Who Is This?

We know she was Tucson High School's English Department Chair from 1915 - 1945.  We know that she worked for more than 40 years on behalf of the children of Tucson.  We can speculate that she was a Lawrence Welk fan-girl to boot.  A pioneer teacher who was well-respected in the community:  Alice Vail - we salute you! Our namesake, pictured above, was a glowing reminder that the business of educating our community takes discipline, sheer will, and style (ahem) to get the job done. Alice Vail - thank you for all you have done for your community!

How Are You Inspired By Dr. King?

AVMS GATE On YouTube

AZ Education Notes

TUSD releases online guide to its schools

TUSD's Catalog of Schools is now available online at tusd1.org.

The catalog highlights each of the 105 schools in an effort to help parents navigate Tucson's largest kindergarten-through-12th-grade district. It can be downloaded or picked up at TUSD headquarters, 1010 E. 10th St.

Additionally, an interactive Web feature allows parents to plug in factors that are important to them in a school, and they'll get in return a list that meets those criteria.(Click Title of Post For full Story: AZStarnet)

Tenure, Seniority Weakened In AZ

The Arizona Legislature made sweeping changes to state teacher contracts earlier this year, removing seniority, salary and contract guarantees.

Changes under House Bill 2011 mean that school districts will be prohibited from using tenure or seniority as a factor in determining which teachers can be laid off. Additionally, school districts no longer have to honor seniority when they rehire.

Gone is an April 15 deadline that required school districts to notify teachers of their contract status for the following school year.(Click Title Of Post For Full Story: AZ Central)

OMA Praised: George Lucas Foundation

ARTSmobile!

Are we fortunate or what?  Take a virtual tour of the African Footprints ARTSmobile's recent visit to Alice Vail Middle School!  Just click on the green link below to delve into what our students had a chance to explore!  I was lucky enough to have been able to snap a few pictures of this incredible artwork with my phone for our Flock Talk! audience.  Click on the ARTSmobile title above for photos saved to Flickr.  Enjoy!

ARTSmobile

Tucson Unified School District's Fine and Performing Arts Department has a multi-cultural artifact collection that travels directly to the students via two mobile museums - the ARTSmobiles. This collection enabled TUSD Fine Arts to become the first school district affiliate in the United States for the Smithsonian Affiliations program. An ARTSmobile will be delivered to the scheduled school on a Monday, be available for visits Tuesday through Thursday, and be picked up on that Friday. Each scheduled school will have a pre-visit packet of activities and lessons before the ARTSmobile visit. The ARTSmobiles are manned by docents who teach classes on the culture and arts of the individual ARTSmobiles.

African Footprints ARTSmobile
African Footprints ARTSmobile Schedule In MS Word | In Adobe PDF