Focus on TUSD - March 2007

Department News
Curriculum, Instruction and Technology Integration (CITI)
Walk into a middle school language arts class and you are likely to see teachers using their new interactive white boards, the Promethean Boards. Look closer and you will also likely observe students interacting with the reading or writing concept they are learning, using the interactive white board as well. With each new textbook adoption, TUSD is also providing some form of technology. This is the first adoption where all 31 middle school sites, and all 365 middle school language arts, Exceptional Ed, ELL, and reading teachers received new text books, interactive white boards, lap tops, and projectors to use in their classrooms. They also had opportunities to take four or five days of training to learn about how the texts, Promethean boards, and student engagement ideas can be integrated into their classrooms to teach the Arizona Standards of reading, writing, listening and speaking.
Teachers are excited, and to quote one sixth-grade teacher, "I don't know how I taught last year without my board."

CITI accomplishments:

• Sponsored the Teaching and Technology Conference in January that more than 300 people from around the state attended.
• Trained more than 450 kindergarten and first-grade teachers on how to integrate their curriculum as a part of the Class Size Reduction initiative.
• Installed white boards into the classrooms of more than 365 middle school language arts teachers.
• More than 60,000 students have taken first- and second-quarter benchmarks.
• Trained high school math teachers in the use of TI-Navigators, which allows for the interaction of calculators in the classroom.
• 427 people have participated in the Work Keys Para Pro test, with 377 of those passing the test.

Engineering, Facilities and Planning Department
The Selection Committee for the Westside Transportation Facility has chosen an architect for the project.
Rincon High received support from Facilities to prepare their physical plant for an A+ evaluation by the State Department of Education in its bid to become an A+ school.

Approximately 20 portable moves are scheduled before July 1.
These buildings, containing 34 classrooms, will accommodate bond renovations and requirements for reduced class size.

Scheduling of school site for switchover to cooling should be made at the direction of the site administrator. The principal/administrator should decide when to make this change, and tell their staff when this can be anticipated. A work order must be submitted.

Asset Inventories must be completed and returned to Asset Management by March 30.

The new EFP Website will be launched in April. Please take a sneak peak on the district intranet and let us know what you think using the feedback feature.

New Section of EFP - Telecommunication Services
The Engineering, Facilities and Planning Department is pleased to announce the transfer of Telecommunication Services from the former Technology and Telecommunications Services Department to our unit effective April 2.

Telecommunications professional services and expertise will empower students, faculty and staff to succeed at their separate and collaborative efforts by providing reliable, modern and integrated voice, data, and video services for student achievement This will continue to include routine repair and maintenance of the voice system (telephones, voicemail, automated call directories, etc.) as well as the liaison for cellular service previously provided by TUSD Finance. Other professional and staff services include the repair and maintenance, as well as the design, development, implementation and project management, of the District infrastructure to meet all voice, data, video and wireless requirements.

Dedicate teams consisting of one voice and one data specialist will be assigned to five regional service areas to provide an exceptional level of timely service, productivity, professionalism, and thoroughness. For larger tasks, these teams will form project teams reflecting the knowledge and skills required to successfully complete the assignment in a timely and successful manner. Some of the first issues to be addressed by the Telecommunications Services team concern 9-1-1 services (identification to first responders of an emergency call's origin to its exact location at a site), voicemail services (message waiting light and direct access by a caller), and Caller ID.

Integral to this change is the move from the Track-It! to the iMAPCON trouble ticket system. Work orders should be submitted through the iMAPCON icon or http://imapcon/iMAPCONLogin_IE4.asp. For emergency work orders, please contact the EFP work order desk at 225-4610.

Work orders that are still open in Track-It! will be closed within the week or transferred to iMAPCON, as required.

TUSD - Proud Supporter of Small Classes

Unless otherwise noted, all photos in the March issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations.

The deadline to submit material for the April Focus is Friday, April 6. The Focus will be published Friday, April 13. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the Focus Online Submission Form.