Local opinion: Catalina Foothills schools at risk

Catalina Foothills School District isn’t what it used to be. While district population of school-age residents and district enrollment has remained relatively unchanged over the last decade (within 1.3%), residents now comprise less than half of the CFSD student body.

For years, CFSD was a point of pride for the Foothills community. Today, the community has abandoned its halls so that 1 in 3 Foothills households choose other education alternatives. There are two explanations for this exodus: academics and safety.

Academics

CFSD is good, but not like it was. In 2013, the US News Best Schools report ranked Catalina Foothills High School (CFHS) No. 8 of all Arizona public high schools with 86% of students proficient in math and nearly all, 97%, proficient in reading.

Over the last decade, US News dropped CFHS down to No. 19, with just 59% of students proficient in math and 72% in reading. As CFHS declined, other area schools gained rank. There are now seven other Tucson area public schools ranked higher than CFHS.

We might expect declines to recover since the district’s voluntary year-long in-person shutdown, but that’s not the case for CFHS. From 2020-24, CFHS scores in math, science, reading, and college readiness all dropped even lower. In the last two years, CFSD’s graduation rate fell below 89%, placing No. 183 in the state.

Popular school review website Niche.com offers insight to this problem. In their review of CFHS, “Administration” received the lowest grade of “C” which was even beaten by the cafeteria food’s grade of “C+.” There are many things that are still great at CFSD, but administration at the leadership level is not one of those things.

Safety

Safety is the one thing more concerning to Foothills families than academics. Violence at CFSD schools, as featured on multiple local TV news stories over the last year, has compelled parents to withdraw at an alarming rate.

Board candidates seeking your vote have very different views on safety.

Bart Pemberton’s website states his goal is to “improve school safety for all students, faculty, and staff through the addition of more resource officers where necessary, comprehensive review of campus access, and an intelligent hiring process.”

Jennifer Repscher’s website vows, “ensuring safety in schools protects students, teachers, and staff from physical harm…It is time for our district to start solving the problems with violence and bullying throughout our schools.”

Pemberton and Repscher each focus on school safety against violence as a primary part of their respective platforms. By contrast, their opponents focus more on “feelings” than physical safety.

Their opponents’ website lacks any mention of physical security or campus police. Board candidate Jacquelyn Davoli even calls for defunding campus police to fund more school counselors.

In the words of one CFHS freshman, “Logue, Jackson, and Davoli want students to ‘feel’ safe while Pemberton and Repscher want students to actually ‘be’ safe.”

Public schools shape our culture, so CFSD is the future of the Foothills community. It has too many good things we risk losing if these trends continue. Yet, we can still save CFSD with new leadership at the governing board.

Candidates Pemberton and Repscher identify the problems and offer solutions. Their opponents deny these declines, defend the status quo, and shun parents. Vote Pemberton and Repscher to save CFSD. The education and safety of our kids depends on it.