Higley superintendent highlights student participatory budgeting and 9/11 field of honor

Higley Unified School District Superintendent David Lotzenizer said the district is teaching students civic engagement through a participatory budgeting project and recently held a 9/11 commemoration at Higley High School.

"We encourage our students to engage within their community," Lotzenizer said, describing civic engagement as one of the district's Portrait of a Graduate tenets, which the district calls Responsible Citizen. He said the commemoration involved Higley High School's Air Force Junior ROTC and the district's Criminal Justice program, which "worked together to develop the field of honor to commemorate all of those who lost their life on nineeleven."

Lotzenizer described a separate classroom project the district is using to teach the voting process: "participatory budgeting, where students can come up with a project and then vote on that project to enhance their campuses." He said the project is intended to show students "how their voting makes a difference."

Speaking about voter registration, Lotzenizer said, "Tomorrow is National Voter Registration Day, and we encourage everyone within our community to be a responsible citizen and to register to vote." He closed his remarks by thanking the audience: "Thank you so much for choosing Higley. And remember, together we got this."

The superintendent's remarks were a verbal update to the district community; no formal board action, vote, ordinance or contract award was recorded in the transcript excerpt.