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Councilman Greg Stanton's
My Turn Column
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 12, 2004
Partnerships Help Make Schools Better In Phoenix Union District
By City Councilman Greg Stanton, Chair of the City Council Education Subcommittee, and Harry Garewal, Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board
Phoenix has a bold vision for entering the new economy, which will lead to better paying jobs and require a higher educated workforce. Additionally, our vision for revitalizing our urban core is drawing strong support and participation from a wide variety of important players.
Community leaders, neighborhood organizations, investors, entrepreneurs, homebuilders, universities and the public sector all will be playing significant roles in this exciting effort.
A seldom mentioned player, though, may be our most important – Phoenix Union High School District. Its boundaries cover most of our urban core.
Having an outstanding high school educational system that covers the downtown area is critical to both the short- and long-term successes of the remaking of downtown, and our long term economic success.
High quality businesses will be much more interested in remaining and expanding in the area, investors will be more likely to put down the money needed to attract new businesses and entrepreneurs will be more willing to take on the risks associated with starting new ventures.
Most importantly, families who want the very best education possible for their children will be eager to move into the area because of excellent education opportunities available to them.
As members of the Phoenix City Council and the Phoenix Union High School District Board of Education, we are dedicated to helping the revitalization plan succeed by working together through existing and new city and school district partnerships.
Our city and school district already are involved in the development of a top flight bioscience high school currently being planned for the downtown and which will be a major boon to the revitalization effort.
It will be located near the Phoenix Bioscience Center, a city-owned site near Van Buren and Seventh streets that will house world class genomic and medical research facilities and a new medical school. Ironically, the property comprises the former campus of Phoenix Union High School, which operated on the site from 1895 to 1982.
The bioscience school will offer a science education to 400 students a year, perhaps encouraging them to further their education at the soon-to-be-developed Capitol Center campus of ASU and then find jobs in the area after they obtain their degrees.
Scheduled to open in 2006 with a freshmen class of 125 students, the school could become a national model for specialized high schools. It already is due to be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the National School Board Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education. It will lead to significant student interest in math and science, which is critical for our science based future.
There are many other partnership projects, too.
With leadership from Mayor Gordon and the Phoenix Police and Fire departments, the city and school district have been working on plans to open a police and fire sciences high school in 2006 in a former elementary school on McDowell Road, near Grand Avenue.
We also worked together to develop a special dropout prevention program for the elementary school districts that feed students into the Phoenix Union high schools. Called “STRIVE in 8,” the program identifies eighth graders who have poor attendance records and makes personal calls and visits to them to encourage them to register for high school. We know that our exciting venture into the new economy will not be successful unless we dramatically increase our state graduation rate.
A school resource officer program that places city police officers inside the schools also is very active at most district high schools. The officers not only offer safety and security on campuses, but help students understand their legal rights and responsibilities. The presence of SROs on campus also fosters a relationship of respect and trust between the students and police officers.
Other partnerships involve after school programs and summer activities for students, principal for a day programs in which business leaders see what it is like running a school, and a “wake up” program that trains chronically late students to get to class on time.
An outstanding example of a partnership that not only benefits the city and school district, but saves tax dollars as well, is a joint usage agreement of city-owned Cesar Chavez Park next to Cesar Chavez High School. The school maintains the sports fields at the park in exchange for being allowed to use them during school athletic seasons. When the seasons end, the fields become available to the public. The agreement saves the city maintenance costs, the school district from having to buy its own fields and taxpayers from having to pay twice for duplicate facilities.
The partnerships work because we all recognize that whatever we can do to help the students be successful is only going to help the city be successful and the more successful the students, the more successful our city will be. Our partnership is critical for achieving our mutual success.
Greg Stanton can be reached at his city council office at 602-262-7491, or by e-mail at greg.stanton@phoenix.gov. Harry Garewal can be reached at 602-279-1800, or by e-mail at info@azhcc.com.
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