PVSchools approves website contract, nutrition staffing and refrigerated truck

By Stacy Mantle
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Paradise Valley Unified School District approved a three-year website platform contract, renewed temporary staffing for its Nutrition and Wellness Department and authorized the purchase of a refrigerated truck during its Aug. 20 governing board meeting.

The district will pay Active Internet Technologies, a Glastonbury, Connecticut software company doing business as Finalsite, $99,981 annually for three years to continue providing its website content-management platform and related services. The $299,943 contract will be paid with bond and maintenance-and-operations funds.

The agreement includes technical support, advanced search, authentication integrations and other services used across the district.

The board also approved the fifth and final year of a temporary staffing contract with KR Young Staffing Group, doing business as AtWork Franchise. The $200,000 renewal provides temporary food-service workers at schools across the district and will be paid from various funds.

A new 2026 Isuzu refrigerated truck and related equipment will cost $187,398.22 from the Food Service fund. District officials said the vehicle will transport food products in a temperature-controlled environment, add capacity and reduce reliance on outside resources.

The three purchases total $687,341.22.

In other actions, the board accepted gifts and donations that included $4,200 from the Musical Instrument Museum for bus transportation to field trips; $3,500 in school supplies from The Management Trust for Palomino Primary and Palomino Intermediate schools and $350 from the Kiwanis Club of North Phoenix for student bus passes at Paradise Valley High School.

The board also recognized Echo Mountain Intermediate Principal Elizabeth Ranken, who received a Copper Apple Award from the Arizona Department of Education's Office of School Improvement and Arizona Project Momentum for leadership and academic improvement.

Editor’s note:   A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. 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.

Stacy Mantle
Education Solutions Reporter

smantle@iniusa.org

Meet Stacy
Stacy Mantle is joining the team at Independent Newsmedia, Inc. as an Education Solutions journalist, thanks to a grant from the Arizona Community Collaborative. She has a long history in education that ranges from teaching junior high and middle school to developing curriculum and standards-based assessments.

Community: A longtime advocate for animal welfare, Stacy is deeply involved in rescue efforts and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.

Random Fact: Once upon a time, she shared her home with a pet coyote and two wolf hybrids. The experiences were wild enough to become the subject of her first book!

Education: She holds a BA in English with a minor in Political Science, a Post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with a emphasis on Marketing.

Hobbies: In her spare time, Stacy writes fast-paced urban fantasy novels, crafts small-batch artisan soap, and is always up for hiking or off-roading through the Arizona wilderness with her husband of 23 years.