InMaricopa
The Maricopa Unified School District is getting ready to invest in a new science curriculum.
The district is evaluating potential vendors to provide both curriculum and textbooks to all the district’s K-12 schools at a cost of about $1.7 million.
According to the district, the Teaching and Learning department is responsible for the adoption process, which starts with teachers voting on the curriculum, followed by Governing Board approval, purchase of the materials and delivery, which will come in time for the start of the 2021-22 school year.
Student achievement data will be reviewed each semester using benchmark data and yearly using state assessment data.
MUSD board votes, 2-1, to hire new MHS athletic director
Ben Owens, president of the Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board, listens at Wednesday night s meeting. Photo by Jay Taylor
The hiring of a new athletic director/vice principal at Maricopa High School took an unexpected turn Wednesday night.
Christopher Driving Hawk’s hiring was on the consent agenda at the meeting of the Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board, with approval thought to be a formality.
But president Ben Owens pulled the matter off the consent agenda for discussion and then introduced a motion to withhold approval.
“I wanted to pull this off because I know this was a very contentious item and we did receive several emails about this,” Owens said. “I don’t want this to come across to our administration as ‘I don’t trust you’ but I can’t support this position.”
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InMaricopa
Students in the Maricopa Unified School District will be able to return the classroom on Monday.
But the situation is “volatile,” cautioned Superintendent Dr. Tracey Lopeman, with the number of student and staff coronavirus cases at several district schools making it possible quarantine will force a short-term return to distance learning.
The Governing Board voted, 3-0, on Wednesday night to accept Lopeman’s recommendation to allow students opting for in-school learning to go back to class. Board member Torri Anderson did not attend the meeting.
Distance learning, for students and families who have opted for that mode of instruction, will continue through the end of the school year.
InMaricopa
Superintendent Dr. Tracey Lopeman, seen at a September 2020 board meeting, said the district must seek a continuation of the budget override this year or begin to lose funding. Photo by Merenzi Young / Eye of Odin Studios
When voters in 2016 approved a 10% budget override for students in the Maricopa Unified School District, they had little idea just how vital the additional funding would become four years later.
Since its approval, the seven-year budget override has generated enough revenue to implement a number of initiatives aimed at improving the quality of education.
Notably, it facilitated the hiring of new teachers that decreased elementary class sizes from the mid-30s to the mid-20s.