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Vol. 87 No. 15 Periodicals Postage Paid at Superior, Arizona 85173
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
50¢
Excellent SHS showing at robotics competition applauded at school district board meeting
Competitive robot … The robot that helped the Superior Robotics team place well during a recent three-day robotics competition visited with the Superior school board and public at a presentation about the robotics activity. The group was also on hand at the recently held Apache Leap Day and showed off to those in attendance just exactly what the robot can do. Cindy Tracy photo
By Cindy Tracy Its name is “CatRaptor” and though it doesn’t have a head, it is very smart and obeys the commands of the Superior High School robotics club members who gave it “life.” If a member of that team, say, hands an inner tube made of very light, white plastic to CatRaptor, the robot will pick it up and hold it in the air. CatRaptor can also move about a room and do other robot things, always guided by members of the Robotics team. The team brought this clever mechanical individual to the April 6 Superior school board meeting. The robot had been there before but never demonstrated its robotized arm and ability to hold on to an inner tube. The robotic appearance was a part of a report to the board and public about the team’s experience in a three-day FIRST Robotics competition in Chandler March 17-19.
CatRaptor is named for science teacher and robotics team mentor Cathy Denogean, who told the board that the toughest part of the competition for the team had been not being able to anticipate exactly what problems they might face with the robot on the scene. She said there had been a lot of competition at the event. “But they did excellent,” she said. Robotics Club President LeAndrea Rivera thanked the school district for their support in making it possible for the team to be involved in the robotics activity. “Because without a place to build it,” she said, “we probably wouldn’t have gotten so far.” She said that it really helped them to be allowed to stay in the lab in the evenings to work on the project and getting ready for the competition. “We got this down before ‘bag and tag,’” she said. This referred to a competition requirement that the robot had to be bagged and tagged
at a certain time before taking it to the event. The team was not allowed to touch it after it was bagged and tagged until they walked in the door the morning of the competition. Resolution Copper has been the sponsor and mentor of Superior’s participation in the FIRST Robotics activity and Rivera told of how much it helped having the opportunity to talk to Resolution mentors out there at the event. Denogean elaborated a bit more about Resolution’s financial and mentoring aide in the program. Superior placed 23rd out of 42 teams, which it was pointed out, was an excellent result especially in light of how small the Superior district is in relation to some of the competition. There was enthusiastic applause from the board and audience for team, mentor and, of course, CatRaptor, following the presentation.
TALKIN’ TRASH
Majority of residents Summer school, free breakfast and lunch for students and community, fully cooperate in recently stadium lights and more coming up implemented curbside recycling initiative on school campus in near future By Cindy Tracy The Superior Unified School District is winding up its current school year, honoring its students and soon-to-be graduates, and doing some mighty positive planning. Planning efforts are underway for the return of summer school for the first time for a while and following that, the 2011-2012 school year. Actions taken at the April 6 Superior Unified School District meeting all reflected that positive spirit. For one thing, there are two new key positions open in the district. Pete Guzman, who for a few years has been wearing the hats of principal of the elementary and the junior and senior highs in the district, as well as that of superintendent, said he has suggested the position of assistant principal in the junior-senior high be created. The board agreed and the job is being advertised in-house and out-of-house. “I recommended that now is the time to add an administrator back on,” he said. “This new principal will take over most of the discipline and will be available for teachers and students more than the time that I can give them. This is the right time to do it and I commend the board for taking those steps.” The second open position bears the title of “staff development/implementation coordinator.” This person will deal with staff management and handling different assignments that teachers do now. “I’m making this recommendation because I want to see teachers more in the classroom,” Guzman said. “That’s what we hire them for, rather than doing other duties.” The district is able to contemplate adding the new staff members because, according to Guzman, they
Weather
Date
Apr. Apr. Apr. Apr. Apr. Apr. Apr.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
High
84 90 80 80 72 54 63
Low Pcp
51 47 52 57 46 36 32
.03 .56 .01
Weather readings courtesy Boyce Thompson Arboretum.
are looking at a possible carryover of funds from the current budget year. “Depending on what happens between now and June,” he said, “we have figured the carryover could be approximately $104,000.” Why did this possible budget carryover occur? “It occurred because of the wise planning that was done in the past two years of cutting certain personnel and cutting programs when we needed to because of the economic times,” he said. “The economic times are still rough right now but because we took those measures now we have a surplus.” He credited members of the staff for making this happen. “We cut administrators,” he said, “so teachers stepped up and helped me do the work. Now I’m able to tell them, ‘Thank you very much. You’ve done a great job and now we’re going to hire somebody to take over these things so that you don’t have to do them.’” He said a lot of money had been saved when staff members left and the district did not fill the position. “We also took advantage of the relief pool, where we are able to call people in and they work only the hours that we need them,” he said. Another future advantage in the area of finances is the self-funding facility improvements being coordinated by Arizona Public Service Energy Services. These improvements, which include a plan to bring stadium lights back in the very near future, possibly by graduation, will be a great cost saver for the district, Guzman said. “They are going to come in and put different types of equipment that save energy, from windows to skylights. They are going to do this in all three buildings and it will result in savings. It will help us,” he said. As far as having the lights up for graduation, Guzman said it kind of worried him to tell people that as there is always a chance it might not happen, but that is the goal. However, he said, as of now, graduation is still scheduled for 6 p.m. on May 27. Positive actions were also taken by the school board at the meeting in the approval of the new “Schoolmaster” school management program by Tyler Technologies for the 2011-2012 school year, the Leo student assessment program and the expansion of the MAC-Ro Math Program to Grades 5 and 6. Guzman was also upbeat last week
about the return of summer school to the district. “We are finally going to get summer school back,” he said. “We lost it because of budget cuts in the past.” During the summer session, in the high school there will be recovery for students who have lost credits. This will be done through the credit recovery Plato program. “It’s been a very successful program for us and we’re going to provide it for the high school students,” he said. “I think we have a targeted number of 24 students in the high school for that.” In the junior high, there will be three teachers who will concentrate solely on math and reading for students who have been referred to that program, he said. In the elementary, 45 children have been targeted out for summer school. “We have three teachers who will fill those spots,” he said. “They will also work hard on reading and math.” Along with the school, the district will provide free breakfast and/or lunch for not only the students but the community, along with transportation. The summer school program will last approximately three to four weeks and begin the first week of June. For more information, contact the school And, following an executive session at the school board meeting, was a decision that perhaps Mayor Michael Hing of the Town of Superior had come to be informed about first hand. He had sat in the first row all evening as the board conducted its business. He waited patiently until they came out and one of the items they had discussed was the recent negotiations regarding the sale of Roosevelt school. The board voted to accept an offer by the town to purchase the Roosevelt school site from the district. This had been a concept that had been discussed at numerous meetings of both the Superior Town Council and the school district. The idea has been that the school district can no longer afford to maintain the site since capital funds cannot be spent on a school district property where there are no students. Roosevelt was constructed in the early 20th Century and has been an elementary school, a junior high and has been used for administration and See SCHOOL on P. 5
By Cindy Tracy Curbside recycling is a success in Superior! The mandatory program was a focal point of negotiations until last year between Allied Waste and the Town of Superior before the council voted in a program for residential curbside pickup. It was predated by an also successful voluntary recycling tryout where people brought recyclables to giant blue bins places around the town. Sue Anderson of the Let’s Talk Trash Committee has been a driving force among those who have worked so hard to get curbside recycling into Superior. She reported to Superior Town Council and members of the public at the council’s April 7 meeting on the program and thanked everyone for how well it was doing. She said she wanted to clarify to the public that the 4 percent increase they are seeing on their trash bills are not due to the recycle program. The increase was a result of previous negotiations regarding the Allied Waste trash pickup contract.
She said 70 percent of households are participating and putting their recycle bins out regularly. The next program goal is in education, she said. That includes involving students in the school so that they can learn about the benefits and the “how to” of recycling and be a force for change in the community about this activity. Another aspect of education is an outreach to the 30 percent of households who are not putting out their bins. Finding out why they are not participating and helping them to resolve any issues keeping them from doing so would be the goal of that outreach. $604 has been earned in rebates by the town through the recycle program so far. Anderson said she proposed setting aside these recycling earnings and earmarking them in some kind of program to aid in code enforcement as to the condition of property in the town.
Easter in the Park takes place April 23 on Saturday before the holiday By Cindy Tracy The Easter season is just around the corner! On Saturday, April 23, the Annual Town of Superior Parks & Recreation event “Easter in the Park” takes place downtown. This year, the Easter Bunny is a little behind in his work. He is very, very busy preparing for all the Easter egg hunts taking place in all the communities, towns, cities and individual households across the nation. This includes Superior, but luckily, the Bunny has some helpers here. Save Money Market is donating ALL of the eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt for children planned for Easter in the Park. The Superior Head Start Children are going to help also! They will be coloring all the eggs that the Easter Bunny will hide for the hunt. The Easter Bunny commented
to The Superior Sun that he is grateful and appreciative for this assistance and hopes everyone can come out to the April 23 event and have a good time. There will be prizes for the egg hunt. The focal point for the event is Besich Park. Tentative plans call for an 11 a.m. or noon start, according to Parks & Recreation Director Barbara Arriola. The festival is scheduled to run until approximately 4 p.m. There will be an Easter Hat Contest, for all ages, with 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-place prizes. There will be other fun activities throughout the day. Posters about the event have been sprouting this week all over town, just like flowers in the spring. Make sure to look for them for more information and read about the event in The Superior Sun as well. And for even more details or to make a donation or volunteer to help, call Arriola at 520-827-0052.