Chandler schools: Latest media arts center complete

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

The ribbon-cutting of Navarrete Elementary School’s $1.3 million media arts center remodel represented another step in a direction the Chandler Unified School District has been pursuing for several years.

The “reimagining” of some of the district’s older elementary schools includes a few complete rebuilds, but mainly, it’s the conversion of traditional elementary libraries into “media arts centers.”

Navarrete in southeast Chandler opened in 2004 and ike about six other CUSD elementaries it had its original library converted into a media arts center. The work was capped by an Oct. 16 ribbon-cutting event.

Each of the district’s six new media arts centers are slightly different, with Navarrete’s including a main room with high ceilings and modern hanging lighting, with books on bookcases located in between work tables.

Side rooms include a lab-type classroom with a roll-up door that allows for indoor-outdoor activities. A separate theater-type room can be used in a number of ways.

Two small separate reading rooms and a conference room with movable middle divider are also contained in the center.

Two Navarrete Nighthawks students, Cassie Scott and Caige Henry, held the ribbon for the giant “scissors” used to cut it.

Several Chandler school administrators and representatives of project contractors were at the event, including CUSD Governing Board Vice President Barb Mozdzen, board member Kurt Rohrs, CUSD director of elementary education Heather Anguiano, Mark Davenport of SPS-Plus Architects, Willmeng Construction, Inc.’s K-12 director and former Valley superintendent Jason Reynolds.

They joined Navarrete’s dean of students Christie DeCarlo and Principal Vanessa Whitlark.

Anguiano, Davenport, Reynolds and Whitlark all spoke briefly at the event.

Spending on the project was approved in phases, the last of which was on a March 29 board vote. Shumway Leadership Academy’s “Launchpad” media arts center was unveiled Oct. 13.

The reimaginations, which include the $35 million rebuild of Galveston Elementary, have all been funded by the district’s $290 million 2019 bond so far. The only reimagination project in the $271.5 million CUSD bond on the Nov. 4 ballot this year is a rebuild of Hartford Encinas Elementary School, which opened in 1958 and is the district’s oldest active elementary school.

Jason W. Brooks can be reached at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our  Civility Guidelines.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.