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This Week
NEWS ............................. 3 Arizona needs more dentists, U.S. rankings say
COMMUNITY ........ 11 Chandler couple gives back to hospital that saved their preemie
BUSINESS . ................ 13 Goettl leaving a legacy as a longstanding cooling company in EV
EAST VALLEY
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Chandler/Tempe Edition
INSIDE
Big League Dreams seeks compromise over closed fields Sunday, July 30, 2017
Teacher shortage no problem in East Valley BY JESSICA SURIANO Tribune Staff Writer
A
s the new school year gets into full swing this week, teacher shortages are not nearly as high in the East Valley as experts say they are across Arizona. In the major East Valley districts, there are relatively low numbers of unfilled teaching positions, and one even has no vacancies. Among Tempe Union, Kyrene, Higley, Gilbert, Mesa Queen Creek, and Chandler school districts, only 128 teaching positions out of nearly 10,850 are unfilled. In a September 2016 survey of 130 school districts and charter schools, the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association survey found 2,041 teacher vacancies four weeks into the school year, which equates to about 25 percent of the total openings for that year. “In 2015, I really heard a lot of concerns about a teacher shortage,” said Justin Wing, director of human resources at Washington Elementary School District in Phoenix and the immediate past ASPAA president. “After hearing all these inputs and knowing that we’re a large elementary school district,” he continued, “we wanted to collect data so
(Kimberly Carrillo/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Principal Jeff Beickel of Bridges Elementary School in Higley School District high-fives Emily Nowakowski, 5, as she reported for her first day of school last week.
we don’t use generalities. We inform everybody – key decision makers, key leaders – here’s what the real data is telling us.” The ASPAA conducts the survey four weeks into every school year, when Wing said most
of these positions are filled because teachers are “coming out of the woodwork” for lastminute jobs. See
TEACHERS on page 4
Hamilton High sex assault scandal widens amid new claims BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
EVENTS .................... 20 Hip-hop ‘Outlawz’: Gilbertbased dance troupe takes on the world
BUSINESS.....................13 OPINION.................... 14 SPORTS........................ 16 FAITH............................ 18 CLASSIFIEDS............. 23
H
amilton High School spent the first week of school reeling from a deepening sex assault scandal surrounding its once-exalted football team. While it was disclosed that a $20 million claim has been filed by three victims against the Chandler Unified School District, police recommended criminal charges against the principal, the athletic director and the exfootball coach. Police recommended child abuse and failure to report charges against Principal Ken James and former coach Steve Belles. A court document alleged that some of the sexual assault
and child molestation incidents could have been prevented if the two men had reported the allegations to police as required by law. Instead, James and Belles attempted to investigate on their own, police told the County Attorney’s Office in seeking the charges. No decision has been made by the county attorney on the police investigators’ request. “This failure to act allowed (Tribune file photo) the circumstances to exist under Steve Belles was reassigned which three separate juvenile months ago and no longer See
HAMILTON on page 6
serves as football coach at Hamilton High.
(Special to the Tribune)
Ken James will remain as principal of Hamilton High for the time being, according to the Chandler district.