Restoring the Pride of Wellton: A New Chapter for Antelope Union High School

Michael Deiana is a man on the move. The second-year Antelope Union High School superintendent and principal criss-crosses across campus under the bright sun of southwest Arizona, sharing enthusiastically about plans, present, and future in the school. In moments where he gets particularly passionate about something, be it the district budget, academic accountability, or changes to facilities, the vestiges of a New York accent slip out. When it comes to discussing improvements at Antelope, one of ten Arizona rural schools participating in the GRAD Partnership, there is much to share.

First, the struggles: In 2023, the state of Arizona placed Antelope Union into receivership due to financial mismanagement and risks (in receivership, a third-party receiver takes control of many elements of the district budget and operations until financial solvency is achieved). The academic and school community situations were just as dire: Michael describes that “When I got here, our student pass rates on state tests were in the single digits… Our chronic absenteeism rate, I believe, was over 25%. Several fights were happening every single year.”

Antelope Union is the pride of Wellton, AZ, and Michael entered a situation where the trust between the school and the community had been fractured. Michael recalls immediately arranging open listening sessions with both the community and upperclassmen at the school. “Everybody in this community, I will say, deeply loves this school. There is passion for it as I've never seen. . . It was a very open and transparent conversation, but a lot of the feedback that they gave was pretty consistent. It was: ‘cell phones are out in class. Kids are hanging out underneath the countertops. They're not paying attention. They're sleeping. There's poor instruction that's going on. The behavior is out of control."

Changes started quickly for Michael, who describes himself as “methodical but not patient… We completely redid the handbook. We agreed on new disciplinary procedures, new code of conduct. One of the big changes was the cell phone rule with the state statute passing, and then we did not allow cell phone use during the day.” He also noted that athletics was one area where both students and the community agreed that the school excelled, and so Antelope began tying students’ ability to practice and play to maintaining passing grades, holding them accountable for their learning. “It is all about understanding this is not an athletic club that has classes,” he quips.

To identify and help students who may be struggling, Michael and his student success team meet weekly to assess and form action plans for those who need them. Antelope has a new daily schedule, tacking on an intervention/study hall period to close the day, providing structured space for students to receive additional support. “The teachers identify which students they're going to work with for the week, and that's where those kids go for that week during that ninth period class to get additional help,” Michael describes.

Another change was joining the GRAD Partnership, a national collective to develop and foster student success systems in schools across the country. Student success systems are a way of organizing a school community to better support the academic progress, college and career transitions, and well-being of all students, directly building student agency, belonging, and connectedness, and addressing issues such as chronic absenteeism and post-secondary readiness. Rural Schools Collaborative partners with trusted local intermediaries, such as RSC’s Arizona Hub lead Arizona Rural Schools Association, to support rural schools like Antelope Union. Jaime Festa-Daigle and Kristin Turner, both rural school leaders themselves, co-lead ARSA’s GRAD Partnership work.

If accountability is one side of the coin for holding students to new, higher expectations, positive affirmation is the other. One big addition is through increased staff and student participation, which has been instrumental in promoting academic achievement, attendance, and setting a positive school climate. Michael describes the systems, including the new awards and prizes system: “We're giving out awards for, obviously, academic progress and standing. We're giving out attendance awards. We have gift cards and raffles and other things… We have prizes and opportunities for all kinds of different things…So we do a lot of public recognition, which the staff has taken the lead on. We have increased communication from the schools to the parents.”

Implementing this many new programs and policies has not been an easy feat, and Michael notes that he has received pushback from within and outside of Antelope’s sun-baked campus. Seven of eight core teachers will change by July 2026 since his arrival two years earlier, and of the new staff, most are veteran educators who have master's degrees and are certified for dual-enrollment. Bit by bit, the cultural shift has begun to manifest. Antelope has gone from weekly fights to one small dust-up this year, and “drug use, vaping, etc, all of it's gone down significantly. Students are in class. They're focused. Parents are grateful for it. We still have a lot of pushback. We're changing culture and practice.”

Administrative progress is also being made. This year, Antelope made completing the FAFSA application a requirement, and over 95% of students have completed it to date, earning the school recognition from the governor’s office and being in the top 10 schools statewide as of the date of publication. Moreover, the mountain of debt has shrunk substantially: “We started over 1.1 million in the hole… in May, we will be down to about $100,000 overall of debt remaining, we'll have it paid off by December, start exit procedures, and we will be out of receivership by June 2027.” While lifting that burden will benefit Michael and his staff, he is quick to make clear that it is the students who will benefit the most from Antelope’s sure-footing.

"It's our responsibility to build that foundation. So that's where the funding priority takes place, and that's where the cultural priority takes place, and it's why we've been incredibly strict in enforcing the rules… Everything is in line to help the students be successful.” A new budget set, a student-centered handbook becoming ingrained, and classrooms led by experienced teachers dedicated to fostering growth for every student. The students have taken on their share of the responsibility and are challenging themselves and one another to show up, be present, and excel. Perhaps, one day soon, Michael can slow down. 
 

Rural Schools Collaborative would like to thank Kristin Turner and Jaime Festa-Daigle of the Arizona Rural Schools Association for their continued partnership with RSC and their stewardship as intermediaries of the GRAD Partnership.