School board president who bailed out sex offender bails on board meeting

Last week, Phoenix New Times reported that Phoenix Elementary School Board District No. 1 president Jessica Bueno had bailed a now-convicted sex offender out of jail. Tuesday night, the board met for the first time since the revelation that Bueno had listed her house as collateral to spring Xanadu Coffee founder Randall Denton, her former business partner who was caught in a child sex sting last year.

But if parents hoped to hear from Bueno about it Tuesday evening, they were disappointed. She didn’t show up, nor did she respond to messages from New Times asking about her absence.

Despite that, Bueno managed to be the meeting’s main character anyway. Her name was uttered nearly 50 times, often accompanied by calls for her to resign. Parents circulated a recall petition targeting Bueno’s seat and some wore shirts that read “No Pedo, No Bueno” with the tea-drinking Kermit meme in the middle.

Jennifer Pauly, whose daughter attends second grade in the district, called Bueno a “coward” for not showing up to the meeting.

“She knew what was coming tonight,” Pauly told New Times. “I think that’s why she’s not here.”

Last week, New Times reported the extent of Bueno’s involvement with Denton, who was sentenced to a year in prison for attempted sex trafficking of a minor. In March 2024, Denton was arrested in Surprise after responding to a sex ad placed by an undercover cop, driving to meet the “girl” even after being told she was only 14 years old.

Bueno, who’d opened Xanadu’s shop on Seventh Street alongside Denton in 2020 before leaving the business two years later, paid his $12,500 bail by listing her house as collateral. Reached last week by New Times, she said she was helping a friend and said she hadn’t considered seriously enough the political consequences of doing so as an elementary school board president.

Though a district spokesperson said Bueno informed the district of her involvement with Denton after his sentencing in late March, parents in the district — which serves 5,500 students between preschool and eighth grade — have been less than satisfied.

Commenters filled the district’s social media pages to express their dissatisfaction and some met at Kenilworth Elementary School to collect signatures for a preexisting recall petition. Many attended Tuesday’s meeting to express their concerns in person to the three board members who did show up. (Another, Erika De La Rosa, attended over Zoom. As a public information officer with the Phoenix Police Department, whose chief resigned Tuesday evening, she was having a busy night.)

Before the public comment section of the meeting, board vice president Carmen Trujillo asked residents to “please direct your comments to the board as a whole, not individual members” and said that “personal attacks against board members, staff or others, whether present or not, are discouraged and will not be permitted.” She also offered a statement that amounted to the board’s only direct comment on Bueno’s situation.

"I'll share that the district and school staff have received inquiries, comments and demands regarding board president Bueno,” Trujillo said. “Ms. Bueno is not an employee of the district, and in fact, Arizona law prohibits governing board members from also being employed by the district that they serve. As such, the district has no authority to discipline, terminate or remove Ms. Bueno from the governing board. Additionally, the governing board has no authority under state law to take action concerning Ms. Bueno’s membership on the board. School board membership is an elected public office. Continued membership on my governing board is subject to election or is at the discretion of the governing board member."

Angry parents

Roughly 15 parents spoke during public comment, either in person or through submitted comments. Some called Bueno an apologist for a child sexual predator and dangerous for their kids. Others said she lacked good judgment and should step down. Speaking to New Times afterward, parents just as stridently said Bueno needs to go.

Rylee Dunkle, a community member who lives in the district, criticized Bueno for not showing up. “She’s scared,” he said. Adrianne Speas, whose daughter attends fourth grade at Augustus H. Shaw Jr. Montessori Elementary School, said she was “pretty shocked” that Bueno put her house down as collateral for Denton, which she said “showed impulsivity, lack of judgment.”

“This district has a lot of big issues in front of us and we really need somebody who pays attention to evidence and facts,” Speas said. “It was a bad decision on her part and I think it reflects poorly on her decision-making. I think it reflects poorly on the district. I think it creates a distraction, so I think she should resign.”

Bueno was getting some heat before the Denton situation was revealed. The district has been beset by low test scores, dwindling enrollment and financial issues. Last month, the board unanimously voted to close two schools, Paul Lawerance Dunbar Elementary School and Maie Barlett Heard School, which angered some parents. A petition was drafted to recall Bueno amid that saga.

Since New Times reported on Bueno bailing out Denton, that petition has taken on new life. A little more than 2,300 signatures are needed to force a recall election, and organizers say they have collected about 300 — up from roughly 50 as of April 4.

Parents have also cited other issues with Bueno, including what they called tense or even rude communication from her in person and on social media. Nicole Wheatcroft, whose son attends Edison Elementary School, said Bueno “has bullied parents, like, consistently” and said she knows of some parents who feared speaking out at the meeting “over retaliation that they’ve seen other parents have.” Wheatcroft said she did not feel comfortable sharing examples of that retaliation on the record.

Pauly said that parents have “had a problematic relationship” with Bueno “for a while,” while Speas said Bueno paying Denton’s bail is just the final straw on the back of an overburdened camel.

“There were only things that made me question her suitability for the board,” Speas said, “but this was one where I thought, 'This is just too much.'”

Despite the rage, the parents at Tuesday’s meeting weren’t confident that Bueno would heed their calls to resign. That will leave only the recall effort, which Pauly is confident “will be successful.” She plans to canvass her neighborhood for signatures alongside one of her daughter’s teachers this weekend.

“Parents are not going to support someone who is a pedophile apologist,” Pauly said. “That’s just not gonna happen.”