Culminating the first year of using a tool to evaluate its teaching staff, the Kyrene School District presented results that showed more than 800 teachers were rated as “highly effective.”

Local school districts, including Kyrene, will now be able to pay for capital needs as bond legislation was passed in conjunction with the state’s budget early on Friday.

Governing board members for the Kyrene School District approved a recommendation this week that will ask voters to continue its current 15 percent maintenance and operations override this election.

There have been many articles on the proposed Loop 202, pros and cons.

Culminating the ongoing discussion between local youth sports organizations and the Kyrene School District over use of facilities rates, the district presented a lowered rate structure Monday that now heads to the governing board.

In a unanimous decision this week, the Tempe Union High School District will be asking voters to continue its current level of funding from a maintenance and operations override previously approved by voters.

The Ahwatukee Foothills PONY Baseball League won State Championships in both the Shetland Division (ages 4-6) and the Pinto Kid Pitch Division (ages 7-8) this past weekend at the Kyrene Akimel A-al Middle School baseball fields.

Editor’s note: This is part three of a continuing summer series on the proposed South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway.

After seeing her daughter, Delilah, graduate from preschool at the Foundation for Blind Children’s Chandler campus, one mother stood up and recited a poem for parents, staff and students on Thursday.
“The crooked stem no longer mattered, no one missed the leaves, all they saw was the exquisite rose, that someone was a teacher and that rose was my daughter.”
Moved with compassion and empathy, several parents wiped away tears at the Cooperative Preschool for the Visually Impaired during the small ceremony at the campus on Warner Road near the Loop 101.
Parent Christine Knots said the growth she has seen in her son, Cameron, this year has been huge. Cameron, 5, who has been visually impaired since birth, now dresses himself, feeds himself, uses a Braille writer everyday, and started potty training earlier than expected.
“He’s so independent now,” Knotts said.
The foundation graduated nearly 40 students from its preschool program around the Valley this past week, with some students now heading to elementary schools in the Kyrene and Chandler Unified school districts.
For teacher Jean Murphy, every year graduating her students is unique.
“For some reason it’s really hard this year, the changes in the kids have been over the top,” she said, with tears filling her eyes.
Murphy said some of the changes included seeing her students walk, learn American Sign Language, improve in motor skills, and more.
“It’s just about seeing the light bulb come on and take whatever tiny little step it is,” said Murphy. “It’s always so exciting for me.”
Certificates of achievement were handed out to each student on Thursday, along with single, yellow carnations for their parents as a “thank you.”
The preschool program packs in a wide array of services to the students in five-hour days during the week. Students are exposed to music, gymnastics, pet, physical and speech therapies as well as social and cognitive development.
One of the graduates, 5-year-old Aubrey Brock, could have easily been recognized as “Miss Congeniality,” after running off to the back of the stage giggling after receiving her certificate.
Her mother, Aria, said the past year at the preschool has made Aubrey more confident and was truly a “blessing.”
“She was already a social butterfly, but I’ve just seen her bloom here and it’s been amazing.”
Foundation for Blind Children’s Chandler campus is located at 2005 N. 91st Place. For more information, visit seeitourway.org.


Part of a new sponsorship program, the Kyrene School District was able to save more than 1.5 million kilowatts in energy this past school year, saving the district around $200,000.

Kyrene School District officials on Tuesday presented a capital plan for the upcoming 2013-14 school year to its governing board, hoping to modify its current “run to failure” effort to fund capital needs.
With its biggest challenge of funding capital items like leaky roofs, air conditioning towers and rusted water pipes, the district is modifying its “run to failure” plan to only pay for high-priority projects and maintenance projects with excessive or recurring costs.
Kyrene Superintendent Dr. David Schauer said on Tuesday that the plan is “not something we are happy about, but something we believe we can do.”
Still waiting on whether bond legislation from the state will come out in favor of school districts this summer, district chief financial officer Jeremy Calles said select schools with the high-priority capital needs will be addressed first.
“The pile is only growing bigger and bigger each year,” Calles said.


As we deal with the aftermath of yet another disaster in our nation, I thought it would be important to highlight the heroism that takes place every day in our classrooms and community.

All-day kindergarten registration opened this week for the Kyrene School District, offering parents tuition-free classes where kids can engage in music, art, technology and other activities.

"When parents come to school regularly, it reinforces the view in the child’s mind that school and home are connected and that school is an integral part of the whole family’s life.” Michigan Department of Education – Parent Involvement Fact Sheet.

Kyrene School District officials Monday said new, lower rates for use of facilities, namely for youth sports organizations will be presented in early next month.

As part of the recently passed state budget which included an expanded Medicaid plan expected to reach some 350,000 Arizonans, local school districts are expected to receive inflation funding next fiscal year.

A class of fifth-grade students Friday opened up ping-pong balls with small science experiments inside after they returned from a trip to the “edge of space” inside the Earth’s atmosphere.

As I see it, the voters rejected Kyrene School District’s bond override, the Legislature has reduced school funding, the Goldwater Institute threatens lawsuits to municipalities that provide services that can be provided by the commercial market.

What do United States Congressman David Schweikert, State Senate Majority Leader John McComish, Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCicco, Kedrick Ellison of the Phoenix Community and Economic Development Department, Kyrene Superintendent Dr. David Shauer, Tempe Union High School Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Baca, and Pangea Development have in common?

It started off as a challenge to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. In our class we were discussing how we could make a difference in the world. There are so many “NO Bullying,” “No Name-Calling,” and “No Hate” programs. They are good, but we felt they were all negative messages. We wanted to do something positive. One of the ways we have found to make a difference is to do a project called “100 Random Acts of Kindness.” Random acts of kindness are random and kind things you do for others. For example, you can hold the door for an elderly person.