The Goldwater Institute has accused the Tolleson Union High School District of lavish spending on two separate administrative retreats.
According to public records obtained by the Institute, the district spent more than $42,000 on one District Board and Administration retreat. The documents show a three-night stay at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock, back in June.
The Institute said there were 36 district attendees, which would amount to about $390 per person per day.
Goldwater’s senior communications manager Joe Setyon said the spending compounds when counting a similar retreat the district took a year prior.
“They blew through $76,969 in taxpayer money at four star resorts in Tucson and in Sedona with money that came out of the general operating funds," Setyon said.
Tolleson’s Superintendent Jeremy Calles said retreats are standard practice and there’s a reason his district chooses not to host them onsite at the district office.
“If you’re having an issue with payroll and the director of business services is just a few steps away, you’re not gonna think ‘well we have to figure this out ourselves,’ you’re gonna walk those few steps and ask ‘em that question right in the middle of the meeting," Calles said. "What we end up accomplishing over the next five years is dependent on these two days and me having your pure focus so we are all bought in on the same vision."
Calles added that they’re very proud of the strategic plan they came up with over the summer. He said an employee at the Goldwater Institute has a personal issue with some Tolleson board members.
Christopher Thomas is now the director of legal strategy for education policy at the Goldwater Institute, but he used to serve as associate executive director and general counsel for the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA). Calles said Thomas was asked to leave ASBA.
"My board member was president of ASBA when all of that went down and another one of my board members was on the board around the same time," Calles said. "Chris has a very specific axe to grind against my district and several other districts who were involved back then."
