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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
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@AhwatukeeFN
Kyrene grapples with the high cost of keeping students, luring new ones
What shortage? AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS SOLUTION CREATES A PROBLEM
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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yrene school officials are wrestling with a multi-million-dollar problem in their effort to improve the district’s attractiveness to parents amid the increasing competition for more students. The governing board’s focus is Kyrene Traditional Academy–Sureno Campus in Chandler, which Superintendent Jan Vesely wants to convert from a kindergartenfifth grade school to one with classes for prekindergarten through eighth grade. The move is envisioned as the first conversion of at least some Kyrene campuses to a PreK-8 model because parents generally prefer their kids to attend only one school until they are ready for high school. But the board also is grappling with the fact that it has nowhere near the money it needs, and draft minutes of a July 19 retreat suggest relations among board members have been strained by the debate over what to do
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS HELP ON A MAGNET
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FLOWER POWER (Kimberly Carrillo/AFN Photographer)
Kyrene de la Sienna kindergarten teacher Ann Trent prepares for her 11th year in the district as children return to school Thursday, Aug. 3. Unlike reported teacher shortages in other parts of Arizona, Ahwatukee schools are facing few vacancies as the 2017-18 school year begins. Details: page 20.
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SOCCER TO HIM
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See
KYRENE on page 16
Council candidates square off as voting begins BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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s early ballots were scheduled to go out today, Ahwatukee residents have a better idea of the two candidates vying for their votes following the community’s only forum featuring the two hopefuls for the 6th City Council District seat. Sponsored by the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce and the Ahwatukee Foothills News, the forum drew nearly 300 people to hear incumbent
Sal DiCiccio and challenger Kevin Patterson exchange views on a number of local and citywide issues. Those issues ranged from the city’s multibillion-dollar pension problem to what the candidates can do about Ahwatukee’s economic development, its two beleaguered golf courses and the impact of the South Mountain Freeway. On an individual level, DiCiccio was questioned about blocking critics on his Twitter account while Patterson was asked to explain why he did not vote in the last two City Council elections.
Of the four seats up for election, only the district that includes Ahwatukee has a contest. The election is Aug. 29 and voters can begin sending their early ballots in as soon as they receive them or they can drop them off at Pecos Community Center, the only local voting center. While registration is closed, voters have until Aug. 18 to request an early ballot at phoenix.gov/elections or at Ironwood Library. See
FORUM on page 23