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Overseeding economics/ P. 6
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MPS student count stabilizing after COVID fall BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
NEWS..................... 2 Mesa woman's killer gets his due.
Sunday, October 2, 2022
M
esa Public Schools’ total enrollment dropped by about 3,500 students, or 5.6%, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and after inching further lower last year, the latest figures suggest MPS enrollment has stabilized at this lower figure, rising slightly this school year. The leveling is good news, since school
funding is tied to enrollment. Figures presented by district staff at the last Governing Board meeting show that the vast majority, roughly 85%, of the students who left during the pandemic and haven’t returned are white. "Over the same three years, MPS’ Hispanic student body grew from 44% prepandemic to 46% this school year, and the share of students identifying as two or more races rose from 3% to 4%. While white students made up 42% of
MPS students before the pandemic, they were twice as prevalent among those that left and have stayed away. The greater likelihood for white students to leave the district during the pandemic and not return has shifted the district’s demographics: MPS went from 42% white in the 2019-20 school year to 39% this year – the lowest percentage in the last three years.
see STUDENT page 10
County pound poster dog’s death suggests problems
COMMUNITY...... 20 Plater-pushing pros teach MCC students.
BUSINESS............ 21 Mesa pair's high-end thrift store goes to dogs. COMMUNITY .............................. 20 BUSINESS ................................... 21 OPINION ..................................... 22 SPORTS ...................................... 25 CLASSIFIED ............................... 27 ZONE 2
BY CECILIA CHAN Tribune 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. “Basically, it’s stressful at the shelter,” said Kim Schulze, the shelters’ former county behavior and training team manager. “Lots of dogs don’t do well and start to deteriorate.” Whether Rookie’s death could have been prevented had the county not terminated the team is debatable. But animal advocates said its dismantling was a bad idea. That and other alleged conditions have prompted a petition calling for reform at
see SHELTER page 13
Rookie, a 3-year-old Rottweiler-mix, was the Maricopa County’s poster dog for a nationwide campaign to ease shelter overcrowding. But four days after the campaign ended, the dog was euthanized. (Special to the Tribune)
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