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The Kyrene School District’s Governing
Board on Tuesday removed its own direct
oversight of a two-year-old committee
designed to evaluate and tweak the
district’s program offerings.
Because of the changing nature of its
work, the K-8 Programming Study
Committee will now report to
Superintendent David Schauer
instead of the board.
The committee was established in 2004 to
find more effective and affordable ways
to educate Kyrene’s pupils, according to
its website.
In 2005, the committee developed a
controversial new middle school
scheduling model that increased pupils’
time in core classes but reduced it in
electives.
The committee also studied Kyrene’s
kindergarten and gifted education
programs as well as its custodial
services.
The committee’s work has now shifted
away from the governing board’s
policy-making responsibility and toward
implementation and evaluation, the
superintendent’s responsibility,
according to a document prepared for the
board.
It would therefore be more appropriate
for the committee to report to the
superintendent than the governing board,
the document said.
Anna Montalbo,
an Akimel A-al Middle School teacher and
committee member, said the committee has
seen a shift toward a more-internal
focus in its work.
“With Kyrene’s changing needs, and they
are changing quite quickly, there’s
probably a greater need for some
administrative flexibility,” Montalbo
said.
“We all agreed that this is probably a
better way to have the committee do its
work.”
Newly elected Kyrene board member
Patrick McGill watched the meeting
from the audience. Schauer and Board
President Rich Zawtocki welcomed
McGill to the board at the end of the
meeting and thanked outgoing board Vice
President Ross Robb, who trailed
McGill by about 500 votes in the Nov. 7
election.
“I wanted to thank Ross for his
dedication and his service,” Zawtocki
said. “I’ve learned a lot from Ross.” |
