In January, the Arizona Daily Independent reported that TUSD insiders said that the decision by Elizabeth Moll to resign from her position as principal at University High signaled an exodus of administrative staff and that the new Governing Board members had begun a campaign to remove Superintendent Pedicone and replace him with an administrator who shares their ideology.
On Tuesday night, Pedicone advised the Board that he was resigning, effective the end of June. Pedicone leaves behind a legacy of closed schools and budget deficits. However, Pedicone touted his accomplishments in his letter of resignation.
During Pedicone’s tenure the difference between TUSD’s costs and their peers increased 30 percent. Pedicone’s annual compensation is worth over $400,000. Also during his tenure, the District closed nearly 20 schools, and is planning more closures.
TUSD is only one of a very few districts in the state facing deficits, and those deficits are also driven by declines in enrollment as parents opt for more effective districts and charter schools.
However, parents are also facing fewer options. Last month the Vail School District notified TUSD area parents that at least one Vail school could no longer accommodate their children and parents would have to find alternatives. Many parents had taken advantage of open enrollment and opted to send their children to Vail’s schools rather than TUSD’s.
While Pedicone claimed an increase in school performance pointing to an increase in “B” schools, he ignored the fact that the increase in “B” schools resulted in part from a decline in “A” schools.
Last August, Pedicone pushed to have his contract extended prior to the new Board’s installation, which included an increase in his salary.
Pedicone sang the praises of the Mexican American Studies classes to the public, but in the Administrative hearing admitted on the stand that he believed the students were exploited by radicals. He went so far as to all but hide data produced by the District’s statistician that the classes did not seem to improve academic performance.
When confronted with $4 mil in misspent bond monies, Pedicone told the bond oversight committee members that he wasn’t worried about it because he had “a good relationship with the media,” and that in terms of coverage by the media, “the best thing I have right now, is is quite frankly, is me…..” He told the group that his positive coverage was not an accident, but his work to have a relationship with them.
However, at a recent Board meeting Pedicone complained that he had made drastic cuts and sacrifices, nothing that his public relations team needed a writer, and that spot could not be filled due to the District’s deficit.
His tenure was by far the most damaging to the academic health of the District in many years. One educator summed up Pedicone’s legacy, “A school district’s budget is the only true reflection of its priorities, and Pedicone’s priority was not student learning.”
Related articles: