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Phoenix, Ariz., February 20, 2025 – The Arizona Educational Foundation (AEF) announced 53 Arizona public schools have qualified for its prestigious A+ School of Excellence Award®. The A+ School of Excellence is the highest state-level recognition given to a public school.

Phoenix, Ariz., February 20, 2025 – The Arizona Educational Foundation (AEF) announced 53 Arizona public schools have qualified for its prestigious A+ School of Excellence Award®. The A+ School of Excellence is the highest state-level recognition given to a public school.

Phoenix, Ariz., February 20, 2025 – The Arizona Educational Foundation (AEF) announced 53 Arizona public schools have qualified for its prestigious A+ School of Excellence Award®. The A+ School of Excellence is the highest state-level recognition given to a public school.

In this edition of SUSD Showcase magazine, you'll read about SUSD's 2024-25 school-year theme, Elevate Excellence: Reaching New Heights Together, and how it is achieved by identifying our Wildly Important Goals, or WIGs.

You'll also learn more about our long legacy of success, from Pima Elementary School's celebration of 65 years, to Desert Mountain High School marking its 30th year, to Cherokee Elementary School's 50th anniversary. These milestones are a testament to our community's collective commitment. Parents share with us why they Choose SUSD, and we look at what it means for our early learners and kindergarteners to Grow with SUSD.

Have you checked out the new February edition of The Source?

Read it Now!

Thursday, February 13, 2025 | 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.

If you’re ready for a career where passion meets purpose, Scottsdale Unified School District is hiring. There are many full-time and part-time ways you can help support our students’ success. SUSD employees who work 30+ hours/week are eligible for flexible employee and family health benefit plans that include:

The Chaparral girls soccer team is not only good on the field but they can cook up a mean bowl of pasta for bonding nights. 

To keep up with their championship appearances, Chaparral prioritizes the bond within the entire team.

Parties such as pasta nights helps keep the team as close knit as possible to continue to earn their state championship titles.  

The momentum is building toward a family festival to celebrate visual and performing arts created by Scottsdale students as it returns in late March for its third year.

Scottsdale Family ArtsFest at SkySong will be held on March 21-22 at SkySong, The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center in Scottsdale. The event is a partnership between Arizona State University, the Scottsdale Unified School District, Scottsdale Arts, the city of Scottsdale, and the SkySong development team.

The hallways of Pima Elementary School were jammed with Panther families on a recent evening as the school celebrated its annual Title I Reading Night.

This year’s theme, according to a press release from Scottsdale Unified School District, was “Reading Through the Eras.” Students traveled from classroom to classroom, collecting clues from different decades and eras, from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s to Star Wars, Care Bears and Where’s Waldo?

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In July, two Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) assistant principals (APs) will take the reins of the schools they’ve been serving as seconds-in-command. 

The SUSD Governing Board recently voted to elevate Maggie Finan to the principal’s post at Hohokam Elementary School and Zachary Woodward to the principal’s post at Cherokee Elementary School. Finan will succeed award-winning, 30-year SUSD educator Chuck Rantala; Woodward takes over from 15-year Cherokee principal and 32-year veteran educator Walt Chantler.

With a passion for the game and a commitment to his players, Dean Lamppa has become a cornerstone of Arcadia varsity girls’ tennis, leading them through challenges and triumphs. Coaching and running a sports team is no easy task, yet Coach Lamppa handles each of its elements with grace – and it’s only his second year at the school. 

Music education is thriving in the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD), where students from elementary through high school receive top-tier instruction and performance opportunities. 

As March marks Music in Our Schools Month, educators and administrators reflect on the profound impact of music on student development and the district’s commitment to fostering musical excellence.

Artwork and entertainment helped transform the courtyards between Desert Canyon Elementary and Desert Canyon Middle schools into a Chinese night market recently as the schools’ Mandarin Dual Language Immersion students and their families celebrated Chinese New Year.

Outfitted in red, traditional Chinese garb, students’ performances showcased what they’re learning about Chinese language and culture through the Scottsdale Unified School District.

Phoenix, Ariz., February 20, 2025 – The Arizona Educational Foundation (AEF) announced 53 Arizona public schools have qualified for its prestigious A+ School of Excellence Award®. The A+ School of Excellence is the highest state-level recognition given to a public school.

The A+ School of Excellence adjudication process was initially developed 42 years ago as a way of identifying which Arizona public schools would be recommended for the U.S. Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon Award.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Jan. 29, 2025) – Powered by nerves and French pastries, two Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) middle school students claimed the district’s annual Spelling Bee championships last week. On Jan. 23, Tonalea Middle School eighth grade student Fabian Marquez Rodriguez won the SUSD Spanish Spelling Bee, followed the next day by Ingleside Middle School sixth grader Landry Bruyere, who claimed the District Spelling Bee title. Both events were held at Coronado High School.

For the sixth time in the school’s 30-year history, Scottsdale Unified School District’s Desert Mountain High School marching band and orchestra will ring in the New Year in London, England.

The 68-strong member band, joined by its color guard, will take part in the January 1 London New Year’s Day Parade (LNYDP), known for its nearly two-mile route past some of central London’s most iconic landmarks. The parade is expected to draw an in-person audience of up to 500 thousand people and a television audience of at least 500 million. Here at home, KAET-TV (Channel 8) will carry the parade, tape-delayed, at 1:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day.