By Alexander Lomax I apparently couldn’t go more than a week without some reactionary bullocks regarding Scottsdale and Charlie Kirk came across my screen. Literally just last week I wrote this piece where I questioned why Scottsdale officials were considering a memorial for Charlie Kirk. And just like Isaac Newton said, with every action comes an equal and opposite reaction. … Read More
When Results Speak Louder Than Politics: SUSD’s Academic Success Story
By Alexander Lomax Scottsdale Unified School District has found itself under intense scrutiny lately, particularly from Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. But when the latest state test scores arrived, the numbers told a story that’s hard to dispute: SUSD students are thriving academically. With 62% of students passing English Language Arts assessments and 58% passing math across grades … Read More
Tom Horne vs. SUSD: When Education Policy Meets Political Theater
By Ronald Sampson Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has once again trained his sights on Scottsdale Unified School District, this time criticizing a community flyer for a “Girls in Gear” cycling event that invited girls, nonbinary, and gender-expansive youth to participate. His diagnosis? SUSD is promoting “woke ideology” that’s driving families away and causing declining enrollment. Let’s be … Read More
Scottsdale Unified is Considering Closing Schools: a Failure in Leadership
Scottsdale Unified School District is facing a difficult decision that’s sending ripples through our community: the potential closure and repurposing of two neighborhood schools. And the choice they’re seemingly leaning towards is the wrong one. Scottsdale Unified is considering repurposing Pima Elementary and Echo Canyon K-8 School, citing low student enrollment as the primary reason. Both schools currently have fewer … Read More
An AP&G Exclusive: An Interview with Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne
Superintendent, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with us. Education is always a hot-button subject in our state and so it’s an honor to get to hear from the person at the very top of our educational system. You’ve had a long career in Arizona public service; what first motivated you … Read More
The Best-Paid CEO in America Still Demands Corporate Welfare
By Alexander Lomax 2024 was a good year to be Rick Smith, but not as good of a year to be a taxpayer in Scottsdale. The CEO of Axon earned the dubious distinction of being America’s highest-paid chief executive last year. Yet despite his astronomical compensation package worth $165 MILLION, Smith apparently still needs taxpayers to subsidize his corporate ambitions. … Read More
Inflation Hitting Scottsdale Schools: Is It Justified?
Inflation…it was the political hot potato of the last elections. It has hit us all since the pandemic and has entered nearly every single aspect of our lives in some capacity. Note that I said “nearly all” however; some places have been safe havens, protected (mostly inorganically) from price increases. One of those safe havens were Scottsdale’s schools…until now. In … Read More
Arizona Schools Potentially Up for a Shakeup: State Treasurer Yee will Challenge Superintendent Tom Horne
Typically, the choice to challenge an incumbent from your own party for an elected seat is born out of severe missteps. A scandal of epic proportions, serious malfeasance on the job, something that would imply that the incumbent is now a liability and would be likely to lose in the general election to a candidate from the other party. But … Read More
Social Justice in SUSD: Reason for Concern?
By Ronald Sampson We probably don’t need to tell you that social justice was one of the biggest hot-button issues of the last few elections on the national level. Its need motivated much of the political left, and its excesses motivated much of the political right. However it has generally been the domain of national politics and not as much … Read More
Scottsdale Unified Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) has had a long string of relatively comfortable times with few major issues, but those days may be coming to an end. Recently officials have been acknowledging the possibility of future school closures due to financial pressures and declining student enrollment. While no immediate closures are planned, the district is proactively assessing its long-term sustainability, … Read More