Sahuarita Unified adopts state rule: every employee must now file a conflict-of-interest disclosure each year

Sahuarita Unified adopts state rule: every employee must now file a conflict-of-interest disclosure each year

SAHUARITA, Ariz. — The Sahuarita Unified School District Governing Board on Wednesday, Sept. 23, adopted revised purchasing-ethics and conflict-of-interest policies that put the state's updated school accounting rules into district policy, including a requirement that every employee complete a conflict-of-interest disclosure when hired and every year after.

The district has about 900 employees, about half of them support staff, Superintendent Manuel O. Valenzuela said earlier in the meeting.

All five board members were present. The board approved the three revisions in a single motion on a voice vote with no opposition: Policy DJ, Purchasing Ethics; its regulation, DJ-R; and exhibit GBEAA-E, Staff Conflict of Interest. It was the second reading for each, and Valenzuela said no public comments had come in since the first.

Valenzuela said the changes bring district policy in line with recent updates to the Uniform System of Financial Records, the accounting rules Arizona school districts must follow. The purchasing-ethics regulation puts into policy a resolution the board adopted at a recent meeting allowing the district to provide meals under conditions and budget limits the uniform system permits.

Board members have always had to file conflict-of-interest disclosures. In discussion before the vote, board President John Sparks said the new part is that the disclosure now goes to every employee, and district staff said the annual requirement for everyone is new. Valenzuela said staff built a fillable online form so employees can complete the training and the disclosure at the same time, without paper copies.

Summer programs: 280 high schoolers, most taking courses to get ahead

Staff reported that 280 students registered for the district's tuition-based summer high school program, one of its largest numbers since the COVID year. Of those, 207 took courses to get ahead and 73 took credit recovery. A 21st Century grant paid for 12 scholarships at each middle school for incoming freshmen and 100 at Sahuarita High School. The program moved to Walden Grove High School this summer while Sahuarita High got a new HVAC system.

The K-8 summer enrichment program, also tuition-based with grant-funded scholarships, has drawn between 100 and 200 students over the years, its coordinator said; enrollment determines how many teachers the program can hire. Asked by a board member whether 150 students was the program's capacity and what keeps students away, the coordinator said transportation has been offered in some years but not others, and that one of the biggest barriers last summer was cost: it is harder for parents to afford, and many work during program hours. The coordinator said staff keep looking for grants.

Bond-funded fiber network underway

Valenzuela said a bond project is replacing and expanding the district's fiber-optic network across the main district campus, Copper View Elementary School, the Early Childhood Center and Wrightson Ridge School. Citing Chief Information Officer Manny Villa, Valenzuela said it should roughly double bandwidth and meet the district's needs for about the next 20 years.

Resident urges class-and-sports option for voucher families

During the call to the public, a resident urged the board to let families using Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, the state's school-voucher program, pay to take individual classes and join sports in the district, as the resident said districts including Mesa Public Schools and the Agua Fria Union High School District do, to offset declining enrollment. Board members did not respond; the state open meeting law limits board discussion of items not on the agenda.

Vaping suspensions requested as a future topic

Under future agenda items, a board member said there were issues with one-day, three-day and long-term suspensions tied to vaping and other substance use, and asked to hear how the district is combating the problem. Valenzuela said the district would bring a presentation or study session.

Also:

• The board approved the consent agenda without discussion, including personnel actions, facility-use agreements and donations such as $550 in gift cards for families in need from the Catholic Daughters of the Americas.
• The next board meeting is Oct. 14 in the same building.

This report was drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 from a live transcript produced by Deepgram Nova-2, then reviewed and edited by Nicholas De Leon with Claude Opus 5.5, and published at 7:27 PM MST on September 23, 2026. Read more about how this is made.