Big push on homeless / P. 4
To mask or not / P. 11
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Mesa ponders free laptops for needy kids
INSIDE
This Week
BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
NEWS ........................ 6 Mesa's muted Memorial Day commemoration.
COMMUNITY ........
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EV group has a veritable menagerie helping kids.
M
esa’s Small Business Reemergence Program will cost less than expected because only a fraction of the city’s estimated 12,000 businesses have sought grants to help them recover from the pandemic’s impact. And that may enable the city to buy hundreds of disadvantaged elementary school children laptops. Although planning is in an early stage, Mesa of�icials may use some of their $90 million in federal Coronavirus Relief Act aid to buy lap-
tops for children who have been shut out of distance learning when schools were closed. Although Mesa Public Schools and most districts made lessons on paper available to kids whose households have no internet access or devices, most education experts agree they are a poor substitute for virtual learning. In MPS, of�icials told the Governing Board recently that an estimated 7,000 of the district’s approximate 59,000 students have no devices or internet. The city program would be directed at socalled Title 1 elementary schools – those with at least 40 percent of all students living in homes at or below the poverty line. Mesa
district schools and two Gilbert Public Schools located within Mesa city limits would be included. High school and junior high school students in both districts have been provided with laptops. Distance learning could become a routine part of education in the 2020-21 school year. Kathy Hoffman, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, has promised to issue guidelines by the end of the month for schools to reopen in late summer. But superintendents already are worrying
��� CARES ���� 4
This Mesa Class of 2020 found a way to celebrate CONGRATULATIONS, MESA SENIORS! Special section inside BY ZACH ALVIRA Tribune Staff Writer
SPORTS ............... 15 Texas Rangers' Mesa connection. COMMUNITY ............................... 12 BUSINESS ..................................... 13 OPINION ....................................... 14 SPORTS......................................... 15 PUZZLES ...................................... 16 CLASSIFIED ................................. 17 Zone
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W
ith their big moment reduced to a virtual exercise, a large group of Red Mountain High School seniors gathered last Thursday night to release biodegradable balloons as they celebrated their graduation. Advertised as “6 Feet to Graduation,” the event was organized by Red Mountain senior Sydney Stang, who wanted a chance for her classmates to gather safely in person. Stang and the other seniors, wanting more than a virtual slideshow, found a unique way to honor one another together instead of sit-
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Sydney Stang, a newly minted alumna from at Red Mountain High, and her mom Jenny Khayat organized a curbside commencement event after learning in-person ceremonies had been canceled at Mesa schools. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff)