By Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board Member Amy Carney Across Arizona, public school districts are facing declining enrollment and difficult financial decisions. But how districts respond to these challenges matters. Consider two neighboring districts: Mesa Public Schools and Scottsdale Unified School District. Mesa has adapted by redesigning smaller schools, sharing resources, creating specialized academic programs, welcoming Empowerment Scholarship Account … Read More
Op-Ed: Elections Have Consequences. So Do School Closures.
By Jeanne Beasley Elections have consequences. This week, Scottsdale families saw just how significant those consequences can be when the Governing Board voted 3-2 to close two more neighborhood schools. Copper Ridge and Laguna will join Pima and Echo Canyon as schools our community is losing. Four schools in less than a year. Behind every closure are students, teachers, families, … Read More
Vouchers Aren’t Going Anywhere. Scottsdale Unified Has to Compete or Keep Shrinking
by Ronald Sampson Scottsdale Unified’s governing board voted 3-2 Tuesday to close Copper Ridge K-8 and Laguna Prep. Roughly 900 students will change schools. It is the district’s second round of closures in as many years, after Pima Elementary and Echo Canyon shut down earlier this year. As we wrote just days before the vote, the district keeps losing families … Read More
Scottsdale Unified Keeps Losing Students, Then Asks Taxpayers for $375 Million
By Ronald Sampson Scottsdale Unified’s board votes Tuesday on closing more schools. Days earlier, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office found the district violated the open meeting law while drawing up the options. Four weeks later, voters will decide whether to hand the same district $375 million through a bond. A Decade of Losing The enrollment trend is not subtle. According … Read More
Apache Junction Figured It Out. Why Can’t Scottsdale Unified?
By Ronald Sampson Nobody expected Apache Junction to teach Scottsdale a lesson in public education yet here we are. While Scottsdale Unified debates which neighborhood schools to close, Apache Junction Unified has quietly done something clever: it stopped treating families who use Empowerment Scholarship Accounts as a lost cause. Instead, it started treating them as customers. What Apache Junction Built … Read More
What’s Happening to Saguaro Football Is What’s Happening to All of SUSD
Fourteen Banners and a Decade of Fear For most of the last thirty years, Saguaro was not just Scottsdale’s football team, it was Arizona’s. Fourteen state championships since 1995, with a run under Jason Mohns from 2011 through 2018 that turned the Sabercats into arguably the most recruited program in state history. The alumni list reads like an NFL scouting … Read More
Public Schools Are Closing. The Blueprint for Survival Is Right Next Door.
The Phoenix Business Journal recently published its annual ranking of Arizona’s largest nonprofits by revenue. At number 18 was the nonprofit entity behind BASIS schools. It pulled in $176 million last year against $168 million in expenses. That is not a cautionary tale. It is a case study. A charter school network built on rigorous curriculum and purposeful design is … Read More
Where There’s Smoke: One Pervert at SUSD Ends Up Being Multiple. Is This a Real Problem?
In what now seems to be a recurring theme, Scottsdale Unified School District faces another troubling chapter in its ongoing struggles with employee misconduct. In just the past three months, three district employees have lost their positions over allegations of inappropriate behavior involving minors. This isn’t merely another bureaucratic misstep; it’s a pattern that demands serious attention from parents and … Read More
Chaparral’s Future Ready Conference Showcases Scottsdale Schools’ Commitment to Excellence
When 480 Career and Technical Education students gathered at Chaparral High School for the 2025 Future Ready Conference, they weren’t just attending another school event: they were experiencing the kind of transformative educational opportunity that defines excellence in Scottsdale Unified School District. The full-day conference, presented by SUSD’s CTE department in partnership with Scottsdale Rotary, brought students face-to-face with real-world … Read More
SUSD Assistant Principal Scandal: What Can You Do to Protect Your Children?
The resignation of Saguaro High School Athletic Director Lucas Ackerson following allegations of inappropriate messaging with a middle school student has sent shockwaves through the Scottsdale community. While Scottsdale police determined there wasn’t sufficient evidence for criminal charges, the incident represents a deeply troubling breach of trust that every parent must take seriously. The student’s father, speaking at the school board meeting, … Read More