ELEMENTARYSTUDENTS

JOINHONORSOCIETY,

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Fine arts teachers at RRHS

INSIDE

San Cayetano rated ‘A’

Tutoring provided at RRHS

PB pushes recycling

Physical fitness training

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SANTA CRUZVALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL

Fall 2012. Issue XIX Number 1

Educate Everyone Every Day 3535District No.District No.3535353535 “We believe that everyonewill experience successful

learning every day.”

www.nogalesinternational.com/scvusdnewsletter

Coatimundi MiddleSchool students showedcontinued academicstrength on the AIMS testagain for the 2011-2012school year.Out of nine areas tested,

students scored at or abovethe state average in eightareas and at or above the

county average in seven.Oneof thestrongest areas

ofperformancewasseventhgrade reading. Showingfouryears inarowofcontin-uous improvement, an im-pressive 95 percent of allseventh graders earned arating of “Meets” or “Ex-ceeds.”

NewmaterialsaidPeñaBlancastudents

By Patrick Echlin

Reading emphasisis ramped up atCoatimundi MS

VOLUNTEERSCLEANRIO RICOWALKING PATH,PAGE6

Sixth-gradeteacher ToniAnn Schadlerleads studentsin a lesson.

OOuurr sscchhooooll ddiissttrriicctt

ggaaiinnss aann““AA”” rraattiinngg

As our community preparedto send its children back toschool in August, we discov-ered that after years of hardwork our school district had re-ceived an “A” rating from thestate. The Arizona Departmentof Education has implementeda new “A” through “F” ratingsystem for schools and schooldistricts. In addition, two of our

schools, San Cayetano Elemen-tary and Coatimundi MiddleSchool, received “A” ratings.The remaining four schools re-ceived ratings of “B.”The state awarded 22 “A” rat-

ings to school districts. A recentanalysis of districts in thisgroup indicated that only threeof the “A” rated districts servesuch a large number of chil-dren as ours that are in Englishlanguage learner programsand of low social economic sta-tus. Most of the school districts

receiving an “A” serve uppermiddle class children.

2 SCHOOLS EARN ‘A’ 4 SCHOOLS EARN ‘B’

By Rod RichSuperintendent, SCVUSD No. 35

See A GRADE/ Page 17

See READING/ Page 17

Third-grade studentsin Ms. ImeldaRomero’s class utilizenew technologies tolearn about math.This is one of manystrategies that helpedPeña Blanca earn a“B” grade from theArizona Departmentof Education.

PHOTO /MELISSA HOLLAND

When the Arizona Department of Education(ADE) released their annual School Report Cardfor the 2011-2012 school year, Peña Blanca Ele-mentary Principal Renee Travers-Huerta wasthrilled. “The gains are impressive and it’s thanks to

our dedicated staff and students. Everyone cametogether and we’re very proud of our school,”said Huerta. Peña Blanca received a rating of “B,” with on-

ly five points away from an “A” rating. Ms. Huer-ta is excited because the school made importantgains from their “C” rating in the 2010-2011school year.

By Melissa Holland

See MATERIALS/ Page 16

New federal standards will measure achievementIn ‘Hard Times’ by English author

CharlesDickens,aparticularlyanimat-ed character sternly exclaims, “Nowwhat I want is Facts. Teach these boysand girls nothing but Facts. Facts aloneare wanted in life. Plant nothing elseand root out everything else…Stick toFacts, Sir!”In contrast, English poet Alexander

Pope writes, “A little learning is a dan-gerous thing. Drink deep or taste notthe Pierian spring.”The Dickens quote represents one

mode of thinking for what constitutesquality education. Critics would arguethat it illustrateshowArizona’scurricu-lum has become severely narrow – sonarrowthat it is littlemore thantherotehammering of specific, isolated skills.All of which is attributed as an unin-

tended consequence of the high stakestest known as AIMS (Arizona’s Instru-ment to Measure Standards). If that’strue, then Pope’s admonition to “drinkdeep” surely explains the antidoteknown as the “Common Core StateStandards” (CommonCore).Beginning in2010,Arizonasignedon

to join what are now 48 other states inadopting the Common Core nationalset of standards as their own. Thismovement was driven by the federalgovernment’s push to have one set ofstandards against which all studentsand states could be compared.There were two significant incen-

tives forArizona to agree: grant dollars,and a waiver from the requirements of“No Child Left Behind.” In order to re-ceiveavailablegrantdollarsandbegiv-en flexibility on the accountabilitymeasure known as No Child Left Be-hind, Arizona had to agree to adoptthese new standards. Testing on thesestandards will begin in the 2014-2015school year. At that time, the AIMS testas we know it will go away.“Drink deep,” or “plant only facts?”

The new Common Core standardswere created by education expertsfromacross theUnitedStates includinga number of college and universityvoices. The idea is to explore fewerstandards at a much deeper level thanteachers do today.Educators studied countries such as

Finland and Singapore that routinelyoutperform the United States on inter-national exams. They drew the conclu-sion that, as Alexander Pope says

above, drilling “deep” is better thanlearning “wide.”Teachers tend to favor this approach.

To date, time constraints and fierce ac-countability demands have driven in-struction to a place they feel no longermeets the needs of students preparingto enter a global workforce. CommonCore is a welcomed change.Building on the vision that no child

wouldbe leftbehind, thenewCommonCore standards expand the vision suchthateverychildwillgraduate fromhighschool “collegeorcareerready,”mean-ingtheywillhavetheskillsnecessary toread and think critically, and speakandwrite analytically.As the world becomes increasingly

fasterandmoredigital, studentsareex-pected to compete globally for jobs andcollege admissions from a very earlyage. The mere memorization of factswill no longer suffice as a viable educa-tion strategy. Nearly 150 years aftermaking his draconian declaration, theschoolmaster of Mr. Dickens’ era mayhave finallymet his demise.

Coming in future Issues• How is SCVUSD #35 preparing for

the shift?• How, specifically, are the standards

different in reading? In math? In sci-ence and social studies?• Replacing AIMSwith PARCC:What

will the new test look like?•What will the new standards mean

for students?•What will the new standards mean

for the community?

Page

2,SantaCruz

ValleyDistrict#35Fall2

012Newsletter

TITLED ‘COMMONCORE’

NOGALES INTERNATIONALWICKCOMMUNICATIONS

Manuel C. CoppolaPublisher & Editor

268W. View Point Drive, Nogales, Arizona 85621,520.375.5760 Fax 520.761.3115

On theweb:www.nogalesinternational.com

To advertise in your school newsletter please contact:Maria or Carmen

at the Nogales International:520.375.5760

SANTACRUZVALLEYUNIFIED SCHOOLDISTRICTNo. 35MissionStatement

HARRYCLAPECK

Board president

BRIANVANDERVOET

Member

SUSANFAUBIONMember

“We believe that everyone will experi-ence successful learning every day.”

JOELKRAMER.Board clerk

Board members can be contacted through the district office:

281-8282or by writing to: Santa Cruz Valley Unified School

District No. 351374W. Frontage RoadRio Rico, Arizona 85648

SCVUSD No. 35TRANSPORTATION

DEPARTMENT

For information or questions call:(520)761-2164 (direct line)

Transportation@santacruz.k12.az.us

Governing Board

ROD RICHSuperintendent

By Stephen SchadlerDirector of Curriculum and Instruction

Author Charles Dickens

SantaCruz

ValleyDistrict#35

Fall2012N

ewsletter,Page

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My name is KellyHansen and I wouldlike to take this oppor-tunity to introducemy-self as the new dramateacher and ThespianClubsponsor forRioRi-co High School.I am very excited to

beapartof thiswell-es-tablished program andto take part in their tra-ditions, as well asbringing my own styleand ideas to keep it atthe high level it hasreached and continueits growth into the fu-ture.We are starting the

production season offwith a family favorite:Clowns Who ReadPresents: Rumplestilt-skin! We invited theneighboring elemen-tary schools to enjoyour show on Oct. 4 and5.Clowns Who Read

will be followed by ouractor’s showcase laterin thesemester,andwewill be having our big-ger production (TBA)of the year in thespring.I also plan to contin-

ue the enrichment ex-periences such as fieldtrips to see profession-al productions, visitingother schools and theirtheatre departments,and taking the Actor’s

Showcaseperformanc-es to competition inTucson.As the Thespian

Club sponsor, I plan onkeeping our troupe go-ingstrongwith their in-volvement in produc-tions, leadership, com-munity outreach,fundraisers, and com-munity service.Another aspect of

our theatre programthat I would like to fos-ter is our Rio Rico Dra-ma Booster Club. Ourthespians cannot func-tion at the level that Iwould like without ourparent volunteers andbooster club. Pleasecontact me atkhansen@santacruz.k12.az.us if you are in-terested in joining ourboosterclub.Weareal-ways taking members,themore themerrier!In short, my main

goal is to maintain thehigh level of this pro-gram. In the future, Iwould love to expandthe program and addproductions such as amusical and freshmanshowcase to increaseparticipation in pro-ductions and includeother departments inmy endeavors. If youhave any questions orconcerns,pleasedonothesitate to contactme.

This year Rio RicoHigh School welcomesnew band directorRachel Gasper to ourstaff. Ms. Gasper comesto us from WesternMichigan University(WMU) with a degree inMusic Education. Weasked her a few ques-tionsabouther transitionand goals for the band:

Q: How did you findout about Santa CruzValley Unified SchoolDistrict?A: A friend and col-

league of mine in theTucson area told meabout the position. Iknew my long-term goalwas to teach high schoolband, so I decided to ap-ply. I never expected tobeginmycareerasahighschool teacher, but I wasvery excited when I wasoffered the job.

Q: Where have youlived before, and howhas your transition tolife in Arizona been?A: I was born and

raised in a small townabout 40minutes west of

Milwaukee, WI. I movedfromWisconsin to attendWMU in Kalamazoo, MI.Arizona is now my thirdhome and is very differ-ent from life in the Mid-west. Listening toweath-er reports in Septemberabout highs coolingdown to “seasonal” 90’sisveryodd. IbelieveIwillget used to it over timethough I am looking for-ward to a white Christ-mas in the Midwest. Be-sides the climate differ-ence, I would say mytransition has beensmooth. I still enjoywak-ing up to the gorgeousviews of the surroundingmountains. I can onlyimagine the view fromaboveandcan’twait togohiking!

Q: What is this year’smarching band show?A: This year the

marching band is per-forming a show entitled“Minimally Speaking.”The music utilizes re-peating patterns com-bined in ever-changingmanners to create inter-est. The students havebeen working on the

show since two weeksbeforeclassesat theiran-nual band camp. We areexcited to perform theshow at our home foot-ball games. Additionallywewillperformtheshowat marching band festi-vals at Canyon del OroHigh School, FlowingWells High School, andtheUniversityofArizona.

Q: Any ideas for nextyear’s marching bandshow?A: Some ideas are

brewing, but I won’t giveaway any yet!

Q: What changes doyou anticipate for theband?A:Thisyear Iamwork-

ing to keep a consistentapproach to band poli-cies and procedures toease the transition for thestudents. The marchingband continues to per-form at festivals andhome football games, theconcert band will per-form in four concerts,and the jazz band willcontinue to performaround the communityand state including itstrip to the Highland Jazz

Festival.The largest change

implemented thus farhas been the eliminationof the “lock” step as amarching technique.The lock is a non-tradi-tional step which hadbeen used by the band inthe past. Because it wasnot always musicallysuitable, I decided to re-move it from marchingmaneuvers, using it in-stead at impact pointswhere a hard-edged ap-proach is appropriate.In the next two years I

also plan to improve thefacilities in the highschool band roomthrough the purchase ofmusicposture chairs andinstrument storage lock-ers. (The students cur-rently use old gym lock-ers, which many instru-ments donot fit inside.) Ianticipate furtherchanges to be madegradually over time al-ways working to expandupon the tradition of ex-cellence maintained bythe Rio Rico Bands.

New drama and dance teacher Kelly Hansenensures that her students stretch properly beforebeginning class.

NewRRHS band directoreasing students’ transition

By Morgan Falkner

Drama programmoves forward

New RRHS band teacher Rachel Gasper conducts her students at a late-September performance at theschool. PHOTO/BETHANY PATTERSON

Whatmakesasuccess-ful leader? Is it learnedorare some people born tolead? There’s one thingwe can probably agreeon -- teachers and schoolstaff play a vital role inhelping studentsbecomebetter leaders for the fu-ture.At Calabasas Middle

School, there are twonew people putting ex-citing leadership pro-grams into play, Christo-pher Jackson and Lour-des Vasquez.Christopher Jackson,

the new Dean of Stu-dents, has been encour-aging students to strivefor excellence. He doesso by referring to the SixPillars of Character: fair-ness, responsibility, re-spect, trustworthiness,caring, and citizenship.He hopes to inspire andhelp students makesense of theworld by set-ting positive goals.“We can show them

how to be successful af-ter their time with us byproviding them with anopportunity to practicesuccess while they are inschool. This philosophyextends beyond academ-ics,” Jackson said.“Social success is

every bit as important.We can do this allthrough education andby setting high goals andholding them account-able for those goals. Weneed tohelp thempartic-ipate in their education,not just be passengers init.”What are the qualities

ofagood leader? “Agoodleader provides service

to thoseheserves,knowswhen to go with a goodidea, and allows the pro-fessionals to be profes-sional and autonomouswhile providing themwith the resources need-ed to do so. We teachthem as they teach us. Agood leader isn’t ‘incharge,’ a good leaderhelps you fulfill yourgoals,” Jackson said.Calabasas Middle

School has also beenreinventing the after-school program to en-gage and prepare stu-dents for future success.Lourdes Vasquez hastaken over the 21st Cen-tury After School Pro-gram, and has highhopes for its success.This year the after-

schoolprogramisforstu-dents and communitymembers to get neededhelp andalsohavea littleextra fun while learning!There is homework helpfor the first hour of eachday. There are also en-richment activities suchas yearbook, studentcouncil, National Junior

Honors Society, arts andcrafts club, fashion club,young authors writingclub, book club, Zumba(for both adults and stu-dents), adultEnglish lan-guage learner classes,math and parent part-ners adult math classes,andweight training.Ms. Vasquez is trying

very hard to convey newand innovative ideas intothe 21st Century Com-munity Learning Cen-ters in order to involvestudents, parents, andcommunity members in“their” school.The district needs the

support of all stakehold-ers, teachers, adminis-trators, parents and stu-dents in order to educateeach and every child tothe maximum of theirpotential. Our school isopen to anyone thatneeds the services wehave to offer. Ms.Vasquez invites the com-munity to visit and seethisamazingprogramof-fered at Calabasas Mid-dle School.

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Leadership skills taught in 2programs at Calabasas MS

By Tonya LatvalaCalabasas Middle School

Dean of Students Christopher Jackson stands infront of the Character Counts Pillars that he stronglyfeels will be the basis for good education.

Lourdes Vasquez helps out her students as they jumpinto learning.

SanCayetanoreceives ‘A’ from

state for high scores

As parents we arehappy and proud whenour children bringhome A’s on their reportcard. As communitymembers we can all beproud of San CayetanoElementary for earningan “A” on its school re-port card from the Ari-zona Department of Ed-ucation. To earn an “A,”schools had to score be-tween 140 and 200. SanCayetano scored 153!Students, teachers,

staff and parentsworked very hardthroughout the entireschool year to earn thisgrade. This “partner-ship” was the formulafor San Cayetano’s suc-cess.San Cayetano’s grade

is based on the ArizonaDepartment of Educa-tion’s new A-F Account-ability System whichstates, “Academic

growth isdeterminedbycomparing the changein AIMS (Arizona’s In-strument to MeasureStandards) test scoresfrom one year to thenext for similarlyachieving studentsacross the state.This is done to evalu-

ate how well a school isgrowing its students ac-ademically as they ad-vance fromone grade tothe next. The AIMS isthe standardized testthat all studentsthroughout Arizonatake in grades 3 through12.“Beingpartofaschool

with an ‘A’ rating is veryexciting,” said fifth-grade teacher VeronicaHerrera. “It meansteachers and studentsare working hard atmeeting the goals set bythe state. It also meansstudents will be betterprepared to face the ed-ucational challenges inthe following years.”“To me it means we

have a very good staffwho strive for excel-lence. They have ourchildren’s best interestin the forefront. Theywant tobe thebest,” saidMolly Johnson, who hastwo children at SanCayetano; Brady in sec-ond-grade and Pene-lope in kindergarten.

By Debbie Condes

San Cayetano proudly announces their “A” gradeon the school marquee.

If you peek in a class-roomatPeñaBlancaEle-mentary or CalabasasMiddleSchool in thenextfew months be preparedfor a surprise.

There’s a good chancethat insteadofseeingstu-dents with their nosesburied in a book or theirpencils busily scratchingimportant notes, youmight see them actinglike children on a play-ground. They might be

running in place, wavingtheir arms furiously, bal-ancing first on one legthen the other, hoppingup and down and other-wiseworkingupa sweat.

You might think ofbeating a hasty retreat tothe principal's office towarn of trouble in theclassroom. You couldn'tbe more wrong.

Peña Blanca and Cal-abasas were chosen,alongwith five schools inthe nation, to participatein this SodexoMyFit pilotprogram. Children arebeing led in a dynamic

new program to aid andenhance learning thatmany teachers havefound a godsend in im-proving student academ-ic performance.

As a partner in the na-tional Let’s Move! cam-paign to end childhoodobesity within a genera-tion, Sodexo created thenew MyFit program as away to accelerate sus-tainable behaviorchange in childhood andcommunity wellness bymaking physical activityan integral part of theschool day.

MyFit is a technology-based educational solu-tion which uses existingclassroom space andtechnology to makephysical activity inschools both interactiveand fun. Under this pro-gram, Peña Blanca andCalabasas teachers willpromotephysical activityby showing 3-5 minutevideos called BrainBreaks® which get stu-dents up and moving.MyFit gets students ac-tive while creating a funand engaging atmos-

phere which ultimatelyleads to a healthier andmore effective learningenvironment.

The program followsthe coordinated schoolhealth concept recom-mended by the Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention as a strategyfor improving health andstudent well-being insupport of academic suc-cess.

Coordinated schoolhealth is a systematic ap-proach that brings to-gether administrators,

teachers, staff, students,parents, education part-ners and the communityto promote and addresseight key components ofstudent health and edu-cational development.

At the beginning of theschool year, teachersfromCalabasasandPeñaBlanca attended a two-hour class to learn howthe program works. Thepilot program will rununtil the end of Decem-ber.

By Rachel CarrollFood Service Director

SantaCruz

ValleyDistrict#35

Fall2012New

sletter,Page5

School meals make youth healthierIf it’s been a while

since you ate in a schoolcafeteria then you reallyneed to visit the cafete-rias at Santa Cruz ValleyUnified School DistrictNo. 35. We have come along way and this yearbrings even morechanges to the foods weserve to our students,teachersandadministra-tors.

The Healthy HungerFree Kids Act (HHFKA)was signed into law inDecember 2010. TheU.S. Department of Agri-culture, the agency thatoversees meal programssaid, “This legislation in-cludes significant im-provements that willhelp children withhealthier and more nu-

tritious food options, ed-ucate children aboutmaking healthy foodchoices, and teach chil-dren healthy habits thatcan last a lifetime.”

Improvements toschool lunch and break-fasts will be phased inover the next 10 years.These include replacingrefined grain productswith whole-grain en-riched foods, reducingsodium levels, and in-creasing the offerings offruits and vegetables.Webegan making changesto our meals during thelast month of our sum-mer program.

With the creation of adistrict Wellness policyin 2006, we have beenadapting our meals tomeet district standards.The district policy in-sured that less than halfof the baked goods

served were refinedgrain products. The newlaw directs that morethan half will be whole-grain, a standard withwhich we are alreadycomplying in our rolls,buns and pizza crust.

Wearewellonourwayto being a completelywhole-grain district.Currently more than 90percent of our bakedgoods are whole-grain.

We are also adaptingour recipes to reducesodium levels. At thehighschool, studentscanadd freshly roastedwhole peppers to theirsandwich or salad, re-placing the pickled high-sodium jalapeño previ-ously used. Finally, ourlocal suppliers are work-ing to adapt their prod-ucts to make healthy op-tions the norm.

The USDA also has

changed the way it com-municates to adults andchildren about recom-mendations for dailyfood intake. The foodpyramid has been re-placed with a plate mod-el that teaches studentsthe five componentsneeded to make ahealthy meal.

Known as Myplate,this model teaches chil-dren the food groups ofdairy, protein, grain,fruits and vegetables. Acomplete meal must in-clude a full serving of ei-ther fruits or vegetableswith half the plate com-prised of fruit and veg-etables.

In order to participatein the National SchoolLunch and BreakfastProgram, a district mustpromote and complywith the new guidelinesof this law. For more in-

formation about the newguidelines, please feelfree to contact the dis-trict’sChildNutritionDe-partment at (520) 375-

8277. To visit a schoolcafeteria, check in withthe school’s front officefirst.

By Rachel CarrollFood Service Director

Physical activity becomes integral part of day

Teachers from Calabasas Middle School and Peña Blanca Elementary receivetraining on a new exercise program called MyFit.

The walking path onPendleton Drive andAvenida Coatimundi hasbeen a beautiful piece ofthe Rio Rico communitysince it was built. Much

of its continued beautycan now be credited to agroup of CoatimundiMiddle School students.

National Junior HonorSociety and StudentCouncil teamed up withthe Rio Rico Knights ofColumbus on a brightSeptember Saturday toclean up Avenida Coat-imundi and its walkingpath. As the Knights re-moved trash from theside of the road, sevenstudents and two adultsworked on the path.

Jill Hammond, the Na-tional JuniorHonor Soci-ety's advisor, was one ofthe adults involved in thecleanup. “I think it was apositive experience for

everyone involved,” shesaid. “Peoplehonkedandwaved on the roadwayand some people thatwereusing thepathactu-ally thanked us for pick-ing up trash,” she added.

“The kids were reallyterrific,” said Jerry Alves,an organizer for thecleanup. He added thattheir hard work madethe event go by veryquickly. The groups fin-ished their volunteerwork in just under anhour and a half, havingpicked up every piece oftrash they could findfrom Pendleton to Coat-imundi Middle School.

According toAlves, thegarbage was disposed of

at the Rio Rico Landfill.Since the Knights ofColumbus volunteered

to care for Avenida Coat-imundiunderSantaCruzCounty's “Adopt a Road”

program, the cost of dis-posal was billed to thecounty.

5th graders identify traits of a heroWhat is a hero? Ten-

year-old Laura Roblesmulled over the questionas she completed a sur-vey given to nearly 100Mountain View fifth-graders as part of an as-signment addressingsources of inspiration.Olympic Gold Medalist,Michael Phelps toppedher list of candidates.

Questions like this setthe mind in motion, anddepending on one’s ageand culture, produce averitable smorgasbordofcharacters, each heldclose to the heart. Itseems to be part of thehuman experience thatwe emulate others,

whether real, pulp, ordigital.

Common characteris-tics of heroes have in-cluded strength, ingenu-ity, skill, talent, and brav-ery. We admire thosewho do what we dreamofdoing; thosewhoover-come the same fears wehave. But is there more?Can the broad field ofthose who qualify as he-roes be narrowed?

“I think a hero has tobe unselfish,” wroteMario Valenzuela, andhis was not an isolatedopinion.

According to the re-sults of the informal sur-vey, 81 percent believe ahero is not only a personof exceptional skill orcharacter, but one who

uses those traits in theservice of others, often atgreat cost to themselves.Hence, to qualify for“hero” status, a 9/11 fire-fighter would not onlyneed to be brave, butcourageous enough torisk his life to rescuetrapped victims from atrembling Twin Tower.

Perhaps a more in-triguing survey findingwas the percentage ofstudents who saw as he-roes, individuals whoperform not only dra-matic acts of selflessnessbut those who daily laydown their lives throughmundane sacrifice. As aresult of this perspective64 percent of studentssurveyed included theirparents as heroes. “My

mom ismy hero becauseshe teaches me things soI don’t make the samemistakes she made,”wrote Gwen Knight, age10.

Other ‘hero’ charac-teristics included hardworking -- a trait oftenundervalued in our post-WW II entertainmentculture--bravery,humil-ity, and determination.

Who are the unspokenheroes in your life? Doyou recognize selfless in-dividuals whose acts ofheroism may be dramat-ic ormundane? They areall around us -- everydaypeople doing extraordi-nary things for the bene-fit of others.

By Mark Dittmar

Students help clean popular walking path

Helping to clean a popular walkway are, from left, Patrick Hays, Jill Hammond,Andres Quintero, Andrea Gonzalez and Paloma Orozco. PHOTO/JOHN HAYSPa

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Mountain View Elementary fifth grader Laura Roblesreads about her hero, Michael Phelps, and his deter-mination.

By Patrick Echlin

SantaCruz

ValleyDistrict#35

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AIMS tutoring offered at high schoolInanticipationof the late

October administration ofAIMS (Arizona’s Instru-ment to Measure Stan-dards) re-take exams, RioRico High School has be-gun a major push to pre-pare students for the Read-ing andWriting tests.The initiative involves

after-school hour-and-a-half long tutoring sessionson Mondays and Thurs-days by the school's sopho-more, junior, and senior-level English teachers,plus the school's instruc-tional leader, SandraFigueroa."WewantedtheAIMStu-

toring to be another wayfor our students to get thehelp they need," said Prin-cipal Shelly Vroegh. "Wewant our students to grad-uate on time and by offer-ingthisadditionalopportu-nity, studentswillbeable tohave that chance."As of mid-September,

when the tutoring sessionsbegan, about two dozenstudentshadavailed them-

selves of the opportunity toimprove their readinessfor the AIMS tests. Thereare 101 students whomustpass the Reading test, and160 who need to pass theWriting exam."Our (AIMS passage)

numbers for juniors andseniors passing the secondand third attempts haven’tbeen too high in the past,but hopefully with somesupport that will change,"said Judy Kennedy, theschool's student achieve-ment coordinator.She added: "Tutoring

students that are at risk ofnot passing AIMS based ontheir success in the class-room, on benchmark test-ing, or based on their pastAIMS results, can help en-sure they are successful onthe test."Leslie Schupp, who

teaches English to RRHSjuniors and seniors, saidshe thought her first tutor-ing session went well. “It’snice to have time to look attheir essays,” she said. “All(of the students) wanted tobehereandwereontask. Itwent really well.”

By Morgan Falkner

Structured English Immersion teacher Ayda Sandoval works with students at the tutoring kick-off eventin September. PHOTO/BETHANY PATTERSON

Page8,SantaCruzValleyDistrict#35Fall2012Newsletter

Focused efforts lead to higher scoresIt is not by accident

that RioRicoHigh Schoolhas made increases instudents' reading andmathAIMS(Arizona’s In-strument to MeasureStandards) scores for thelast two years.The school has been

strategic and intentionalabout its work. RRHS ed-ucators have put a laserfocus on student learn-ing. We know that themost important factor instudent learning is whatwedo as teachers.We al-so know that learninghas tobemeaningful,au-thentic, and purposefulfor all.Therefore, together

we have establishedthree goals that guide allour professional conver-sations. Our first goal isto become an interde-pendent team workingfrom our strengths toachieve our commongoal “Learning,” for

which we hold each oth-er accountable.Our second goal is to

focus on “student learn-ing.” We believe that allstudents can and willlearn at high levels. Ourthird goal is to hold eachother accountable bygathering as much evi-dence of learning as pos-sible.We identified several

factors that contributedto the increase in studentlearning. First, we disag-gregated, analyzed, andused our data to find ourgreatest studentstrengths and greatestareas of need at the be-ginning of each schoolyear.Through this process,

we identified that ourstudents can read wordswell, and even sound flu-ent, but they do not com-prehend what they readwell enough to be able toanalyze or respond totext. We also determinedthat studentsdonotwritefor audience and pur-pose, and need lots ofsupport with academic

vocabulary in order forthem to express them-selves, learn,andthinkathigh levels.Reading and writing

are reciprocal processes,yet our students did notperform well in writing;theywerenot expressingtheir thinking in infor-mational and literarytexts. In addition, we dis-covered that inanalyzingour math data, our stu-dents did not performwell with algebraic func-tions, number concepts,and logic.As a result of our data

analysis, we instituted anumber of changes inthe way we worked to-gether to provide in-struction.Wealignedourcalendarandcurriculumguide to the newly re-vised state standards.We adopted a new

math curriculum, andourcurriculum301mathcommittee began tostudy the new Collegeand Career CommonCoreStateStandards thatwill be implementedstatewide in the next two

years.As a collaborative

team, we met weekly tocritiqueour instructionalpractices and discussstudent performance.We observed video clipsof expert teachers andeach other’s classroomsto improve our teaching.

We assessed studentperformance frequentlyandusedtheresults to fo-cus instruction. Finally,we increased opportuni-ties for students to en-gage in writing projectsin English, science, so-cial studiesandvocation-al classes.

Our increase in stu-dent achievement wasno accident. We believethat our increase in stu-dent achievement is dueto commitment to ourprofessional learningcommunity, our collabo-ration, and our sharedlearning.

By Sandra C. FigueroaInstructional Specialist

Year Reading Writing Math2010 65% 53% 49%22001111 7777%% 5577%% 5511%%22001122 8822%% 6666%% 6655%%

Percentage of Rio Rico High School sophomore students “meeting” or “exceeding” standards in reading, writing and mathematics on Arizona’s Instrumentto Measure Standards (AIMS) test.

Math instructor Janna Larson provides direct instruction during a recent class.

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Banner highlights great attributes

First-year teacher Eri-ka Barre’s fourth-gradeclass is the first to be rec-ognized as a “Class ofCharacter,” part of PeñaBlanca’s new StudentMorale and Recognitionprogram.Ms. Barre’s students

were observed demon-strating trustworthinessduring the month of Au-gust and awarded aCharacter Counts!®banner to display in theirroom.“Our goal is to provide

activities and events thatbuild studentmoraleandrecognize our student

achievements” said Jen-nifer Alejos, StudentMorale and RecognitionCommittee member andart teacher. “We decidedto focus on theCharacterCounts!® program toadvance our school be-havior plan and promotecitizenship throughoutthe school.”The Character

Counts!® program aimsto teach universal valuesto students across thecountry. The frameworkof the program is basedon theSixPillars ofChar-acter: trustworthiness,respect, responsibility,fairness, caring and citi-zenship.Peña Blanca will high-

light one pillar eachmonthwith support fromcounselor-led lessons forall classes and by award-ing a banner to the classthat best demonstrates it.The art, music, com-

puter, P.E. and libraryteachers were chosen tovoteon theclass that rep-resents the designatedpillar for that particularmonth.

“Sincewe see all of thestudents, we are easilyable to observe whichclass strongly representsthe pillar,” said Mrs. Ale-jos.Ms. Barre’s class washighlighted for beinghonest, loyal, reliable,and showing courage.The programwill con-

tinue eachmonth for the

rest of the school year.“It’s great to see the kidsget excited about theirpositive actions and setanexample for therestofthe school,” said Ms.Barre. “Everybody likestobe recognized forgoodbehavior. We hope toearn another banner thisyear.”

By Melissa Holland

Ms. Barre’s fourth-grade class proudly stands in frontof their Class of Character trustworthiness bannerpresented by Jennifer Alejos, Peña Blanca artteacher and Student Morale and Recognition com-mittee member.

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Reduce,reuse,recycle.Three words all mem-bersofPeñaBlanca’sStu-dent Council (STUCO)know very well. Recy-clinghasbecomeaprior-ity for the council overthe last few years.The students want to

help the environmentand keep trash out of lo-cal landfills by recyclingplastic bottles and con-tainers, aluminum cans,and drink pouches.Since 2009, STUCO

has recycled more than50,000 drink pouchesand over 10,000 plasticand aluminum items.“Themission of the PeñaBlanca Student Councilis to provide students anopportunity to be lead-ers,” said JessicaSanchez, STUCO advisorand school counselor.“It’s exciting to see

themgetso involvedwiththe recycling programand set such a positiveexample for the schooland community.”The school recycles

the empty drink pouchesthrough a programcalled TerraCycle. Theirpurpose is to eliminatethe idea of waste by cre-ating recycling systemsfor hard-to-recycleitems.Here’s how it works:

studentsplacetheiremp-ty drink pouches in a binduring lunch (teachersalso collect pouchesbrought in from home),STUCOmembers box upthe pouches and sendthem off to the TerraCy-

cle recycling center inNewJersey everymonth.TerraCycle provides

free shipping for theschool and each pouch isworth one point or onecent. So far, Peña Blancahas earned over 51,000points which will beturned into cash for PeñaBlanca’s STUCO andused tohelppay for itemsto better the school.Additionally, 10 recy-

cling bins have beenplaced throughout theschool as part of theDream Machine RecycleRally ™ program. Thegoal of the program is toraise awareness of theimportance of recyclingin schools and make itpart of everyday behav-ior.“Since the program

started last winter, we’vehad students, staff, andparentsbring inbagsandbags of items to be recy-cled,” Mrs. Sanchez said.“At first it was hard tokeepupwith thenumberof itemswewere getting.

But the students reallytook charge and now wehave a great system.”STUCO members

empty the bins, weighthe bags, and upload theamountofcollectedrecy-cling to their online ac-count. Finally, the bagsare placed in the largebins behind the schooland picked up by WasteManagementwhere theyare then taken to a recy-cling facility.“The recycling helps

raise money for ourschool and keeps trashfrom ending up in thelandfills and destroyingthe Earth,” said StudentCouncil President EricMonge. “All the plastic,aluminum, and drinkpouches we collect willbe reused and this willhelp make our planet abetter place. “Find out more about

the recycling programsby visitingwww.dreammachinerecyclerally.com andwww.terracycle.com.

Recycling programshuge success at PB

By Melissa Holland

Eric Monge, president of Peña Blanca’sStudent Council, recycles a plasticwater bottle at lunch. The DreamMachine Recycle Rally ™ program ispart of a school-wide effort to keeptrash out of local landfills.

Jessica Sanchez, Pena Blanca counselorand student council (STUCO) advisor,adds a bag of plastic containersbrought in from a parent to the recy-cling center in the teacher workroom.STUCO members gather up the recy-cling from the 10 bins placed aroundthe school monthly for WasteManagement where it then gets takento a recycling facility.

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For the 2011-2012school-year, the ArizonaDepartment of Educa-tion awarded CalabasasMiddle School a “B”grade. Although this is agood grade, it doesn’t tellthewhole story about theachievements and ad-vances made by ourschool, nor does it ex-plain what Calabasasdoes to help close the

achievement gap.One of the ways Cal-

abasas works with stu-dents toensuresuccess isthrough The Cycle forSuccess program. This isan after-school tutorialprogram for studentswhoneedadditionalhelpin an area of study. Stu-dents receive direct as-sistance from teachers,and are provided multi-ple opportunities forpractice. Enrichmentlessons are providedthose students who havemastered a concept.

Calabasas MiddleSchool has what it takesto teach the students andto guarantee their suc-cess. Just ask the stu-dents and staff how theyfeel about this school. Orbetter yet, see for your-self what a great schoolCalabasas really is. Oursite councilmeetings arealways open to the pub-lic. In addition, PrincipalDavid Verdugo is alwayshappy to visit with par-ents, exchange ideas,and discuss the school’svarious programs.

After-school tutoringsupporting studentsBy Tonya Latvala and

Julie Ballard

Calabasas Middle School

Principal David Verdugo stands with a class that he has come to be involved in.

Thanks to the NogalesInternational and advertisers

for their support.This newsletter is published at

no cost to taxpayers.

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Leadership is definedas “the quality of thosewho take charge or showthe way.” Ms. KimBartholomew, third-grade teacher and spon-sor of San Cayetano Ele-mentary School’s newchapter of the NationalElementary Honor Soci-ety (NEHS), will “showthe way” to 20 fourth-and fifth-grade studentsas they develop theiremerging leadershipskills.High standards are at

the core of the NEHS be-lief. NEHS “provides

member elementaryschools opportunities tohonor students whodemonstrate excellencein the areas of scholar-ship and responsibility,and to promote leader-ship and service as es-sential life skills.”San Cayetano students

will be held to high stan-dards tokeep theirmem-bership in NEHS. Theywill have the responsibil-ity of maintaining honorroll grades (A’s and B’s)aswellascompletingfivecommunity servicehours per semester.Under Ms.

Bartholomew’s leader-ship, studentswill partic-ipate inanumberofproj-ects to better their schooland their community.They will be heading theSan Cayetano recyclingprogram, the food drive,and help to create a“KindSchool” inpartner-ship with the Tucsonnonprofit organizationBen’s Bells.“I am extremely excit-

ed to be a part of the first

National ElementaryHonor Society at SanCayetano Elementary. Iam glad that we are ableto recognize the ex-celling students at ourschool and help them tobecome amazing rolemodels,” said Ms.Bartholomew about hernew endeavor.“Through our service

projects, I hope to en-courage students to beactive members of theircommunity; always sup-porting others withoutexpecting anything in re-turn.”Amber Boswell, in

fourth grade and anNEHS member, said, “Iam most excited aboutbeingamemberofNEHSsoIcanhelpotherpeopleand help the communitybe a better place.”For more information

about National Elemen-tary Honor Society, visitwww.nehs.org

Honor society forelementary gradessalutes youngsters

By Debbie Condes

Ms. Kim Bartholomew, left, San Cayetano’s National Elementary Honor Societysponsor, joins the school’s new inductees at their induction ceremony held inSeptember.

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On the morning ofSept. 24, the Hawkettes,Rio Rico High School’scheerleading squad,marched in full uniformfrom the high school tonearby San Cayetano El-ementary School as theykicked-off their fall“Cheer Mentor” pro-gram.

Cheer Mentor is aservice-oriented project

initiated by the school’snew cheerleading coach,Shannon Payne. As partof this program, cheer-leaders commit to spendtheir free-time mentor-ing younger students inthe Santa Cruz ValleyUnified School DistrictNo. 35.

Their goals are to as-sist students by readingto them, engaging themin discussions about re-sponsibility, and talking

with them about what ittakes to be a Hawkette.

“Iamhoping thesquadcan inspire and build in-terest in studentsbecom-ing cheerleaders whenthey enter high school,”Payne said. “As mentors,they are serving as rolemodels – tutoringyounger students inreading while demon-strating responsibilityand a love for reading.”

RRHS Hawketteskick off ‘CheerMentor’ program

Duo-teaching Hawkettes Marcy Quinones and Michelle Arreola take questionsfrom eager kindergarten students. PHOTOS /CAROL CULLEN

Hawkette Andrea Fuentes reads with Issabella Alcaraz, kindergarten student.

By Carol Cullen

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Rio Rico HS wins $5,000 library grantThe Arizona Dia-

mondbacks Foundationannounced last weekthat RioRicoHigh Schooland 30 other Arizonaschools were grant win-ners in the “D-backs$150,000 Back-To-School Challenge,” pre-sented by the Universityof Phoenix. RioRicoHighSchool will receive$5,000 for their Innova-tion/Technology sub-mission. Money will beused for the RRHS Li-brary Computer LabProject to update equip-ment for instruction andstudent use.

On Oct. 11, 2012, D-Backs Communicationsissued the followingstatement:

With nearly 600 sub-missions from Arizonaschools, the winninggrants will fund projectsranging in need fromschool improvements toinnovative educationalprograms.

“We were extremelyimpressedwith the inno-

vative projects that Ari-zona teachers and prin-cipals have submittedwhichwill leavea lastingimpact on not only eachindividual student buteach school’s extendedcommunity,” said D-backsPresidentandCEODerrick Hall. “This pro-gram is an investment inthe future of Arizona andwe are thrilled to be ableto help encourage cre-ativity that will enhancetheacademicexperiencefor students and satisfythe profound need of somany schools through-out the state.”

Winning schools willuse the grant money tosatisfy an array of needs.School improvementsrange from automaticdoors for kids with dis-abilities to a computerlab upgrade. Nutritionand fitness projects in-clude new and revital-ized campus gardens topromote healthy eatingand feature a rainwaterharvesting system. Oneschool has requested thegrant for supplies to sup-

port a farmer’smarket inorder to sell the home-grown vegetables andfruits to people in theircommunity. Additionalprojects featured highlyinnovative educationalprograms, including: anonline school newspa-per, student-designedand constructed solarhouse, a micro-powergrid utilizing solar andhydro energy alterna-tives, and iPad technolo-gy to host debates viaSkype with a partnerschool in India.

Thirty-one schoolswere awarded thegrants, instead of theoriginally announced 30schools, toaccommodatethe needs of two schoolsthat will split a $5,000grant to improve theirschool gardens. Eachwinning school will behonored and receive acheck on the field at a2013 D-backs game nextApril and May at ChaseField. The D-backs willdonate 1,000 tickets forstudents, parents, teach-ers and staff to attend the

D-backs’ game in whichtheir school will be hon-ored.

“The winners of the$150,000 School Chal-lenge are looking to im-prove their personal

classrooms and create abetter learning experi-ence for future genera-tions,” said Dr. Bill Pepi-cello, president of Uni-versity of Phoenix. “Ourschools are facing tough

challenges but these en-tries prove that creativityand hard work thrives inthe Valley’s educators.University of Phoenixcongratulates the win-ners.”

By Carol Cullen

RRHS students use the career and technical education computers, but will soonhave upgraded equipment available in the school library with the D-Backsaward. PHOTO /CAROL CULLEN

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For the past year,SCVUSDNo.35hasmadeit possible for parents tomonitor their child’s aca-demic progress fromhome on a 24-hour basisthrough the internet.

Information is avail-able through the elec-tronic program called“Synergy Parent Portal”which is accessiblethrough the district web-site(www.santacruz.k12.az.us).

Information is confi-dential and limited only

to the records of studentsfor each specific parentorguardian.Available in-formation includes dailygrades, test scores, atten-dance, health records,and other informationprovided by the class-room teacher.

If you are interested inlearningmoreabouthowto access your child’srecords, please contactthe school secretary atyour child’s school. Thesecretary will provideyou with more informa-tion on how to use “Syn-ergy Parent Portal” andyour own secure log-inpassword.

Check outyour child'swork fromyourhome

By Carol Cullen

The 2012 RRHS Senior Classgift to the school, “SoaringHawk” by local sculptor DavidVoisard, now soars atop theschool library. PHOTO /CAROL CULLEN

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ADEcreated thenewA-Flettergradesystemasawaytoprovideclear,easy-toun-derstandinformationaboutthe academic performanceof schools. The A-F gradesarebasedonacombinationof AIMS (Arizona’s Instru-ment to Measure Stan-dards) results and academ-icgrowthfromthepreviousyear.For Peña Blanca Ele-

mentary, several AIMSachievements contributedappreciably to the im-proved grade. In one fifth-grade class, 88 percent ofthe studentsmasteredall ofthe skills on the reading

test. Equally important, theentire third grade showedthe most overall improve-ment with an eight percentgain in reading and 13 per-cent gain in math from theprevious year.Teachers attribute the

growth and improvementto the new curriculum thedistricthasput inplaceoverthe last few years. A re-search-based K-5 readingandmathprogramhaspro-vided them with the toolsthey need to help all stu-dents achieve success.“WithReadingStreetand

Envision Math we are ableto successfully differentiateinstruction and give all ofourstudents the individual-ized attention they need,”said Imelda Romero, third-grade teacheratPeñaBlan-ca. “The materials, manip-ulatives,andtechnologyre-sources available to us noware really allowing us totake our students to a high-er level.”Programs such as small-

group reading interven-tions, after-school math tu-toring, andprofessional de-velopment opportunitiesfor staff helped even thosestudents who are most atrisk of failing to increasetheir learning.“All the students had the

support they needed to be

successful. Theywanted todo well for themselves andfor their teachers,” ex-plained Huerta. Every stu-dent in the third throughfifth grades met with theprincipalearly intheyeartodiscuss the meaning andimportance of the AIMStests.Culminating activities

during the week of AIMStesting were implementedto promote a positive cli-mate for both students andteachers. A healthy snackwas given to students withperfect attendance, teach-ers were given spirit shirtsto wear each day to showsupport, and students weregiven outdoor time to givethemtheenergy theyneed-ed to be successful.“It’s a stressful time for

everyone but we knew wewere ready,” Romero said.“We encouraged our stu-dents fromthebeginningofthe year and their confi-dence continued to grow.”“It definitely paid off,”

Huerta said. “Butweare al-wayslookingaheadandI’mconfident an ‘A’ rating isnext for us.”

MATERIALSContinuedfromPage1

Melissa Holland

Got 20 minutes?Read to a child every day!!

Educate Everyone Every Day

Are you smarter than an eighth grader?Read the problem and select the correct answer.

A. 105B. 210C. 420D. 500

Students submitted pictures for the school yearbook. Only 4/5 of the submitted picturesfit in the yearbook. There were 105 pictures that did not fit. Approximately how manytotal pictures were submitted for the yearbook?

Visit www.santacruz.k12.az.us to view the video of our eighth-grade student giving thecorrect answer to the question.

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www.nogalesinternational.com/scvsun

The governing board meets thesecond and fourth Tuesdays of

each month.

Checkwww.santacruz.k12.az.us

for the agenda.

Meetings are opento the public.

Because of this anomaly,a news service from Tuc-son, ThinkingArizona.com,called to ask what was go-ing on in Santa Cruz ValleyUSD No. 35.

We have been workinghard as teachers and ad-ministrators over the pastseveral years. Here are justa few of our accomplish-ments:

• We have always beenproud of our English lan-guage learner reclassifica-tion rate, usually two tothree times that of otherschool districts.

• In the last five years wehave purchased new in-structional materials forour schools. Three yearsago we purchased a newreading program for our el-ementary schools, and lastyear new math materials

for all of our schools.• Our Title I program en-

hanced our reading inter-vention program with ateam of intervention aidesat our elementary schools.

• Professional develop-ment activities wereplanned to assist our teach-ing staff as these new read-ing and math programswere implemented.

• We were successful inopening the firstFamilyRe-source Center associatedwith a school district in thecounty. This center is fund-ed with First Things Firstmoney and its mission is toprepare children from theage of 0 to 5 for school.

All of those things wentthroughmymindas Ispoketo the representative fromThinking Arizona. As I list-ed all of these initiatives Iremembered the adagethat “the whole is greaterthan the sum of its parts.”

Several years ago ourgoverning board studied tounderstand the importanceof early childhood literacy.At that time an initiativewas started to “EducateEveryone Every Day.” Thegoal is to have 90 percent ofour third-grade studentsreading at grade level.Everyone understood thatit would take a communityeffort to achieve this goal.

That is when you beganto see our vision statementon school buses and the“Got 20 minutes…read to achild” slogan on newslet-ters and signs around the

district. Our communityneeded to assist us with thisgoal. We have not achievedthe 90 percent goal yet, butit is within reach.

Our district and govern-ingboardhavealwaysbeenout-front related to focus-ing on what is good for ourcommunity’s children. Thestate of Arizona recentlypassed legislation, “Moveon When Reading,” thatforces school districts to re-tain third-grade studentswho“FallFarBelow”ontheAIMS test. We knew the im-portanceofhavingchildrenat grade level long beforethe Arizona Legislaturemandated this standard.

So, the “A” for the schooldistrict isapointofpride forour entire community. It isnot just the result of the ef-forts of our school district.

It is about a communitythat wants their children tobe successful in school; it isabout students coming toschool and working hard; itis about teachers who insistthat our children will learn;it is about the people whowork at our schools caringdeeply about our children;and it is about an adminis-tration and governingboard that want to bring re-sources to bear successful-ly on meeting our impor-tant goals.

Thank you for your sup-port of this initiative. The“A” rating is a point of pridefor our community.

A GRADEContinuedfromPage1

Rod Rich, Superintendent,SCVUSD No. 35

Another notable areawas sixth grade readingwhere 85 percent of Coat-imundi students “Met” or“Exceeded” the state'sstandards.

Not surprisingly, thesixth- and seventh-gradelanguage arts teachersshare very similar thoughtsabout their success. Per-haps the most obvious: forstudentstobegoodreaders,

theyneed to readeveryday.“Requiring students to readhas been a huge help,” saidToniSchadler, a sixthgradelanguage arts teacher.

While students are re-quired to read at certainpoints throughout the day,theyareencouragedtopickbooks that interest them.The Independent Readerprogram that Coatimundiuses helps students to findbooks at their level.

“Students read over2,000 books at their ownpersonal level last year,”said Beth Vartola, a seventhgrade language artsteacher.

Keeping students inter-ested is very important totheir success. Making alearning experience into agame (or vice versa) canenhance student interest ina subject. The seventh-grade team's “Survivor”competitions leave stu-dents competing with theirknowledge to be the lastteam standing.

Underneath the excite-ment of daily class is heavi-ly planned structure. Every

day at Coatimundi, teach-ers spend time collaborat-ingtocomeupwith thebestpossible lessons. Lessonsare structured so that stu-dents are held accountableregularly for what has beentaught.

They are not allowed toforget something they hadpreviously mastered.“Teaching and reteachingare always crucial whenmastering skills” saidSchadler.

Or,asVartolaputs it, “Re-view! Review! Review!”

READINGContinuedfromPage1

Patrick EchlinTeacher Beth Vartola.

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This fall, Peña BlancaElementary School’sBooster Club hosted oneof the most successfulMexican cultural eventsin recent years – FiestaMexicana.

Fiesta Mexicana at-tracted over 300 peopleto the school and raisedmore than $3,000. Themoneywillbeusedtopayfor extras in each gradelevel such as field trips,classroom supplies andother items. Generousdonations were given by

parents and local pro-duce companies.

The after-school cul-tural event highlightedMexican food, music andgames. Food selectionsincluded tamales, tacosde chicharron, tinga,churros and elotes. Mu-sic was provided by theMariachideTonyEnciso,paid entirely through do-nationsfromparents.Ex-amples of Mexican fami-ly games were Loteriaand Balero.

Theeveningculminat-ed with a colorful Mexi-cancultureBest-Dressedcontest, in which morethan 50 people compet-

ed. Winners were DiegoAinza, Diego Reyes, Xi-mena Castillo, Kassan-dra Hernandez, Alessan-dra Hernandez and An-thony Monge.

“We are extremelyproud of the students,families and communitymembers who con-tributed and joined us tomake this so successful,”said Cecilia Reyes, boost-erclubpresident. “This isanexampleofhowweallcontribute to the successof our schools. It’s anoth-er reason why we’re an‘A’ district (as designatedby the Arizona Depart-ment of Education).”

Fiesta Mexicana brings300 to Peña Blanca

Above:Winners in the best dressed contest receive a $25Walmart gift card, bur-rito piñata full of goodies, and a toy. Back row, from left, are Diego Ainza, DiegoReyes and Ximena Castillo. Front, from left, are Kassandra Hernandez,Alessandra Hernandez and Anthony Monge. Below: Valeria Torres and MarianaTorres enjoy the food.

By Monica TorresParent Liaison

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