Speaking to a packed room, Democratic candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Terry Leyba Ruiz laid out a “fully thought-out comprehensive plan” to rein in Arizona’s runaway ESA voucher spending, rebuild teacher morale, and end the Department of Education’s lack of accountability. She spoke in Tucson on October 17. Ruiz was introduced by Pima … Read more
Deborah Howard, candidate for Arizona State House in LD27. A friend of mine once worked in a group home for girls under seventeen. Every one of them had been sexually abused by a family member or someone close to them. These are the children that “leave it to parents” policy of Representative Fink fails. Most … Read more
Tre’Davon Rhodes knows what public schools can do for students whose futures are anything but guaranteed. Raised by a single mother with an incarcerated father, he worked throughout high school and wasn’t certain college was his next step. A Sabino High School counselor helped him find direction. His grandmother supplied another reason: Before she died, … Read more
In Phoenix, the Head Start-Preschool Program served 2710 children from some of the city’s poorest families in the 2024/25 school year. 2566 families were supported. 284 of the children were special needs. 52 were foster kids. 42 had suffered through homelessness. In addition to providing quality preschool options for Phoenix’s poorest families, the Head Start … Read more
Can happiness be taught and learned? YES, says Dr. Celestino Fernández, who has served as Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona since 1976. Although now retired, he teaches occasionally, including an innovative lecture on “The Art of Happiness: What the Research Tells Us.” He recently spoke in a class at OLLI, the University … Read more