Voces de Casa Maria

A GOOD TIME HAD BY ALL…& a little justice for South side magnet schools too!

2 min read by Cesar Aguirre & Brian Flagg If you didn’t make it down to El Casino Ballroom last night you missed one helluva party! The kids from Davis’ Mariachi Aguilitas were really very soulful. The Ochoa kids danced up a storm! The Color Guard from Cholla High School ROTC was there to open the show. The birria, rice and beans were killer! So was Congressman Grijalva’s speech in defense of public education and the magnet schools. More than 300 people were there, mostly parents and students, but also supervisor Richard Elias, State Rep. Victoria Steele, and 3 school board members who

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IN RESPONSE TO SYLVIA CAMPOY, TEACHER VACANCIES // EN RESPUESTA A SYLVIA CAMPOY, VACANTES DE PROFESORES

4 min read by Cesar Aguirre In the Star’s article (10/8/15) 5 Tucson magnet schools could get more time, resources, Sylvia Campoy points to teacher vacancies as one of the issues at the magnet schools not being corrected by Sanchez and his board. On page 2 of the Star (10/8/15) More than 80 Tucson teacher jobs still vacant the article explains how teacher vacancies are an issue not only in TUSD but for districts across the Tucson area, the state and the nation. For years teachers have been underpaid, under appreciated, undervalued and treated with great disrespect as professionals in their field. It’s no

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ONE PARENT’S STORY… ORGANIZING FOR JUSTICE IN TUSD! // LA HISTORIA DE UN PADRE… ¡ORGANIZANDO PARA JUSTICIA EN TUSD!

11 min read by Cesar Aguirre As a parent of two current TUSD students and an active community member I’ve found that what makes the desegregation case so confusing is the complexity and history of the case. The mainstream media is very good at putting its own spin on things, kind of like they did with the bus strike, which makes it even more difficult to understand what is happening. The misinformation from this biased reporting is very damaging and causes even more division among those of us truly working to improve the quality of education for our brown and black students who

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MY BEEF WITH TESTING

6 min read by Cesar Aguirre Last night I was organizing things in my room when I ran across an article I was quoted in regarding standardized testing and parents’ right to opt-out http://tucson.com/news/local/education/more-parents-see-standardized-tests-as-harmful/article_489549a5-5dfa-5a7b-9324-1065d37866bc.html. The one thing I must say before I go on is that, despite what the title says, I am not against testing. I only have beef with standardized testing! Now, I can go on a rant and write a novel talking about all the reasons I am against standardized testing, but I’ll spare you the whole profit driven corporate machine using our kids as guinea pigs to “reform” our

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IN DEFENSE OF AUGIE ROMERO

2 min read by Cesar Aguirre On the second page of today’s Daily Star (12/2/14) the headline reads, “State reviewing TUSD on Mexican American Studies”. This is because Augustine Romero was baited into an argument over whether or not Mexican American Studies had returned to TUSD in the form of a federally required Culturally Relevant Curriculum (CRC) that is being implemented because of a 40 year old desegregation lawsuit. Augustine Romero is the new principal at Pueblo High school and from where we sit, on the south side of Tucson, we see a man who is passionate about educational justice, who fights for

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Fighting for Justice, Liberty, & Peace in Barrio Libre