Tempe Beat

This news came into the Tribune today:

 Six sixth-grade students in Tempe learned the importance of recycling, composting, saving endangered plant and animal species, and cleaning up parks and forests as they took part in the Lexus Eco Challenge, an educational program and contest that inspires and empowers middle and high school students to learn about the environment and take a stand to improve it.

 Tempe’s Team “The Recyclers,” from Connolly Middle School was awarded $10,000 to share between themselves and the school for their outstanding entry in the “Protecting the Land” Challenge, the first of three initial challenges.  Team members are Jiwon Byun, Francesca Callicotte, Taylor Dodd, Abby Kennedy, Kendric Knorr and Dwight Wells.  The win also secured the team in invitation to participate in the Final Challenge for a chance at $50,000.  In all, $1 million in scholarships and grants will be awarded throughout the year. 

 Respecting the land by using fewer plastic bags is the issue the team focused on. In Tempe, plastic shopping bags are unable to be recycled in the recycling plants because it is not cost effective and the plastic bags get caught in the machines and stop the recycling processes.  Landfills in Tempe and around the world are being filled up with this product, which can take hundreds of years to break down.  According to the United Nations’ Environment Programme, “One plastic bag takes one second to manufacture, is 20 minutes in use, and takes 100-400 years to degrade naturally.”  Additionally the bags are made of petroleum, which is a nonrenewable resource that causes pollution in the production process.  And plastic bags are responsible for the death of thousands of animals each year who either become entangled in them, such as birds, or eat them thinking they are food, such as turtles. 

 According to the team’s teacher-advisor Collette Keime, “The highlight of this program for me especially was seeing the team in action giving their presentations to the older classes at our school.  To see their confidence level improve as well as their ability to communicate with each other as a team was amazing to witness.  I have a feeling each of these students will remember their sixth grade year like no other.

This news came into the Tribune today:

Janet Seegren, assistant superintendent for Tempe Union High School District, was named as the Personnel Administrator of the Year by the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association (ASPAA) at the annual fall conference held in Prescott late last month. Seegren was honored by the many members of the Association who came from every corner of the state of Arizona.
Annually, the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association, a nonprofit organization created to promote and advance public education through the interchange of ideas, data and information regarding the administration of school personnel, awards one of its members as the  Personnel Administrator of the Year.   This award is very prestigious among human resource professionals throughout the state of Arizona.  The selection criteria for this award are as follows:
1.  Must promote a positive climate within the school district.
2. Supports and implements the mission and goals of the school district.
3. Involved in professional growth education and maintains membership in professional associations.

A selection committee determined by the ASPAA Executive Board reviews all nominations, supporting documentation and selects the award recipient.

AT&T presents grant to Tempe Union High School District.

This news came in this week from the Tempe Union High School District:

Tempe Union High School District’s Summer Bridge program is a recipient of an AT&T Aspire grant that will total $294,622 over the next four years.

Funds will go to not only keep, but also expand and enhance the Summer Bridge program, which provides a unique program of academic and informative experiences to socially, educationally and economically disadvantaged students at the critical juncture between eighth grade and high school.

Jerry Fuentes, AT&T Arizona State President, presented Superintendent Steve Adolph and members of the TUHSD governing board with a check during a news conference Tuesday, Dec. 2 at the District Office.

“We are passionate about supporting programs like the Summer Bridge project that address key factors in high school retention. We support this because, as a major corporation, we are concerned about our workforce competing in the global economy.  By helping students graduate from high school and encouraging them to continue their education and start building their careers, we can help students succeed — not just in school, but in life,” Fuentes said.

Through the Aspire initiative, AT&T has committed $100 million (over four years, 2008-2011) to a range of efforts that includes:
• Grants to schools and nonprofit organizations that are focused on helping students graduate from high school and become better prepared for college and/or the workforce.
• The underwriting of national research that will explore the perspectives and best practices of practitioners (teachers, principals, superintendents, school counselors and school board members) on the high school dropout issue.
• Support for 100 state and community dropout prevention summits, organized by America’s Promise Alliance to engage education experts and community leaders around the crisis and ways to address it.

“Through this generous grant from AT&T it is possible for a significant number of at-risk students to be successful at the high school level. We can help keep these students in school until graduation and prepare them with the skills they need to compete in the 21st century workforce,” Adolph said.

Tempe High School will hold a breakfast 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 9. After the breakfast, there will be a short program of recognition. Veterans are free. Family and friends can pay $5 at the door. The event will be held in the cafeteria of the school at 1730 S. Mill Ave. More than 100 veterans are expected to attend the event. Congressman Harry Mitchell, a former Tempe Union High School District teacher, has also been invited to attend.

Leah Sergeant and the City of Tempe Kid Zone Enrichment Program will be honored with the Jane Romatzke Leadership Award at The Spotlight on Afterschool: Awards of Excellence Banquet. The banquet is sponsored by the Arizona Center for Afterschool Excellence. The banquet will take place 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7 at the Phoenix Marriott, 200 N. Center St., Mesa.

The event kicks off the 16th annual Arizona Afterschool Conference for nearly 600 teachers, afterschool directors, administrators, program organizers and professionals from throughout Arizona who will discuss effective means of providing afterschool activities for children.

Sergeant began working in the afterschool field in 1988 teaching tennis and swimming.  Currently responsible for hiring, training and retaining quality employees for the City of Tempe’s Kid Zone Enrichment program, she has been a member and volunteer of the Arizona Center for Afterschool Excellence for ten years and has presented workshops at the annual conference.

“The value and importance of afterschool programs is well documented in terms of the impact on a child’s educational progress during school,” said Lisa Rice, Executive Director, Arizona Center for Afterschool Excellence.  “The individuals and programs being honored at the banquet represent the best and the brightest in the field who, much too often, fall under the radar screen when it comes to recognizing the significance these programs bring to students in communities around the state.”

University or community college? 

The Tempe Union High School District is hosting a meeting for parents of high school students to discuss the differences between universities and community colleges.

The forum, “The Fork in the Road: University or Community College,”  will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 27 in room 255 of Marcos de Niza High School, 6000 S. Lakeshore Dr., Tempe.

Refreshments will be served 30 minutes before the meeting begins.

A panel, comprised of representatives from a local university and community college, will address a variety of questions, and parents can ask their own questions at the end of the program.

 To pre-register, call the Community Services Office at (480) 838-3200 ext. 40074.

Mark Duplissis, assistant principal at Tempe’s Corona del Sol High School, will be leaving the school later this week. But he won’t be moving far away – Duplissis  will take up a new job as the Executive Director of High School Relations at Arizona State University. 

 Duplissis has been with the Tempe Union High School District for the past 14 years. He worked as a teacher for half that time, and as assistant principal for past seven years.  

Duplissis is a product of the district, too, having graduated  from Tempe High School in 1988. 

“I feel it necessary to take this new position and use my education and doctoral degree in another manner,” he wrote in a resignation letter to the governing board. “I will have many fond memories from my years working in this school district, and it gives me great anguish to write this letter.” 

The Governing Board voted to allow Duplissis out of his administrative contract at last week’s school board meeting. 

The district will soon post the position and begin its selection process, said spokeswoman Linda Littell.

Due to rising food prices, the Kyrene School District has raised its breakfast prices for the first time since 1990. Breakfasts, which were 60 cents, will now cost one dollar each.
The district is also increasing the price of its middle school lunches, up from $2 to $2.25.

The last time the district raised middle school lunch rates was in 2006.

Elementary lunch prices, meanwhile,  will remain the same at $2.

The district’s governing board approved the price hike last week, but the new prices willl not go into effect until Sept. 2.

Like schools across the country, and the nation, Kyrene has been struggling with sharp increases in its food costs. According to a statement released by the district, ”the  cost for bread increased 12%, rice and pasta went up 14%, cheese is up 15% for cheese and milk prices have risen 17%.”

Officials from the Tempe Union High School District devoted a large portion of their board meeting earlier this week to discussion about mold at Corona del Sol High School — again. 

This time, they were responding to a media report about the discovery of mold in five locations at the school.  The mold spots were found during an inspection during renovations at the school, which has been plagued with poor air quality due to an aging ventilation system. 

The district posted the results of the investigation on its Web site.  At the meeting, however, officials pointed to the fact that the mold was found in small spots, smaller than a room key, in five locations.   At each place where mold was found, construction workers ripped out large sheets of the drywall to make sure all mold was removed, said plant operations director Bob Anderson. 

According to a memo released by the district:   “The amount of mold found is relatively insignificant, due to the size of the facility. Corona del Sol has approximately 400,000 square feet and over 1,000,000 square feet of surface.  The total surface area removed during the remediation process was approxmiately 160 square feet.”

Anderson then pointed out that, if compared to an average home, the total amount of mold found would be equivalent to the size of a pencil eraser.

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