March 2019

Governing Board Message

As many of you know, the Governing Board has been hard at work searching for the next superintendent of PVSchools. Following a series of interviews in which every candidate was extremely qualified and impressive, we entered into contract negotiations with Dr. Jesse Welsh to be the PVSchools superintendent beginning in the 2019-2020 school year. Dr. Welsh currently serves as an assistant superintendent in Clark County School District in Nevada, one of the largest school districts in the nation. Read the entire March letter.

Julie Bacon

Spotlight: Why Teach in PVSchools

Do you know someone pursuing a career in K-12 education or an experienced teacher who may be relocating to Arizona? When selecting a school district to work for in the Phoenix-metro area, the Paradise Valley Unified School District should be one of the top contenders for employment opportunities. Learn more about the benefits of teaching in PVSchools.

District News

PVSchools Governing Board Selects Jesse Welsh, Ed.D. as Next Superintendent The PVSchools Governing Board has selected Jesse Welsh, Ed.D., Assistant Superintendent of Clark County School District, to serve as Superintendent beginning July 1, 2019, and will vote to approve Dr. Welsh's contract at its March 7th meeting. Learn more about Dr. Welsh.

Video Spotlight - Suzuki Strings at Desert Shadows Elementary School Would you like to expand your child's musical knowledge and give him or her the opportunity to learn a musical instrument at a young age? The Suzuki Strings violin program, only available at Desert Shadows Elementary School, can cultivate your child's interest in the violin, music, and the performing arts. View the Suzuki Strings video.

Clean Out Your Closets! PVEA Collecting Prom Attire for Girls & Guys The Paradise Valley Education Association (PVEA) is collecting prom attire for its annual Prom Dresses & Ties for PV Girls & Guys event. Items may be dropped off through April 2nd at the PVSchools' District Administrative Center, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Get directions to PVSchools.) Find out which items are being collected.

Recap: the Sights & Sounds of PVSchools Last weekend, PVSchools held its annual Sights & Sounds of PVSchools: A Fine Arts Festival. View the highlights video of the event.

PVSchools' Showstoppers Take the Stage this Season PVSchools theater teachers and students will bring tales to life through stage productions of musicals and plays this fall. Support Performing Arts in PVSchools by taking the entire family to one of these amazing shows. View the schedule.

Recap: PVSchools 5k Community Fun Run This year, 689 runners of all ages gathered early on Feb. 9th eager to hit the track at Horizon High School. Community runner, Jordan Black finished first for the second year in a row with an impressive time of 16 minutes, 21 seconds. Find out which school had the most participants. View the video.

Recap: PVSTEAM Celebration Highlights On Jan. 26th, PVSchools held its annual PVSTEAM Celebration, which included a Science and Engineering Fair, Rubik's Cube competitions, interactive displays from schools and community organizations, a fashion show with dogs from the Maricopa County Animal Care & Control, and live music and performances. In case you missed it, view the highlights video.

Tax Credit Contributions - It's a Win-Win for You and Students! Did you know that making an Arizona public education tax credit contribution is simple and is a win-win for you and our students? The Arizona tax law allows a tax credit, up to $200 per individual or $400 per married couple when filing their Arizona income tax, for contributions made or fees paid to a public school for support of extracurricular activities such as middle and high school sports or fine arts. Make a difference in the lives of PV students and donate today! View the Ignite Pride Through Tax Credits - North Canyon High School Basketball video.

FROST Tutoring Available to PV Students Does your child need some extra help with homework assignments? PVSchools offers Free Resources Online Student Tutoring to all students in the district.

Digital Citizenship Focus - Information and Media Literacy Information is available all the time and in many formats. How can we create and consume information effectively and truthfully? How can we improve media literacy skills for our children and students? Download to read the article provided by the PVSchools Information Technology Department.

PVSchools in the News View the latest news articles that mention PVSchools.

Upcoming Events

PVEA Provides Free Prom Attire to PVSchools Students

The Paradise Valley Education Association (PVEA) will host its annual Dresses and Ties for Girls and Guys event at PVOnline (get directions) on the following dates and times:

Saturday, March 9th from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, March 12th from 5-7 p.m. Saturday, March 30th from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, April 2nd from 5-7 p.m.

Learn more about the event.

Now's Your Chance to Audition for the NVAA Dance Track The North Valley Arts Academies (NVAA) will hold dance auditions for current 6th-11th grade students on Thursday, March 14th from 3:45-7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Shadow Mountain High School. (Get directions to Shadow Mountain High School.) If you will be in 5th or 6th grade for the 2019-20 school year, you can apply to the program without auditioning. Learn more about the auditions.

Spring Break Schools will be closed March 18th-22nd for Spring Break. District offices will be closed March 21st-22nd.

Early Release - Teacher Professional Development Tuesday, April 2nd is an Early Release Day for Teacher Professional Development.

NVAA Information Night If your child is passionate about dance, theater, music technology or visual arts, learn more about the North Valley Arts Academies program at our Information Night on Wednesday, April 3rd from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Shadow Mountain High School. (Get directions to Shadow Mountain High School.)

Empty Bowls in Paradise PVSchools will host its 11th Annual Empty Bowls in Paradise Sale from 4-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 4th in the East/West Conference Rooms at the District Administrative Center (get directions).

Bagels with the Governing Board As part of an ongoing effort to foster collegiality and promote transparency, the PVSchools Governing Board is pleased to announce Bagels with the Board events for the 2018-19 school year. These events occur quarterly and are held at various schools throughout the district. Email reminders will be sent to all parents/guardians prior to each event.

Thursday, April 11th from 10-11 a.m. at North Ranch Elementary School (get directions)

For district recess and governing board meeting dates, please view the PVSchools Calendar.

Staff & Student Highlights

Janice Mak, K-12 science curriculum specialist, was one of nine educators nationwide selected to participate in a U.S. Department of Education Roundtable Discussion with Secretary Betsy DeVos; Ebony Lee, deputy chief of staff for policy; and Jim Blew, the assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development; that was held in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 28th. Find out more about the roundtable discussion.

Ashley Hall, a junior at Shadow Mountain High School, achieved a rare perfect score of 1600 on the SAT® exam. According to the CollegeBoard, less than 1 percent of test takers scored in the range of 1500-1600. Earning a perfect score on college admission tests is rare and very hard to accomplish. Learn more about Hall.

Each year, the ACT receives thousands of applications for the ACT Student Champion and only selects one student champion to represent each state. Mac McGraw, a senior at Paradise Valley High School, has been selected as Arizona's 2019 Student Champion. Learn more about McGraw's accomplishment.

Emily Tran, a sixth-grade student at Desert Trails Elementary School, was the winner of the Maricopa County Regional II Spelling Bee. Learn more about the win.

Janice Mak

Ashley Hall

Mac McGraw

Chris Hawes, Scott Kellenberger, and Julia Lundberg

PVSchools is excited to announce that two high school student-athletes have won Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA), Division II and Division 5A State Championships. Find our more about Julia Lundberg, North Canyon High School, and Scott Kellenberger, Horizon High School, athletic achievements.

Pinnacle High School captured its second AIA 6A Basketball Championship title on Feb. 26th at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. View the Back to Back Champions video. Read more about the championship game.

Shadow Mountain High School's Boys and Girls Basketball Teams Win State Championships! Learn more about the games.

Harrison Lisk, Alyssa Unell, Alexander Schmelzeis, and Supriya Weiss

PVSchools is proud to announce that four high school seniors from Horizon High School, Paradise Valley High School, and Shadow Mountain High School have been named National Merit® Finalists. Learn more about the National Merit® Scholarship Program.

Mac McGraw and Tania Domenzain-Vera

Tania Domenzain-Vera, a senior at Horizon High School, and Mac McGraw, a senior at Paradise Valley High School, have been selected as candidates for the 2019 U.S. Presidential Scholars. Learn more about the U.S. Presidential Scholars Programs.

Nico Mannion, Pinnacle High School student-athlete, has been selected as a McDonald's All-American and invited to play in the prestigious McDonald's All-American High School Basketball Game. Learn more about Mannion's achievement.

Nico Mannion

Back row from left to right: Devon Wurth, Matthew DiCaudio, Nick Zarillo, Morgan Tefft, Ava Zarillo, Diya Setia, Mrs. Pamela Fulk, Zahra Alam, Seth Shero, Anya Kannan, Aubrey Schrameck,

Grace O'Steen, and Reece Williams. Front row: Bea Scott and Jason Latz

Sunrise Middle School students have earned stellar results in student competitions recently.

Zahra Alam, an eighth-grader, was the "Overall Winner" at the 2019 PVSchools Science & Engineering Fair that was held at Paradise Valley High School on Jan. 26th. Matthew DiCaudo, Anya Kannan, Jason Latz, Diya Setia, and Devon Wurth, won First Place honors in their individual categories! These students will represent PVSchools at the 2019 AzSEF on April 4th at the Phoenix Convention Center.

In addition, the Sunrise Robotics teams did very well at a recent Valley-wide tournament.

Team Alumi-nati won all five of their preliminary matches landing them in Second Place. Team Koolbotics won three of their five preliminary matches landing them in Eighth Place. Team Ticket to Paradise won two of their five matches landing them in 16th place. Team Alumi-nati advanced to the Final Round where they won 1st place! Team Alumi-nati was also awarded First Runner-up for the Control

Award and Second Runner-up for the Innovation Award. Team Alumi-nati will be advancing to the Regional Championships in Flagstaff in February.

Learn more about Sunrise Middle School STEM activities.

PVSchools had two students win first place in the Arizona InvestWrite essay contest - Riya Bhakta, a 5th-grade student at Fireside Elementary School, and Jimmy Washburn, a 6th-grade student at Hidden Hills Elementary School. Learn more about the contest.

Riya Bhakta and Jimmy Washburn

Pinnacle High School Graphic Design students won several awards at the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Regional 3 Conference in the areas of E-Business and Web Design. Approximately 500 students from 28 schools competed in more than 40 business-related events during the competition that was held on Jan. 19th at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus. Find out which awards Pinnacle students won.

Horizon High School's Boys Basketball team collected a whopping 816.3 pounds of food that was donated to the Paradise Valley Emergency Food Bank (PVEFB)! In 2017, the PVEFB provided food assistance to 10,388 people, including 3,886 families and 3,895 children, all within the PV school boundaries. PVEFB funds a school nurse program that provides juice/crackers to 37 PV schools to aid in the dispensing of meds. They also fund a Food4Kids weekend backpack program that currently provides weekend food to more than 750 Title I children for 34 weeks of the 2018-2019 school year.

Jimmy Washburn and Noah Romero, students at Hidden Hills Elementary School, won Third Place as a team in The Stock Market Challenge, which is a contest by the Arizona Council on Economic Education. This game gives students the chance to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in an online portfolio. Students are learning economic and financial concepts they will use for the rest of their lives.

Lyric Sharpe's winning calendar submission

Lyric Sharpe, a student at Sandpiper Elementary School, was the kindergarten winner in the statewide sixth annual Cybersecurity Awareness "Kids Safe Online" Calendar Contest. Learn more about the contest.

About the Paradise Valley Unified School District

For more than 100 years, Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVSchools) has consistently represented the best in Pre-K-12 education. PVSchools serves more than 31,000 elementary, middle and high school students in 45 schools located in northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale. The district extends from 7th Avenue to Pima Road, and Northern Avenue to Jomax Road.

PVSchools| 602-449-2000 | www.pvschools.net

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