Here is a sampling of news articles about PUPC.
Select a link below to see what is being said by and/or about the
organization.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
PUPC meeting aims to aid student
difficulties
Steve Savoy, PUSD’s
administrator for academic services, and Bill Lamperes,
director of the Peoria Transition Center, are
scheduled to speak on special services available to
students in PUSD elementary and high schools.
By Jean Bihn,
Reporter
Parents of students who
are struggling in school may want to mark their
calendars for 7 to 8 p.m. Oct. 25 for
two meetings hosted by the Peoria United Parent
Council.
The first meeting,
featuring speakers talking about services available
for students with educational challenges, is set for 7
to 7:30 p.m. in the training room of the Peoria
Unified School District Administration Center, 6330 W.
Thunderbird Road.
A second meeting is
planned immediately following the first, a PUPC
Support Group led by Bettie Jordan.
Jordan, a foster parent
and chair of the support group, is scheduled to
discuss the importance of maintaining records about
your child’s special education experience. Each
participant will receive a booklet on record keeping.
“We have been working
with Bettie Jordan and had a meeting last year on
students with special needs,” PUPC Vice President Jan
Wilson said. “We had parents of students with autism,
ADD/ADHD, disabilities and behavioral issues in
attendance.”
Steve Savoy, PUSD’s
administrator for academic services, and Bill Lamperes,
director of the Peoria Transition Center, are
scheduled to speak on special services available to
students in PUSD elementary and high schools.
Organizers said along
with information about services, contacts for many
specialized organizations would be provided.
“We just want to be there
for these parents to introduce them to programs
available through the school district and other
agencies,” Wilson said.
The term special needs,
she said, refers to a myriad of issues from gifted
students to those with behavioral issues.
Wilson invited
individuals with an interest in the topic to attend
the meeting.
“This is open for anybody
in the community, because I think parents really need
this information. It is such an emotional issue when
it’s your child,” she said.
The Peoria United Parent
Council, a parent group dedicated to advocating for
children throughout the district, was established in
2004. To receive a free copy of the PUPC e-newsletter,
send an e-mail to
PeoriaUPC@aol.com.
Superintendent backs closed campuses
Meghan E. Moravcik
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 4, 2007 09:49 AM
Arizona schools Superintendent Tom Horne is the latest to weigh in on
the Peoria Unified lunchtime closed campus issue - and he thinks the
district made the right decision.
Horne said high school campuses should be closed during lunchtime for
three reasons: to keep students safe, because students sometimes
"don't return in a good frame of mind for learning," and because
students will eat healthier if they eat on campus.
Horne served on the Paradise Valley Unified school board when it voted
to close campuses, about 15 years ago.
Tom Horne
"Just in time for my own children's arrival in high school, and they
were very upset with me," Horne said. "But I believe very strongly
that it's the right thing to do."
The Peoria Unified governing board voted last spring to change the
policy from one that was open to all juniors and seniors to one that
only allowed juniors and seniors with a "C" average and parent
permission to leave campus for lunch. So many parents and students see
this year's vote, which was split 3-2, to close the campuses to all
students at lunch as one that takes away parental rights.
But Horne said the problem with the parent permission policy is that
kids tell their parents that everyone else is getting permission to
leave.
"It puts a lot of pressure on the parents, and I think the
overwhelming majority of parents would rather have a rule in place
that keeps students on campus," Horne said.
Horne did say, though, that Peoria school officials need to find a way
to solve their space problem. District officials have said there is
not enough room now in the cafeterias for all students to eat inside,
so some students will be stuck eating outside, even during the hotter
months.
"We made sure there were adequate facilities in Paradise Valley,"
Horne said.
Reach the reporter at (602) 444-6943.
Peoria Unified closes high school campuses
during lunchtime
Meghan E. Moravcik
The Arizona Republic
May. 9, 2007 02:26 PM
It has been about a year and a half since the debate began over
whether to close high school campuses to all students during
lunchtime. In that time, there has been a community committee
review, various surveys, hours of public comment, the implementation
of a more stringent - but not completely closed - policy, and an
election that changed the face of the governing board.
But the debate came to an end at Tuesday's meeting when the board
voted 3-2 to close the campuses to all students, except those who
need to leave early for things like internships, off-site classes or
work.
Members Kathy Knecht, Diane Douglas and Rick Murphy voted to close
the campuses. Board president Pat Galbraith and member Debra Raeder
voted against the measure.
The debate boiled down to safety vs. parental rights. Some parents
argued the campuses should be closed before a student is seriously
hurt or killed in an accident. Other parents argued in favor of
keeping the current policy, which gives them the ability to decide
whether their child is allowed to leave during lunchtime.
Raeder said that although her son, who is a senior in the district,
has a license, she does not allow him to leave school for lunch.
"That doesn't mean I didn't believe I had that right (to decide),"
Raeder said. She voted last year in favor of the current policy,
which allows juniors and seniors with at least a "C" average and
parent permission to leave for lunch.
Knecht said that while all arguments in the debate have validity,
"none of those issues has greater weight than safety . . . the lives
of students are stakes that are just too high to gamble."
The board didn't specify when the new closed campus policy would go
into effect. District officials believe it will be implemented in
the fall, once high school administrators have had time to prepare
for the extra students on campus during lunch. The board also had no
discussion on whether the new policy will cost the district money
for such things as additional lunchtime seating and shade
structures.
Timeline of Peoria's open/closed campus issue
November
2005: The Peoria United Parent Council holds a meeting to
discuss the district's open campus policy.
December: The Peoria governing board agrees to
consider the issue, and starts by setting up a community advisory
committee.
March 2006: After several meetings, the community committee
narrows the options to three choices, which vary widely: keep the
district's current policy, which allowed all juniors and seniors to
leave for lunch, allow juniors and seniors with parent permission to
leave, or close the campuses to all students.
March: The governing board votes 4-1 in favor of a new
lunchtime policy that allows juniors and seniors who are in "good
standing" with the district and who have parent permission to leave.
Debra Raeder, Pat Galbraith, Pati Coury and Pam Ferguson voted in
favor of the new policy; Diane Douglas voted against it.
May: The governing board further defines the new policy,
saying that students in "good standing" are those with at least a
"C" average. The board also decides that in order for the student to
have parent permission, the parent must sign a form in front of a
school official and must view a presentation with their child on
safe driving and lunchtime procedures, expectations and
consequences. The new policy ends up costing the district nearly
$560,000 in new shade structures, seating, fencing and security.
August: The school year begins and the new policy is
implemented.
September: Nearly 47 percent of Peoria juniors and seniors
who have a scheduled lunch and qualify to leave have been given
parent permission to go off campus for lunch.
November: Kathy Knecht and Rick Murphy are elected to the
Peoria governing board, beating out incumbents Coury and Ferguson.
February 2007: The original community committee reconvenes to
provide feedback to the governing board on how the new policy was
implemented. Opinions remain as divided as ever, with some parents
praising the new policy and others speaking out against it.
May 8: The Peoria governing board votes 3-2 to close campuses
to all students, except those who must leave early for such things
as internships, off-site classes and jobs.
BRIEF ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC NEWSPAPER:
Space center owes Peoria
Unified $797,522.23
Feb. 18, 2007 12:00 AM
The Challenger Space Center in Peoria still owes $797,522.23 to the
Peoria Unified School District. It became public in 2004 that the
center, which had a goal of becoming self-sufficient by 2007, owed
nearly $1 million to the school district. Under an agreement, the
school district paid the salaries and benefits of Challenger
employees, subject to quarterly reimbursements. Talks are ongoing
between the two to resolve the debt.
- Cecilia Chan, AZ Rep Reporter
Note: The Peoria United Parent
Council Executive Board has asked the PUSD Governing Board President
and Clerk to place an item on their agenda to discuss the progress
of repayment of the debt from the Challenger Center to the school
district.
The
article below is courtesy of
The Glendale Star
and
Peoria Times.
To subscribe to this local newspaper, call 623-842-6000. The
reporter attended PUPC's January parent meeting and describes the
group's discussion. School groups that would like to schedule a
presentation about drug awareness can contact Shelley Mowrey of
the Partnership for Drug Free America at 602-664-5986 or visit
http://az.drugfreeamerica.org/Events.asp for
more information.
Greatest fears ≠ greatest
danger
By Jean Bihn
Kidnapping. Cancer. Murder. Fatal car accidents.
While chances are low that most fears parents
harbor about their children will occur, there is one danger with a
much higher likelihood: drug abuse.
In a recent Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC)
survey, 21 percent of eighth-graders admit to experimenting with drugs
– prescription or otherwise. That number increases as students get
older, with half of 12th-graders saying they have tried drugs.
Students from several Northwest Valley school
districts, including Glendale Elementary, Glendale Union High School
District, and Deer Valley and Peoria unified, took part in the survey,
an ACJC official said.
Shelly Mowrey of the Arizona chapter of the
Partnership for a Drug-free America ticked off the frightening
statistics for a small group of parents at the Jan. 25 Peoria United
Parent Council gathering at the Peoria Unified School District office.
Mowrey said the same year a boy or girl becomes a
teen, 13, is also the average age for youngsters to try drugs for the
first time, and nearly one-third – 29 percent – of students try
marijuana before graduating from high school.
Still, there was some good news amid the numbers.
Teens are half as likely to try drugs if parents talk to them about
the issue, she said.
“As parents, we don’t like to think about these
things happening in our homes, in our communities,” Mowrey said.
But even though talking to youngsters appears to
be effective, the same survey showed only 32 percent of youth report
their parents speak with them about drug abuse.
She suggested parents institute practice
sessions, much like the repetition of learning multiplication tables,
so children and teens know how to respond if they are approached.
The meeting also focused on current trends in
drug use and distribution, as well as nicknames for the substances.
Mowrey explained that methamphetamine use
“resurfaces the brain and creates extreme paranoia.”
“It’s like slamming the gas pedal to the floor,” she said.
A new methamphetamine, called “slag,” produces a
high in just eight to 30 seconds, but the most common form of the drug
in Maricopa County, she said, is called “ice,” a version that is
smoked.
One of the side effects of methamphetamine,
weight loss, makes the drug very appealing to teen-aged girls.
“They call it the Jenny-crank diet,” Mowrey said.
Other popular drugs include ecstasy, which is
manufactured into tiny, pastel pills with imprinted designs, such as
knock-offs of popular logos and graphics.
But some drugs of choice are found at home or in
the aisles of local grocery or drug stores.
Mowrey said abuse of over-the-counter cold
medicines and prescription drugs are also used by teens. Drugs such as
Coricidin D, called “triple C” and “Red Devils,” and cough syrups,
such as Robitussin, are frequently abused, she said.
Common prescription drugs teens use to get high
are Soma, Ritalin, Oxycontin, Vicodin and Xanax.
But she warned, “By the time (teens) get sloppy, they’ve been doing it
for some time. We have gone from farming with an ‘f’ to pharming with
a ‘ph,’ You ask who your kids’ drug dealer is – it could be you.
Medicine abuse is becoming acceptable in teen culture.
“It’s that self-medication. Kids tend to have a
vast knowledge of prescription drugs, but don’t know about the
consequences.”
Mowrey said an important part of a parent’s role
is to know that children are exposed to drugs.
“It doesn’t matter where you live, or what school district your
children are in,” she said.
Mowrey ended her presentation with two positive thoughts: “Drug use is preventable,” she said. “And addiction is
treatable.”
The column below was
written by the editorial staff of the Peoria/Glendale
Republic. It is published today in the Peoria section
of the paper.
Our collective
voice has been heard, but your continued involvement
in crucial to the success of reducing the risks that
these young drivers take each day.
Officials at Peoria Unified School District have a
golden opportunity to head off a potential tragedy. They
should take advantage of it.
Faced with mounting pressure from the Peoria United
Parent Council, an organized group of concerned parents,
the district's governing board has agreed to consider
whether to establish a closed-campus lunch policy at its
six high schools.
As it stands, Peoria Unified's open campus policy, which
permits juniors and seniors to leave campus for lunch,
is something of an anomaly.
Most school districts in the state have eliminated or
placed strict limits on open campuses, and for good
reason. Allowing students to leave school grounds for
lunch has proven to be a risky, sometimes deadly,
business.
In 2003, Glendale Union High School District closed the
campus of Thunderbird High School following an incident
involving four students who were hospitalized after
taking drugs at a nearby restaurant. All high schools in
the district are now closed at lunchtime.
High schools in Mesa closed their campuses this year
after two Dobson High School students were killed in a
lunchtime car accident last December. Donna and Dennis
Ebel, the parents of one of the two Dobson teens killed
in the accident have since lobbied heavily for school
districts across the state to close their campuses.
The Ebels recently brought their fight to the West
Valley in hopes of persuading Peoria Unified to be
proactive.
District officials ought to take note. Their current
lunchtime policy is not only out of step with the
majority of school districts in Arizona, it is, frankly,
a recipe for disaster.
Inexperienced teenage drivers have only 38 minutes to
drive to a local restaurant, eat lunch and make it back
to school in time for their next class.
Of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Shifting to a closed-campus lunch policy will require
high schools to make some fiscal adjustments. But other
districts across the Valley, including Deer Valley
Unified and Glendale Union, have been able to make the
transition with relatively little difficulty.
The Peoria Unified School Board will address the issue
at its meeting next Tuesday. The sooner it acts to
establish a districtwide closed campus policy, the
better. Every new day brings with it the potential for a
lunch hour tragedy. Time is not on our side.
Below is an article copied from the Arizona Republic.
Peoria parents group struggles for
acceptance
Apr. 23, 2005 12:00 AM
As the final month of the school year approaches, it's a good time
to review the status of a parents group, started last summer, that
has caused tidal waves in the relative calm of the Peoria Unified
School District.
Last July, two moms who worked together on the PTSA at Oakwood
Elementary began a districtwide parents group with a bang: taking on
as their first issue the district's funding of the Challenger Space
Center.
That issue is still unresolved, but the group had one victory when
one of its most vocal members, Diane Douglas, ousted longtime
board member Greg Donovan in the fall elections.
Since then, group leaders have challenged other district and board
policies, including criticizing the lack of a call to the public at
board meetings, and the group is working on becoming a non-profit
organization.
While the Challenger Center was the impetus to kick off the Peoria
United Parent Council, co-founder Kim Price Olsen said that
for years, she had considered starting a districtwide group similar
to school-based parents organizations, but without the fund-raising.
"This group was not formed to bring down the Challenger Center,"
Price Olsen said, adding that the group's mission is to empower
parents by being a resource for information.
President Jan Wilson said that while the district is known as
a "good" district, "it can be great, phenomenal, with the help of
parents."
"One parent can go to the governing board and it's just one voice,
but if you have an organization, it's a collective voice," she said.
They are modeling the group after powerful parent councils in
Paradise Valley and Scottsdale, which have 25 years of experience.
This fledgling group in Peoria is far from that, and the big issue
right now appears to be whether it can gain acceptance and overcome
criticism from some parents who say it is too negative.
To that end, the group has focused recent monthly meetings on
less-controversial issues like physical education and drug
awareness. Also, it organized a community service project to collect
more than 2,500 books for students who might not own any books.
Virginia Chang, a parent at Oakwood Elementary, attended the
meeting on physical education and said the group provides a good
place to "hear from other parents and hear what other schools are
doing."
Mary Crespino has served on several district-wide committees
as a parent representative over the past seven years. She attends
the monthly parent council meetings and believes that overall the
group leaders come across too negatively.
"Everything they have done or proposed to do has been negative for
the district," she said. "There's nothing wrong with working with
the district.
"I think a parent group could, in fact, work," she said, but only if
group leaders are receptive to input from all parents and can reach
consensus on issues.
Another parent, Melanie Lehman, has served on the PTSO at
Oasis Elementary for 14 years. She appreciated the group's meeting
on drug awareness but is concerned that it needs to "represent the
needs of all parents, instead of just five or six" and address what
she called more urgent matters, such as classroom size and AIMS.
So far, most of the membership is concentrated in a handful of the
district's 35 schools. Price Olsen said about 200 parents have
signed up to receive e-mail bulletins, although the last two
meetings attracted less than a dozen parents each.
She admits it might be hard to get participation from parents who
are already busy at their own individual schools. To solve that
problem, the group plans to seek two representatives from each
school to attend meetings and report back to their home schools.
The leaders also plan to solicit ideas for topics for next school
year's meetings through a survey of parents. For more information,
see the group's Web site at
www.peoriaupc.org.
An Arizona native, Angela Rabago-Mussi has lived in Peoria for
eight years. Send any tips about people, places and events in
Glendale and Peoria to angelamussi@aol.com.
Peoria United Parent Council
"Standing for Kids"
Quick Update:
*
The article below appeared in the AZ Republic
Newspaper today. The reporter, Karina Bland, attended PUPC's March
meeting, where Kenneth Cameron spoke about the national trend to
reduce and eliminate recess, even for our youngest students. Kim
Price Olsen, PUPC's Co-Vice President is mistakenly identified in
the article as "Kay" Price Olsen.
* Our
next PUPC meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 31st at 7:00. This
meeting's topic is Open or Closed HS Campuses. The guest
speakers are Dave Moore and Frank Hines. Dave Moore is Assistant
Superintendent for PUSD. Frank Hines is a parent who lost a
daughter to an accident as she was leaving Ironwood High School in
1997.
Instructional needs mean less time for kids to play
Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
May. 12, 2005 12:00 AM
Kids are spending less time hanging upside down on the
monkey bars and more time at their desks as pressure is put
on schools to score better on standardized tests and do well
in state and federal rankings.
A growing number of Arizona schools are trading playtime for
more instructional time, part of a national trend. An
estimated 40 percent of elementary schools have eliminated
or cut back recess, according to the American Association
for the Child's Right to Play. In Atlanta, recess has been
abandoned altogether and new schools are built without
playgrounds.
"There's too much to do," says Rosemary Agneessens,
principal of Creighton Elementary School in Phoenix, where
morning and afternoon recesses for even the littlest kids
were eliminated two years ago.
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Her students still get time on the playground before lunch,
and teachers take students for water and bathroom breaks and
even outside for a quick run or some jumping jacks if they
are particularly wiggly.
"It' s about re-energizing, not play," Agneessens said.
Schools across the Valley are making similar cuts. Tonight,
the Washington Elementary School District board will
consider a proposal to make instructional time uniform at
its schools, including a maximum of 15 minutes a day for
recess.
The trend has some worried, particularly at a time when
research is showing that kids are increasingly overweight
and at risk of chronic diseases.
About 15 percent of kids ages 6 to 19 are considered
overweight, three times as many as in 1980, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
"Children need time to stretch, run, jump, giggle and
socially connect in an unstructured environment with their
classmates," said Kay Price Olsen, a Peoria mother of three
and teacher. "Children should have the right to recess. It
is part of the pure joy of being a child and one of the
biggest reasons kids give for wanting to come to school."
On the playground at Peoria Elementary School, second-grader
Kasey Chandler, 8, claims a 20-minute record for hanging
from the monkey bars. She said she and her friends really
like recess.
"We don't sit together," Kasey explained.
"At recess, we get to hang out with each other," said
Melinda McCarty, also 8. "We get to run and scream, if we
want."
"And we chase boys," admitted Balera Torres, 8.
Many childhood lessons are learned on the playground: what
to do if you don't get picked for a pickup game, how to
stand up to a bully and the antidote for cooties.
It's a time to blow off energy, for boys to be boys and for
a kid who just wants to be alone to watch the clouds. Kids
get to make the rules, practice social skills and explore.
"Life is a balance," said third-grade teacher Mary Bien,
watching her students play earlier this week. "You have to
have some fun in between all the work."
Federal law requires breaks in the workday for grownups. It
should be the same for children, contends Jan Wilson, a
Peoria mother of two. She thinks all kids, up through eighth
grade, should get morning, lunchtime and afternoon breaks:
"I'm like an (attention-deficit disorder) parent. I don't
think I could sit still in a classroom all day."
A short break can make students more focused, less fidgety
and less disruptive, said Kenneth Cameron, director of
research and evaluation for the Glendale Union High School
District.
Cameron, who used to teach physical education at West Point,
spoke about the value of recess at a March meeting of the
Peoria United Parent Council.
"These students can't sit for long blocks of instruction,"
he said. "Physical activity allows them to come back in and
refocus and be more attentive."
A 2002 study by the California Department of Education
showed that children who are physically active actually
scored better on the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth
Edition, given as part of the state's standardized testing
program.
The study recommends quality physical-education classes for
all kids and other opportunities for physical activity, such
as recess, during the day.
Yet, physical education and electives, such as music and
art, also are waning under the same academic pressures.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said he
thinks schools are doing the best they can. Educators are
finding it difficult to schedule 90-minute blocks of reading
instruction as recommended by the federal government and
still work in recess, he said.
They know kids need physical activity, but they feel the
pressure to improve test scores, up their average yearly
progress figures and state and federal rankings. They get no
credit for how much time their kids spend on the playground.
Often, afternoon recess is the first to go.
Children at Peoria Elementary School used to have morning,
lunchtime and afternoon recess. But when the school was
labeled "underperforming" three years ago, Principal Fritz
Maynes cut back.
"We were grasping quickly for some extended learning time,"
he said.
Children up through fourth grade get morning and lunchtime
recess. Kids in fifth through eighth grade get a break at
lunch. Maynes said: "I'm a big advocate for recess. I need
one once in a while."
A 15-minute recess easily can take up a half-hour as kids
line up, go outside, get a drink and get back to work. With
the loss of an afternoon recess and more rigorous
instruction, the school earned a "performing" label the
following year.
Children at Gateway Elementary School in Phoenix have always
just had one short recess just before lunch. Principal Kathy
Tegarden said children already have plenty of time to be
active, with bathroom breaks, physical education, art and
music.
The littlest students often work in centers, moving from
activity to activity in their classrooms.
"Classrooms are different from when I was in school and you
sat in a desk and you didn't move," Tegarden said. "They do
move around a lot more."
District cuts off funding for
Peoria's space center
Louie Villalobos and Meghan E. Moravcik
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 30, 2005 12:00 AM
The Peoria Unified School District has stopped its financial support
of the Challenger Space Center and is aggressively pursuing a deal
that would allow the center to pay the more than $900,000 it owes the
district.
The move essentially forces the financially troubled center to become
self-sufficient on July 1, something it has failed to do since opening
its doors in 2000 and wasn't planning to do until 2007.
Jack Erb, superintendent of the Peoria district, said the district
will no longer pay $165,000 a year for the maintenance and operation
of the Challenger building or cover the cost of space-center salaries,
then expect monthly repayment of the wages. The district has done both
for the past few years as part of a joint agreement.
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The district is also working with the center on an arrangement under
which the center would purchase the site of the Challenger building
from the district. The money would be used to pay the $915,000 that is
owed to the district in wages that were never repaid, Erb said.
He said there was no set timeline for the deal to be done but that two
appraisals of the land have been completed and a third is under way.
The land in question is about 3 acres next to Sunrise Mountain High
School in Peoria.
The 4-year-old Peoria center is one of 51 nationwide specializing in
teaching children mathematics and science through hands-on experiences
such as simulated space missions. The Peoria district played a
significant role in opening the center by agreeing to help establish
it financially in return for free "missions" for a set number of
students.
John Kelly, a Challenger board member, said Wednesday that he couldn't
speak about the specifics of a possible deal. He did say that
space-center officials are working to pay off the debt and expect an
announcement in the near future.
Kelly said the center has the ability to quickly become
self-sustaining, thanks to cutbacks in staff and a stricter managing
of finances. The center has kept up with salaries this fiscal year and
has improved program offerings.
Assuming the land deal came through and the center repaid the
district, the debt would simply shift to the organization that lent
the center the money to buy the land. Kelly said his fellow board
members have a five-year plan that, if adhered to, would erase any
debt.
"My confidence is based on the fact that when people know we need
help, they step up to help us," he said.
Kelly said the center and the district have been looking since the
beginning of the year for ways to eliminate the debt and separate the
two organizations. They wanted to find a solution that didn't erode
the relationship but made sense for both parties, he said.
"The district was a tremendously important incubator of the center,
and I think they deserve a lot of credit for taking that risk," Kelly
said. "We didn't want the district and board members to be the subject
of any criticism."
Much of that criticism did come from community members who now praise
the district for cutting off financial support to the space center.
Jan Wilson, president of the Peoria United Parent Council, said that
although she wants the center to succeed, she didn't like how the
finances were being handled.
"I think that if they (Challenger officials) had started off correctly
in the first place, without having the huge salaries they had . . .
they would have been in a better situation," Wilson said.
Her group, which claims about 400 members, formed about a year ago to
oppose the district's financial support of the center.
Pati Coury, a Peoria governing board member, said concern from parents
made district officials speed their efforts to set Challenger up for
self-sufficiency. Coury said the changes in the agreement don't mean
the relationship between the two is over.
"I believe in the Challenger Space Center," Coury said. "I think it's
a good thing for kids and adults. But some (parents) strongly
requested that we no longer support the center."
Meghan E. Moravcik
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 13, 2005 12:00 AM
Now that school is back in session, parents can "Celebrate Kids"
with the Peoria United Parent Council by ice skating, eating cake
and gathering important information.
The parent council is a districtwide group celebrating its first
anniversary. The group is holding Thursday's event to help parents
learn about services and programs offered to families in the
Peoria Unified School District.
"This event is good for kids, good for families and good for the
community," said Kim Price Olsen, the group's vice president.
Celebrate Kids
What: A health and information fair for families in
the Peoria Unified School District.
Where: Peoria Desert Schools Coyotes Center, 15829 N.
83rd Ave., in Peoria.
When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Albertsons grocery store is donating a cake for the event, at the
Peoria Desert Schools Coyotes Center. Local organizations will
have information tables set up. Door prizes, including bicycles,
will be given out.
And children will be able to ice skate for about half the price of
regular admission.
"It is celebration time," Olsen said. "Time to celebrate kids,
time to celebrate . . . our group, time to celebrate going back to
school with friends from around the district."
It's a chance for parents to learn how they can help their
children be successful, she added.
The parent council formed about a year ago with the goal of being
a place parents can go for information and support, as well as a
place the administration can tap into for parent involvement.
The group "helps parents stay informed and involved in matters
that affect their children's education," Olsen said.
The group hopes to hold this event each year at the start of
school.
