Superintendent highlights capital lawsuit win, partnerships and employee programs in annual report

Superintendent Segata Jones delivered the annual progress report to the Glendale Elementary School District governing board on Nov. 13, summarizing the district’s five strategic goals and recent achievements.

Jones told the board the district has seen progress on academic growth and emphasized that Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and instructional coaching are central to improving Tier 1 classroom instruction. "We are providing targeted support to collaborative teams across the district," she said.

On finance and stewardship, Jones said the district prevailed repeatedly in capital-related court hearings and pointed to cost savings and awards: an Association of School Business Officials Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting and more than $400,000 in health‑vendor cost reductions after hiring district staff. She also reported a recent meeting with the Arizona attorney general’s office to discuss replacement-school options.

Jones highlighted staff retention efforts, announcing a partnership with American InterContinental University that offers degree programs to employees and reporting program participation numbers the district provided (participants included employees in masters and doctorate tracks). She said the district has continued a fourth consecutive employee retention stipend.

On family and community partnerships, Jones announced the district will receive a $25,000 Legacy Foundation grant to support food distributions and a donated walk-in freezer for perishable food storage. She also listed ongoing partnerships with Kiwanis Club of Glendale, Molina Health, and the Glendale Police Department and described the System of Care’s outreach, workshops and food distributions.

Jones raised concerns about statewide assessment fairness for English-language learners, calling aspects of the current assessment "arbitrary and capricious" with regard to how long a student must be enrolled to be counted. She urged stakeholders to be vocal as the state issues a Request for Proposals for a new assessment tool.

The superintendent closed by thanking staff and community partners and reminding the board of upcoming procedural items, including a required executive session for the superintendent’s evaluation with a Dec. 18 deadline.

No formal board action was taken on the report; the presentation served as an informational update and set priorities for the district’s next steps.