YUMA – Many children dislike following school dress codes, but one Arizona student is doing something about it.

Fourteen-year-old Justin Wright says he’s standing up for his constitutional rights in his fight to repeal the dress code at Centennial Middle School in Yuma in favor of street clothes.

The district requires students of Wright’s age to wear solid navy, red or white shirts; pants, jeans, shorts, capris, skirts and skorts are allowed, as long as they’re khaki, navy or plain denim. Athletic shoes, sandals and heels of 1 inch or less are allowed, but students can’t wear flip flops or shoes with tiny wheels on the bottom for gliding.

He wrote a letter against the dress code to the Crane Elementary School District governing board and has collected 250 signatures from students who want the code repealed. He said he wants about 300 more to make a statement to the board.

Wright said not only does the policy violate students’ right to free speech, but it also costs families more money to buy special items than having students wear their regular clothes.

District spokesman Chris Weigel said students’ free speech rights aren’t being infringed upon by the dress code.

He said research revealed uniforms are less expensive than street clothes.

Scott Jones, Wright’s language arts teacher, said he wasn’t comfortable taking a position on the petition drive, but did say he was proud of the appropriate way Wright has conducted himself.

Although he is graduating middle school next month, Wright said his success may save other students from following a dress code. He hopes a successful petition drive could influence high schools to also abandon a code.

“Maybe I can get this started again next year (at high school) and I can get really serious and get the attention of the TV news,” he said. “That way I’ll get more support.”

None of Tucson Unified School District’s tenured librarians or counselors will be laid off next year.

An e-mail went out Wednesday to all 75 librarians and 141 counselors who in early April received a notice of a possible reduction in force.

The notification by Interim Chief Human Resources Officer Nancy Woll said, “I understand, however, that there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding placements for next year.”

Because of budget shortfalls, some schools have opted to do without counselors and/or librarians next school year.

“All of us in Human Resources understand how difficult this is and we will be working closely with those of you who have been displaced for the next school year to bring you that certainty about your placement as soon as possible,” Woll said.

Sunnyside mariachi director Cuco Del Cid directs practice for students (from left) Dulce Lopez, Gabriela Valenzuela and Genesis Mora Delhoyo.

Sunnyside High School’s Noche de las Estrellas, an annual event for nearly two decades, almost fell dim – and silent – this year.

“With the economy the way it is, we talked about not having it,” said Cuco Del Cid, the mariachi director at the school. “But the students from mariachi groups from schools all over town who perform here said, ‘That’s impossible. We wait for this all year.’”

So the 18th annual two-day event, which celebrates mariachi music and traditional Mexican folklórico dance, will go on.

It begins Friday with a pageant and talent contest from 6 to 9 p.m. in the auditorium at Sunnyside High, 1725 E. Bilby Road.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, “Plaza Garibaldi” will feature performances by student mariachi and dance groups from elementary, middle and high schools around the city and from Mexico.

Admission is free. There will be carnival games and booths with traditional food and drink

The Noche de las Estrellas concert will be held from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium. Admission is $10. The headliners are Folklorico Tapatío; Sunnyside High’s mariachi, Los Diablitos; and Desert View High’s Mariachi del Desierto. They will perform along with Sunnyside Assistant Superintendent Jeannie Favela, a former professional singer. The groups and Favela recently recorded the CD “Una Familia.”

Del Cid said the event is “a lot of work, a lot of work, but we enjoy it very much and it helps teach many kids the most traditional Mexican music.”

Del Cid, a professional mariachi for years in Mexico City with Mariachi los Camperos, has taught at Sunnyside for 16 years.

He loves preparing students for performances and for their future.

College is of utmost importance to Del Cid. “Of course, I tell my kids to go to college.

“When I came to work here, I told the principal I would do it on one condition – that we teach them the music, the instruments, but we don’t want just mariachis.

“I want them to become lawyers, doctors, pharmacists and other professionals who also know how to be mariachi musicians.

“They can and should still play in groups or play as a hobby when they grow up, but be a doctor for a living.”

Proceeds from the event go to college scholarships for the district performers.

Expect More Arizona is a nonpartisan, nonpolitical group that is advertising to support increased education funding. But this is a fight that is partisan and political. It won't be won with slogans, but only by replacing some legislators.

No, it can’t hurt. Forming one more group to promote education, one more group that says schools are being shortchanged, having one more group to try to hammer some common sense into the thick skulls of state legislators can’t hurt.

It may actually do some good. I hope so. But I doubt it.

There have been so many of those groups that I can’t possibly remember them all. And now that state budget cuts are threatening education, the groups are proliferating.

Expect More Arizona is the latest, and it seems well organized and well funded with about $2 million available. It has a nice letterhead, a professional logo and an impressive chocolate and teal color scheme.

Its slogan is “Ready Kids. Ready Graduates. Ready Workforce.” You’ve probably seem the ads placed in a number of newspapers around the state, including this one.

In one ad, several people are standing in front of a school bus with the headline, “What We Put Into Education Determines What We Get Out Of It.” (They’re Big On Capitalizing Words For No Particular Reason.)

Maybe this group will be the one that changes everything in Arizona. But probably not.

And here’s why: The problem in Arizona is not how much money is spent for schools. The problem is the people who decide how much money will be spent for schools.

Polls show that Arizonans want more money for education. In the past we’ve willingly raised taxes to put more money into schools. And a recent statewide poll say we would support a temporary 1 percent sales tax increase. Presumably some of that money would go to schools.

But then look at the Legislature, where about one-third of the members haven’t attended college. Neither did Gov. Jan Brewer.

College isn’t the answer for everything and everyone. But with a third of the people who make decisions not even exposed to college, it’s tough to persuade them it’s worth the money.

We are never going to change their minds. So if we want to change the attitudes of Arizona leaders, we’ve got to change the Arizona leaders.

And that’s where groups such as Expect More Arizona fall short. They step up to the plate, take a couple of impressive practice swings, then stand there with the bat on their shoulder and watch three strikes whiz by.

Paul J. Luna, chairman of the oversight board of Expect More Arizona, describes the group as “nonpartisan, nonpolitical.” That’s the problem. This is an issue that is decidedly partisan and political.

Luna said the group will “create public awareness of increasing funding for education in Arizona.” That’s fine. So I’m aware. But what next?

Educating people about education problems will go only so far. To make any substantive changes, the people making the decisions need to be changed. As in replaced.

And that is something Expect More Arizona is not planning to do.

Luna said, “The perception of Arizona is that we are not an education state.” Why is that the perception? Because it’s true. Education is just not that important to the people who make decisions on where to spend the money.

But Luna said Expect More Arizona will stop at educating voters. It won’t take the next step and endorse pro-education candidates or urge the defeat of anti-education candidates or get involved in campaigns.

It may be the right decision from a practical standpoint. Once a group becomes a political action committee, donations to it are not tax-deductible.

But it is not the right decision from a policy standpoint. It’s not the right way to make changes.

Educating people about an issue goes only so far. At some point, you’ve got to admit they aren’t going to learn and need to be replaced. And that’s where we are today in Arizona.

Mark Kimble appears at 6:30 p.m. Fridays on the Roundtable segment of “Arizona Illustrated” on KUAT-TV, Channel 6. He may be reached by e-mail at mkimble@tucsoncitizen.com or by calling 573-4662.

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ON THE WEB

For more information about Expect More Arizona, go to: www.ExpectMoreArizona.org

PHOENIX – Arizona should keep the AIMS test as a high school graduation requirement but add other tests to measure students’ readiness for college and careers, a state task force recommended Wednesday.

The task force created as a result of 2008 legislation submitted its report to Gov. Jan Brewer, top legislative leaders and the state Board of Education.

The seven-member task force, consisting mostly of educators, said the high school AIMS test is an important measure of students’ proficiency of 10th-grade standards. But it said the reading, writing and math exam doesn’t do enough.

The task force recommended steps that include requiring 11th-graders to take a college and career readiness test but giving parents the option of exempting their children.

Also, a current test for ninth-graders should be replaced with one measuring career and college potential, the task force said.

AIMS measures student achievement and provides accountability measurements for teachers and schools but it can’t meet the need for a “credible, robust test of college and career readiness,” the report said.

“Our goal is to provide opportunities for students that open rather than close doors,” it stated. “For example, tests that provide information to students and parents as they choose their college or career pathway are an incentive that opens doors for further success.”

All of the testing should have “feedback loops” so that students can assess their progress and make timely corrections to meet their academic objectives, it said.

The 2008 bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Rich Crandall of Mesa, said he hadn’t read the report and could not immediately comment on it. He said last year the state should revamp its testing program.

AIMS, short for Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards, is designed to measure students’ knowledge of math, reading and writing.

The State Board of Education and the Arizona Department of Education developed the AIMS test under a mandate in state law. High school testing began in 1999 and testing of grades 3, 5 and 8 began in 2000. Testing in other grades has been added since.

Starting in 2006, high school students have had to pass the AIMS test to get a diploma. Students begin taking the high school graduation test as sophomores and have multiple opportunities to take it.

4 cases confirmed on Nation; classes to resume May 12

Eleven schools on the Tohono O’odham Nation are closed Tuesday through May 11 because of four confirmed cases of the swine flu.

The action came half a day before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its recommendation on closing schools. The new recommendation, based on a lower severity of the flu, is to keep schools open.

On Monday, the Indian Oasis-Baboquivari Unified School District board voted to close all its schools. All other tribal, private and Bureau of Indian Education schools and the Tohono O’odham Community College followed suit, officials said in a news release.

Classes are scheduled to resume May 12.

Despite the CDC reversal Tuesday, Indian Oasis-Baboquivari district and Bureau of Indian Education schools will remain closed, said Andrew Lorrentine, deputy director of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s Health and Human Services Department.

He said officials from the other schools are meeting to review the new recommendation.

The schools are San Simon School (K-8), Santa Rosa Boarding and Day School (K-8) and Tohono O’odham High School from the BIE; Ha:san Middle School and Ha:san Preparatory and Leadership School; the district’s Indian Oasis Primary School, Indian Oasis Intermediate School and Baboquivari Middle/High School; and San Xavier Mission School, Southwest Living Word Academy and the Tohono O’odham Community College.

None of those who contracted the H1N1 virus was hospitalized, the release read, and all are recovering.

Meanwhile, 10 schools in Nogales remain closed until Monday as a precautionary measure after one elementary school student tested positive for swine flu.

One Marana Unified School District student and one in Tucson Unified also came down with swine flu, but those districts opted to keep schools open.

Most students showed up for classes on Monday at Tortolita Middle School in Marana, but about 175 students, or 40 percent, at Safford Engineering/Technology Magnet Middle School in TUSD did not. On Tuesday, absences at Safford were reported at 150.

On the Tohono O’odham Nation, school closures were “precautionary” and no other cases have been confirmed, the release read.

The Indian Health Service set up a call center to answer health-related questions: 877-606-9301.

Even with the five days off, the elementary and high schools will have enough days to meet the state’s requirement of 180, officials said. The district’s middle school will have to make up four hours and will do so by adding 20 minutes a day for 12 school days.

KIMBERLY FERREIRA

I moved to Arizona for health reasons 1 1/2 years ago with my daughter, who was receiving a private education, to Catalina Foothills School District in Tucson.

I am shocked that Arizona legislators are playing political football with public education.

No game time was necessary as lawmakers gave an “oath of office” to the Arizona Constitution, which mandates they balance the budget and fund public education.

Says Article 11, Section 10, “the legislature shall make such appropriations, to be met by taxation, as shall insure the proper maintenance of all state educational institutions, and shall make such special appropriations as shall provide for their development and improvement.”

Figures support the charge that Arizona’s constitutional obligations to “develop and improve” public education are falling abysmally short.

Since the 1986-1987 school year, Arizona’s per-pupil expenditures have actually declined by $61, according to the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council.

The latest figures, for the 2006-2007 school year, show the per-pupil expenditure of $6,248 at 50th place among the states.

In 1986-87, the $6,309 expenditure ranked 31st.

The $1.6 billion budget reduction for 2009, which left deep cuts to education, was unconstitutional.

The recent Basic Joint Draft Budget proposals dismantle the stability and viability of public education.

It cripples districts’ cash flow by taking $300 million that is necessary for their solvent operation, reducing transportation funding from $110 million to $8 million and slashing $175 million from basic K-12 funding.

Obviously, Proposition 301′s requirement to increase public educational expenditures above the constitutional aggregate limit is being ignored.

To complicate matters further, 39 Republican legislators signed a pledge by the Washington, D.C., special interest lobbying group Americans for Tax Reform. It says the elected official will “oppose any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

These legislators are putting this pledge before their oath of office. They should strip their names from this no-tax pledge; otherwise, immediate voter recall should be considered.

In the Senate, they are: Sylvia Allen, Bob Burns, Pamela Gorman, Ron Gould, Chuck Gray, Linda Gray, Jack Harper, John Huppenthal, Barbara Leff, Al Melvin, Russell Pearce, Steve Pierce, Jay Tibshraeny and Thayer Verschoor.

In the House: Kirk Adams, Frank Antenori, Cecil Ash, Ray Barnes, Nancy Barto, Andy Biggs, Tom Boone, Judy Burges, Sam Crump, Adam Driggs, David Gowan, Laurin Hendrix, John Kavanagh, Bill Konopnicki, Debbie Lesko, Steve Montenegro, Rick Murphy, Warde Nichols, Doug Quelland, Carl Seel, David Stevens, Andy Tobin, Jerry Weiers, Jim Weiers and Steve Yarbrough.

To make progress toward a better Arizona, public education funding needs to be addressed, first and foremost, as a statewide issue.

Gov. Jan Brewer recommends a tax increase to fund public education. Recent polling shows support for this.

The Legislature is obligated to increase appropriations to improve public education. This action would be a strong statement that Arizona will not stand in 50th place and understands that education fuels economic development.

Please contact your legislators and let them know you will hold them accountable to their constitutional obligations to fund, develop and improve public education.

If you aren’t sure who your representatives are, check www.votesmart.org and enter your zip code.

Kimberly Ferreira is a freelance project manager, education advocate and the mother of a 7-year-old daughter in public school and a 14-year-old son in private school.

In its rush to cut spending, the Legislature is ignoring a voter mandate requiring funding for education to be increased annually.

This is far more than a legal technicality. This is a requirement imposed by voters. And under the state constitution, it is something neither the Legislature nor anyone else can ignore.

A brief history lesson is helpful: In 2000, Arizona voters approved Proposition 301. The initiative increased the state sales tax by 0.6 cent per dollar with the money going to all levels of education.

But voters also mandated in Prop. 301 that the Legislature could not reduce education funding to offset the new revenue. The measure required that state funding to schools be increased by the rate of inflation or by 2 percent annually, whichever is lower.

For fiscal 2010, which begins July 1, the required increase in state funding for education is 2 percent. But legislators are ignoring that and planning aggressive cuts to balance a budget that is $3 billion in the red.

Should the Legislature continue to ignore the mandate, the Arizona School Boards Association says it is prepared to challenge the budget in court.

In a letter to legislative leaders, Panfilo Contreras, executive director of the association, noted that a court decision as well as an opinion by the Arizona attorney general both concluded across-the-board spending increases for education are mandated by Prop. 301.

And under Arizona’s Voter Protection Act, the Legislature is not allowed to tinker with voter-approved measures – unless it furthers the intent of the measure. Clearly that is not what the Legislature is doing when it cuts funding that voters said must be increased annually.

The School Boards Association has retained an attorney to file suit against the Legislature and Gov. Jan Brewer if a budget is passed and signed that cuts education.

But to its credit, the association said it recognizes the state is going through extraordinary financial times. It is prepared to accept some funding reductions as long as legislators make the required increases and then cut them.

Yes, these are difficult times for state budget-writers. But as Contreras wrote in his letter to legislators, “We can’t return to the days of moving backwards and tough times are no excuse to set aside these legal and fiscal obligations.”

Arizona already spends less on schools than almost every other state does. The voters of this state have emphatically said that must change – and they have backed it up with an ironclad ballot initiative.

It shouldn’t take a court case to ensure that the Legislature does the right thing. But if that is needed, bring it on.

Students’ eco-friendly model of a futuristic school complex wins $2,000 national prize

Imago Dei Middle School students (from left) Monique Andrade, 13, Sergio Acosta, 12, Riley Breedlove, 12, and Anthony Barcelo, 12, won an award in the School of the Future Design Competition.

It is a school of 38 students, all from low-income families.

Yet students from this Tucson powerhouse, Imago Dei Middle School, traveled to Washington, D.C., last week and came home with a $2,000 national first-place award in the School of the Future Design Competition.

Imago Dei’s project of a school complex incorporated solar energy, shade sails, water harvesting and greenhouses for urban agriculture. There also was a community resource center to bring the neighborhood into the school community.

“We made ‘we believe’ statements in terms of social justice and sustainability and made designs out of what we believe,” said Linda Cato, the visual arts specialist in charge of the team.

She said every student at the Episcopalian school at 639 N. Sixth Ave. participated. The four who presented the project were seventh-grader Monique Andrade, 13, and sixth-graders Sergio Acosta, Anthony Barcelo and Riley Breedlove, all 12.

It was the first time Monique and Sergio had ever been on a plane. Anthony had flown once before – to the same national competition last year, when the school took third place. “Last year we talked a lot about good stuff, but this year we decided we had to show it in the model,” he said.

One feature of the eight-months-long project was hybrid adobe, a judge’s favorite. “The sixth-graders made them out of paper pulp, mud, clay, plant fiber, glass and a little bit of cement,” Riley said.

Monique said recycled denim was used for insulation and recycled plastic water bottle formed into panels for doors. Even the use of slides, a merry-go-round and swings on the playground supplies energy to the solar panels, Sergio said.

“When we went to the competition, we saw that some of the other projects were a lot bigger than ours, and we thought they might win,” Monique said. “But we had decided we didn’t need to design something big. We wanted it to be sustainable.”

Throughout the year the students walked to the University of Arizona to visit with architecture students, who gave them some pointers. They also were mentored by architects from the firm ABA Architects.

Now, all three boys want to become architects, setting their sights on UA, Virginia Tech and Massachusetts Institute of Technology But not Monique. She wants to go to Harvard Law.

The Rev. Anne Sawyer, head of school, said the ambitions are spawned by success. “The ability of our students to win academic competitions on a national level demonstrates the incredible potential of all children when they’re put in a position to succeed.”

Imago Dei pupils win top design honor

A close-up of part of the design for an innovative, eco-friendly school building.

All six patients recover

Andrew Lorentine, public health preparedness manager for the Tohono O'odham Nation, says those infected on the Nation include a 3-year-old, two high-school-age youths and one who is about 20. He spoke Sunday during an influenza news conference.

Pima County Health Department workers will begin investigating this week how four people on the Tohono O’odham Nation and two in the Tucson area came down with swine flu.

“Now we will move more to what is called an active surveillance,” said Patti Woodcock, a department spokeswoman. “We will work with the schools to see if any other kids came down with the illness.”

The six cases of swine flu, also known as H1N1, were confirmed in Pima County on Saturday. All have recovered.

The two in the Tucson area are students, according to school officials.

The Marana student who contracted the flu attends Tortolita Middle School, said Tamara Crawley, a Marana Unified School District spokeswoman.

The student is expected to return to class Monday, Crawley said.

Tortolita Middle School, 4101 W. Hardy Road, and all other Marana district schools will remain open, Crawley said.

The other student attends Safford Magnet Middle School, 200 E. 13th St., said Chyrl Hill Lander, a Tucson Unified School District spokeswoman.

Lander did not say whether that child would return to school this week, but said all TUSD schools will remain open.

Lander said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the county department are not recommending the closure of schools.

However, public schools in the border city of Nogales are closing for a week as a precaution after a student tested positive.

There has been one confirmed death in the United States, a Mexican toddler who visited Texas with his family.

Health workers will try to learn who the victims here associated with before they became ill and will check the health history of family members and friends, Woodcock said.

In spite of those efforts, Woodcock said, health investigators easily may never learn how the six people here contracted the flu.

None of the six was hospitalized, Pima County and Tohono O’odham health authorities said at a Sunday news conference.

Another 11 potential cases are pending analysis at an Arizona lab, said Dr. Michelle McDonald, the county Health Department’s chief medical officer.

Of those infected on the O’odham Nation, one is a 3-year-old, two are high-school-age children and one is about 20 years old, said Andrew Lorentine, assistant manager for community health and public health preparedness manager for the Tohono O’odham Nation.

The flu outbreak here “is nowhere near as alarming . . . as we initially feared,” McDonald said at the news conference, held at 11 a.m. at the county Health Department, 3950 S. Country Club Road.

McDonald said there have been 17 H1N1 flu cases in Arizona.

About 36,000 people die each year in the United States from the regular flu and complications, authorities have said.

McDonald said health authorities advise people to frequently wash their hands and cover their mouth and nose when they sneeze or cough.

People with flu symptoms, a cough, respiratory discomfort, body aches and fever are advised not to go to school or work, or go to an emergency room where they could spread the flu to other people.

Instead, McDonald said, they should call their doctor, clinic or a call center for advice on how to get treatment.

Anti-viral flu treatment medication, which does not prevent the flu, has been stockpiled in the county since last week, Daniels said.

Call centers are being staffed to help people who feel ill or have a family member with flu symptoms and are concerned about what to do, said Sherry Daniels, director of the county Health Department.

It’s not the first time in recent years that Pima has dealt with an outbreak.

Last summer, the county had 13 confirmed cases of measles, with four more probable, health authorities said.

A news release by the county department last year said:

• About 2,500 people were potentially exposed to measles and told to obtain post-exposure treatment and quarantine if they were not immune.

• 500 suspected cases required evaluation and observation throughout the incubation period.

• 9,000 immunization shots were given in the 30 special clinics set up by the county.

The measles came to the county in February 2008 by way of a Swiss tourist, the release said.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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IF YOU THINK YOU’RE SICK

Think you may have swine flu?

If you feel ill, you can get advice at the following numbers:

• Pima County call center, 243-7808, or 866-939-7462. The county call center is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday,

• The Tohono O’odham Nation, call center 24 hours, daily at 877-606-9301.

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ON THE WEB

Pima County Department of Health Web site at www.pimahealth.org

Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov

When it came to solving a problem with University of Arizona basketball, it happened quickly. But there is no such will to solve Arizona's problems with education.

Two of my biggest passions are the Arizona Wildcats basketball team and K-12 education.

The only time I miss a Wildcat game is when it conflicts with a Vail School District Governing Board meeting, and I must fulfill my responsibilities as a board member.

When I open the newspaper, I go first to the stories about my passions. Lately, there has been no shortage of material. The Wildcats and K-12 education have been facing significant difficulties.

K-12 education is starving for money. Every day brings another story about shortages and layoffs and a constant stream of ideas to address these problems.

Cut administration. No new taxes. End tax credits. Furlough teachers. The list of possible actions goes on and on.

Simultaneously, the Wildcats faced the need to hire a coach. This was also very difficult and, like the K-12 problem, required new funding.

In case you hadn’t heard, the Wildcats “problem” is now solved. While people have expressed concern about the cost of the solution, I’m not surprised or overly concerned with the terms of Sean Miller’s contract. The contract is reasonable compared with salaries of other top-level programs.

The bigger issue is how easily the problem was solved. A decision was made, and most everyone got on board with it. There was no protracted wrangling over multiple, unpleasant options.

Even though the latest issue of Time magazine reports that 38 percent of people are cutting back on the purchase of tickets to sporting events, there was little concern expressed about the impact on the athletic budget.

There was no call for Jim Livengood to accept a cut in pay or for other workers in the program to take furloughs.

There was no legislative interference and no apparent concern that the regents might not approve.

Why? There was a will to solve the problem. It is “known” that people want to be entertained well and want to be associated with a winner.

What about K-12 education? Isn’t there a will to solve this problem as well?

Apparently our legislators do not believe we really want this problem solved. As they argue about options, the lives of high-quality teachers are disrupted by reduction in force notices, and competent principals find themselves hamstrung in their attempts to plan for the next school year.

I think our legislators are wrong. I’m sure there are many people like me who want to make sure our state has a strong education program.

We need top quality education programs to entice much-needed economic development.

We must make sure the children of our community are ready to compete in a global labor market.

If our legislators fail to act soon, the result should be the same kind of outrage that would have occurred if a high-quality, high-profile coach had not been found for our beloved Wildcats.

I know many parents and other everyday Arizonans share my zeal.

The message to legislators is this: Act quickly. Act decisively. Act in support of K-12 education so that we can go about the important job of preparing our students and our community for the future.

Anne Gibson is a member of the Vail School District Governing Board’s Community Action Board. E-mail: gibsona@vail.k12.az.us

Anne Gibson

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Related stories

Phil Lopes: Arizonans deserve better than latest GOP budget plan John Wright: Slashing education funding hurts our future

Fear larger classes, loss of enthusiastic teachers

Reynolds Elementary teacher Christopher Rodarte, dressed up for a school spirit day, gathers his third-grade class after lunch. Rodarte, who is finishing his third year of teaching, was one of 560 TUSD teachers to receive pink slips in March.

The cry is the same everywhere: “Save Our Teachers, Save Our Schools.”

Reductions in force at Tucson schools could mean as many as 640 fewer teachers in area classrooms next year, creating pleas from parents and educators petrified about oversized classes.

“I have no idea what next year is going to be like,” said Heather Martin, a worried parent of two children at Reynolds Elementary who is also a teaching assistant in a first-grade class. “Both of my kids’ teachers got RIF’d. My kids are devastated. We’re losing so many really hardworking people.”

Many of the teachers who received pink slips in March are young, bringing a youthful enthusiasm and upgraded knowledge of technology needed for educating 21st-century students.

State law required that teachers be informed by April 15 if districts were not certain they would be able to rehire instructors for the next school year..

Districts are hopeful they can rehire many first- to third-year teachers who got pink slips, but it may be June before it is known how much money will come from the state, which is trying to balance a budget $3 billion in the red.

Parents speaking out

Meanwhile, the potential cuts are so severe that parental grass-roots groups are forming.

“We’ve seen parents groups rise up like we’ve never seen before,” said Superintendent Calvin Baker of Vail Unified School District.

Rallies are nearly weekly. Letter-writing campaigns to the governor and state legislators are in full swing.

Protesters are trying to lobby legislators to bring back the equalization tax – a property tax that could generate $250 million for education. It was suspended in 2006, but was supposed to resume this year. However, legislators – not wanting to increase taxes – are balking about restarting it.

PTAs and school site councils are mobilizing parents.

At Reynolds, 7450 E. Stella Road in Tucson Unified School District, the walls are lined with third-graders’ letters to Gov. Jan Brewer. Scores of other students across Tucson also are writing letters.

Students from Howenstine High, 555 S. Tucson Blvd., have picketed outside the Governor’s Office downtown and met with her representatives here.

Recently, the Reynolds PTA brought all the staff onto a stage and had employees walk off, one at a time, showing the 200 parents gathered what the staff would like next year with 10 percent and then 18 percent cuts.

“You could have heard a pin drop,” said Principal Janet Jordan. “I thing they turned a corner and instead of saying, ‘This is the way it is,’ parents said, ‘This is what we can do.’ They empowered themselves and got excited about effecting change.”

“They sat down at computers in the library to write letters to the governor. They sent postcards to state legislators. They took empty boxes with supply lists to their workplaces to ask for donations of pencils and Kleenex,” she said.

Reynolds would lose five of its 16 teachers. Christopher Rodarte would be one of them.

His third-grade students walked into class last week to find him in a big fuzzy wig and a psychedelic T-shirt. It was “Hippy Day” at school, and Rodarte goes all out.

He also is the teacher who has a tarantula in a terrarium. It is nameless now. Students are writing essays about what to call it. The most well-written essay will win.

Turtles, fire-belly toads and fish also share the classroom, all gathered by the energetic and enthusiastic Rodarte. It is that enthusiasm that Jordan, and principals across the city, are worried about losing.

Many pink-slipped teachers are young. Some are older people who have changed professions and have brought fresh ideas to teaching.

Rodarte said he may have to go back to being a waiter at Janos restaurant here. As a server, he’d make three times as much per hour, but his heart is in teaching.

Wanted: Mix of experience

Almost all the teachers have melded themselves into school communities that do not want to see them go.

“It takes a mix of different-experience-level teachers to really make a school successful,” said Steve Courter, president of the Tucson Education Association, the teachers union at TUSD.

“Some of these newer teachers have technological skills that some of the more experience teachers may not have,” he said. “We’d all lose if we didn’t get most of those people back.”

TUSD, the second-largest district in Arizona, has reduced teacher rolls by 560 for next school year. Its superintendent, Elizabeth Celania-Fagen, said she didn’t want to, but had to because of the state law.

At Cholla High Magnet, 2001 W. Starr Pass Blvd., students just beginning the International Baccalaureate program – the first at any local public high school – worry whether it will continue. Several of the teachers specially trained for IB were pink-slipped.

The numbers of layoffs at other districts are substantially smaller than at TUSD. Some districts cut no teachers at all.

• At Marana Unified, where 30 teachers are to be cut for next school year, spokeswoman Tamara Crawley said the district saved full-day kindergarten and other student programs.

The community said it wanted full-day kindergarten and the programs during forums in March, she said.

But with the reduction in teaching staff, the district will have to increase class size. Marana has historically had smaller class sizes, so this is a big adjustment for the district and community, Crawley said.

• Thirteen teachers received pink slips at Catalina Foothills Unified School District. Five are certain to be rehired, however, because of resignations or increases in enrollment for next year, said Associate Superintendent Terry Downey.

But some class sizes will increase, she said. “We were at a 21-1 (students-to-teacher) ratio in high school English, but there is a proposal to increase that to save expenses.”

• The $30 million budget at Flowing Wells Unified – where 40 teachers were told they may not have jobs next year – may be cut by $3 million, according to Superintendent Nic Clement.

“We know we’re going to have attrition,” he said, “so that should save some jobs.” In previous years, all cuts were done through attrition or retirements.

“And we hope the budget the state came out with in January isn’t what it will finally be and we’ll be able to rehire more teachers,” Clement said. “But we worry some will be looking for other jobs. We are working with each of them individually, but we can’t make false promises.

“The last thing we want to do is lose someone we’ve invested in, who has bonded with kids. There’s a reason we hired the teachers we do and to lose them is counter to our culture, to what’s good for kids.”

He said research shows the well-trained teacher makes the most difference in student performance. The more connected the teacher is to the school, the higher the achievement.

Alternatives to dismissals

Sunnyside Unified’s governing board didn’t lay off anyone for next year, saying it would rather implement furloughs, if necessary.

And in Sahuarita Unified, a possible reduction in salaries, not a reduction in force, is being considered. “We are putting a contingency into our contracts that says, if necessary, we might reduce everyone’s pay up to 5 percent,” Assistant Superintendent Manny Valenzuela said.

At two far East Side school districts, superintendents also balked at laying off teachers.

Tanque Verde Unified cut no teachers, but Superintendent Tom Rogers cut his own salary by $15,000 for 2009, from $105,000 to $90,000. One administrator, a curriculum director, was laid off.

And at Vail, Superintendent Baker chose not to plan based on the worst-case scenario.

That means if the worst does happen, Vail, by law, will have to rehire all its teachers because it didn’t give them notice.

Baker said Vail would just have to deal with it, but he doesn’t think it will happen. He said there are points in Vail’s favor.

• “We are growing, so instead of hiring new staff for those new students, we’re moving teachers to them. We’re eating our growth.”

• “We had some reserves,” a luxury, he acknowledged, that most school districts with declining enrollments don’t have.

• “We chose to take a risk. Our legislators are telling us they’re working very hard to be reasonable about funding education – and there will be some stimulus money.”

The risk is one Baker is willing to take.

“We’re not preparing for the absolute worst case because we want our teachers to be sitting around talking about what they can do for kids, not talking about who has a job or not.”

Reynolds’ principal wishes TUSD had that option. Still, she is glad district human resources officials said they would try to get rehired people back to the same schools. But no one knows how that will work.

Ann-Eve Pedersen, a founder of Tucson Unified Schools Supporters, is trying to get more people mobilized. “Parents are the majority demographic in this state – and we vote,” she said. “Elected officials must listen to us. . . . I think everyone’s efforts are making a difference, but we need to keep up the pressure on legislators and the Governor’s Office.”

Reynolds Elementary teacher Christopher Rodarte (middle) works in the school's garden with students. District officials worry that laying off so many newer teachers may diminish the enthusiasm that many of them bring into the schools.

Dr. Michelle McDonald speaks during the H1N1 influenza press conference on the flu cases in Pima County.

Six cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Pima County – four on the Tohono O’odham nation, one in Tucson and one in Marana, according to the Pima County Health Department.

Another 11 cases are suspected, but have not been confirmed.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases in Arizona rose to 17 over the weekend, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services Web site.

Last week four cases of swine flu were confirmed in Arizona, all school-age children in Maricopa County who have either recovered or are recovering, officials said. The state sent samples in at least 52 more suspected cases to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, about half of which were from Pima County, said Patti Woodcock, spokeswoman for the Pima County Health Department.

If cases of the virus are found in the county, then local officials will begin “active surveillance” of hospitals and clinics, Woodcock said. That means health workers will track patients’ contacts and retrace their steps, much as they did during a spring 2008 outbreak of measles.

As they did with the measles outbreak, county health officials are urging people experiencing flulike symptoms to call their doctors instead of going to doctors’ offices or hospital emergency rooms, potentially exposing more people, Woodcock said in a statement Thursday.

In the event of an outbreak here, the county’s allotment of antiviral medication would be used only to treat patients, not to vaccinate others, Woodcock said.

Maricopa County’s health director, Dr. Bob England, said none of the patients who had the swine flu there has been hospitalized or suffered severe symptoms.

“It isn’t going to stop there,” England said. “We have lots of testing to be done, and in the coming days we’re going to have more (confirmed cases).”

England and state Health Services Department Interim Director Will Humble said it appears the swine flu that has spread across the nation in the past week isn’t any more severe than a normal influenza. If evidence mounts that that is the case, school closures could end quickly.

About 36,000 people die each year in the United States from the regular flu. The U.S. has reported only one death outside Mexico from the swine flu – a Mexican toddler who visited Texas with his family.

As a precaution, Tucson Unified School District leaders have canceled school field trips Friday to the Tucson Convention Center for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s “Young People’s Concert.”

Fifth-grade visits to TUSD middle schools Friday have also been cancelled.

Tarwater Elementary and Hartford Sylvia Encinas Elementary schools in the Chandler Unified School District were ordered closed for seven days. Moon Mountain Elementary School in northwest Phoenix was ordered closed on Wednesday.

Health officials said there was no known relationship between the two Chandler-area students. In the third new case reported on Thursday, the student had been home during the infectious period and could not have infected any classmates.

State Department of Health Services officials also learned Thursday that a 19-year-old Northern Arizona University student had a “probable” case of swine flu.

NAU and the Coconino County Health Department were awaiting confirmation from the CDC, but a school spokesman said it will continue to operate under normal business conditions.

“We have a residential campus here, we’re right at the tail end of the semester, finals start next week,” said Tom Bauer, a NAU spokesman. “We don’t feel this would be in the best interest of anyone at the moment to be thinking about closing because of one ‘probable’ (case). We’re not being blasé about this. We are very concerned with all of our students.”

The first case was confirmed Wednesday in an 8-year-old northwest Phoenix boy. Although he had returned to school, health officials ordered his elementary school closed for a week to prevent the disease from spreading.

England said in that case, the child had not traveled to Mexico, where the flu strain was first identified.

“There was no travel history, which, again, underscores my thought – that it’s here. It’s in the community. There are probably many more people infected than we realized,” England said. “Nobody’s cared about it because it hasn’t made people all that sick.”

The student whose illness prompted the closure of the second school also had recovered. The third student hadn’t attended school while contagious, and the fourth case is being investigated, England said.

The CDC and officials in several states have confirmed at least 120 cases of the swine flu as of Thursday. They are in New York, Texas, California, South Carolina, Delaware and scattered cases in Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Minnesota, Colorado, Georgia and Maine.

Health officials said people should treat the swine flu strain like any other flu – contact your personal doctor, and avoid spreading the virus by staying home and covering sneezes and coughs. Patients should seek additional medical help if fever persists or spikes, breathing is difficult or other severe symptoms develop.

Officials were worried that people unnecessarily visiting hospitals or clinics could make it hard to tend to trauma patients. Dr. Jeffrey Schultz, pre-hospital director at John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix, said an increase in patients could affect the ability to care for them. Furthermore, people have been coming to the hospital to request they be tested for the flu, even if they don’t show symptoms.

“If you’re not having any of those symptoms, it’s unlikely, even if you request that test . . . you’d be getting that test. That wouldn’t be good health care,” Schultz said.

Arizona health officials have tested more than 400 samples since Monday in a state lab and determined that about 60 percent of them were seasonal flu.

“We’re chugging them in and out,” state health department spokeswoman Laura Oxley said. “We’re prepared to go around the clock, (but) we haven’t had to do that yet.”

Oxley said the state could receive test kits by the end of the week from the CDC that will enable health officials to confirm the virus themselves.

“We are working on it,” she said. “We want to do it, and life will be a lot easier when that comes.”

Citizen Staff Writer Ty Bowers and the Arizona Republic contributed to this article.

By Citizen Staff Report, Wire Report

CHARLIE ZOLL

May 20 is coming up for this ready senior, but the end of the school year is ominously encroaching on 21 teachers at our school – 21 out of 600 who received pink slips from Tucson Unified School District.

At Tucson High School, we are set to lose two language teachers – in American Sign and Chinese – and three music teachers in piano, band and mariachi.

All of them are the only teachers of their respective subjects. This means our fine arts magnet school will be devoid of three of six music programs and two of only four languages.

We’re taking a 50 percent reduction in some of our most widely attended programs. What for?

The summer vacation is expected to be the start of work on our parking garage, adding 81 student parking spots to the approximately 250 existing spaces and costing $2.5 million as part of a voter-approved bond.

Could anyone reallocate the money to save teachers? If you’ve ever gotten tangled up in the red tape that exists in TUSD and the Budget Oversight Committee, then you know the answer.

I’ve already pointed out examples of wasteful spending as a student rep on THS’ Decision Council.

We have a building that we’ve partially renovated and could occupy with more students who get THS state monies.

We heavily air-conditioned our gymnasium for players who should be training in warm conditions, we leave the fluorescent lights on during the weekends and rarely do we turn off our computers because they must be continually “updated.”

A veteran teacher (my mom) has shot out this idea, also: a furlough day every week. Not just for a few teachers, but for students, too. Turn off the lights, shut down the computers and give the AC a break every Friday.

Make it a day for students to venture out into the community and, with their magnet-oriented minds, do something relevant and helpful.

For instance, I’m a music magnet student. I could walk over to Roskruge Middle School and give piano lessons on Fridays.

What’s my incentive not to ditch school altogether? Simple; on the following Monday, my teacher grades what I did. (There’s also the good feeling of doing something I like to do).

As a teacher who just received a pink slip, how would you feel knowing that the allocation of money for a parking garage could have resulted in your not coming back next year?

Charlie Zoll is a senior and the newspaper editor at Tucson High Magnet School, where his mother, Mimi Zoll, teaches. E-mail: charlitozolo@yahoo.com

Phoenix elementary student has recovered but school is closed

Students from Moon Mountain Elementary School in Phoenix cross 19th Avenue after school was dismissed Wednesday because of a confirmed case of swine flu at the school. The northwest Phoenix elementary school student on Wednesday became the first person in Arizona confirmed to have the swine flu, but the 8-year-old boy has already recovered from the illness and never required hospitalization.

PHOENIX – A northwest Phoenix elementary school student on Wednesday became the first person in Arizona confirmed to have the swine flu, but the 8-year-old boy has already recovered from the illness and never required hospitalization.

Nonetheless, his 800-student school was ordered closed for a week on Wednesday to prevent other students from coming down with the new strain of influenza.

“We are taking aggressive measures . . . because this is a new virus and until we know more about it and are certain we know it, we will do what we can to limit its spread,” Dr. Bob England, Maricopa County’s health director, said at a news conference.

But England said it appears that this flu is no more virulent than other types. He said the boy recovered and had returned to school before the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed he had swine flu.

England said it was too soon to know details about how the boy might have been exposed. “I don’t think it matters,” he said. “The horse is out of the barn.”

Health officials said people should treat the swine flu strain like any other flu – contact your personal doctor, and avoid spreading the virus by staying home and by covering sneezes and coughs. Patients should seek additional medical help if fever persists or spikes, breathing is difficult or other severe symptoms develop.

The Arizona case brings to 11 the number of states with swine flu cases. Besides Arizona, they are New York, Texas, California, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, Nevada, Ohio and Maine.

State officials in Maine said laboratory tests had confirmed three cases in that state, not yet included in the CDC count.

The CDC said tests confirmed the case from one of four samples Arizona sent on Monday and Tuesday.

Results of tests on the three other possible Arizona cases, also from Maricopa County, were expected soon.

“I’m certain this is isn’t going to be the last case,” England said.

None of the four patients who either tested positive for swine flu or potentially had the virus required hospitalization, state health department spokeswoman Laura Oxley said.

Acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser said only five cases nationwide needed hospitalization, including a Mexican toddler who became the first death recorded in the U.S., in Texas.

The Maricopa County Health Department requested the school closure in Phoenix when the diagnosis was confirmed by federal health officials, Washington Elementary School District spokeswoman Carol Donaldson said.

Moon Mountain Elementary School was closed just after noon Wednesday and its students won’t be returning until May 7.

Gov. Jan Brewer expressed confidence in the state’s ability to handle the situation.

“We have plenty of resources. We have a plan,” she said.

Will Humble, state Department of Health Services interim director, said the state had distributed its 58,000 medication courses to hospitals, urban care centers and other health facilities for treating patients.

The state has received more than 200,000 additional courses from the federal stockpile and was preparing to distribute them to county health departments.

“At this point we have plenty of medication,” Humble said.

England said people with flu symptoms shouldn’t “run to the doctor” unless they have trouble breathing or don’t start recovering within several days. Treat it like you would regular flu, he advised.

However, news of the disease’s spread brought a surge of people to hospitals and medical clinics across Arizona, but none of the hospitals contacted on Wednesday said they had seen severe cases.

In Yuma, about 300 worried patients came into the emergency room at Yuma Regional Medical Center on Monday and Tuesday nights. That happened even though there have been no confirmed cases in the county, or in the nearby Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California, Yuma County spokesman Kevin Tunell said Wednesday.

“It’s some of the highest numbers we’ve ever seen,” said hospital spokeswoman Machele Headington. Typically, around 100 people come into the hospital’s ER on a given night, she said.

Patti Woodcock, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Health Department, said University Physicians Hospital and Clinics in Tucson is reporting a 30 percent increase in its emergency department patients.

“We’re just hearing more that it’s the ‘worried well,’ ” Woodcock said. ” ‘Gee, I’ve had this fever, I don’t feel good. Do I have the flu?’ ”

At St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, 283 people visited the emergency room on Monday and 265 on Tuesday – an increase of 23 percent and 20 percent, respectively, said Julie Ward, vice president of nursing.

Ward said most people are seeking more information about the flu and reassurance that there isn’t a need to panic.

“People don’t know: ‘Is it in the water? Can I eat bacon?’ ” Ward said. “People who are not medically savvy need help with that.”

A spokesman for the Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, which has 11 neighborhood clinics, said there is a lot of anxiety about the swine flu.

“People are understandably concerned and are not taking any chances with their loves ones’ health,” he said.

He said pediatric and emergency rooms have been busy, with patients jammed in waiting rooms wearing masks.

“We’re at the end of the flu season, but it feels like we’re at the peak of the flu season,” he said.