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COMMUNITY ............ 27 Two Ahwatukee homes decked out for Halloween.
Wednesday,October 5, 2022
www.ahwatukee.com
Kyrene teachers show high performance, job satisfaction BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
A
t a time when many Arizona school districts started this school year struggling – and continue to struggle – to fill dozens of teaching positions, Kyrene has no teacher vacancies – partly because 85% of those who worked for the district last year returned. And the data presented Sept. 27 to the Kyrene Governing Board suggests that the fact so many returned is a good thing for parents and students: vast majority were rated “highly effective.”
Amid new challenges in the competition for students now that Arizona’s universal school voucher system has become law (see page 18), board members hailed the data presented by Lisa Gibson, the district’s executive director of talent management. “Those are just really great numbers,” board Vice President Margaret Pratt said. “It’s not surprising, but it is always nice when the numbers reflect what we see, feel and know to be true.” Likewise, board member Wanda Kolomyjec said the results of teacher and principal evaluations “reflect what I hear from the community, from the parents and the students, about
how they feel about our schools and our teachers and our principals. So congratulations to all of them out there that we can stay so positive through such a difficult time.” To some degree, the district’s experience with keeping teachers wasn’t a surprise, since Kyrene for the last five years has seen a teacher retention rate of between 85% and 92%. In the 2021-22 school year, Gibson said, Kyrene employed 911 teachers prior to Jan. 1 and of this group, three worked directly for the district’s private staffing agency and 33 had one-year contracts because they weren‘t
County pound poster dog’s Double victory RE1 death suggests problems
REAL ESTATE ...........
Rising mortgage rates no cause for worry, expert says.
GETOUT ........................ 44
New opera details heroism of wounded warriors. COMMUNITY...................... 27 BUSINESS .......................... 32 OPINION .............................. 36 SPORTS ............................... 39 GETOUT............................... 44 CLASSIFIEDS ...................... 50
see KYRENE page 9
BY CECILIA CHAN AFN Staff Writer
R
ookie was the face of Maricopa County Animal Care and Control’s part in a national campaign early this year as it tried to ease overcrowding at its Phoenix and Mesa shelters. Described as “a giant pup who loves to run zoomies in the yard and play outside, but what he really loves is getting attention,” the 3-year-old Rottweiler-mix was photographed smiling as his head was being scratched. Four days after the Bissell Pet Foundation’s national Empty the Shelters campaign ended on May 15, Rookie was euthanized. His mental health had declined after an administrative reorganization that disbanded the county shelter system’s behavioral team.
see SHELTER page 16
The Mountain Pointe Pride celebrated a romp over the Desert Vista Thunder in the 26th annual Ahwatukee Bowl last Thursday, but students had another reason to cheer as well: Mountain Pointe High School won the trophy for collecting the most food during the second annual friendly food drive held to benefit needy families in the community. For full game coverage, see page 39. (David Minton/AFN Staff Photographer)
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