Pedicone named TUSD chief

Pedicone is the former superintendent of the Flowing Wells School District and is currently a member of the University of Arizona College of Education faculty as well as the vice president of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council.

"I am thrilled really," Pedicone said by phone after the announcement Tuesday. "I'd like to thank the community and the Governing Board for their support. I'm excited about the prospect of what we can do."

Contract negotiations will now begin with Pedicone, 62. He said he would like to begin working in January.

Pedicone was competing with three others for the top spot in Tucson's largest school district, which serves about 53,000 students. Those candidates were:

• Edith Macklin-Isquierdo, TUSD's assistant superintendent of high schools

• Lupita Cavazos-Garcia, TUSD's assistant superintendent of government programs and community outreach

• Kenneth R. Baca, the assistant superintendent for business services in the Phoenix Elementary School District

Parent and education advocate Ann-Eve Pedersen was pleased with Pedicone's selection.

"John is the right person in the right place at the right time," Pedersen said. "He's very well respected by teachers and parents and others in the community at large.

"I think he'll be someone who will help stabilize everything and move the district forward. I also think it's time for the public to come together and to give him and the district their full support; the success of TUSD is not up to one person but every single one of us. I don't think that's happened in the past, and it's critical it happens now."

Added Luci Messing, president of the Tucson Education Association: "He was the only one with superintendent experience, and that was really important. We needed someone who could hit the ground running, someone we can count on to truly be the leader, and I think we've got him."

The Tucson Unified School District lost its superintendent - Elizabeth Celania-Fagen - last school year after she announced she'd be taking over the Douglas County School District in Colorado. She was less than two years into her tenure when she made the announcement.

Fagen cited state budget cuts to K-12 education as part of her reason for leaving, saying she had to consider other options for her two young daughters.

Last year, the Governing Board voted to close nine schools as a result of state budget cuts and the loss of students.

In addition to budget cuts and a continuous decline in enrollment, TUSD is facing myriad challenges, including changing its public perception and improving student achievement.

Pedicone has said in the past that he is more than willing to take on those challenges and could commit to three to five years in the district if selected.

On Tuesday he echoed that sentiment.

"I have no reluctance at all," Pedicone said. "Schools all around Arizona are facing daunting tasks this year, and TUSD has some additional burdens. I think that's one of the reasons I look forward to this. I am engaging in this experience not for a job, but for a cause - for a community I respect."

The district is also facing a possible loss in funding due to its choice to offer and support Mexican-American studies.

The program has been criticized for several years now by outgoing state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. Horne claims the program promotes ethnic chauvinism.

A bill signed into law earlier this year prohibits such courses. Districts in violation of the law may have funding withheld from the Arizona Department of Education.

TUSD maintains it is in compliance.

Pedicone has said it's hard to argue with the success the program has had with a historically under-served population, and that there shouldn't be a call to erode the program but rather a call to expand it.

Contact reporter Alexis Huicochea at ahuicochea@azstarnet.com or 573-4175.