Tucson Unified School District

Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) is the largest school district of Tucson, Arizona, in terms of enrollment. H.T. Sanchez was named superintendent in 2013. As of 2006, TUSD had more than 60,000 students and approximately 3,700 faculty members. As of Fall 2012, according to Superintendent John Pedicone (on the 9/14/2012 Buckmaster Show), TUSD has 50,000 students. District enrollment has declined over the last 10 years and TUSD lost 1,700 to 2,000 students per year for the two or three years prior to 2012. There are many reasons for the change, including the population in general becoming more suburban and changes in school choice including increasing availability of Charter Schools and the approved ability to cross districts for school selection.

Area

The district boundaries encompass much of the City of Tucson, the entire city of South Tucson, all of Drexel Heights, almost all of Valencia West, a fair amount of Tucson Estates, segments of Catalina Foothills and Tanque Verde, & a few unincorporated parts of Pima County that do not fall within the confines of a Census Designated Place. TUSD is currently under a federal desegregation order to help balance district schools in terms of race and ethnicity. The district was established as "Pima County School District No. 1" in 1867, centered approximately at the latitude 32°13'15.57"N and the longitude 110°58'23.70"W (a monument now known as La Placita),^[1] and assumed its current name in 1977. The district has nine traditional high schools and several alternative high schools. The largest high school in the district, in terms of enrollment, is Tucson High Magnet School near downtown Tucson. According to the district website, 2945 students attended Tucson High during the 2006-2007 school year.^[2] It is also the oldest high school in the district. Tucson High School was built in 1907 across the street from where it now stands. The school relocated to its present site in 1923. In 1956, the school had the largest enrollment of any high school in the United States, over 6,800 pupils. The original Tucson High building still exists as Roskruge Elementary and Bilingual Middle Magnet School. The TUSD also owns the radio station KWXL-LP .^[3]

Controversy

In 2012, in response to state law HB2281, the district boxed and put into storage, or distributed to the district libraries, several books used in a course that was determined to be against state law A.R.S. 15-112, including the textbook Rethinking Columbus, and the Tempest.^[4][5][6] Books were taken away while students were in class.^[7] The dismantling of the Mexican-American studies departments and similar Mexican cultural courses has brought controversy over perceptions of xenophobia, and racism against Mexican-American students and their heritage. Events such as TUSD board meetings, in response to HB2281, have resulted in various arrests, injuries, and protests of students and faculty against HB2281.^[8] However, TUSD has maintained a stance conveying interest in maintaining the Mexican-American studies program, and it can be speculated that the 4-1 decision in January 2012 to ban the program was a result of the resulting budget cuts that would take place due to a loss of state funding should TUSD continue the program.^[9][10] On January 13, 2012, students walked out of class and held a protest against the banishment of the Mexican-American Studies program.^[11][12]

The Daily Show aired a satirical piece on April 2, 2012, concerning the banning of Mexican-American studies as voted by the school board. The interview of Michael Hicks, a voting board member, put a negative light on the school district, and gave the impression that many authority figures among the TUSD board were ignorant or unsuited to their responsibilities as educators.^[13]

The TUSD Governing Board's resolution of this issue has been to establish a course to be taken by all students that emphasizes multiculturalism and diversity.

Language Education

TUSD came under fire for cuts to the high school graduation requirements made in the year 2008— in years prior, senior high school students at TUSD were required to obtain at least two years of foreign language education in order to receive their high school diploma.^[14] In 2008, the TUSD School board approved to revoke the mandate that required the two years of foreign language education for each graduating student, citing budget cuts as the overarching problem.^[14][15] The prominent Tucson newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, later printed an editorial expressing its agreement with the new requirement, agreeing that they would rather see the budget cuts being made in the language department than in others, and stating that TUSD and the School Board did the reasonable thing under the situation.^[15] Others disagreed with the mandate, expressing their concern on the fact that most public and private universities, including Tucson’s own University of Arizona, require at least two years of a high school foreign language class for admission.^[14][16]

Demographics

As of March 2012, the demographics of the district were composed of: 61.3% Hispanic (of any race, primarily Mexican American), 24.1% non-Hispanic Whites, 5.6% Black, 3.8% Native American, 2.6% Multi-racial, and 2.5% Asian.^[17]

Schools

Tucson High Magnet School

Mansfeld Middle School

Traditional high schools

Magnet program*

Other high schools

Traditional middle schools and K-8 schools

Safford School entrance. Built 1918. Architect: Annie Rockfellow.

K-8 schools

Elementary schools

Other schools

Health Initiatives

The Tucson Unified School District has a number of policies outlined to meet federal requirements and to dynamically encourage a healthy lifestyle. The District Wellness Program states that, “Schools shall implement a comprehensive, integrated program for these two components of a coordinated school health program: nutrition and physical activity”.^[39] To meet United States Department of Agriculture nutrition requirements, many of the breakfast and lunch options the TUSD offers are whole grain, like whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta and whole wheat hot dog and hamburger buns.^[40] In addition, milk, fruits, and vegetables are always offered to students as sides.^[40] The TUSD also requires that fundraising events that involve the sale of food meet the same health requirements that school lunches do, though special events such as sports are exempt.^[39] Advertisements, such as those on the front of vending machines, must encourage students to purchase healthier options, like water; and other a la carte foods that do not meet health regulations can be offered on only an “infrequent basis."^[39]

The TUSD addresses other challenges by recognizing that students will make health decisions based largely on the influence of their role models, like their parents/guardians and teachers. Therefore, the TUSD attempts to communicate with parents and guardians through a variety of channels about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, and guardians are encouraged to pack lunches that meet USDA suggestions if their students do not purchase food from the school.^[39] Newsletters published by the district also contain lists of foods that meet health regulations and would be popular for celebrations, such as birthday parties.^[39] Furthermore, the district provides an Employee Wellness Committee, which provides health education to district employees, offers free physical activities for staff to partake in and opportunities for staff to monitor their own health and goals.^[39]

To meet the physical activity aspect of the mission statement, the TUSD has partnered with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) to provide standards regarding physical education and recess for younger grades.^[39] The NASPE provides physical education teachers with appropriate time ranges that students should be active for, the number of times per week students should participate in physical activity, and suggestions to make physical education more individualized.^[39] The TUSD also requires that schools have opportunities for students to be physically active before, during and after school, which incorporates recess, varsity and intramural sports, and open gyms and tracks.^[39] As with school lunches, the district also encourages parents and guardians to be physically active with their children and to encourage an overall healthy lifestyle.

The TUSD also supports health initiatives made by individual schools. For example, Sam Hughes Elementary School has a community garden and offers culinary classes to its students as part of Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign.^[41] The "Greening Group" at the school maintains the garden and is funded by the school's Parent Teacher Association.^[41]

References

21. John Pedicone. September 14, 2012. Buckmaster show. http://www.buckmastershow.com/2012/09/14/buckmaster-show-9142012-tusd-looks (10/1/2012) 22. http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/uhs/admin/admissions/htm (10/1/2012) 23. http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/uhs/ (10/2/2012)

External links

• Tucson Unified School District's official website
• Tucson Unified School District's official Facebook site
• TUSD Educational Technology website
• TUSD Department of Accountability and Research website
• Radio station owned by TUSD
• "MAS students speak out against TUSD banning their books and classes", The Tucson Citizen, DA Morales, January 15, 2012