Tucson Unified School District superintendent cancelled the Governing Board meeting previously scheduled for early this month and has scheduled a series of community forums starting tonight to discuss the District’s magnet schools. The first forum, scheduled for today will be held at Pueblo Magnet High School, 3500 S. 12th Ave at 6 p.m. .
The hastily thrown together series will continue at Carrillo K-5 Magnet, 440 S. Main Ave., on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The Special Master appointed by federal judge David Bury found that the magnet schools, which were intended to attract students and increase integration, failed to do so. The District is ignoring his recommendations to achieve integration and are fighting to keep the schools as magnets so that they would qualify for desegregation monies.
An independent study was completed two years ago, which found that not only do the schools not increase integration, the schools which are not magnets such as Dodge Middle School which offer a back to basics curriculum do attract students and are highly integrated.
Sanchez advised the Governing Board at the last meeting that he was not interested in integrating schools. But those dollars attached to the magnet label are key to funding schools such as Davis Bilingual which is 90 percent Hispanic and according to the independent study does not really offer a bilingual education, but more of a Spanish immersion program.
The Governing Board meeting scheduled for October 8 was cancelled due to Sanchez’s concerns that those who support keeping the schools as magnets will not be available due to the meeting’s proximity to Fall Break. The District needs to generate community support for the schools in order to sell the concept to the federal judge.
Grijalva moved unilaterally to cancel the meeting over other Board members’ objections.