Ex-Arizona schools superintendent Denise Birdwell, 3 others indicted
View Comments Authorities say while Denise Birdwell was running the Higley Unified School District, she was lining her own pockets with money she got in a kickback scheme involving school construction. The Attorney General's Office said the four were involved in a fraud scheme tied to rigged contracts that cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Prosecutors accused Birdwell of taking payments for helping a company win a bid for building two middle schools in 2012. Birdwell also misspent $6 million of public money that she diverted from a restricted fund to help cover construction costs re...