Community Notice – 6.22.2022 

Dear HUSD Community, 

We’d like our community to know that in addition to educating our students, their safety and wellbeing is our most important job. This includes ensuring the safety of our facilities to the quality of individuals we hire, which is something we take very seriously.  

On Thursday, June 16, 2022, a former Higley USD employee was arrested on charges that appear to involve two District students. The District administration made the initial report to the Gilbert Police Department which started its investigation. The District has cooperated with the police throughout and will continue to do so. Due to the nature of police investigations, the District learned about details regarding the case and the criminal charges being filed at the same time as the general public. 

If you have any information related to the criminal investigation, please contact the Gilbert Police Department directly at 480-503-6500. 

Since the District’s original report to police, some social media posts and other reports have asserted that details about this former employee were allegedly previously shared with HUSD employees. We are very concerned about the accusations regarding this former employee and that they were not addressed when raised. The District has hired an outside attorney to investigate and help our administration review all of these matters. It is the District’s intent to learn the details of any prior reported concern and how it was handled. 

When it comes to the safety and security of our students and employees, it’s critical that we work together to foster a safe and welcoming learning environment. We would like to stress the importance of reporting any safety or security concerns to our district administration through our safe hotline at 480.279.7233 or by emailing the safe.hotline@husd.org.    

One of our district core values is accountability.  If you feel you’ve reported a concern that has not been addressed by our employees, please contact our district office through our safe hotline listed above so we can be sure this issue has been received. We take all concerns very seriously and will follow-up on situations that are reported.   

Our district will continue to review our protocols, practices and policies to ensure students are safe on our campuses.   

Respectfully, 

HUSD Leadership

Community Notice – 6.16.2022

Dear HUSD Community,

We wanted to inform our community that today, the Gilbert Police Department arrested a former employee, Aaron Dunton, who was previously a teacher at Higley High School and Power Ranch Elementary. According to the Gilbert Police Department, Dunton was arrested and booked into the custody of the Maricopa County’s Sheriff’s Office for four counts of Aggravated Assault, one count of Tampering with a Witness, and two counts of Contributing to Delinquency and Dependency.

Dunton was a teacher at Higley High School from July 19, 2021, to April 14, 2022. He was also a volunteer softball coach and assistant football coach. He was previously a teacher at Power Ranch Elementary from July 16, 2015, to May 28, 2021.

The district has been working directly with the Gilbert Police Department to assist in this investigation when concerns were brought to our attention in April.

We are extremely disappointed and troubled by this news. Please know that we take all allegations of employee misconduct very seriously and providing a safe learning environment is always a top priority for our district.

We do not have additional details to share with our community at this time as this remains an active investigation. We will continue to cooperate fully with the Gilbert Police Department to help ensure our schools are safe.

The Gilbert Police Department is seeking to identify additional potential victims or witnesses. We want to stress the importance of sharing any pertinent information with Police Department at 480-503-6500.

The Gilbert Police Department also released a statement this afternoon.

Thank you for your continued support.

HUSD Leadership

Summer Office Hours

Welcome to Higley Unified School District.

Families wishing to join the Higley family can register online today. Information is available at www.husd.org/enrollment. If you need assistance with high school or middle school enrollment, please call your campus. For any other online registration process questions, the enrollment office can be reached 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday at 480.279.7020 or email SSupport@husd.org.

The District Office is currently operating on summer hours, Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please call us at 480.279.7000.

Elementary school sites are closed for summer break.

Our middle schools are open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

High schools are open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Our District Office, middle schools, and high schools will be closed for holidays on Monday, June 20 and Monday, July 4.

All offices will resume normal business hours on Monday, July 11.

We can’t wait to see you back at school on July 25!

End-Of-Year Message to Our Families

Dear HUSD Families,

As the 2021-2022 school year comes to a close, we would like to take a moment to share how incredibly proud we are of this community and all we have accomplished as a district during this remarkable school year.

Among our many accomplishments, we would like to celebrate our students completing a grade level, and our recent Class of 2022 graduates! Congratulations to all of our students for all your success this last year - we know there are many more accomplishments ahead as you continue your journey.

We would also like to take a moment to thank our community for your support throughout this last year. As always, thank you for entrusting us with your child’s education.

We hope you enjoy your summer vacation and spend quality time with family and friends. We can’t wait to welcome students back on July 25!

Respectfully,

HUSD Leadership

COVID-19 Dashboard and Notification Process Update

As the school year comes to a close and as we prepare for our summer programs, we wanted to inform our community of changes to our COVID-19 dashboard and notification process. Higley Unified School District will be suspending its daily COVID-19 dashboard and courtesy notification process on Friday, May 27, 2022.

The district will continue to reinforce proper handwashing and respiratory etiquette and we will continue to clean and maintain healthy facilities district-wide.

Thank you for your continued support.