by Anne Gibson There are many different types of volunteer opportunities in the Vail School District (VSD) every day helping students in their own way. “School safety is on everyone’s mind today. When students hear the news reports and our conversations, they must wonder if their school is a safe and caring place. The presence and attention of our...
by Anne Gibson One of the fascinating things about the Vail School District’s Vail Pride Day is that over its 19 years, it has continued to add new events and put others to rest. The parade idea surfaced when Vail School District Director of Communications and Public Affairs Darcy Mentone, was preparing a video for the District’s All Staff program...
In January of this year, we agreed to an automatic mutual aid agreement, which benefits the homeowners of each fire district by pooling our joint resources, said Rincon Valley Fire Chief Jayme Kahle, referencing an agreement between the Rincon Valley Fire District (RVFD) and the Corona de Tucson Fire District (CDTFD). “By working together in...
Over 4,000 years ago the ancient Babylonians took claim to be the first to make New Year’s resolutions. For them, the new year began in mid-March with the planting of the crops and the promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any borrowed objects. These promises were the forerunners of our New Year’s resolutions. In 46 B.C., Julius...
Imagine being a fourteen-year-old boy and being transported by ambulance from your student life at Andrada Polytechnic High School (Andrada) to Diamond Children’s Center. On November 6th, after a two day stay, you are diagnosed with AML leukemia. This is how Alex Herron’s story began. According to Wikipedia, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a...
“The ‘construction fingerprints’ of Al Flores are all over the Vail School District. He deserves high praise for both building our beautiful schools and then keeping them beautiful,” said Vail School District Superintendent Calvin Baker as he spoke about the retirement of Flores after 22 years service to the school district. Al, like his father...
There was a celebrative feeling on October 17th at the Vail Innovative Center as members of the Steering Committee for the Southeast Library received the news the Pima County Board of Supervisors had that day approved the hiring of Tucson architecture firm Burns Wald-Hopkins Shambach Architects to design the library. The contract for the 9,000...
Suspense grew in early October as the Vail School District anticipated the arrival of the first time AzMERIT grading scores only to have what were determined final grades changed by the Arizona State Board of Educated on Monday, Oct. 23rd to “preliminary.” Transitioning from the previous AIMS test to the new grading system of measuring proficiency...
The year was 2005 and the Vail School District was preparing to open Empire High School as the first one-to-one laptop, textbook-free, comprehensive public high school in the nation. Before Empire opened, Vail staff was challenged with how to develop a system that provided an effective partnership between academic curriculum and technology. As...
(Pictured Left to Right) Vail Unified School District (VUSD) Governing Board Clerk Allison Pratt, VUSD School Superintendent Calvin Baker and his wife Nancy Baker, nationally renown author and keynote speaker Doug Fields, VUSD Governing Board member Callie Tibbett, and VUSD community liaison Heather Stough at the Vail Family University and...
