Home > News
and Events > Focus on TUSD
> Online Version
March 2004
We are now in our second month of dual-publishing. We have
reduced the amount of print copies for distribution to those
who do not have district email. If your site requires additional
print copies, please email jennea.moore@tusd.k12.az.us
or call (520)225-6437 and note how many extra you need.
The Keen Elementary School Student Relocation Committee presented
its recommendation to the Board at our February 10th meeting.
The Committee has worked very hard to gather input from parents,
the community and staff of Keen. Beginning in 2004-2005, approximately
90 Keen students will begin attending Duffy, 100 will begin
at Kellond, and 125 will begin at Dietz. The Board would like
to thank everyone involved in the decision-making process
for their commitment to do the best for our students.
Results from Project CLEAR, a three-year $1.2 million federal
grant the district received in July of 2000, were also revealed
at the February Board meeting. CLEAR, which stands for Counselor
Leadership for Excellence, Achievement and Resiliency, was
implemented in 8 TUSD schools, all of which had a student
to counselor ratio of 600 to 1. CLEAR has successfully reduced
the ratio to 354 to 1, which is much closer to the 250 to
1 ratio recommended by the American School Counselor's Association.
TUSD will be enlisting the help of former administrators
Barbara Benton and Betsy Bounds to write a grant proposal
for submission to the U.S. Department of Education's Magnet
Schools Assistance Program. If received, the grant will expand
the magnet programs at both Howenstine and Tucson High, as
well as Tucson High's feeder schools.
The Board gave enthusiastic kudos to our financial advisor,
First Southwest Company, for the progress in the refinancing
of our bonds. Due to excellent rating results by Standard
and Poor's and Moody's Investor Service, TUSD has been able
to secure extremely low interest rates, averaging 3.35 percent,
for the issuance and sale in the refinancing of our bonds.
This will save the district approximately $12.9 million of
debt and increase our bonding capacity by $1.5 million without
raising taxes.
The employee medical plan will soon change providers. Our
current contract with PacifiCare terminates June 30 of this
year. District staff reported that the goal of the RFP was
to provide employees a choice between HMO, POS, and PPO coverage,
while providing them with the richest plan possible. United
Healthcare was awarded the contract, and coverage will begin
July 1, 2004.
Finally, I would like to thank and congratulate several of
our employee groups who wound up negotiations at the February
meeting. We have completed two-year agreements with Blue Collar
(AFSCME), Supervisory/Professional (CWA), and Supervisory/Confidential
employees. Crossing guards and remaining contract employees
will also receive salary increases.
Joel T. Ireland
Some very encouraging events have occurred that will positively
affect students and the district employees. Among them a grant
that will help expand counseling services to students and
a contract with an insurance carrier that will provide a wider
range of services at lower costs.
The Guidance and Counseling Department received some good
news from the federal government when the department was notified
it had been awarded a three-year $1.2 million US Department
of Education grant titled "Counselors and Parent Partnerships"
also known as CAPPs. In its first year of implementation,
the grant will help expand school counseling programs and
parent partnerships at eight elementary schools thus affecting
about 4,000 students. TUSD was one of 60 education organizations
in the nation to be awarded the grant. The CAPPs grant is
the third federal elementary school counseling demonstration
grant TUSD has been awarded over the past nine years.
On the health care front, the district's insurance advisory
committee has unanimously selected United Health Care as the
district's insurance carrier. The committee has negotiated
a 15-month contract with United that will take effect July
1, 2004. Open enrollment for health insurance will be held
in May.
Among the benefits provided by United is the accessibility
of UMC and University Physicians services through the HMO
option. Furthermore, the prescriptions will be based on a
three-tier system that allows patients to pay for generic
brands for either $10 or $20 and name brands for $50. Employees
will now have more control over which medication they choose.
Finally, I would like to congratulate the various high schools
that competed in the annual Arizona Academic Decathlon held
in January and hosted by Palo Verde High Magnet School. Participating
schools include: UHS, Rincon, Sabino, Palo Verde, Pueblo,
and Tucson High.
Students James Liu, C.J. Penning and Elizabeth Gutierrez
won medals for their outstanding performances at the event.
James and Elizabeth each received perfect scores. CJ won a
medal for overall outstanding essay.
This year's competition included 10 scholastic events focusing
around the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
UHS tied for second place with Catalina Foothills in the Super
Quiz Relay, answering questions ranging from clothing worn
on the expedition to the importance of salt 200 years ago.
Moreover, UHS, Rincon and Sabino were among the top 10 finishers
in the competition.
Stan Paz, Ph.D.
Maricela Van-Pratt, teacher at Grijalva,
recently began the University of Phoenix's Curriculum and
Instruction master's program with a $10,000 scholarship she
was awarded last November by the UofP and Tucson Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce. To qualify applicants had to be working
Hispanic adults interested in pursuing a master's degree.
Van-Pratt desires to further her education in order to improve
student achievement at Grijalva, especially among Hispanic
students.
Winners of the 2004 Pay It Forward Fund matching grant program
have been announced. They include: Tucson High's Steve
Bracamonte, Cooperative Experience Business Club,
for the club's annual student/business partners banquet, $300;
Corbett's Kathi Finfrock, Student Council,
for a neighborhood mural, $200, and for a basketball court
mascot logo, $200; Corbett's Faye Chandler,
mentoring program, for a nursing home crafts project, $200;
Hohokam's Stacia Reeves, Think Tank classes,
for a neighborhood sidewalks project, $200; Rincon's Deborah
Leonetti, SADD/SET Club, for parking lot safety,
$300; and Palo Verde's Julie Ryan Leed, Capricians/Dionysians,
for a community dance concert, $300. Pay It Forward grants
support community service projects that benefit neighborhoods,
schools or the local community.
PRO Neighborhood granted Jefferson Park's Stuart
Slonaker and Saul Ostroff a Neighborhood
Success Award along with a $750 prize for their Jefferson
Park Historical Video Project. The project brought together
students and members of the community to pass the history
of the neighborhood from one generation to another. The award
was bestowed because of the positive impact the project has
had on the community through the multi-generational friendships
that were created and the further projects that have developed
from these friendships.
Sandra Maxedon, speech pathologist at Hohokam
and Cholla, received her doctoral degree from the University
of Arizona last December. Her dissertation was titled "Early
Childhood Teachers' Content and Pedagogical Knowledge of Geometry."
Ten students from across the district won $200 scholarships
at the 30th Annual Tucson College Night. Christopher
Gartrell, Catalina; Neema Mehramiz,
Cholla; Kenneth Mazza, Palo Verde; Oscar
Zepeda, Pueblo; Patricia Galaz,
Rincon; Joanna Vercel, Sabino; Steven
Gillis, Sahuaro; Koren Sharp, Santa
Rita; Elizabeth Fuller, Tucson High; and
Amanda Schumacher, UHS, will be able to use
the scholarship for tuition, books, or any other school-related
expense incurred at the college or university of their choice.
Six students from Davis Bilingual presented at the University
of Arizona's Undergraduate Biology Research Conference on
Jan. 24 as part of the Manduca Project, a TUSD outreach program
offered through the UA Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Biophysics. Bobby Camacho, Alan Keeme, Jesus Lopez,
Francisco Lopez, Victoria Parker, and Gabriela
Rincon presented posters on the tobacco hornworm
and answered extensive questions posed by university professors
and college students.
Students across the district participated in TUSD's district
spelling bee. The top seven finalists, who went on to compete
in the Pima County Bee on Feb. 14, were: Robert Gillis,
Carson; James Magras, Doolen; Reed
Patterson, Hughes; Linda Acuna,
Maxwell; Alexis Coronado, Tolson; Andy
Santoyo, Valencia; and Crystal Trejo,
Gridley.
Four Utterback students have been invited to participate
in two different national leadership conferences. Juliana
Strahan, Alyssa Cook and Ashley Riesgo
will attend the "People to People World Leadership Forum"
in March in Washington, D.C., which focuses on education,
law, Congress and the White House. Delissa Fimbres will attend
a crime scene investigation training program in July in Los
Angeles as part of the National Junior Leadership Conference.
Participants were nominated by school counselors.
Seventeen Doolen students placed in the Young Naturalist
Awards, a national research-based student essay contest that
promotes participation and communication in science held by
the American Museum of Natural History. Students developed
a question about a topic that interested them, investigated,
and wrote a hypothesis about it. Bryce Andersen, Brian
Cohen, Amanda Duron, and Sullivan Soto-Greif
were named finalists. Semifinalists include Matt McDaniel,
Alex Doumas, Annie Wang, Virginia Baygents, Logan Duffy, Max
Xiong, Tony Wei, Ben Fink, Qian Tang, Logan Mauney, Shiana
Ferng, Courtney Humphrey, and Emily Beckwith.
The Chamber Strings orchestra from Rincon/UHS, directed by
Fran Veres, gave a 30 minute performance
on Jan. 30 at the Arizona Music Educators Association Conference
in Phoenix. They ended with a standing ovation from the audience,
consisting of 400 music educators from across the state.
Visit The Career Fair: The Pima Community
College semiannual Career Fair takes place Wednesday, March
24 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Tucson Convention Center, main
exhibition hall. Over 150 employers will be there, including
TUSD. For more information go to www.pima.edu/careerfair/
or call 206-4528.
Young Writers And Illustrators Contest:
Reading Rainbow is holding the 10th Annual Young Writers and
Illustrators Contest for students who enjoy writing and drawing.
The contest is open to students in grades kindergarten through
third, and entries must include both written work and illustration.
For more information and an entry form call KUAT at 621-5828
or go to http://kuat.org/tv/reading_rainbow/2004.shtml.
UA's Knowledge River Accepting Applications:
The UA School of Information Resources and Library Science
is now recruiting for Knowledge River's class of 2004. Knowledge
River is a masters degree program focusing on information
and library issues from the Hispanic and Native American perspective.
Graduates of the program receive an MA in Information Resources
and Library Science. The application deadline is April 15.
For more information go to knowledgeriver.arizona.edu.
Scholarships Available For Seniors: Tucson
Educational Office Professionals (TEOP) award scholarships
to seniors interested in continuing their education beyond
high school. Scholarship amounts are a minimum of $500 and
can be applied to tuition, books, supplies, etc. Applicants
must submit an essay no less than 250 words titled "Why
education beyond high school is important to me," postmarked
by by April 17 to be considered for the scholarship. For more
information or an application packet call Gail Hall at 225-6038.
Free Crime Prevention Classes: The Fraternal
Order of Police Lodge 1 will be presenting free crime prevention
classes every third Monday of each month. Topics will include
neighborhood watch, stranger danger, emergency community preparedness,
law-related education, and victims rights. Instructors are
certified crime prevention specialists and police personnel.
Classes will begin at 7 p.m. and will be held at the Fraternal
Order of Police Lodge Hall located at 3445 N. Dodge Ave.
Calling All Soon-To-Be Retirees: The Pima
County Retired Teachers' Association is currently recruiting
retired educators to join their over 400 member organization.
PCRTA is a nonprofit organization that provides its members
with continued interaction in Arizona education through monthly
luncheons. If you are soon-to-be retired, or know someone
who is, and would like further information on the group please
email Cookie Bowes at pcrta@comcast.net.
Correction: Last month there was an error
in newly appointed Steele Principal Patricia Crowell's bio.
For the past five years she was an assistant principal at
Sierra Vista Middle School. Prior to that, she spent 28 years
in the classroom.
Tucson Unified School District
1010 East 10th Street, Tucson, Arizona, 85719
Governing Board
Joel T. Ireland, President; Judy Burns, Clerk; Bruce Burke;
Adelita Grijalva; Mary Belle McCorkle, Ed.D.
Superintendent Estanislado "Stan"
Paz, Ph.D.
Chief of Staff Toni Cordova
Communications Specialist/Writer Estella
Zavala and Jennea Moore
Tucson Unified School District does not discriminate
on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual
orientation, age, religion or disability in admission or access
to, or treatment or employment, in its educational programs
or activities.
For more information contact: