School Safety is Everyone's Business, so what are we doing about it? 

January, 2022

Featuring:

Dr. Stacy Anderson, PsyD, MC, NCC, President-elect, Arizona Association of School Psychologists (AASP)

Tracey Beal, Founder & CEO, School Connect

  Mike Hutchinson, Executive Vice President, Phoenix East Valley

Takeaways: 

• Effectively dealing with school safety requires investment on multiple fronts including behavioral/mental health, capital needs to remedy dangerous or poorly functioning structural issues, on campus awareness and communication, and much better coordination with all law enforcement.
• School Safety training is essential and must include updated school procedures that incorporate parent, school staff, law enforcement and student involvement.
• Resources to support school safety training and planning are available from several sources including the Arizona Department of Education, State and local law enforcement and local FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) offices.

The State of Arizona Latino Education

The MAPA Report

March, 2022

Featuring: 

Stephanie Parra, Executive Director, All in Education

Anaiis Ballesteros, Communications Director, All in Education

Takeaways:

• The concept of "student equity" is still not well understood and is the single greatest challenge preventing Arizona students from achieving substantive gains in student achievement metrics. 

• The state aid formula simply malfunctions as currently administered creating permanent richer and poorer school districts all across Arizona. 

• Statewide, business and education leaders now support a state aid formula change to enable meaningful changes to state aid formula disbursements to better support student equity. 

The report is available online: https://allineducation.org/mapa/

Is Arizona's System for School Finance Working?  If not, what do we need to do about it? 

February, 2022

Featuring: 

Dr. Cort Monroe Ed.D., Superintendent, Cave Creek Unified School District

Danny Seiden, President & CEO, Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry

  Dr. Chuck Essigs, Ed.D., Director of Government Relations, Arizona Association of School Business Officials (AASBO)

Takeaways:

• A “working” school finance system still requires maintenance and attention.  Arizona’s system is overdue for review.
• Tinkering around the edges and entirely new school systems have financially strained the old model and are not sustainable into the future.
• Equal accountability for taxpayer dollars spent has been challenged by complicated and inequitable finance, construction and distribution changes to the original state aid objectives and require immediate attention.

Substance Abuse in Our Schools: What are we doing about it? 

March, 2022

Featuring:

Shannon Scheel, Director of Drug Prevention and Substance Abuse Education, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO)

Brian Hummell, Government Relations Director Arizona & New Mexico, Tobacco Free Kids

           Joe Yuhas, Tobacco Free Kids

Takeaways: 

• The single greatest challenge to controlling substance abuse in Arizona schools is vaping. 

• Vaping products are not safe, not regulated, and being targeted by direct marketing to teenagers and are a major gateway to addiction. 

• Law enforcement requires greater support in terms of how vaping is able to work around both manufacturing, marketing and distribution abuses enabling what has become an epidemic of addiction in Arizona.