A severance agreement for Superintendent Heather Wallace was approved at an April 10 meeting of the Apache Junction Unified School District that did not include public comment, discussion or debate.
The governing board voted 3-2 on the decision, with board members Bobby Bauders and Cami Garcia dissenting with the severance agreement.
“Ms. Wallace and the board recently determined that their visions for the district are different,” AJUSD Board President Dena Kimble said in written a statement dated April 10. “(T)he district’s administrative, operational and teaching functions will continue without interruption.”
She thanked Wallace for her decades of employment with the district.
“The board greatly appreciates the decades of service that Ms. Wallace has provided to AJUSD and the leadership she has provided as the district’s superintendent. She has always placed the district’s students, staff and families at the forefront of her actions, and for that we are grateful,” Kimble said.
The district is seeking a new academically oriented district superintendent, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said in a statement.
“Apache Junction has, under old leadership, three of its five schools rated as ‘C’ schools. It has a new majority of three academically oriented school board members. They are naturally seeking a new academically oriented superintendent and arrived at a mutual agreement with the old superintendent to part ways,” he said in the statement.
Wallace worked more than 20 years as an educator at AJUSD. She was executive director of educational services when she became interim superintendent in July 2021 and then later was employed as superintendent.
Public comment
The next night — at the April 11 governing board meeting — more than 20 people spoke during the public comment section against the decision by Dena Kimble, Gil Cancio and Gail Ross to approve the agreement.
They included Barbara Kanzler, who retired in May 2021 from AJUSD and ran unsuccessfully for school board at the Nov. 8 election.
“We were heading in the right direction. Our kids were working to meet their full potential. Madame president, what you did deserves discussion and debate. How you did it was wrong,” she said.
Former Apache Junction City Councilman Braden Biggs, who graduated from Apache Junction High School, told the board it was a sad day for him.
“It’s a sad day to be a Prospector and I suspect sad days will continue for those of us who have the fortune of being a Prospector,” he said. “I’ll remind the public that this board is elected by the people and it’s supposed to be for the people.”
He announced that residents would be meeting to discuss the formation of a recall committee.
On Facebook, several people posted a flyer that states the recall would be to seek the removal of Kimble, Cancio and Ross.
Board comment
The governing board did not comment on the severance agreement for Wallace at the April 11 meeting as it was not on the agenda.
Governing Board Member Bobby Bauders posted on Facebook April 6 that by Kimble calling a 10 a.m. April 10 special meeting where public comment would not be allowed was an attempt to silence critics of the decision.
“I am disgusted by the cowardice and lack of transparency displayed by President Dena Kimble. Scheduling a meeting in the middle of a weekday with no public comments to discuss something as monumental as severing our employment with the superintendent is a clear attempt to silence staff, parents and the community,” Bauders said on Facebook @baudersforajusd. “I will not stand by while the board president attempts to silence this district and this community.”
3 superintendents in 6 years
Wallace was the second superintendent in two years to be released from their contract and the third superintendent to be employed by AJUSD since June 2017.
Just over two years ago, the AJUSD governing board terminated the contract of another superintendent. Then-Superintendent Krista Anderson was released from her contract April 1, 2021, by the governing board. Anderson had been hired as superintendent effective July 1, 2017, and in late 2020 was named Superintendent of the Year for mid-size school districts by the Arizona School Administrators organization.
Prior to Anderson, Chad Wilson was superintendent from 2009 to 2017. His resignation was approved Dec. 13, 2016, and an AJUSD settlement agreement required him to work until June 30, 2017.
AJUSD has three elementary schools, a junior high school and a high school. The district is from Meridian Road on the west to the town of Queen Valley on the east and from the Goldfield Mountains to the north, south into the San Tan Corridor. Communities served include Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Peralta Trail, Queen Valley and unincorporated Pinal County land in-between.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Richard Dyer Managing Editor | East Valley @RHDyer
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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