Former Tucson Unified School District superintendent assistant Maggie Shafer has withdrawn her name from consideration as interim superintendent, district general counsel Todd Jaeger told KGUN9.
Shafer had been tabbed by the district to replace H.T. Sanchez, who resigned in late February.
The TUSD governing board was set to confirm Shafer as interim superintendent Friday, but the board canceled the meeting after Shafer informed them that she was out.
TUSD board president Michael Hicks released this statement on the matter:
TUSD is now undergoing a significant transition due to the recent resignation of its Superintendent. In itself, this required a process which was spread over a three week period due to the legal confidentiality requirements and need to ensure clear communication within the process. For the last two weeks the Board has been involved in a process of selecting an interim superintendent. (Currently the District’s Deputy Superintendent, Dr. Karen Kopec, serves in this role.) These matters have brought about some level of resistance and misinformation- with what I believe to be the intent to slow down or sabotage each process. Such undermining will ultimately fail and acts only as a distractor. It is not productive to the operation of the District, its employees and students who they serve.
Change and the transitions it brings about are both difficult and I am optimistic that both our internal and external TUSD community understand that as we move forward it is in the best interest of serving its 47,000- plus- students. Critical processes such as the development of the 2017-18 budget are now underway and the Boards attention must not only focus on an immediate search for an interim superintendent but on the search for TUSD’s permanent superintendent. The fact that a person has declined to be considered for the interim superintendent position is a bump but it is one that those of us who are committed to moving forward can easily overcome.
As the TUSD Board President, I want to reassure the community that I will do all within my power to focus on moving the District forward by ensuring that processes, such as those mentioned here, continue forward to full success. I will not allow a few bumps and ill-intended distractions to detour me or others from moving forward.
