The Higley Unified School District officially hired Nate Carman as its superintendent Feb. 21 as the governing board unanimously approved his contract.
The district announced the hiring of Carman, the superintendent of Socorro Independent School District in El Paso on Feb. 16. He starts with the district July 1.
The contract is for three years with a starting base salary of $210,000 annually. He also can earn performance-based pay up to $12,600 for the first year. His base salary can be increased each year by the average dollar increase given by the board other 12-month administrators.
Carman, who flew in from El Paso for the meeting, called himself still a teacher at heart in brief remarks after the vote.
“I have and will continue to support teachers so they have what is needed to empower all students to be successful in their future endeavors,” he said.
Carman said he was humbled to be named superintendent of such a high-performing district as Higley. He added he was proud to be a part of public education, noting he has been a public educator for 30 years.
“Public education continues to provide the knowledge so that we maintain an educated populace,” Carman said. “Our country's founders knew the importance of education for democracy to be successful. Thomas Jefferson stated that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, but it is education that makes that consent possible.”
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here