Chandler schools to purchase semiconductor classroom tech

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Chandler Unified School District Governing Board’s Wednesday, Oct. 8 agendas include a somewhat unique purchase.

The agenda for Wednesday’s regular meeting — set for 6:30 p.m. at the district offices on West Frye Road — includes an action item on a contract with Advanced Technologies Consultants to purchase equipment for semiconductor, automation and robotics classes.

The contract, for slightly more than $1 million, will be paid from the district’s career and technical education fund.

A semiconductor and mechatronics “MPS System” and a “Robotics Universal Robots - Collaborative” are listed in that purchase for Hamilton High School’s semiconductor technologies program.

A “Festo Meclab” purchase, within the same contract, is for the automation and robotics programs at Arizona College Prep, Casteel, Hamilton and Perry high schools.

The other action items on the agenda for the board’s regular meeting are approval of the district’s annual financial report and a single board vote on a list of proposed Arizona School Boards Association bylaw changes.

The consent agenda for Wednesday’s regular meeting includes several policy revisions, as recommended to CUSD by its contracted Board Policy Trust.

The meeting will also include an Indigenous Peoples Day recognition and acknowledge of a national individual honor recently announced for Antonette Shirley, a district Indigenous student engagement specialist.

Janet Hartkopf, coordinator of emerging technologies, will give an overview of her recent visit to a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company facility.

The regular meeting will be preceded by study sessions, the first of which is set to begin at 4:30 p.m. First up is Assistant Superintendent Mike De La Torre on the topic of safety.

He’ll be followed by a bond and override update and then a presentation on the annual financial report, both from chief financial officer Lana Berry.

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.