Res 2628 Exhibit - City of Tolleson’s Opposition to Relocating the TUHSD District Offices Outside Tolleson Letter

City of Tolleson 
9055 West Van Buren Street 
Tolleson, Arizona 85353 
 
December 4, 2025 
 
Tolleson Union High School District Governing Board 
9801 West Van Buren Street 
Tolleson, Arizona 85353 
 
RE: City of Tolleson’s Opposition to Relocating the TUHSD District Offices Outside Tolleson 
 
 
Dear Members of the Tolleson Union High School District Governing Board, 
 
On behalf of the City of Tolleson, its residents, and generations of families who built and 
sustained this community, I write to express our strong and unequivocal opposition to the 
proposal to relocate the Tolleson Union High School District administrative offices outside the 
City of Tolleson. 
 
A District Born in Tolleson—A Community That Built Its Schools 
 
Since its establishment, the Tolleson Union High School District has been rooted—physically, 
culturally, and historically—in the City of Tolleson. Tolleson High School was the District’s first 
school, and the District Office situated beside it has long served as the operational and symbolic 
center of the District. 
 
To remove the District Office from Tolleson would not be an administrative shift—it would be 
the end of a historical era without justification grounded in community benefit, educational 
need, or economic prudence. 
 
A History of Shared Growth and Agricultural Roots 
 
The City of Tolleson’s identity is deeply connected to the agricultural heritage of the West 
Valley. As the early settlers of the Salt River Valley, guided by the irrigation developments that 
began with pioneers like Jack Swilling in the late 1860s, communities flourished around water, 
land, and farming. Tolleson became a vital hub—“the Vegetable Center of the World”—because 
its people knew that schools must come first to sustain a thriving community. 
 9055 W. Van Buren St., Tolleson, AZ 85353 • (623) 936-7111 • TTY users, dial 711 for Relay • www.tolleson.az.gov

2 
 
 
The District grew from that founding belief. The City and District have always been intertwined, 
building opportunity together—from farmland to family to future. 
 
Leaders Who Stood for Justice—Tolleson’s Legacy of Inclusion 
 
Tolleson is also home to one of Arizona’s most important civil rights milestones. In March 1951, 
concerned Tolleson citizens took a stand and successfully secured a federal injunction ordering 
integration of Tolleson Elementary School—three years before Brown v. Board of Education. 
 
This historic precedent reinforces what our community has always believed: 
Tolleson protects its students. Tolleson protects its families. Tolleson protects its schools. 
 
A Move Motivated by Politics, Not Necessity 
 
The City is deeply concerned that this proposed relocation is not driven by educational strategy 
or logistical need, but instead by political friction between individual governing board members 
and the City of Tolleson. 
 
This kind of decision should never be made because someone is upset, nor should the 
community, taxpayers, or students bear the cost of political disagreement. 
 
The District already possesses sufficient land on its existing Tolleson campus to expand 
administrative operations. Moreover, the City has repeatedly expressed its willingness to 
collaborate on shared improvements—including joint development of playing fields and a 
public park behind Tolleson High School. 
 
This relocation not only discards viable and mutually beneficial solutions but creates 
unnecessary financial burden without providing measurable benefit. 
 
The Board’s Obligation to the Community 
 
The Governing Board has a fiduciary and moral responsibility to safeguard the interests of its 
taxpayers, families, and students. Moving the District Office outside Tolleson would erase over 
a century of shared history, disrupt accessibility for families who rely on proximity, increase 
costs without providing measurable benefit, undermine local partnerships already in progress, 
and convey to the public that political strife—rather than student success—drives District 
governance. 
 
The City urges the Board to reconsider this divisive and unnecessary action. 
 
A Call for Partnership, Not Separation

3 
 
Tolleson remains ready to work in collaboration with the Governing Board to support growth, 
modernization, and long-term success of the District. We ask only for decisions rooted in 
history, community, fiscal responsibility, and student well-being—not political retaliation. 
 
The City of Tolleson stands committed to preserving the legacy of education that began here, 
was fought for here, and belongs here. 
 
 
Respectfully, 
 
 
 
 
Juan F. Rodriguez 
Mayor, City of Tolleson