Todd Jaeger, general counsel for Tucson’s largest school district, has been selected as the top candidate to lead the neighboring Amphitheater Public Schools.
The Amphitheater School District Governing Board is working on contract negotiations with Jaeger. It will vote to formally hire him at its April 18 board meeting.
Jaeger spent nine months in the Tucson Unified School District. Prior to that, he worked for Amphi for two decades, most recently as its general counsel and associate to the superintendent.
“I’m really looking forward to returning to the district and taking on the new challenges,” Jaeger said in an interview Friday. “I’m a creature of and believer in Amphi. The notion of getting back there is really something that is encouraging and positive to me.”
Jo Grant, president of the Amphitheater school board, said Jaeger was the most qualified candidate. The other finalist was another senior TUSD administrator, Abel Morado, assistant superintendent of secondary leadership.
“He has a history with Amphi,” Grant said of Jaeger.
The lawyer got his start at TUSD 25 years ago. He said his first day was soon after his son died, and the support he got from the district helped him get through.
When he joined TUSD last year, he said he hoped to find new challenges and also express gratitude to the place that gave him the first opportunity and a sense of community.
Jaeger said TUSD has great potential, and he thought he could help it move forward, but becoming the chief administrator at Amphi was what he truly wanted. “I’m sorry I won’t be here to see that through,” he added.
“There’s a lot more that I can do at Amphi than probably what I can do here,” he said. “That’s where I want to put my energy.”
Jaeger’s goal is to help Amphi become the premier district in the state by enabling teachers and staff to do their jobs without interference, he said. His first priority is to devote his time to listening and learning about what parents, students, teachers and staff members think are going well and not going well.
Jaeger will leave TUSD at a time when the senior administration is undergoing a high turnover. The district is currently headed by Gabriel Trujillo, an assistant superintendent who assumed the role of interim superintendent after H.T. Sanchez’s departed.
Sanchez resigned on Feb. 28 following a weeks-long discussion by the TUSD board regarding his performance and future with the district.
Now the board has to search for a permanent superintendent, chief human resources officer, a deputy superintendent and a general counsel.
