TUSD 03.05.24: 🔥 TUSD Board Feels the Heat at March Meeting 🌡️😰 Wakefield and Holladay Welcome New Principals 🏫👑

🗳️ Board Tables Deseg Report Hearing Amid Criticism 😠📋📱 TUSD Launches $118K Digital Marketing Campaign 📣🖥️

😘 Keepin’ It Simple Summary (para chamacos)

At the latest TUSD board meeting, there was some serious stuff going down. 😳 First, folks were mad about not being told properly about an important hearing and changes to the dress code. 😡 Then, they appointed two cool new principals at some schools. 👑 They also talked about making summer school more focused this year to help struggling students. 📚 Oh! And they're gonna spend some big bucks on ads to get more students. 💸📣

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🔥 TUSD Governing Board Meeting Heats Up with Controversy, Change, and ¡La Lucha! 🏫✊🏾

• 🎤 Public comments questioned proper notice for deseg funds hearing and dress code changes

• 🎉 Two new principals, Josephine Lane and Shakenya Humphries-Gholson, were appointed at Wakefield and Holladay schools

• ☀️ Summer school will target academically struggling students this year with ESSER funds ending

• 📣 A $118,000 digital marketing campaign will aim to recruit and retain students

• 📖 The board attorney reviewed Robert's Rules of Order with the board in depth

TUSD’s six-figure marketing campaign

The Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Governing Board's regular meeting on March 5, 2024, was anything but business as usual. The agenda was packed with hot-button issues that sparked passionate discussion and calls for action from the community. As a watchdog for the gente, I'm here to break it all down for you.

Public Comments Bring the Fuego 🎤🔥

The call to the audience section was on fire, with community members stepping up to hold the board accountable:

• Richard Hernandez claimed his civil rights were violated when the board failed to read his submitted letter. "You violated my civil rights in this United States of America," Hernandez said. "We have the right to our opinion, and you publicize that you just announced that you may speak, and you chose not to read it, so I have a question for you: who do you think you are?"

• Pilar Ruiz expressed concerns about the lack of proper notice for the public hearing on item 6.1 regarding desegregation funds. "The item was posted on Friday, March 1st, 2024, for the public hearing on March 5th, 2024, a three business day notice, an insufficient time to work through the lengthy document," Ruiz said.

• Tara Ridley warned of potential negative consequences of recent dress code policy changes. "There, unfortunately, now will be more skin exposed at school," Ridley said. "This, in turn, will do a number of things. It will make some children and many adults even more uncomfortable, creating a hostile school and work environment. Incidents of sexual misconduct and sexual assaults will inevitably rise, and the increased sexualization of children will contribute to higher promiscuity rates pregnancies and STDs."

• A submitted comment from Sylvia Campoy, the Mendoza (Latino) representative on the TUSD Desegregation case, called out issues with the posting of item 6.1, saying it was "not titled correctly" and used abbreviations instead of the full term "desegregation." Campoy wrote, "TUSD speaks a good line about the value of parent and Community engagement but much too often creates barriers for parents and community members to become engaged." Campoy es una chingona que conoce las reglas.

The board ultimately voted 5-0 to table the public hearing on the desegregation report to a future meeting with more notice. It's a small victory, but the community's voice was heard loud and clear.

New Principals, New Opportunities 👑🏫

In a unanimous vote, the board appointed two new school leaders:

• Josephine Lane as principal of Wakefield Middle School

• Shakenya Humphries-Gholson as principal of Holladay Elementary Magnet School

As a graduate of TUSD herself, Humphries-Gholson shared what the position means to her. "Never in a million years did I think I'd be the principal of the school my grandmother matriculated, so thank you so much. I can't wait to continue to do the great work here at TUSD," she said.

While new leadership brings hope, our schools need mucho más than just fresh faces to create real change. We'll be watching to see if these principals step up for our students.

Putting Social-Emotional Learning in the Spotlight 🧠💖

The board approved a proclamation 5-0 to recognize March 8, 2024 as Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day in TUSD. The move highlights the importance of SEL in supporting student well-being and success.

Board member Sadie Shaw praised the resolution, saying, "I just want to say that you know this is so important to our district, and I wish this had been part of the district when I was going as a student here when I matriculated through and I'm sure you know Public Schools across the country would have benefited from this and so I'm glad that we continue to be a leader in it."

It's a step in the right direction, but our schools need more than just a day of recognition. We need recursos y acción to make SEL a priority every day.

Summer School Shakeup ☀️🍎

Staff presented plans for a revamped summer school program for 2024. With the final round of federal ESSER funds, the program will focus on targeting academically struggling students rather than being open to all.

Some key changes:

• Serving over 6,000 K-8 students and around 4,000 high schoolers

• Focus on academic support and credit recovery

• 4-week program for K-8, two sessions for high school

• Recruitment of struggling students by principals

• Data collection to evaluate impact and guide future funding

Board members discussed the importance of offering opportunities for incoming kindergarten and 6th grade students to help with the transition. They also noted the need to collect data this summer to make informed decisions about funding the program post-ESSER.

While a more targeted approach makes sense with limited funds, summer school must remain accessible to all students who need it. And let's be real, a 4-week program barely scratches the surface of the support our students deserve.

Marketing TUSD to the Masses 📣🚌

The Communications department unveiled a major marketing campaign set to launch in March to boost enrollment and retention. The $118,000 effort will include targeted digital ads, video/audio streaming, email, and mailers to reach three key groups:

1. Prospective families not currently enrolled

2. Families who left TUSD in the past two years

3. Currently enrolled families

Messaging will encourage new families to "discover" TUSD, show appreciation for current families, and invite former families to share feedback and consider re-enrolling. Ads will direct parents to school websites to register and book tours.

"The ultimate metric is just going to be for me it's about one thing: enrollment. We can look at analytics we can look at clicks, we can look at hits on a website. To me, that doesn't mean anything. If the enrollment doesn't come with it, we need the enrollment. The enrollment is going to define the success or failure of this new initiative and this new approach," Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said.

Board members emphasized the need for user-friendly web pages and suggested featuring more content highlighting individual schools. They also proposed running student-led ads on TikTok to appeal directly to older students.

No hay duda that enrollment is critical to TUSD's future. But slick marketing alone won't solve the deeper issues driving families away. TUSD must back up the buzzwords with real action to better serve our students and community.

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Last Meeting Summary

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