In November, the Mingus Union High School District Superintendent Penny Hargrove retired after an internal investigation by the governing board.
Since then, Mingus Principal Genie Gee has served as acting superintendent. The board has not yet initiated a new superintendent search nor indicated a time frame of when they hope to decide on Hargrove’s replacement.
In the midst of the uncertainty, Mike Westcott, who taught at Mingus from 1987 through 2017, has taken up a superintendent apprenticeship under Gee.
Westcott had already finished much of the superintendent training and saw this as an opportunity to finish his certification.
“When Penny left and Genie was given the dual role, it just seemed like a good time to maybe go back and finish that process that I would have probably begun anyway,” Westcott said. “That sort of triggered the idea that I should go back and finish that up.”
Westcott insisted that he had not made any decision about whether he would seek a full-time superintendent role with the school and hoped that spending time doing the internship would give him an opportunity to make a more informed decision. However, he acknowledged that his pursuit of the internship signaled an interest in the position.
The internship requires Westcott to get experience assisting Acting Superintendent Gee in numerous aspects of the superintendent’s responsibilities, including board conduct, instruction personnel, general administration, curriculum, public relations and budget and finance. The total time required for the internship is 150 hours.
MUHSD Governing Board President Lori Drake insisted that the board had not yet made any decisions about the future of the superintendent position and declined to comment on the possibility of Westcott taking the role.
“There will be a process, and when the time is right we’ll determine what to do next,” Drake wrote in an email. “It’s up to an entire board, and we’re not even ready.”
Westcott taught chemistry at Mingus starting in 1987 and taught numerous other science classes over the years as well. After he began teaching, he earned master’s degrees in physical education and educational leadership and took on certain education administrative duties, including work with the budget committee, administering standardized testing and, recently, work as an instructional coach for teachers. Westcott won Yavapai County’s
Teacher of the Year Award in 2016, comes from a longtime Mingus family and has sent his own family to the school, including his daughters Molly and Stephanie, who now teach there.
“I believe Mr. Westcott is an incredible leader at Mingus already,” Drake said. “He has deep roots in the Verde Valley and I know he only wants the best for the students in our community. As for what will actually come to fruition: That will be the decision of the entire Mingus board.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 282-7795 or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
Correction: The print version of this article published on March 6, 2019 incorrectly stated that “Mingus Union High School District terminated the contract of then-Superintendent Penny Hargrove after an internal investigation found multiple instances of untrue statements to the board and state education administrators.” Dr. Hargrove resigned. She was not terminated.
