Yavapai County is facing an outflow of superintendents, with at least 10 superintendents retiring across the county, including three superintendents here in Verde Valley.

Clarkdale Jerome School District Superintendent Danny Brown is retiring after a six-year term and 30 years of teaching.

Cottonwood Oak Creek School District Superintendent Steve King resigns to run for political office after 15 years as administrator and principal at Camp Verde Unified School District, after eight years in that position. .

Yavapai County Schools Superintendent Tim Carter, who was appointed to the position in 2005 and reelected five times, retired after 50 years in education, 18 of which were overseeing county school districts. Although largely independent, Mr. Carter’s primary role was to interview and appoint board members to fill vacancies in public school districts.

The three are scheduled to depart at the end of the school year in early summer.

Locally, Sedona Oak Creek School District Superintendent Dennis Dearden, who until recently was also the principal of Sedona Red Rock High School, is also retiring this year, but rather than retire at the end of the school year like other students. , will be enrolled from the summer to the beginning of next year, and will depart in September.

He has already handed over the leadership of SRRHS to current Vice Principal Heather Isom, who will assume that role beginning the 2023-24 fiscal year.

During his five years in Sedona, Dearden managed to rebuild the ship and stabilize a district that had been unstable for years.

Dearden’s immediate predecessor, David Rykins, was hired in-house without any real vetting and lacked the skills to effectively manage the district. The superintendent at the time did not have a Ph.D., and he told us for years that he was in a Ph.D. But being careful with details, advisors and institutions, his claims could never be verified.

His lack of administrative skills led him to make questionable decisions regarding staffing, policies, budgets and spending, replacing managers who spent time in the classroom with those sitting behind desks and keeping dozens of teachers. It became apparent when we created an internal management culture that didn’t help us do that. Quitting to go to another district, or abandoning teaching altogether. The board itself at the time was filled with infighting, accusations, accusations, and allegations, adding to the confusion.

The decline in overall student numbers is not due to one incompetent leader or a single bad policy, but rather to Sedona’s changing demographics. This means that fewer and fewer children generally live within her SOCSD jurisdiction, making it harder for students to enroll. With an increasing number of charter schools competing for the money of those students, more families choosing to homeschool, and parents dissatisfied with the school district at large, SOCSD was in dire straits.

He quietly resigned in 2017 after the new board refused to discuss a new deal with Rikins and quietly opened up to him.

Mr. Dearden will be able to turn the tide, fix the district’s culture, fix the budget, stop the bleeding of students and teachers, and rebuild the support and trust that parents and community members previously had in SOCSD. So the environment Mr. Dearden was led to was like this.

Dearden largely did this, stemming student exodus, and even boosting enrollment by enrolling students from other parts of the Verde Valley into Sedona. Parents who have tried alternative schools and charter schools have been persuaded to return their student to his SOCSD. Our schoolchildren need stability and support. That’s what Dearden brought to his SOCSD, and it carried through to his teachers.

National, social, and political culture wars over Arizona’s education salaries and public education have contributed to teacher turnover, but teachers generally quit as a result of Sedona administrative problems, as in previous years. It doesn’t mean there is.

With Dearden’s resignation, the governing board is searching for a replacement for him and is polling the public on what to expect from the next superintendent of schools.

Board member April Payne stopped me on the way to drop off her daughter this week and asked me to share with readers the importance of knowing what the public wants from SOCSD leaders. Payne reiterated that the school board wants to do what’s best not only for students and families, but also for the community as a whole. Hiring a good and credible supervisor is essential to that process.

Dearden bailed out SOCSD after years of mismanagement, but the process is far from complete. Sedona continues to face budget shortfalls due to political misconduct in the state legislature, an aging population resulting in fewer total children, fewer small families enrolled in school, and a housing problem causing working families to rent within SOCSD jurisdiction. They face a real risk of declining enrollment as they are often unable to find housing.

Similarly, finding housing for newly hired teachers also puts pressure on classroom staffing, so new superintendents need to consider how to accommodate the top teachers they hire.

you can fill out a questionnaire and sedona.k12.az.us website.