Kyrene School District

Kyrene School District
Location
8700 S. Kyrene Road, Tempe AZ 85284
District information
Type Public
"Excellence in education for over 125 years"
Superintendent Dr. Jan Vesely
Students and staff
Students Approx. 17,500
Other information
Website http://www.kyrene.org

Kyrene School District is a K-8 school district that serves parts of Tempe, Chandler, Guadalupe, and Phoenix, Arizona, as well as portions of the Gila River Indian Community within Maricopa County. It has nineteen elementary schools and six middle schools. The district office, the Ben Furlong Education Center, is located at the intersection of Warner Rd. and Kyrene Rd. in Tempe. The district is overseen by Superintendent Jan Vesely.

History

In 1888, the Kyrene School District was founded at the request of nine families who wanted a school district for 17 children. The original boundary area was far smaller than currently; though the north boundary is unchanged, the Kyrene district confirmed its east boundary at Price Road and has since extended west from its 56th Street/Priest Drive boundary and south from Pecos Road to include much of the Gila River Indian Community. The district built a small school that was destroyed in a windstorm; until 1920, the Kyrene School site was at McClintock and Warner roads, two miles due east of the Furlong Center (a 1990 build).

Many teachers who received their educational certificates from Arizona State University, originally called Tempe Normal School, taught in one of the two-schoolroom buildings. Mr. Earl D. Willams graduated from Arizona State University and began teaching Industrial Art at the KYRENE JUNIOR HIGH GRADE K-8 on WARNER and KYRENE Rd. Mr. Williams built the first Industrial Art Shop-Class, the Library and the Administration Building. He also built a replica of the original school house for the Kyrene Bicentennial Parade. Mr. Earl Williams taught Industrial Art for thirty years at Kyrene.

Kyrene approached the early 1970s with 600 students in the entire district, mostly Hispanic students from a small area named "Sende Vista", just south of Guadalupe, an area of South Phoenix called "Highland Terrace", and the Hightown neighborhood of Chandler. Five buses transported the districts to school.

Resources in the '70s were concentrated on building classroom space for the district that would grow fourfold by 1980. C.I. Waggoner elementary was added to, and the district completed Lomas and Norte elementary schools. (C.I. Waggoner Elementary School, est. 1969, is the oldest operating school facility in the district.)

The 1980s brought another wave of new schools, built in mostly the same designs. Nine elementary and middle schools were built in the 1980s, and eleven more followed by the late 1990s. Three more school builds brought the district to 25 elementary schools.

Middle schools

Middle schools in Kyrene SD
Information Akimel A-al[Notes 1] Altadeña Aprende Centennial Kyrene MS del Pueblo
Location Phoenix Phoenix Chandler Phoenix Tempe Chandler
Opened 1992 1991 1994 1988 1995 1986
Colors Turquoise, black Maroon/blue Gold/black Red/black Lime green/black Maroon/gray
Mascot Rattlers Panthers Jaguars Saber Cats Scorpions Bulldogs
Principal Stephanie Philips James Martin Renee Kory Michelle Anderson Sheryl Houston Kelly Alexander
Feeds into... (TUHSD) Mountain Pointe, Desert Vista Desert Vista Corona del Sol Mountain Pointe Corona, Mountain Pointe, Marcos de Niza Corona del Sol and Mountain Pointe

Centennial and Pueblo opened as junior high schools and were converted to full 6-8 middle schools in 1990.

Elementary schools

District Administration/Cabinet Members

District Department Leadership

Notes

  1. ↑ The name is Tohono O'odham for "children of the river"
  2. ↑ C. Ira Waggoner, the school's namesake, was a Depression-era district superintendent
  3. ↑ The school was built in partnership with Intel Corporation, which has offices across the street, and opened for the 1993-94 school year.

References

  1. ↑ "Intel brings TQM to the business of education." Personnel Journal Jan. 1995: 77.
  2. ↑ Anfuso, Dawn. "Intel educates a school district about business." Personnel Journal Apr. 1995: 128-36.
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