Museum gets new leader / P. 8
COVID rising in Scottsdale / P. 6
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
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Ex-SUSD chief indicted for school fraud BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
NEIGHBORS.............20 2030 Club donates more than $700K to charities.
BUSINESS................... 24 Valley renters feeling the price squeeze.
ARTS.................................25 He's bringing arts here back to life.
NEIGHBORS..........................................20 BUSINESS............................................... 24 ARTS..........................................................25 FOOD........................................................ 26 CLASSIFIEDS.........................................27
Sunday, July 25, 2021
T
he State Grand Jury indicted former Superintendent Denise Birdwell on 18 felony counts for allegedly rigging bids and taking payoffs from contractors during her time at the head of the Scottsdale Unified School District and
Fountain of Youth aging ungracefully
Higley Unified School District in Gilbert, according to a report from the Arizona Auditor General. The indictment comes three years after the SUSD Governing Board in March 2018 fired Birdwell – who started as the district’s Superintendent in January 2016 – for allegedly receiving payments from Hunt & Caraway Architects, the firm hired
to work on the district’s bond projects. The Grand Jury indicted Birdwell and three others on July 13 after prosecutors with the state Attorney General’s Office presented the Auditor General’s report that delved into her time at both districts. The report primarily focused on Bird-
see BIRDWELL page 12
BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
A
fter succumbing to years of erosion and surviving multiple relocations, the end could be near for the beloved Fountain of Youth. Despite several repairs to the fountain’s base and repeating sealing up of any cracks, the fountain is showing its age. The internal rebar is beginning to poke through and the base is starting to leak like sieve. “I’m pretty much on the verge of decommissioning it because of the cracks and continuous waste of water,” Scottsdale
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Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega with the Fountain of Youth at Scottsdale City Hall. The fountain, designed by Ivan Pintar and funded by donations from local schoolchildren in the 1960s, could be decommissioned soon due to structural decay. (Pablo Robles/Progress Staff Photographer)
Mayor David Ortega said. “I also believe the original intentions of the fountain have been commemorated and the fountain has outlived its lifecycle.”
Ortega also fears that the fountain could become a safety issue if it continues to de-
see FOUNTAIN page 10
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