be shamed for the work and contributions I have made to this community,” she continued. “You can't take away my joy of serving my community.”
Bueno then listed her accomplishments “throughout my professional career and voluntary service over the last eight years” in downtown Phoenix, highlighting her work on the South Central Light Rail, the development of the Edison-Eastlake community and her time on city of Phoenix task forces dedicated to homelessness and land use.
She got choked up while thanking Board Vice President Carmen Trujillo and Superintendent Deborah Gonzales, before saying, “My only regret is that I’ll not be here to protect our students from the Trump administration.”
Fontes vs. Bueno
Bueno’s resignation might have been a wished-for outcome for many parents, but that didn’t make the preceding meeting any less testy.Ten people spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting — some virtually, some in person — and almost all of them called for Bueno’s resignation. Several parents complained about a man in the audience booing after parents spoke.
The most heated exchange occurred between Bueno and Fontes, who attended the meeting in his personal capacity.
Fontes used his three minutes of speaking time to rip into Bueno for “that smirk, that smugness, the arrogance and the bullying that you’ve displayed.” Bueno attempted to interrupt, but Fontes quickly cut her off, saying, “I’m sorry, during public comment, this is my time, not yours, Madam President.”
He then pointed to an empty seat where a student had been sitting during a presentation earlier in the meeting. “That eighth grader,” he said, “your buddy, who you bailed out, would have happily raped her.”
“Go ahead and smirk some more while people reflect on your arrogance, your pettiness, your incredible ego,” he continued. “You are a public official. This district deserves better.”
Fontes attempted to keep speaking after a timer went off and his mic was cut, to which Bueno responded, “Who is the bully now? Who is the bully now?”
In a phone interview with New Times on Wednesday, Fontes said he’s “glad she resigned” and that Bueno “wants to pretend like she’s the victim, even when she’s in a position of power.”
“It has never been a part of her reputation to be kind and generous or empathetic, and she was, at the very least, consistent last night,” Fontes said. “‘Good riddance’ is all I can say.”
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes ripped outgoing Phoenix Elementary School District Governing Board President Jessica Bueno at a board meeting Tuesday.
Gage Skidmore/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Parent reaction
Fontes was hardly the only parent happy to see Bueno step down. Several parents who spoke with New Times on Wednesday expressed relief and surprise.“I didn’t expect Jessica Bueno to actually resign. I thought we’d have to keep pushing for a recall, so that plot twist caught me off guard,” said Angelica Luna, whose daughter attends Maie Bartlett Heard School. “I just hope one day she sees the bigger picture and understands the weight of her decisions.”
Nicole Wheatcroft, whose son attends Edison Elementary School — and who is engaged to Fontes — said she was “relieved” that Bueno is “no longer gonna be representing my kids.” Paul Booth, a district parent who’d been leading the recall effort that had gathered at least 1,000 signatures, said in a text that “it was a huge relief that she finally did the right thing.”
Allison Gullick, who is married to Booth and whose son attends Faith North Elementary School, said Bueno’s resignation “was a sense of relief for everyone.” She said Bueno had exhibited “a long pattern of poor decision making, a lack of transparency and failure to listen to parents, educators and other community members.”
On Wednesday, Gullick submitted paperwork with the Maricopa County Superintendent’s Office to fill Bueno’s seat. She hopes that with Bueno gone, decisions to end a district lease with ASU Preparatory Academy and close Paul Lawrence Dunbar Elementary School and Maie Bartlett Heard School will be revisited.
While many parents were pleased with Bueno’s resignation, several expressed distaste at how Bueno handled her final meeting. Jennifer Pauly, whose daughter attends second grade in the district, specifically cited Bueno’s interaction with Fontes and the person booing parents who spoke during the meeting.
“Although I am happy with her decision to resign, I am disgusted by her performative behavior,” Pauly said in a text. “Her decisions are nothing but selfish and we are better off without her.”
Wheatcroft agreed.
“Her lack of empathy and arrogance were on full display last night,” she said. “It was awful.”
Bueno’s position on the governing board will remain vacant until the current governing board members elect a new president. No school board members responded to questions from New Times, nor did Gonzales, the district superintendent.
