PRO Statement from Cave Creek Unified PTO Presidents

We are PTO Presidents and we support a YES vote for the CCUSD Override.

Compared to surrounding districts, CCUSD class sizes are smaller, our test scores are higher and our school taxes are hundreds of dollars lower. This is outstanding. It has been challenging to maintain quality instruction for our students during the economic downturn. In response, our leaders have already had to close a school and reduce staff by 8%. PTOs traditionally raise funds for supplies and equipment to enhance classrooms, but these past few years, we have funded what would normally be covered by the school budget: Kindergarten and library aides, world language teachers, and assessment program fees. CCUSD’s competitive athletic programs have also become 100% privately funded.

Your YES vote will save important school programs such as P.E., art and music and will keep counselors and nurses present in our schools. The list goes on with the huge impact this small investment will make for the children of your community.

The best part is that the request amounts to just $2.50 per month on average. Our schools are a vital part of this community. We urge you to keep our schools and property values strong.

Vote YES.

Kristin N. McDade – PTO Co-President Desert Willow Elementary

Christy Pine – Lone Mountain Elementary School PTO Co-President

Brian K. Bunkers – Horseshoe Trails Elementary School PTO President

Rachel Voges-Kelso – Lone Mountain PTO Co-President

Stephanie Monroe Wilson – Desert Sun Academy PTO Co-President

Miles Jenner – Desert Sun Academy PTO Co-President

Karen Anderson – Co-President Black Mountain Elementary PTO

Vickie England – Black Mountain Elementary School PTO Co-President

PRO Statement from Danny Piacquadio, Owner – Harold’s Cave Creek Corral

I am a long-standing business owner and current parent in the Cave Creek Unified School District.

I have had the opportunity to host countless school fundraisers at my establishment for many support organizations within this district and am proud to be part of a community filled with citizens dedicated to quality education for our children.

Over 94% of our students graduate from Cactus Shadows High School and over 87% move on to higher education. We can all be proud of this accomplishment. Few communities can share this level of education success.

As a businessman, I know that spaghetti dinner fundraisers alone are not enough to maintain quality schools. We need the support of the entire community in the form of this override.

In these tough economic times, I truly believe that this override is a reasonable and a necessary request. An education is one of the most important things we can give to our children. Please join me in voting YES.

Danny Piacquadio, Owner – Harold’s Cave Creek Corral

PRO Statement from Dr. Jerry Fioramonti, M.D.

I support the inclusion of the M&O override to be placed on the ballot in the upcoming 2011 elections.

My support for this measure comes as a result of both personal and public involvement in this important issue. My wife, Bonnie, and daughter, Natalie, are both educators in the Cave Creek School District and teach in primary grades. I am well aware of how critical a good experience in the primary grades is to the future development and success of our youngest students. In light of budget cuts to education already enacted, this measure is crucial for maintaining highly qualified teachers, reasonable class sizes, and the necessary tools for learning.

As a physician and a Reagan conservative, I am also well aware of the need for our leaders to get control of government spending and balance the budget. This measure will help to offset some of the budget cuts being made to education, without putting an additional burden on any of our citizens by simply extending the $2/month cost per household we have all been paying over the past several years. I think any reasonable person would agree with me that this is an affordable and wise investment in our future.

Jerry Fioramonti, M.D.

PRO Statement from Cave Creek Unified School District Governing Board

Your school district leadership has worked hard to keep the brunt of the economic crisis out of our classrooms. We have made many difficult decisions to absorb millions in cuts. The current override will sunset beginning in 2012-13; we recommend your support in renewing this critical funding.

In evaluating this recommendation and recognizing that quality schools enhance property values, we have concluded that it is critical to invest in student achievement by:

• Protecting art, music and physical education.
• Keeping class sizes manageable.
• Paying our teachers and critical staff a competitive wage and benefits package.
• Expanding programs like world language.

As a community we cannot afford to:

•  Lose 70+ teachers.
• Lose programs like world language proven to enhance achievement.
• Sacrifice art, music and physical education.

This is an investment in our children and community. If it is approved by voters, we can stabilize our programs and our budget. If it is not approved, we will be forced to start cutting the items listed.

As your elected officials, we have made this recommendation after much deliberation and analysis. We thank you in advance for your support.

Cave Creek Unified School District Governing Board

David Schaefer, President
Mark Warren, Vice President
Susan Clancy, Member
Casey Perkins, Member
Stephanie Reese, Member

 

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This is first in a series of PRO statements that will also be printed in the official Override Publicity Pamphlet issued by Maricopa County Elections Dept.
Source: Maricopa County Elections

New Arizona law clarifies political yard signs and political activity within HOAs

Many LearnYES advocates have told us they cannot place yard signs in their HOA until 45 days before the election. This is no longer true. The State of Arizona changed the law to allow political signs in planned communities from 71 days before to 3 days after an election… see detail below. If you would like a LearnYES sign to support the Cave Creek Unified School District Budget Override, you can request one HERE.

Excerpts from ARIZONA HOA LAWS ENACTED IN 2011

(Effective Date: July 20, 2011)

Regarding Yard Signs:

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HB2609: OPEN MEETINGS & SIGNS [A.R.S. §33-1248; §33-1804; §33-1261; and §33-1808].

I. In a Planned Community, if there is a city, town or county ordinance that regulates the size and number of political signs on a member’s property, that ordinance governs. If there is no such ordinance, the previous display limit of one political sign is modified to permit the display of any number of political signs, so long as the total of all political signs on the individual’s property does not cover more than nine square feet. All displayed political signs must be commercially produced. Political signs are now allowed 71 days before an election day and no later than 3 days after an election day.

Regarding Door-to-Door Political Activity: 

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SB1540: POLITICAL SIGNS & POLITICAL ACTIVITY [A.R.S. §16-019, §33-1261, AND §33-1808]:

A person has committed a class 2 misdemeanor if he is found to have knowingly removed, altered, defaced, or covered any political sign of any candidate for public office; or knowingly removed, altered or defaced any political mailers, handouts, flyers or other printed materials of a candidate that are delivered by hand to a residence for the period commencing 45 days before a primary election and ending 7 days after the general election.”

Associations are prohibited from restricting “door to door political activity, including solicitations of support or opposition regarding candidates or ballot issues,” with the following provisions: (1) the association must only allow door to door solicitation or circulation of political petitions “on property normally open to visitors within the association, (2) the association can restrict or prohibit door-to-door political activity from sunset to sunrise, (3) the association can require an identification tag for each
person engaged in the political activity, (4) an association cannot require political signs to be commercially produced or professionally manufactured, (5) an association is not required to allow the door- to- door activity if the association “restricts vehicular or pedestrian access” to the condominium or community, and (6) only roadways and sidewalks that are normally open to visitors must be made available for political activity.

LearnYES bumper sticker sighting on the 101!

Show your support for the Cave Creek Unified School District M&O Override with this removable bumper sticker. If you would like a bumper sticker, yard sign, campaign buttons or wrist bands, contact us at support@LearnYES.ORG.

Dean’s List Scholar and CSHS Alumnus asks voters to support CCUSD

How did Cactus Shadows prepare me for my life beyond high school?  I’d say the most important thing that I learned at Cactus Shadows was what I really enjoyed doing. That was band (music in general) and economics, surprisingly enough. The band instructor, Professor Wykoff, worked tirelessly to make sure that we were at our best as a band and as a team. I learned leadership skills and the values of teamwork, all while making new friends and doing what I love most: playing music!  My economics professor, Dr. Temnick, had a great teaching style. Charisma that made me really want to push hard to learn everything she taught; interactive activities in class to boost our understanding of the course material. Both Professor Wykoff and Dr. Temnick molded in me an understanding of what I wanted to do after I graduated. So, having graduated, I decided that to be happy in my future career, I would pursue an education in business and eventually apply it to music (open my own music store).
Going on to college, I was nervous that the difficult classes and the expanded workload would be too much for me to handle. But upon my arrival, I realized that there was nothing to fear! My English professor of two years, Amy Bolling Metcalf, had none too lightly informed me that in college and the real world, I would not be coddled, and that I shouldn’t allow myself to be coddled through high school. Sage advice, indeed-I plunged hard into my work once my freshman semester started, and for all four semesters that I’ve been a member of the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State, I have made the Dean’s List.
It is important that we ensure that the Cave Creek school district continues to operate at optimal capacity and that all incoming students are given the same opportunities as I had. These kids need direction, and that requires a stable school system and great teachers. Without such professors as Gary Wykoff, Amy Metcalf, and Alice Temnick, I don’t know where I would be today. So, as voters and contributors, anything that we can do to help maintain a great school district is of the utmost importance!

- Tyler Scheven

Georgetown scholar asks community to “Vote Early and Vote YES”

My name is Alex Lazo, and I am a sophomore at Georgetown University, studying international relations in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. The success of my undertakings at Georgetown owes much to the education I received from Cactus Shadows High School.  As a result of the pedagogical skill of the English department, I was equipped with a verbal and written dexterity that has allowed me to produce scholarship of which I am proud; in particular, they taught me the word dexterity. Cactus Shadows cultivated in me recognition of learning as an end in itself.  This understanding was the product of the comprehensive curricula of the International Baccalaureate program, constructed around a rich study of the development of human thought in a course entitled Theory of Knowledge.  The skills instilled in me at Cactus Shadows have done much to contribute to my post-secondary pursuits.

It is important to maintain great schools in the Cave Creek Unified School District for all current and future students. The override request being made by the Governing Board is small and necessary. Please vote early and Vote YES.

American University Student and Cactus Shadows Alumnus asks you to vote YES

I am Lindsey Anderson, a soon-to-be senior at American University in Washington, D.C., where I am studying journalism with minors in Spanish and International Studies.

I just finished my junior year, but already I have studied in Costa Rica and traveled to Peru with a former U.S. ambassador. I have also been published in USA Today and the Washington Post and am currently trying to figure out how to be a freelance foreign correspondent in South America after graduation.

None of this would have happened without my time at Cactus Shadows High School.

At CSHS, I discovered true friends, family and mentors. Theater director Linda Garvin coached me from shy sophomore — who could barely be heard in the third row of the Fine Arts Center — to recently elected editor of the American University student newspaper. At CSHS, I was part of the first class of International Baccalaureate graduates. Those IB teachers, like Dr. Alice Temnick, Kelly Henson, Jocelyn Raught, Amy Metcalf, gave me a chance to not only truly challenge myself academically, but also personally. When economics just didn’t make sense, Dr. Temnick met with me after class to answer whatever questions I had. When I organized a concert to raise money for Save Darfur, Ms. Henson was right there by my side.

I could say CSHS was great because of IB, because of the small classes the program allowed, because of the extracurricular opportunities I had. But CSHS was an incredible high school, a high school that made me who I am, because of the teachers and friends, because of the support system I developed. They are the people that, even years later and thousands of miles away, will always be rooting for me.

I now root for them and all students of the Cave Creek Unified School District in asking you to vote YES for the 2011 Override. Our great teachers and schools would not be what they are without your continued support.

Lindsey Anderson
Cactus Shadows ’08
American University ’12

Future Biochemist asks Cave Creek Unified constituents for their vote of support

My name is Michaela Shuler, and I am a sophomore at Boston University studying Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I graduated from Cactus Shadows High School in 2010 with a diploma from International Baccalaureate and enough advanced academic credits to give me sophomore standing and save $50,000 in tuition. I owe much of that to the opportunities I was given in high school. The fundamentals of time management, critical thinking, and the high caliber of assignments that I worked with inside the classroom are essential to my current success in college. I quickly acclimated to the college level of writing based on the fact that I had already been writing at that level for two years. The passion expressed by the teachers both in and out of the classroom has inspired me on my own path, particularly the opportunities of attending an Biochemistry event at the University of Arizona, provided by Jennifer Reisener, and the time that Retta Ward took our biology class to explore TGen, a genomics research institute, to enrich the curriculum that we were learning about. I am appreciative of the countless hours that were spent by my teachers to prepare lesson plans, as well as the additional time and effort they took to ensure that we could also apply that knowledge in real life situations. Cactus Shadows is a great school with dedicated staff, and an educational system that allows each student to design his education to best fit his passions and goals.

Please vote YES for the Cave Creek Unified School District override in support of our outstanding teachers and students.