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FINDING FIREWORKS
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
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BABY RUBDOWNS
@AhwatukeeFN
State board drops talk of punishing Red for Ed BY PAUL MARYNIAK, WAYNE SCHUTSKY AND JIM WALSH AFN News Staff
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@AhwatukeeFN |
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he state Board of Education last Friday scuttled a plan to discuss discipline against teachers for their walkout the day after Gov. Doug Ducey told the Ahwatukee Foothills News that he opposed punishment.
While Chandler Superintendent Camille Casteel declined comment and the other East Valley school chiefs did not return emailed requests from AFN for comment, both Kyrene Superintendent Jan Vesely and Mesa Public Schools Superintendent Ember Conley criticized the board and said the teachers did nothing to warrant any punishment. The board had placed on its June 25
agenda an item for a “presentation, discussion and possible action regarding the board’s authority to take disciplinary action,” although board Executive Director Alicia Williams told the AFN last Thursday no formal action was planned. That same day, the AFN asked Ducey during a campaign stop in Gilbert how he See
TEACHERS on page 2
Chillin’ at Pecos Pool . 22
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HITTING THE ROOF (Kimberly Carrillo/AFN Staff Photographer)
Cigna Healthcare of Arizona and city parks officials held the Summer Itty Bitty Beach Party for kids 6 and under at Pecos Pool last Friday, teaching them along the way how to play it safe near water. On the left, 4-year-old Abigail Burke enjoyed a cool treat while sisters Angelica and Mary Ann Stone took to the water.
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DiCiccio targets city manager’s job performance AFN NEWS STAFF
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ity Councilman Sal DiCiccio is after the Phoenix city manager’s scalp. A bitter debate over the planned extension of the light-rail line into South Phoenix lit the fuse last week on the Ahwatukee councilman’s dissatisfaction with City Manager Ed Zuercher, which had been simmering for months over the city’s failure to curb a public safety pension liability that now exceeds more than $4 billion. DiCiccio first sent a letter to Zuercher telling him to put a review of his job performance on the City Council’s July 5 meeting agenda.
In the letter, he excoriated Zuercher for “problems created by your leadership,” including not sending any staff to a South Phoenix town hall on light rail, failing to provide the Council with requested information on various matters and for “destabilizing the police and fire pension fund” by adding $2 billion in debt on top of another $2 billion that already had accumulated. A spokeswoman for Zuercher said he had no comment. DiCiccio told the AFN that he had asked interim Mayor Thelda Williams to put Zuercher’s performance on the agenda
and that she refused, thwarting, he added, the Council’s right to oversee the only city official under its direct supervision. “The City Council has only one employee: the city manager,” he said. “We have the exclusive power to fire and hire just one employee: the city manager.” DiCiccio then ratcheted up his campaign to dump Zuercher late last week by circulating a blistering set of accusations to his constituents. “The city of Phoenix is facing a crisis of leadership, and it becomes more apparent every day,” he said. “When you combine See
DICICCIO on page 8