Education Issues

Should State Senator Don Shooter Be Charged for His Episode at a Yuma School?

Word on the street is, Yuma police are recommending misdemeanor charges against Republican State Senator Don Shooter, for his recent episode at a Yuma school.According to a Yuma PD report, Shooter barged in to his grandson's classroom at a charter school and started shouting at the teacher, only aft ... More >>

Headmaster Erik Twist Apologizes For Violating State Law By Using School As Platform to Advocate "No" Vote On School-Funding Proposition 204

Eric Twist, headmaster of Archway Classical Academy Veritas, issued an apology to parents for using his office, along with the school's e-mail contact list and its office manager, to blast Proposition 204, a school funding measure. In his apology (posted in full after the jump), he wrote that he is ... More >>

Erik Twist, Charter School Headmaster, Blasts Prop 204 in E-mail to Parents, Opposition to Education Funding Initiative Partly Rooted in Theory It Might Fund Abortions

Erik Twist, the headmaster of a Phoenix charter school, blasted an e-mail to school parents outlining the reasons to vote against Proposition 204, an initiative estimated to generate about $1 billion a year mostly for education funding -- including for charter schools. It's causing a stir among som ... More >>

Talk of the Nation

Rich Crandall Leaves a Somewhat Angry Voicemail for Fellow State Senator, Who's Filing an Ethics Complaint Over It

The audio clip above -- a voicemail from Republican state Senator Rich Crandall to fellow Republican Senator Brenda Barton -- is apparently enough to get an ethics complaint lodged against Crandall.This all started (as so much drama does) over a campaign-sign feud, in which there are photos of two w ... More >>

Lure de France

Billy Bryant, Ex-Bus Driver Known as "Mr. Bill," Pleads Guilty to Molesting 9-Year-Old

The former charter school bus driver who liked to be called "Mr. Bill" pleaded guilty this morning to charges related to luring a 9-year-old girl to his car and molesting her."Mr. Bill," known to the court system as Billy Bryant, pleaded guilty this morning to three counts child molestation and one ... More >>

Printer's Revel

Ricardo Siqueiros, Nogales Teacher, Went For A Drive After School (With Nearly 20 Pounds of Meth And 12 Pounds of Blow, According to DPS)

​Nogales charter school teacher Ricardo Siqueiros took a ride on Interstate 10 toward Phoenix Tuesday evening.According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, he took his 19.5 pounds of meth and 12 pounds of cocaine along for the ride.Siqueiros, 32, was stopped by the cops around 7 p.m. while ... More >>

Bears of Manitou Prepare to Rock the More Than Music Festival With Reflections on Music Education

Without music education, it's safe to say there would be no Bears of Manitou. To help foster the local talent of the future, the band is pairing with Ear Candy Charity, a local nonprofit that seeks monetary and musical instrument donations to help with Arizona's dismal arts education funding, for ... More >>

Russell Pearce's Right-Wing Echo Chamber, and Its Latest Smear of Jerry Lewis

Gilman slams Patterson in his latest. Nice laugh track, Dennis.In the wake of the Olivia Cortes flap in the Legislative District 18 recall race, the right-wing echo chamber has been trying its darnedest to gin up scandals involving Republican Jerry Lewis, state Senate President Russell Pearce's ... More >>

Arizona Public Schools Earn an "F" When it Comes to Math and Writing, According to Latest AIMS Test Results

yumamom.com​Arizona public schools still don't receive satisfactory marks when it comes to standardized test scores, as evident by the recently released results of this spring's Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) test, the state's current barometer for success on the education frontThe ... More >>

Qikai "Ben" Chen Pleads Not Guilty to Felony Child Abuse; Basis Charter School Boots Its Former Teacher

  Qikai "Ben" Chen has been indicted for felony child abuse. He's also lost his job as a math teacher at Scottsdale's Basis Charter School.​Qikai "Ben" Chen, a former math teacher at Scottsdale's Basis Charter School, pleaded not guilty today to a felony charge of child abuse. The arr ... More >>

Scottsdale Charter School Teacher Accused of Bashing Face of Boyfriend's 6-Year-Old; Girl Woke Up Suspect From His Nap

Image: Maricopa County Sheriff's OfficeQikai "Ben" Chen, a math teacher at Basis Charter School in Scottsdale, admitted to police that he bashed his boyfriend's daughter's face into a wall, court records state.​ A Scottsdale charter school teacher was arrested on Tuesday and accused of bashing ... More >>

Bare Market

Phoenix’s oldest gallery keeps things edgy

Agua Fria Special Education Director Accused of Raping and Threatening Special Needs Student

Brian Willner is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl with special needs.​The Avondale Police Department -- after a two week investigation -- has arrested the director of the Aqua Fria High School's special education program after a 15-year-old student with special needs told her moth ... More >>

The Right Watch

Rembrandt reveals what you don't know

Food Network

Here comes six days of foodie bliss

Food Network

Here comes six days of foodie bliss

Arizona Schools Get C- in National Schools Report; That's Good Enough to be Ranked 5th-Worst in Country

www.kyouzo.com​There's no shortage of discouraging news for Arizona today. In a prior post, we told you about Maricopa County's dismal national ranking in terms of job loss, and the latest news on the education front isn't any better.According to the annual report from Editorial Projects in ... More >>

Hot Links: Dinosaurs, Mannequins, and Throwing Rocks

​A Mesa native has discovered a new dinosaur. Sterling Nesbitt was featured in an article in Science magazine last month, which detailed his team's discovery of a new dinosaur species during a four-year dig in New Mexico. The new species may fill in evolutionary gaps between early dinosaurs and tw ... More >>

Private School Vouchers for Disabled Kids Struck Down by State Supreme Court

  Public schools send some disabled kids to private schools -- but parents can't do the same thing with state money, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled today. The state's high court struck down two voucher programs that intended to give a combined $5 million in taxpayer funds t ... More >>

Arizona pols play politics with the state’s disabled students

Jelts and Idolize

Tomorrow's Last Try
(Earsweat Records)

Flunk'd

The Thomas J. Pappas School gives homeless kids everything they need — except a good education

Goy Gevalt

Pretty but useless, like a Prada with a broken heel

Smart AZ the Rest

The Morgan Quitno report? That smarts.

School Daze

New Deer Valley charter raises questions and a possible recall effort

Almost Famous

Peppered with local rock 'n' roll references, Valley novelist Jaime Clarke's new book proves a sharp satire of celebrity culture

Flashes

From the week of February 8, 2001

Student, Teaching

13-year-old reveals strange double life as grade school math instructor

Lenin Pledge

Russky business focus of USSR propaganda poster exhibition

Abated Breath

Charter Charter Bang Bang

It takes a report card to keep the Valley's alternative education scene straight

Think Tank Warfare

Barry Goldwater's widow says the conservative institute that bears his name is twisting his legacy

Charter Martyr

A Different School of Thought

The state's unabashed enthusiasm for charter schools stops at the borders of Indian reservations

Colonel Sandra?

Maricopa County schools chief's foes hope to wing Sandy Dowling's latest power play

Teacher Dearest

The free market alone was supposed to control charter schools, but the state is stepping in to clean up Gail Battistella's mess at Dragonfleye Charter School

A Charter School Progress Report

In praise of creative finances

The High Cost of Education Reform

The Symington administration touts market-based reform as a cure for Arizona's educational ills. Behind that rhetoric, state policies are driving public schools toward financial collapse.

QUIET RIOTIN CASE YOU HADN'T NOTICED, THE PHOENIX UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS IMPOSED A CONTRACT ON ITS TEACHERS

UNCHARTERED WATERSFEDERAL DESEGREGATION RULES BLOCK ENROLLMENTS IN CHARTER SCHOOLS

FLASHES

YOU, TOO, CAN OPEN A SCHOOL!IN ARIZONA, IT'S JUST LIKE ANY OTHER BUSINESS

VOUCHERS GO QUIETLYTHE GOP'S TOP PRIORITY SPUTTERS AT THE CAPITOL

CITIZEN, TEACH THYSELF

A NEW ARIZONA LAW DENIES PRESCHOOL SERVICES TO THE CHILDREN OF UNDOCUMENTED RESIDENTS--EVEN IF THE KIDS ARE U.S. CITIZENS

SEPARATE BUT MAS QUE IGUAL

NEARLY HALF OF ARIZONA'S HISPANIC CHILDREN DROP OUT OF PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS. SOME PARENTS THINK THE SOLUTION IS HISPANIC CHARTER SCHOOLS.

FIFE'S DOUBLE TALK ON EDUCATIONGOVERNOR SYMINGTON'S SCHOOL-VOUCHER PLAN IS A GIFT FOR CONSERVATIVES--NOT THE POOR

ARIZONA'S EDUCATION SYSTEM IS READY FOR REFORM SCHOOL

FOR ONCE, BIG BUSINESS AND EDUCATORS ARE IN CONCERT. BUT WILL LAWMAKERS FACE THE MUSIC