Lawmakers rated: 5 • Legendary teachers: 10 • Heart of champions: 16
PAYSON ROUNDUP
ARIZONA NEWSPAPERS AND NATIONAL LOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATIONS’ NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
75 CENTS
TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 | PAYSON, ARIZONA
payson.com
Fires cooperate
The final FRONTIER
Smoke alarms Rim Country by
Peter Aleshire
roundup editor
The lightning-caused Fulton Fire this week continued to cause problems for people driving on Highway 260, 25 miles east of Payson, and alarm Rim Country residents as a result of widespread smoke. The small fire sent smoke drifting across the highway, prompting the Arizona Department of Transportation to repeatedly limit traffic flow on the highway. Crews limited the highway to one lane, in part to allow fire crews to move freely. APS also shut down a power line atop the Rim to protect firefighters in the area. By Friday, the Forest Service had dispatched four Hotshot crews, one type 2
• See Wildfires, page 9
Space & geology students bond at Camp Tontozona by
ASU freshman Bray Falls took the above image of the trillion-star Andromeda Galaxy, some 2.5 million light years from Earth. He used a telescope he bought for about $3,500, which tracked the spiral galaxy through the night and a computer program that combined hundreds of images. Peter Aleshire took the picture of the ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration professors who performed a fire dance at Camp Tontozona last weekend.
‘Merit pay’ bonus Almost all teachers will qualify by
Michele Nelson
U.S. Forest Service photo
Peter Aleshire
roundup editor
roundup staff reporter
Almost all of the teachers in the Payson Unified School District can expect to get a roughly $2,500 “merit pay” boost this year, under the formula approved last week by the Payson School Board. The state’s voters in 2000 approved Proposition 301, which established a classroom site fund paid for out of a little more than half a cent boost in the statewide sales tax. The proposition earmarked 40 percent of the money for “merit pay.” The proposition also specified that any system for handing out the merit raises had to win the approval of 70 percent of the teachers in the district, Director of Student Achievement Brenda Case told the school board. Some 94 percent of the district’s teachers approved the formula this year, she noted.
Ric Alling watched with bated breath as a freshman from ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) held the laser pointer and turned toward the Andromeda constellation. “I wonder if he’ll get this,” said Alling. With little hesitation, the young student showed a classmate where the Andromeda constellation started and ended — pointing to the head, outstretched arms and legs of the mythical princess in the sky. “Whew! He got it!,” said Alling with clear excitement. The director of the SESE planetarium had just finished his astron-
• See ASU’s SESE, page 3
The Payson Unified School District requires each teacher who wants to get the merit pay to come up with three goals for the year. The teacher must hit at least 80 percent of the goal to get the raise — with one-third of the merit boost coming for each goal achieved. “In 2016-17, each teacher has to write three SMART goals focused on student achievement,” said Case. Payson schools superintendent Grey Wyman said the district reviews the goals proposed by each teacher to make sure they’re rigorous and measurable. The goals can be based on a wide variety of measurements, including the AzMERIT test. However, Case noted that teachers can’t actually use the AzMERIT test, which is the key focus of student achievement testing for the district.
• See Teachers, page 2
One more crash pushes Pine Fire to the limit Paramedics juggle emergencies by
Michele Nelson
roundup staff reporter
On Sept. 15, a young woman lost control of her SUV and crashed into the guardrail a few miles from the Highway 87 and 260 turnoff on top of the Rim. The accident came in the middle of a flurry of calls for medical assistance, said Pine-Strawberry Fire Department Chief Gary Morris. “We had four overlapping simultaneous incidences that consumed all of our paramedics,” said Morris. The first call came from the Tonto Natural Bridge where an elderly gentleman with a heart condition needed assistance. Pine paramedics ended up taking him to Payson. Soon after that call came in, a 79-year-old man needed help in Strawberry after he lost control while walking down a steep street with a
walker. “He was on a very steep side street in Strawberry and tumbled off the side of the road,” said Morris. The man fell 20 to 25 feet down slope where a bush broke his fall, preventing him from falling at least another 30 feet. “He was not seriously injured, (but) he was transported to the hospital (by Rural Metro ambulance services from Payson),” said Morris. Then came the call for the accident. The incident was reported to DPS a little after noon. “This was a one-vehicle rollover collision,” said the DPS office. “The vehicle came to rest against the guardrail on the shoulder ... the cause of the collision is unknown, but an investigation is currently underway.”
• See Emergencies, page 2
Photo courtesy of the Pine/Strawberry Fire Department
Paramedics airlifted the driver of this car to a trauma center in the Valley when she ran into a guardrail on Highway 87 north of Pine. Pine Fire units responded, although overwhelmed with other calls.
Aspire Arizona covered tuition for 100 Payson students Donations top $50,000 to help teens in Payson High School get college credit
by
Peter Aleshire
roundup editor
So far, 100 Payson High School students have received free or nearly free college classes — thanks to an innovative partnership involving Payson Unified School District, Gila Community College and the Aspire Arizona Foundation. Last week, the district gave the board of the private Aspire Arizona its latest “Heroes of Education” award. Aspire Arizona has so far provided about $50,000 in scholarships to Payson students to cover the tuition for 200 classes. The foundation provides $200 per class, which covers most of the tuition. The district and the college also contribute to make the classes as free as
possible for the families. The juniors and seniors at Payson High School have classes on campus, taught either by GCC faculty or district teachers with a master’s degree qualified to teach college classes. One-third of those students have taken two classes and 6 percent have taken three. This semester, Aspire Arizona will cover an additional $15,000 in tuition costs. Aspire Arizona was established by the MHA Foundation. The main goal originally was to raise money to provide scholarships for students attending the proposed university campus in Payson. But while waiting for backers to find a university partner, the Aspire board decided to get started helping local students attend college. Aspire is raising money and also
relying on money provided by the MHA Foundation, which raises money and last year received a $40 million endowment in conjunction with essentially selling the Payson Regional Medical Center to Banner Health Systems. The dual credit college classes for high school students not only give teenagers a taste of college standards and demands, they give those students a jump on getting college classes for free. Once upon a time, the state’s THE WEATHER
volume 26, no. 77
three public universities charged only minimal tuition. But as costs rose, the Legislature dramatically reduced taxpayer support for the universities — causing tuition to double and then redouble. It now costs nearly $10,000 a year just for tuition at Arizona State University. The soaring costs have priced many students out of the market for a college
• See Aspire, page 11
Outlook: Cloudy with a 40% chance for rain on Tuesday with a high in the mid 70s, low in the mid 50s. Mostly cloudy Wednesday with similar temps and chance for rain. See page 9
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