Focus on TUSD - Summer 2008

Cram Course
Sahuaro offers potpourri of classes
Sahuaro High School's summer school teachers are enthusiastic about their offerings even as enrollment has steadily declined. Two years ago, enrollment was 620 students. Last year, it was 520 and this year, it's 465 students.

Sahuaro aggressively seeks students, said Carolyn Jones, Sahuaro's summer school director, who is a 1987 Santa Rita High School graduate and the student council advisor. Staff has visited middle schools and fliers were sent to both TUSD schools and private schools in the area that don't have summer sessions such as St. Augustine's and Desert Christian.

That marketing is important, because Sahuaro, like Sabino receives no outside assistance from TUSD or from the state and federal governments. Fees help pay for salaries and supplies.

Sahuaro's most popular class is health, followed by physical education and algebra. Sahuaro also offered four years of English, geometry, pre-calculus, U.S. government, world history/geography, first year Spanish and behind-the-wheel training.

Brittain Echols, who teaches the multigrade health course, gets much of the credit for his class's popularity. Now in his third year of teaching summer school, he said he enjoys having one class to focus on at a time and he likes not feeling rushed in the five and a half hours of class. However, he pointed out, "Kids learn it right away, but I don't know if they take away as much because it's all thrown at them at once."

Echols focuses on mental, physical and social health with an emphasis on self-esteem. To illustrate this concept, he gives each student a piece of paper and five pieces of candy, asking them to choose the best lemon head from the group. Usually, Echols said, students choose the largest piece or the roundest. They're asked to compare that process to evaluating people, listing their positive and negative traits.

"I tell them that self-esteem is formed when students are young," Echols said. He pointed out that self-esteem manifests itself in behavior such as smoking, dating, forming and maintaining relationships, bullying, suicide and depression."

In another room, intermediate algebra teacher Daniel Wells' enthusiasm lights up his room. "The most rewarding thing about math is having a student say, "Wow! I can do this after all,' after they've been struggling," he said.

Like his fellow summer school teachers, he crams in six days of regular school year instruction into one day of summer school. Wells frequently pairs up students who work at different paces so they learn from each other. When he hears students explain things to each other, he said, "I get goose bumps. I like seeing kids close the gaps and work at their own pace."

Down the hall, Eva Lange has her combined junior and senior English class working in the computer lab. After reading the memoir, "The Color of Water" by James McBride, they researched their future careers and wrote personal narratives.

This fast pace resonates with senior James Welsh, who has been at summer school for several years to pick up the credits he needs for his December graduation. "Summer school is straight forward," he said. "You don't have the extended work projects you have in regular class. It fits my learning style. He appreciates having creative writing opportunities in the class.

Welsh attends TUSD's Aztec Middle College at Pima Community College's East Campus.

Lindsay Summers, a Sahuaro senior who is in her second year at summer school, said it's easier to focus on one subject in summer school. This summer, she's getting two semesters of American history, beginning with early American civilization and moving up to later events during the final days of the class.

In summer school, Sahuaro does not use the District's credit recovery system, Plato, which allows students to make up credits on line. Because Plato is free, Jones said it may be one of the causes for Sahauro's declining summer school enrollment.

For students who have difficulty paying fees, financial assistance is available for some. Jones tries to have a budget left over each summer to help provide partial scholarships for qualifying Sahuaro students. Sahuaro also accepts payments spread out over time for families that may have difficulty paying the summer school costs.

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations

Photos in the summer issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations, unless otherwise noted.

The deadline to submit material for the September Focus is Friday, August 15. The Focus will be published Monday, August 25. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the online Tip Sheet.