Focus on TUSD - August 2007

Parents and Students Praise Academic Rigor at Lawrence
Before school started, Lawrence Intermediate School students and their families had one last summer fling before they started their second year of improving their school's test scores.

They came to the school at 4850 W. Jeffrey Road earlier this month for ice cream and a tour of the building, finding classrooms for students and meeting teachers.

For Lawrence, labeled a failing school two years ago, it was a chance to show the progress students had made and the goals they still intend to meet. Lawrence was one of six schools recognized at the TUSD Back-to-School Conference for administrators on Aug. 31 for exceptional achievement.

Fourteen teachers are at Lawrence, which has an enrollment of about 300 students in grades three, four and five.

Diana Johnson, a prevention specialist, credits Principal Ana Gallegos with much of the school's turnaround. "Ana is the best leader and makes everyone feel appreciated and that they belong and they're important," she said. "She always asks for input and listens to what everyone says."

It doesn't hurt that Gallegos also has a great sense of humor, Johnson added.

Jessica Alves is satisfied with the school's academic progress. As she steered her third-grade daughter, Amy, to her classroom, she said that her son had participated in tutoring programs at Lawrence after moving from California, where he had lagged behind in the classroom. "I don't consider this a failing school" she said. "My son was successful here."

Lupita Valencia, brought her grandson, Nathaniel Castro, 9, to the ice cream social, along with his brother Chris, 11, who attends Hohokom Middle School and his sister, Yesenia, 3.

For more than a decade, Valencia's children attended Lawrence, where, she said, "They got a good education. It's up to the child if they learn. I tell the children not to let anyone put you down and don't be afraid to ask for help."

Rixie McIntire, 11, also appreciates her alma mater. McIntire finished at Lawrence last spring and is now a sixth-grader at Valencia Middle School. "What's not to like?" she asked. "It's such a great school. I learned a lot the three years I was here."

She's confident she'll continue to do well at Valencia with the grounding she received at Lawrence.

"The staff is supportive here," she observed. "The cafeteria and custodians make sure the school is clean. The principal is nice and she knows when she has to be strict."

In the first year of the school improvement plan, when most of the staff changed and a new principal was hired, McIntire was apprehensive. "I wasn't sure how the teachers would be, if they'd be stricter," she remembers. "They were teaching us different and our test scores improved a lot. They made sure everyone was on the same level."

She noticed the changes. The graffiti disappeared from the walls and she felt safe. Now she plans to be a therapist. "I want to help people with emotional things and problems," she said. "People need to be listened to and helped."

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations