It was all coming together nicely for Sherry Richards. She would wrap up her education career June 30, having been an interim superintendent for a highly achieving school district that she loved, hand it over in good shape to a new permanent superintendent and the spend July in Spain with her daughter to launch her retirement.
It all unraveled overnight when the designated superintendent, Nate Carman, was put on administrative leave from his job as a superintendent in El Paso, Texas, March 25 because an external forensics audit identifying Carman as having a possible conflict of interest regarding district purchasing decisions.
By May 8, the Higley Unified School District Governing Board was rescinding Carman’s contract and appointing Richards as the superintendent with no “interim” label, though for one year only.
A month in Spain would have to wait.
“When things changed, I was observing and wondering, ‘OK, what's going to happen?’” said Richards, sitting at a conference table in her office. “And I hadn't pushed the button to submit my retirement. It was completely done, and I just kind of let it sit there. And I guess, to be really honest with you, I wanted to make sure that the district was in good shape when I left.”
She said she got “little snippets” that she might be asked to stay. And in the end, her love for the district and a sense of doing right be it prevailed over the desire to retire. She would give it one more year.
“It's always been important — this is 13 years here for me — when I leave to say I did some good things and I'm leaving it in a good place. So that's kind of how it went.”
State of the district
Overall, Higley is in good shape. It has challenges, to be sure, past a failed superintendent search. A former superintendent was indicted three years ago in an alleged kickback scheme from 10 years ago, one that left the district with two middle-school leases that continue to be a financial albatross. (All the involved administrators are long since gone from the district.)
And its past two bond questions failed overwhelmingly at the ballot box, stalling some needed capital projects and creating some maintenance needs.
But on Job 1, educating students, give Higley an A. Or at least the state of Arizona has. Twelve of the district’s 14 schools received A’s from the state in the latest grades from the Arizona Board of Education, with the other two getting B’s, and the district also received an A.
Those grades are an improvement from the previous year, when five schools got B’s.
Sherry Richards will be the Higley Unified School District Superintendent for the 2024-25 school year, a year in which she planned to be retired.
Independent Newsmedia/Tom Blodgett
The latest available graduation rate, from 2022-23, is 95.92%, according to Arizona Department of Education data.
The district’s schools offer a number of popular specialty programs at different campuses, like Mandarin Chinese immersion, Franklin Covey’s Leader in Me or No Excuses University.
Those have perhaps stemmed the tide on enrollment. Where most of the surrounding districts are bleeding enrollment, Higley’s losses have been minimal or non-existent. Early on, it looks like the district’s enrollment may be flat for 2024-25.
“I think this is a great district, and I think that parents, students, teachers, other staff members will articulate the same,” Richards said. “You see in our board meetings, all our celebrations and all the positive things happening right now. Enrollment is on a little bit of an uptick, which is encouraging to us.
“I love this district, and I wouldn't be here if I didn't.”
Starting in deaf education
Richards grew up from Texas and got her bachelor’s degree in education/teaching of individuals with hearing impairments including deafness from Texas Christian University.
“My brother had a friend that was in that type of role, so I started shadowing her when I was in middle school, and I was like, ‘that's what I want to do,’” she said.
She found the work fulfilling. At times she worked in a classroom where every single thing was signed.
“Now I can go on the website and see that my kids that had hearing loss are doctors, lawyers, engineers, veterinarians, and they've been extremely successful,” she said. “So I love that.”
Her career continued to build on her passion for making a difference for kids. She was an instructional coach in poverty-stricken areas, got her master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from West Texas A&M, then became an assistant principal.
Sherry Richards says she a passion for helping kids drove her education career.
Courtesy Higley Unified School District
“The last place where I was an AP was a No Excuses University, and that's what Gateway (Pointe Elementary in HUSD) is now,” she said. “So they talk about college, and our kids out there, nobody in their family went to college. And so we had classes within the school for parents to even come and start working on their college degrees. It was pretty amazing.”
She later took over the Head Start programs in the Panhandle area of Texas before her husband moved to Arizona for his job, so she followed. A friend worked in the Higley district, so she applied not knowing anything about the district.
She moved up from assistant principal at Coronado Elementary to principal at Power Ranch Elementary and then Bridges Elementary for a year. She was promoted to executive director of elementary education in 2017 and then associate superintendent in 2021.
When Dawn Foley left as superintendent suddenly in June 2023, Richards was then the logical choice to be interim superintendent while a nationwide search was conducted. It was supposed to be the capstone of her career before sailing off into retirement.
Navigating superintendency
Richards said she never even thought about being a superintendent, but here she is.
Her time at the helm comes when the waters can be rough for public education.
“I think everybody's experiencing it, but the polarization, should we say, of public education continues to be a challenge,” Richards said. “And I believe in public education and support it. And that doesn't mean I don't believe in charters or private, but I'm passionate about public education. And I feel like sometimes social media or the media can present things in a light where, and I'm going to say that public education doesn't have the same reputation as it used to. So that's challenging.”
It is true in Higley, too, as evidenced by the two failed bond elections and a governing board that in the past year has been sometimes fractured. Richards, however, gently slides past the topic.
“They have different viewpoints and perspectives, and that's OK,” she said. “My job is to respect all of them and try to communicate in such a way that they understand the mission and vision of the district and our strategic plan. So I've worked, and I will continue to work on that.”
HUSD Superintendent Sherry Richards has made communicating with the governing board a priority.
Screen capture from YouTube
In fact, that strategic plan, along with hiring good people, are her focus for her next and final go-around in the district.
“Everything is connected, and everything goes back to kids and positive student outcomes, plus supporting our teachers,” she said. “It's important to me that that's not a piece of paper, but a real plan of action that we follow through, so when we get to the end of the year, it's like, ‘look at what we did and how it's benefited our kids specifically.’”
Richards also will make time to get out into the district and be in classrooms. It’s there where she finds what she believes makes Higley special.
“The people really care about this district, and that's what I get all the time,” she said. “I'm not saying complaints don't come over here, but in general, if I'm out, if I'm in the schools, it's a happy place to be. I like it out there.”
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).
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