North Phoenix superintendent resigns following heated vote

DEER VALLEY, Ariz. - The superintendent of the Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) announced his intent to resign Tuesday night during a heated school board meeting focused on the district’s long-term growth.

What we know:

Dr. Curtis Finch, who has led Arizona's fifth-largest school district for nearly a decade, made the surprise announcement at the conclusion of a four-hour meeting. The announcement followed a failed vote to adjust boundaries for the 2026-27 school year intended to manage a looming population surge in the North Valley.

"It's easy to figure out that this is a problem. We've known this problem since 2017," Finch said. "I will be submitting my resignation tomorrow to HR and including the effective date. That's all."

Board member Kimberly Fisher questioned the need for new facilities while some existing schools face lower enrollment.

"We need to look at the whole district as a whole and not us ourselves alone, but with our community and make reasonable decisions," Fisher said. "I remember Dr. Tweedy sitting up here saying, why are we gonna build a new school when we have schools that are under-enrolled?"

The other side:

Finch countered that the district must prepare for a massive influx of residents driven by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plant in north Phoenix. He argued that closing or "repurposing" schools in southern or northern zones would be a mistake, as those areas will become essential entry points for new families.

"I've talked to the demographer and I know that what's gonna happen economically is the houses around TSMC are gonna be very expensive. And so as it'll become a ripple effect in the whole Deer Valley district," Dr. Finch said. "So we do not wanna close a bunch of schools on the southern border or the northern border because what's going to happen is those are gonna the entry points for people that wanna work in our zones."

Dig deeper:

The board ultimately deadlocked 2-2 on the committee’s recommendation, with one abstention, effectively defeating the proposal. Finch expressed frustration with the lack of a decision, noting that the district is already dealing with overcrowding.

"We know they're overcrowded today because of a lack of a decision back in 2017," he said. "Back when this board had a chance to correct it, they knew they were gonna have a problem and I quote, ‘We are just kicking the can down the road.’ Well, here we are. The can is now down the road."

What's next:

The school district said information on next steps will be shared when they become available.