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Champs reunite
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An oven winner
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
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This Week
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AND CHRISTOPHER BOAN Tribune Staff
NEWS ......................... 3 Feds hail downtown Mesa rebirth.
COMMUNITY ....... 21 Mesa native on ‘My Life as a Potato’.
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Mesa Ford dealer aids local school. COMMUNITY ................ 21 BUSINESS ....................... 24 OPINION ........................ 27 SPORTS ........................... 29 GETOUT.......................... 32 CLASSIFIED .................... 36
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Sunday, March 15. 2020
Coronavirus widens impact on Mesa
INSIDE
BUSINESS .............
| TheMesaTribune.com
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esa, like the rest of the nation, began feeling a widening impact of the COVID-19 pandemic last week as officials took additional measures to curb “community spread” of the disease and protect senior citizens, considered among the most vulnerable. State and city officials tried to reassure the public by outlining precautions already underway even as the coronavirus claimed one of Mesa’s signature events – Cactus League ball. Major League Baseball terminated it 10 days before the season’s scheduled end. Despite the suspension of classes at the state’s three universities and in school districts in various cities and states, Mesa Public Schools students and most of their Arizona counterparts are expected to return to their desks this week following spring break.
“There’s simply no greater priority than the health and safety of our kids,” said Ducey. “We are taking proactive measures to ensure our schools have the tools necessary to combat the spread of COVID-19 and keep our kids healthy.” Hoffman said she and her aides are “working closely with public health officials to ensure we are taking the right steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.” Robert Truman deep-cleaned Kyrene de la Mirada School in Chandler during On the other hand, prospects spring break, although Kyrene, Tempe Elementary and Tempe Union at the last were murky for spring sports in minute called off classes for this week. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Photographer) school districts. The Arizona Interscholastic Association was Gov. Doug Ducey, state Health Director Cara Christ and state Superintendent Kathy Hoff- scheduled tomorrow to discuss the impact of man conferred by phone Thursday with 400 the virus, though it said any postponement or school administrators across Arizona, saying see VIRUS page 4 there was no need to close schools.
Conley takes to YouTube in her defense BY CHRISTOPHER BOAN Tribune Staff Writer
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ormer Mesa Public Schools Superintendent Ember Conley spoke for the first time since her resignation in December in a YouTube video, defending her record and calmly insisting she did nothing wrong. Conley also defended the district in general during her 14-minute video, touting positives of her 18-month tenure such as student gains in third grade reading and an improved high school graduation rate.
Conley did not directly address the district’s audit that found she had given $145,000 in unapproved raises to members of her Superintendent Executive Team directly, though she broached the subject on several occasions and said she kept Governing Board members in the loop. “In those first few months, three members of the superintendent staff announced their retirement,” Conley said. “Rather than simply fill these positions, I worked with the board to restructure district leadership and presented the initial plan to the board at a meeting in No-
vember of 2018. “With a commitment to keep the changes to the maintenance and operations budget neutral, the board acknowledged the new senior team.” Conley defended her expansion of the team, citing a lack of salary structure for administrative officials in the district. “In putting together the team, I discovered another established practice that required attention. There was no salary schedule for the
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