Meet Our Superintendent

Dr. Roman Soltero has performed public service throughout the Southern Arizona Community for nearly 25 years. Before starting his career as a teacher, Dr. Soltero served as a campus monitor, teacher assistant, and substitute teacher in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). During his tenure as a bilingual first-grade teacher at Harriet Johnson Primary School, he completed his master’s degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University. He was also appointed to serve on the South Tucson City Council, where he was re-elected twice and served for nine years (1998–2007). His next teaching assignment was as a bilingual third-grade teacher at Carrillo Intermediate Magnet School in TUSD for two years.

He served two years as assistant principal at Tolson Elementary School and Hohokam Middle School in TUSD before beginning his doctoral studies at the University of Arizona. He began serving as principal at Tully Elementary Magnet School in TUSD, where he served for ten years. During his tenure, he completed his Ed.D. in educational leadership with a law minor from the University of Arizona. Dr. Soltero served five years as principal at Wade Carpenter Middle School in Nogales Unified School District (NUSD). During this time, he was recognized by the Pueblo High School Alumni Foundation and nominated into their Hall of Fame Class of 2018. He has been the Casa Primera Homeowners Association Board of Directors president since 2019. In 2021, he served as an Educational Program Specialist with the Arizona Department of Education’s Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) Unit, reviewing ESSER III Grant Applications and Return to In-Person Learning Plans for all K–12 public school districts.

A Message from Our Superintendent

Parents and Guardians,

The Arizona Department of Education recently released the 2022–2023 A–F school letter grades for all public schools statewide. These reports provide information about student achievement, college and career readiness, student growth, and other key areas of interest to families and the general public. The following are the letter grades for each school and our PreK program:

• Ajo PK School: Five Star (A rating)
• Ajo Elementary School: B
• Ajo High School: C

The AUSD community has been diligently working to recover from the pandemic’s impacts and ensure students have the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. While we are seeing many positive trends in the data, it is clear we have work to do to ensure our students achieve their full potential. With that said, we also want to recognize the following several areas where students performed well:

• K–8 made a 13-point gain on school grade from 2022.
• K–8 earned a 50/50 in growth and 10/10 in acceleration.
• Grades 9–12 made over a 16-point gain on school grade from 2022.
• Grades 9–12 increased over 9 points in proficiency.
• Grades 9–12 increased over 10 points in growth to 18.75/20.
• Grades 9–12 English Learner points increased 3 points to 8/10.
• Eight of our students passed the English Literature and Composition Advanced Placement exam last year.

We strive to maintain the momentum and hope to see the high growth result in improved proficiency. The focus for Grades 9–12 will be on improving College and Career Readiness through CTE classes, dual enrollment courses, and AP Classes.

Below are key strategies we will focus on as we go forward:

• Continued implementation of the Beyond Textbooks curriculum framework.
• Implementation of the Performance Matters formative assessment instrument that is aligned to Beyond Textbooks.
• Ongoing reading formative assessments for our K–6 grades.
• Our teachers strive to ensureafter-school that students receive adequate instructional and practice time on all essential standards before the test day, using the Beyond Textbooks pacing calendar.
• We provide individualized instruction through intervention programs.
• We provide extended instructional time through after-school tutoring and/or intersessions.

Thank you for your support as we meet the needs of our students during this critical time. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.