Superintendent’s Office

Message from Our Superintendent

Superintendent’s Message: October 2025

Dear Students, Families, and Staff of the Tolleson Union High School District,

Every day when you wake up and walk outside, you must make a choice. You can see the blue skies or the shadows. You can shiver and complain about the chilly weather in the morning or be happy that it won’t be triple digits in the afternoon. You can be upset about the Dbacks missing playoffs and the Cardinals falling apart, or you can look at Tolleson and Sierra Linda starting the season at 6-0! The last time we had a football team this good was when Mike Bell was running his way into the NFL and toward a Super Bowl ring. We may have a future NFL player on one of our teams now.

There are so many good things happening at our district right now that it is difficult to put them all into one newsletter. Commitment Day 2.0 was a huge success, and every adult out there told me, “I wish they had this when I was in high school”. This isn’t an every high school event; we are still the only district that puts an event of this magnitude together for our students. Unified Sports are also amazing opportunities for our students and a chance to see what sports look like when you are playing for pure joy. Our letter grades continue to rise, and we have one of our teachers as a finalist for Arizona Teacher of the Year.

None of this is by accident. Our community has provided fertile soil to help our students grow. We have taken that support and used it to attract and retain the best teachers in Arizona. We then invested heavily in their development and resources so they could more effectively develop our students. It wasn’t too long ago that we had a D school while almost all the other campuses were C schools. Now our schools are all A’s and B’s, with at least one school improving its grade every year. At this pace, we will have all A schools within another 2 years.

Success is not without consequence. If we are going to be the best district in the state, then we cannot get there by trying to do what everyone else is doing; we have to be innovative. Comfort is the enemy of success, and there are some current and former politicians who are very uncomfortable with our decisions. You will need to choose, do you see that we have beautiful schools, high-performing teachers, and the perfect environment to help our students unlock their potential, or do you see leadership that is unwilling to comply with the politicians? The goal will never be to make them happy. Our schools are for our community, and when I feel that our community would like us to be more status quo, then we can make some adjustments that would make them happier downtown.

There are two important questions on this year’s ballot. It’s a great indicator to reveal how the community feels about the direction of the district. I encourage you all to vote on November 4, if not sooner, since it will be a mail-in election.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support. Wishing you all a restful fall break and a wonderful October!

With gratitude,

Jeremy Calles

Jeremy Calles
Superintendent
Tolleson Union High School District