The latest developments
Tucson Supplies Teachers
Many Southern Arizona teachers are forced to buy school supplies with their own money, a dilemma that's the focus of a regional initiative involving local businesses and organizations.
Tucson Values Teachers is again partnering with Walgreens drugstores throughout Pima County and Sierra Vista to host the second annual "Tucson Supplies Teachers" campaign. Each store hosted collection boxes from August 9 - August 21 for the community to drop off items such as notebooks, pencils and crayons.
"Each year teachers spend $500 to $1,000 of their salary for basic classroom supplies," said Jacquelyn Jackson, executive director of Tucson Values Teachers. "Now, factor that into being underpaid already. It's a sad situation that we hope the Tucson Supplies Teachers program can help fix."
More than 10,000 teachers at district, private and charter schools received donations throughout the project, as volunteers from the Metropolitan Pima Alliance, Marana Chamber of Commerce, Raytheon, Horizon Moving Systems and school foundations will deliver items as donation boxes are filled.
As a big boost to this year's drive, the Community Finance Corporation donated $25,000 in support of the campaign. The money will go directly to Walgreens, which will use it to buy supplies, at cost, to supplement all that the community donates. Walgreens is also going to sit down with representatives from all area schools to hear directly what they need and then answer those needs with the $25,000 in purchases.
And remember, you do not have to buy supplies at Walgreens to participate. Support our teachers by bringing in any supplies, or buy them at Walgreens. This is all about our teachers, classrooms and kids!
For a full list of all participating Walgreens, click here.
Industry Internships
Tucson Values Teachers, in partnership with the University of Arizona College of Education, Department of Teaching Learning and Sociocultural Studies, with funding from Science Foundation Arizona, launches an innovative master's program that includes a summer internship program that places K-12 teachers in areas businesses.
Raytheon, SEBRA, UA/Bisophere 2, Texas Instruments, Sundt, General Plasma, Fort Huachuca, Bio-Vigilant and BeachFleischman all said "yes" to taking a high quality K-12 teacher, all in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math, for a 6 - 8 week paid internship. The response to the program has been overwhelmingly positive, and media coverage, based on how unique the program is in the nation, has been widespread, including CNN and the AP wire.
We are looking forward to next summer's interships for science and math teachers. We will be adding another group of 20 or more teachers in 2010.
Applications will be available by mid-December and are due before February 1, 2010. If you are interested in participating in the next round, please fill out the contact form (hit the contact button below) and let us know to put you on the list for 2010 by filling in the message section.
For more information:
http://coe.arizona.edu/tls/sasmic
Teachers download a flier about the program.
Teachers download a fillable application for the program.
Educational Resources
Voices for Education, TVT's lead in seeking new revenue to raised teacher salaries, commissioned a comprehensive study to better understand what options exist for finding a new revenue stream that could boost salaries by $10,000, making our region more competitive nationally. This is the overriding long-term goal of TVT, and we are on our way to plotting a strategy to make it happen.
