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Gilbert native Olympic qualified PAGE 28
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week BACK TO SCHOOL SECTION
NEWS.................................3 Higley takes on vape king.
COMMUNITY......... 14 Pandemic rattles children’s theaters.
COMMUNITY....................................... 14 BUSINESS..............................................17 OPINION.....................................26 SPORTS.......................................28 PUZZLE.......................................30 CLASSIFIED......................................... 30
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Higley superintendent retiring, new one named BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
H
igley Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Mike Thomason is retiring next spring, a year before his contract ends, and the Governing Board has already named his successor. The board accepted his request to retire on July 15 and last Tuesday, in a special executive session, voted to promote Associate Superintendent Dr. Dawn Foley to the job after Thomason leaves. Foley is assuming some of Thomason’s
duties in the meantime and will become the acting superintendent after the official end of Thomason’s contract in June 2021, Governing Board Vice President Kristina Reese said. “And then starting July 1, 2021, through June 2023, she will be our superintendent,” Reese said. The board’s decision comes before a contested election of three of its five members in November – Reese, Scott Glover and Greg Wojtovich. Should the board’s make-up change after election and a majority wants a different superintendent, Reese said the district would
Gilbert sales tax revenue beating the pandemic
have to buy out Foley’s contract. Under Foley’s amended contract, she will be paid $169,583 beginning Aug. 1 for the 202021 school year. As acting superintendent, she will be eligible for a performance pay of $6,500 if the board approves it. Foley was Higley’s director of curriculum and instruction from 2008-14 and then became director of teaching and learning at Mesa Public Schools for five years before returning to Higley in 2019. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s de-
COVID-19 claims coach
BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
D
espite ongoing pandemic restrictions in the state, Gilbert’s pocketbook appears so far unscathed. The town’s sales tax revenues, which include retail trade and construction, totaled $9.6 million in May – a 7 percent increase compared with May 2019, Gilbert officials said. Gov. Doug Ducey began shutting down parts of the economy in late March and in mid-May allowed non-essential retailers, salons, gyms, theaters and in-door dining to reopen again. But a surge in COVID-19 cases prompted Ducey to order bars, gyms, tubing, water parks and movie theaters to shut down for a second time June 29 for 30 days. That order was to expire Monday,
see REVENUES page 6
see SUPER page 8
We are ready to educate and support our students. Learn more about 2020/21 school year options at www.gilbertschools.net/families
Chandler High head swim Coach Kerry Croswhite, who coached Highland High’s team earlier in his career, succumbed to COVID-19 last week. He was known throughout Gilbert and the Valley for playing bagpipes at events. Details: page 9. (Courtesy of Laurie Croswhite)