Loutzenheiser's leadership grounded in relationships
Independent Newsmedia/Tom Blodgett
David Loutzenheiser moved up from executive director of secondary education and athletics to superintendent of the Higley Unified School District on July 1.
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Education is about relationships. The most important relationship is between the teacher and the student. That’s where the magic happens.”
David Loutzenheiser, Higley USD superintendent
Loutzenheiser goals
Though any formal goals likely will be presented in August, new Higley USD Superintendent David Loutzenheiser outlined four priorities already in motion:
•Informing the community about the override and ensuring families have the information they need to vote.
•Retaining teachers and staff by reinforcing a supportive and communicative culture.
•Emphasize and support things that are already being successful in what the district does, like the Portrait of a Higley Graduate.
•Long-term strategic planning, including new programs and potential shifts in offerings.
If parents in the Higley Unified School District are looking to see what kind of leader new Superintendent David Loutzenheiser will be, consider this.
Loutzenheiser has two season tickets to University of Arizona basketball. His daughter attends the university, and his father lives in the Canyon del Oro area. Some combination of two of the three attend each game, which means even while being Higley’s executive director of secondary education and athletics, he has gone to Tucson as much as a couple times a week during the season.
He has no plans to change that as superintendent. Lots of calls can be made on a drive to Tucson with bluetooth. And while the games are nice, making the trek is about spending time with dad, now 80.
“Family is a huge priority,” Loutzenheiser said. “And it’s a priority of my leadership, and it’s a priority of how we’ve done things.”
That goes hand in hand with his philosophy that education is a relationship business.
“Education is about relationships,” he said. “The most important relationship is between the teacher and the student. That’s where the magic happens.
“That’s what our whole goal is — driving down to make sure that our teachers have what they need to be successful to support the kids so they can be successful.”
Loutzenheiser, 50, took over the head job July 1 for the now-retired Sherry Richards. He brings with him decades of experience, a deep understanding of education in Arizona and a clear vision for navigating the district through challenging financial times and shifting public education dynamics.
Higley Superintendent David Loutzenheiser, pictured in his former role as executive director of secondary education, joins other Higley officials in visiting Cooley Middle School.
Courtesy Higley Unified School District
A product of Arizona himself, Loutzenheiser’s roots, mentors and philosophy shape a leadership style centered on relationships, community and a passion for public education.
Background rooted in Arizona — and education
Born in Tucson and raised in Wickenburg, Loutzenheiser spent his early years immersed in rural desert life. His mom had been raised a Kansas farm girl.
“We used to have a pig pen in Wickenburg, and we lived out in two and a half acres out in the desert,” he said. “We’d walk our pigs to get them ready for the fair, and people would be walking their dogs, and we’d walk our pigs.”
Eventually, his family moved to Apache Junction, where he graduated from high school in 1992. His path took him to Mesa Community College to play basketball, then to the Colorado School of Mines, and ultimately to Northern Arizona University, where he completed his degree.
Though he initially intended to pursue engineering, he returned to his family’s educational roots — his father was a principal, his mother a teacher — deciding instead to teach and coach.
Loutzenheiser’s professional journey began in 1998 at Gilbert High School, where he taught math and coached basketball. Over the years, he moved through a series of leadership roles in Gilbert and Chandler districts, including principal of Basha High School.
Each step brought influential mentors — former MCC and Gilbert High basketball coach Tom Bennett, retired Gilbert High Principal Charles Santa Cruz, and retired Perry High Principal Dan Serrano among them — who shaped his leadership approach.
Higley USD Superintendent David Loutzenheiser learns how to salute from a JROTC student in the district.
Courtesy Higley Unified School District
“David was always affable and student-centered and just looking for a way to get involved,” Santa Cruz said. “Students seemed to appreciate his style and seemed to appreciate his concern and conscientious nature about their progress.”
After playing for Bennett at MCC, he served on Bennett’s staff at Gilbert when he came on board at the school. He eventually became the varsity coach.
“What really spoke to me. I think, about Tom Bennett was how he made everybody feel part of a team, always, whether you were playing or not, whether you were the assistant or not, and how structured he was into developing those relationships,” he said. “I’m still in awe. I was head basketball coach, and I was not as good as Tom Bennett, I’ll tell you that right now.”
He gave up that path because of how consuming building a program was, taking away from family.
Loutzenheiser’s journey to administration began with encouragement from mentors like Santa Cruz and Serrano, both of whom saw traits that would serve him well in leadership.
Serrano believed his former math teacher was on the right path.
“I told him I thought he would be excellent,” Serrano said of encouraging Loutzenheiser to apply for his first administrative position. “I think his philosophies and the way he thinks about things are good for teachers and kids because that’s what it’s all about.”
Loutzenheiser became an assistant principal at San Tan Junior High, later serving in similar roles at Basha High before becoming its principal. He joined the Higley district in 2021.
A seamless transition
When the Higley superintendency suddenly opened up in 2023, Loutzenheiser did not consider applying. But after a failed search in the 2023-24 school year, Loutzenheiser thought perhaps he could best serve the district as its leader.
Though the often-fractured Higley board split this spring on who should get the job, Loutzenheiser won the nod, with President Amanda Wade praising him as having “a heart for Higley.”
Loutzenheiser praises Richards for selflessly staying on for an extra year after the failed search, then easing the transition after his selection.
“She’s been in and doing what she can to help and be around because the summer is all about planning,” he said.
Higley USD Superintendent David Loutzenheiser, here helping with a “Stock the Classroom” supply drive, wants to build relationships in the community.
Courtesy Higley Unified School District
From his job as HUSD secondary education executive director, Loutzenheiser came into the new role with deep familiarity of the district, but with a desire to shift how he is perceived.
“It is a double-edged sword being the internal candidate,” he said. “People also have a preconceived notion about who you are as a leader from the role that you have been in.”
To counter that, he met individually with board members and school leaders.
“Perceptions of me as an assistant and perceptions of me as a leader will be different,” he said. “It’s my job to get out in front and tell people, ‘Hey, this is who we’re about.’”
Santa Cruz and Serrano said they think Higley got it right.
Serrano, who retired June 30 as Chandler Unified School District’s executive director of secondary education-high schools, has no doubt Loutzenheiser is ready to lead at the top.
“I think Higley got a good guy,” he said. “He’s a good people person, and I think he’s going to be good for the teachers of that district.”
Santa Cruz emphasized his character and sees him providing stability to a district that has had four superintendents is six years.
“I think he’s genuine,” Santa Cruz said. “There’s a level of trust that comes with that. He is empathetic. He cares about people.”
District challenges
Loutzenheiser steps into the superintendent role as HUSD faces significant financial strain. A series of failed bond votes has left the district with no bond money to address significant capital needs, and the failure of a maintenance and operations override renewal last November triggered the first of a potential wave of budget cuts, this one for $5.1 million.
Another November override vote looms large, and Loutzenheiser is determined to provide factual information so the public can make informed choices.
The situation has already had real consequences.
“We cut 80-some positions in our district,” he said. “That’s a big deal.”
Declining enrollment exacerbates the issue. He knows funding reductions affect people more than programs.
“It goes back to relationships and people,” he said. “When we associate an elementary elective art, it’s not just art, but it’s that art teacher that the kids have had.”
And while advocating for the override is beyond the district’s scope, providing clarity is not.
“We can’t be advocates, but we know that we can provide them with the facts,” he said.
Loutzenheiser is outspoken in his defense of public education.
“Public schools are so central to the feeling of community,” he said. “They’re so important because we are that place that parents can have a commonality because (their kids) go to our schools.”
Loutzenheiser said he struggles in the disparity between the accountability public schools face while the state gives away vouchers with zero academic accountability, but he acknowledges the role of competition from charter schools and ESAs. He said he believes Higley’s strength lies in its people and offerings.
“What will set Higley apart is how they’re going to feel when they come onto our campuses and what’s the culture of our campuses,” he said.
Higley USD Superintendent David Loutzenheiser is a big believer in the district’s career and technical education programs, like this bioscience class at Williams Field High School.
Courtesy Higley Unified School District
He is especially proud of the district’s career and technical education programs.
“We’re phenomenal at it,” he said. “We do a great job, and I’m very impressed by the opportunities we can give for our kids.”
The divided board stands as another challenge. Loutzenheiser was appointed on a split vote, something he shrugs off — “We were already having 3-2 votes.”
Rather than fixating on unanimity, he focuses on collaboration, saying he and the board are a team together. He sees his job as building team chemistry.
“I’m an old basketball coach, right?” he said. “Everybody wants to be a starter. Not everybody’s going to be a starter. But how do I build chemistry amongst the team?”
Loutzenheiser remains focused on what he sees as education’s fundamental purpose.
“Let’s support our kids,” he said. “Let’s do the best for our kids. Then you can live with that.”
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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