Principal quits because she can't sell her home

FOUNTAIN HILLS - The sputtering economy has cost Fountain Hills High School its principal and boys varsity basketball coach.

Principal Kari King announced that she and her husband Tom Duffy, a teacher and the boys varsity basketball coach, are leaving after just one year at the school. The two decided to return to Illinois where they were not able to sell their house, said Superintendent Bill Myhr.

"It's just one of those issues that really drove that decision for them," Myhr said.

Fountain Hills Unified School District started the 2007-08 school year with both a new high school principal, King, and a new superintendent, Myhr.

King submitted her resignation to Myhr on June 23. The Fountain Hills School Board reviewed the resignation at the board's meeting on June 25.

King came to Fountain Hills after working as an administrator in various schools in Illinois. She has been an educator for 22 years.

"She had taken a big pay cut to come out here," Myhr said.

Myhr said he still has not sold his house in Washington State. Prior to starting at Fountain Hills, Myhr was a superintendent in Washington for eight years.

Before King, Patrick Sweeney was the principal of Fountain Hills High School from 2004 to 2007. He followed Mark Mauro, who served as principal from 1999 to 2004.

Kari King