Kyrene School District
School district in Maricopa County, Arizona
Kyrene School District is a K-8 school district that serves parts of Tempe, Chandler, Guadalupe, and Ahwatukee, Phoenix, Arizona as well as portions of the Gila River Indian Community within Maricopa County. Kyrene School District operates a total of 22 schools, consisting of fifteen elementary schools, six middle schools and one K-8 school. The District Office Administration Building of the Kyrene School District (known as the Ben Furlong Education Center) is located at 8700 S Kyrene Rd, Tempe, Arizona 85284.
History
In 1888, the Kyrene School District was founded at the request of nine families who wanted a school district for 17 children. The original boundary area was far smaller than currently; though the north boundary is unchanged, the Kyrene district confirmed its east boundary at Price Road and has since extended west from its 56th Street/Priest Drive boundary and south from Pecos Road to include much of the Gila River Indian Community.
The district built a small school that was destroyed in a windstorm; until 1920, the Kyrene School site was at McClintock and Warner roads, two miles due east of the Furlong Center (a 1990 build).
Many teachers who received their educational certificates from Arizona State University, originally called Tempe Normal School, taught in one of the two-schoolroom buildings. Mr. Earl D. Willams graduated from Arizona State University and began teaching Industrial Art at the Kyrene Junior High K-8 on Warner and Kyrene Rd. Mr.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kyrene School District” is school district in Maricopa County, Arizona. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kyrene, School and District, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “school district in Maricopa County, Arizona” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6452338. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1888, 1920 and 1990.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kyrene School District”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kyrene School District primary sources, Kyrene School District archive and Kyrene research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kyrene School District”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kyrene School District” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.