Website fuels school vandals
Cornhole bar planned here
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS..............................12 Grateful Gilbert family slates blood drive.
REAL ESTATE Home prices and rent continue to soar.
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Sunday, September 19, 2021
Learning help part of GPS’ $22M relief spending BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
O
n-demand tutoring 24/7 for students is one way that Gilbert Public Schools is helping address learning loss during the pandemic. The district spent the summer taking input from stakeholders that included the public, parents and staff on how to use the $22 million in its third round of federal pandemic relief funding. Besides the tutoring, other proposals for
using those funds included teacher pay raises, more Chromebooks for K-6 students and updating curriculum. “I just want to say there’s lots and lots of good things in there that will benefit our kids,” Board member Jill Humpherys said at the Sept. 14 work study. “And I really appreciate the hard work and the input that has been given by quite a few people on this.” Unlike the previous two federal allocations, public and charter schools must use 20 percent of their funding to address learning loss resulting from the pandemic’s class-
Gilbert High thespians await curtain call
room disruptions. GPS allocated $4.4 million toward that endeavor, including the on-demand tutoring for students in grades 7-12 for the next 18 months at a $1.2 million cost. The intent is that students would be able to access help whenever it’s best for them whether it be in the evening, early in the morning or weekends, according to Dr. Barbara Newman, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning.
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Gilbert kids theater returns to the stage: page16. BY PAUL MARYNIAK GSN Executive Editor
SPORTS...................... 28 Athletes join suicide awareness/prevention
COMMUNITY....................................... 16 BUSINESS............................................. 18 SPORTS..................................................28 GETOUT.................................................32 CLASSIFIED.......................................... 35
T
he pandemic has not been kind to the world of theater, where the adrenalin rush of in-person performances gave way to the disembodied experience of online shows. How bad that’s been for student thespians and crew is all too well known by Dr. Angela Hines, the theater director and drama teacher at Gilbert High School – where her students will present “Clue: On Stage” in the flesh to live audiences Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 23-25. “It has been one of the most emotionally challenging years of
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Rehearsing a scene from “Clue: On Stage” are Gilobert High thespians, from left, Kayt Johanson, Mason Cook, Alaina Parker, Nicholas Jones, Major Turley, and Skyler Smith. (Zac BonDurant/GSN Contributor)
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