Paul Criswell honored by Dons
Paul Criswell has been a mainstay of Coronado High School for more than 27 years. He started working in the district in 1982 as a bus driver, and worked his way to carpenter. “He’s a doer; if you needed something hung, if you needed something fixed, he’d get it done,” says Nathan Slater, Athletic director at Coronado.
In his time on campus, he saw his own two sons, Mike and Jeff, matriculate from the school.
He worked as film specialist for football games in the late 1980s. Criswell also has been a big part of the community, volunteering to coach baseball at South Scottsdale Little League and Pop Warner Football, even coaching some of Coronado’s coaches as young men.
“He was my baseball coach when I was 13 years old, with Scottsdale Little League,” Slater recalls.
Coronado recently thanked Criswell for everything that he has done for the school for almost three decades. He was given a special recognition during the halftime break at the Sept. 12 Dons’ home game. He was presented with an Appreciation Award by Slater, along with former Coronado Athletic Directors Joe Corte and Jim Ferrando, Fine Arts Department Chair Irma Griffin, and Principal John Biera.
Community Schools receives grants
SUSD’s Community Schools Department has been awarded three 21st Century Community Learning Center Grants which total $1,377,600 over five years. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program is authorized under Title IV, Part B, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The schools that will benefit from these grants are Supai Middle School, Hohokam Elementary School and Tavan Elementary School.
The purpose of this important program is to create community learning centers which provide academic enrichment opportunities that help enable children to meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects. These centers also offer students a broad array of enrichment activities that can complement their regular academic programs, as well as literacy and other educational services to participating children
A community learning center offers academic, artistic and cultural enrichment opportunities to students and their families during non-school hours (before or after school) or during periods when school is not in session (including holidays, weekends or summer recess).
The grant writers and members of the Grant Committee included Joshua Steffen and Karen Hearn from Community Schools; John Francois; Supai principal Dawn Ewan Thompson; Tavan principal Margaret Serna; Hohokam principal Chad Caudle; Yavapai principal Wendy Cohen and Grants and Foundation Resources coordinator Vicki Svoboda.
Saguaro wins Battle of the Belt
Saguaro High School had the highest rate of seatbelt use among high schools competing in the Battle of the Belt during the 2007-08 school year. This contest was sponsored by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, Arizona Department of Health Services and AAA Arizona.
The program was initiated because nationally, teens represent less than 7 percent of the driving population but account for more than 13 percent of drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes (National Transportation Safety Board, Safety Alert). In the past three years, 267 young people died in Arizona traffic crashes, and 37 percent of them were not buckled (Fatality Analysis Reporting System, U.S. Department of Transportation). According to the 2005 Arizona Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 14 percent of ninth through 12th grade students never or rarely wore a safety belt while riding in a car driven by someone else.
Saguaro’s Health Care Club, a chapter of HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America), tallied seatbelt use throughout the year and instituted actions to encourage seatbelt use among students. The final tally in April 2008 showed 82 percent student seatbelt use, up from 71 percent in September 2007.
Saguaro NHS donates supplies
Saguaro High School's National Honor Society took six large boxes of school supplies which included paper, pencils, crayons, notebooks, 3-ring binders, colored markers, folders and even a couple of book bags to Yavapai Elementary in mid-September.
The NHS students have been collecting supplies for the past two and a half weeks to help some of the students at Yavapai get the school year off to a well equipped start.
Election Express visits Coronado
On Aug. 20, Cox Communications partnered with CNN to bring the CNN Election Express Bus to Coronado High School. At the event, more than 250 student government students from Arcadia, Coronado and Desert Mountain high schools and Sierra Vista Academy participated in an interactive assembly led by Marco Ceglie of "Vote 18" (www.Vote18.orgglobe icon). Students learned about the history of voting, the importance of making sure your voice is heard in today's political process and also participated in a mock election.
A question-and-answer session followed with local legislators including State Representatives David Schapira, Chad Campbell, Michelle Reagan, Goodyear Vice-Mayor Rob Antoniak and Phoenix City Councilwoman Maria Baier.
The CNN Election Express Bus, sponsored by Cox Communications, was also on site. Students were able to visit a video polling station, make political buttons, answer political trivia and express their political views on a giant "blog" wall. Those students who will be 18 years old by November 4th were able to register to vote.
Whiffen named an education Fellow
 Pamela Wiffen
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education is proud to announce that Pamela Whiffen, a science teacher at Mohave Middle School, is part of the third cadre of MESSENGER Educator Fellows. Ms. Whiffen says of her selection to continue as a MESSENGER Educator Fellow: “The excitement of being part of the team for this historic mission, and the opportunity to share the experience with my students and fellow teachers was something I could not pass up! As an Educator Fellow, I hope to inspire the architects of future space missions sitting in today's classrooms”. Ms. Whiffen is looking forward to bringing MESSENGER's discoveries and continued exploration of the Solar System to teachers of science in Arizona.
Private/Charter Schools:
Educators hired for new high school
Tesseract School, a nonprofit, independent private school, announced the hiring of the following eductors for its new high school: Michelle Kramer, math and science; Jennifer Tyma, humanities; Evelyn Montanez-Ramirez, Spanish; Amy Miao, Mandarin; and Wesley Hawkins, band and music.
“After an extensive, nationwide search and rigorous interview process, we are very excited to announce this group of highly qualified educators for our new high school program,” said Chris LaBonte, Tesseract’s director of middle and high school.
Tesseract's innovative programs for early childhood through high school include an increased focus on international and sustainability issues, and educating students to be critical and innovative thinkers prepared to excel in college and beyond.
The new campus housing the middle school and new high school will open September 2008 at 3939 E. Shea Boulevard. Its main campus is located at 4800 E. Doubletree Ranch Road. For more information, visit www.tesseractschool.org or call 480-991-1770.
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