Chandler school board OKs new career-tech contracts
Independent Newsmedia/Jason W. Brooks
Chandler Unified Governing Board Vice President Barb Mozdzen speaks during an Aug. 5 meeting. The board unanimously approved two contracts with the East Valley Institute of Technology for career and tech-ed programs and discussed ongoing changes to the transportation arrangement between Chandler and EVIT.
Discussion and approval of an action item still didn’t make the Chandler Unified Governing Board’s Aug. 5 meeting more than a one-hour endeavor.
And hopefully, approval of contracts and a commitment to monitoring some ongoing issues resolves most of the district’s issues with the East Valley Institute of Technology
The board unanimously approved contracts for both satellite and EVIT central campus programs at the meeting in what was the only separate action item on the Aug. 5 agenda.
The discussion leading up to the vote wasn’t about curricula or teachers. It was about transportation.
The roughly 16-month old dispute between EVIT and the nine districts it serves, centered mostly on flow of funding and stemming from a 2024 state audit, spilled over into transportation this school year when the districts decided to no longer use their own buses and other vehicles to get students to EVIT facilities for select programs.
Chandler Unified communicated to parents this summer that no transportation plan was in place, causing parents to complain about such uncertainty at the July 8 board meeting. CUSD students began the school year July 15.
The CUSD board held a special July 24 meeting that included an hour-plus executive session, along with a vote to approve a special-education contract with EVIT and to authorize Superintendent Dr. Anna Battle to sign the two other contracts.
The Aug. 5 vote was primarily a formality, as Battle had already physically signed the satellite and central-campus contracts beforehand, Board President Patti Serrano said.
The Aug. 5 discussion began with Board Vice President Barb Mozdzen asking Battle that with “a few hiccups” the first week, before EVIT hired a charter bus company to transport students to one of its campuses, how well the new arrangement was functioning.
“We and EVIT both recognize the first week left a lot to be desired” in transportation scheduling glitches, Battle said. “Things have gotten better. We’re seeing spots where we still have unmarked vehicles, but not to the extent we saw last week.”
Battle made it clear the timing of trips to and from the Mesa EVIT centers and the district high schools must work for each school’s schedule — not the charter company’s convenience.
“We’ll keep assessing how much instructional time is being lost on both ends,” Battle said.
Assistant Superintendent Mike De La Torre told the board the first week of a new arrangement that involves hundreds of students and bus drivers takes time to refine.
“Getting to know how long it takes to get from school to school, and knowing exact expected pickup locations: These are the kinds of things we suspect will get better with time,” De La Torre said.
CUSD spokesperson Stephanie Ingersoll told Independent Newsmedia that the district has 201 students who are EVIT transport-authorized and are potentially using EVIT-provided transportation. There are 57 students with special needs whose parents opted out of district transportation to Mesa and 49 students with special needs whose parents opted into being transported.
The consent agenda for Wednesday’s meeting includes a recap of new fees due to CUSD CTE centralized courses being added at Chandler High and Perry High School.
The board is set to meet twice in August, with the second meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 19.
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.
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