There are always great stories in any school district. A wonderful teacher. An enterprising student. A feel good sports team.
The Scottsdale Unified School District is no different.
But the problems infecting the one time model of public schooling are a shocking indifference to malaise. And that’s to put it kindly.
Last year the district again lost some 1,000 students. Once proud campuses look skeletal.
At the helm presides David Peterson, as he has for years. He knows how to ask taxpayers for more money. It’s unclear whether he knows how to do anything else, including reversing losses.
It was once believed that Arizona’s school choice laws would most effect lower-income areas. Instead, it’s been the wealthier ones like Scottsdale who suffer competition with the likes of the BASIS schools and Great Hearts. The district’s bureaucracy seems to suffer as fools gladly.
Reversing this trend and doing right by the students left in public school purgatory won’t come from the current administration. A turnaround artist is needed. Now.
The Scottsdale Unified School District has so many assets, if only they had a leader who knew how to use them.