Uncommon Knowledge
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Public school educators say they are some of the most underpaid and overworked laborers in the country.
In 2023, Educators for Excellence polled thousands of teachers about their experiences and workloads and found that while 80% of teachers are likely to spend their entire careers in the classroom, only 14 % of teachers would recommend the job to others. These striking statistics come as no surprise for educators who have been dealing with the pitfalls of school staffing shortages for years now with little to no reprieve.
The Arizona State University Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College’s annual Strategic School Staffing Summit earlier this month highlighted a collection of potential solutions, but now the question remains if any of them will incentivize teachers enough to commit to the classroom long term.
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Across the school districts in the state, more and more educators are quitting or are considering leaving the profession. Against the backdrop of lack of affordable housing, the rising cost of living, political discourse and stagnant wages, the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association (ASPAA) found that by January 2023, of the more than 7,500 teaching positions that had been vacant at the beginning of the school year, over 82% remained either still vacant or were filled by people who didn’t meet required teaching qualifications.
“This is a predominantly 80% female-dominated profession and so it’s expected that women do this unpaid labor for their children, for the students, because we’re seen as more maternal,” Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia said. “But … on the other end, Arizona educators and most educators across the country do not have family leave, do not have health care coverage for their children, do not have high rates or really great medical insurance for if we do get injured or if we do have children.”
“How are we taking advantage of this labor, this exploitation of labor particularly in a female-dominated workforce, and yet not putting up any supports that allow them to continue to be happy and healthy and stay and continue to do the job that we’re expecting them to do?” Garcia asked.
In Arizona – where the average teacher’s salary ranks 32nd in the nation, according to the National Education Association – the teachers posing this question are typically the ones considering leaving the profession.
The Next Education Workforce initiative at the Fulton Teachers College aims to tackle some of the issues plaguing classrooms by inviting presenters, educators, researchers and other experts in education from across the country to the virtual two-day staffing summit.
Honing in on staffing structure, the summit highlighted some of the main characteristics of strategic school staffing as distributed leadership, compensation structures, innovative teaming, extended teacher reach and technology that optimizes educator roles. A common theme was counting on “enabling conditions,” such as equitable and sustainable funding for schools, flexible state and district policies, strong focused leadership and access to high-quality technical assistance, in order to maintain the strategic school staffing structure.
“All of this is the set of enabling conditions, the data systems and structures. All of this has huge bearing on our ability to do this work,” Executive Director of Next Education Workforce Brent Maddin said during opening remarks at the summit. Logos of many of the organizations, higher education institutes, school districts and nonprofits that contributed and presented at the event were on full display to give, “a sense of the breadth of people that are doing this work, arm-and-arm, between universities and school systems. We are all part of the solution,” Maddin said.
A proposed policy solution from Gov. Katie Hobbs seeks to have voters extend Proposition 123 and raise the State Land Trust Permanent Fund distribution, which would fund Arizona public schools over the course of 10 years. Hobbs estimates her plan would raise $118 million for school support staff, $347 million for teacher pay raises and $257 million for general school funding.
“Prop 123 might be able to mitigate a little bit of the turnover and the exodus that we’re seeing. But, by itself, it isn’t going to solve it,” Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, a supporter of Hobbs’ plan and former Arizona Educational Foundation teacher of the year, said. “We have tens of thousands – somewhere around 60- to 70,000 certified teachers in Arizona – who won’t teach. So it really is not a teacher shortage, it is a shortage of people who are qualified and willing to teach, so there’s a lot more we absolutely need to do. With the legislative makeup the way it is, I don’t know if we’ve got very much hope of too much happening.”
The Republican plan to raise teacher pay also seeks to tap into Prop 123 but specifies funding for teacher raises and seeks to keep the land trust distribution at 6.9%, compared to 8.9% under Hobbs’ plan. In addition, Arizona Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, is sponsoring HB 2608, which passed in the House earlier this month. The bill would require the State Board of Education to conduct a retention study among school districts and charter schools.
But with varying opinions and proposals across the board, bipartisan agreement on how to fund Arizona educators seems unlikely.
AEA President Garcia said she supports Hobbs’ plan and letting districts manage how they spend their funding versus the Republican plan, which she says incentives pay per performance. “I’m excited that people are talking about this because clearly we’ve been raising the issue for forever.”
A Mexican man was found guilty of a number of people-smuggling offenses in Arizona and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Jesus Ernesto Dessens-Romero, 28, of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, was given the sentence by United States District Judge John Hinderaker, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was found guilty by a jury of multiple offenses, including conspiracy to transport and the transportation of illegal aliens for profit and bringing illegal aliens to the United States for profit.
The jury also found that Dessens-Romero put lives at risk during his smuggling offenses, and that he played a critical role in a criminal operation that illegally smuggled migrants into the U.S. from Mexico.
Jae C. Hong/AP
The Mexican smuggler helped undocumented non-citizens reach the U.S. by using WhatsApp to arrange pick-ups and drop-offs. He helped guide five Mexican nationals on foot to cross into the U.S. on February 13, 2021.
Dessens-Romero led the group with limited supplies on a dangerous route through harsh weather conditions into the remote Huachuca Mountains near Fort Huachuca in Southern Arizona where there was less law enforcement patrolling the area.
The group included three sisters – aged 23, 20 and 17 – and their family friend, 16. Two days later, the 23-year-old sister was experiencing significant physical distress and she was unable to eat or walk.
Dessens-Romero claimed they were close to a busy road and could leave the sick woman there to be found. However, he didn’t call emergency services and instead contacted his associates at a transnational criminal smuggling organization.
AP/Denis Poroy
Dessens-Romero then led the rest of the group to Sierra Vista, Arizona, where they were picked up by unidentified co-conspirators and transported further into the U.S.
The family of the woman left behind contacted authorities on February 16, 2021, to report a missing person. Law enforcement officials were unable to locate the missing woman after searching.
Dessens-Romero contacted the surviving sisters on behalf of the smuggling organization to try to convince them to remove a “missing person” social media post.
On November 20, 2021, the 23-year-old’s remains were located in an isolated area of the Huachuca Mountains. Dental records confirmed that the remains belonged to the missing sister.
Dessens-Romero was arrested after being caught transporting two individuals in Tennessee on June 30, 2021, by Highway Patrol.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
“Human smugglers profit from the exploitation of migrants and routinely expose them to violence, injury, and death,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the statement. “Today’s sentence shows the Justice Department will continue to hold accountable these smugglers and the criminal networks that abuse, exploit, or endanger migrants.”
“Alien smugglers care only about the money to be made and not about the human beings whose lives they endanger,” U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino said in the statement. “Unfortunately, one young woman’s desire for a better life in the United States cost her her life due to the greed and recklessness of Dessens-Romero. This case should serve as a warning to other smugglers and the transnational smuggling organizations they work for: my office and our law enforcement partners will be undaunted in our efforts to bring you to justice.”
The issue of illegal immigration is a hot topic on voters’ minds as the U.S. heads toward the November presidential election.
Commenting on the wider issues to Newsweek, Representative Mark Green, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said: “The American people have faced the devastating impacts of President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas’ efforts to roll back the Trump administration’s effective border security measures and replace them with catch-and-release and mass parole for inadmissible aliens.”
The Tennessee Republican said: “Homeland Republicans crafted and passed through the House legislation to address this crisis. From increasing the number of dedicated Border Patrol agents and investing in critical technology for detection and interdiction to ending these reckless catch-and-release policies and seeking to renegotiate Remain in Mexico, the Secure the Border Act is the necessary step to stop this influx––and it’s sitting on Senator Schumer’s desk.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
PHOENIX – The Arizona State Fair revealed three acts for its 2024 Coliseum Concert Series on Monday.
The All-American Rejects will take the Arizona Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum stage on Oct. 12, followed by the I Love the 90s Tour on Oct. 18 and Big Time Rush on Oct. 25.
Tickets for each show go on sale July 12 at 10 a.m. Prices start at $25 and include fair admission, a $15 value. Seating at the arena is fully reserved for all Coliseum Concert Series shows.
The All-American Rejects are one of the top alternative rock bands to emerge from the early 2000s, when they reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Gives You Hell,” “It Ends Tonight” and “Dirty Little Secret.”
The I Love the 90s Tour features three artists who created some of that decade’s biggest hits: Vanilla Ice (“Ice Ice Baby”), Rob Base (“It Takes Two”) and Montell Jordan (“This Is How We Do It”).
Big Time Rush formed as a fictional boy band for a Nickelodeon show of the same name that ran from 2009 to 2013. The group was popular enough to remain successful long after the show went off the air.
Arizona State Fair officials are working to book more performers for this year’s lineup. Last year’s Coliseum Concert Series, the first after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had six shows: Walker Hayes, Becky G, Ne-Yo, Brothers Osborne, Violent Femmes and Carly Pearce.
The 140th Arizona State Fair runs Thursdays-Sundays from Sept. 20 until Oct. 27 at the fairgrounds at 19th Avenue and McDowell Road in Phoenix.
Arizona Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum, the original home of the Phoenix Suns, is the largest venue at the site.
Additional concerts, which are included with admission, are scheduled for other stages at the fairgrounds. Most of the shows feature tribute bands, with renditions of Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Green Day and other beloved artists.
And of course, this year’s fair features the usual thrill rides, midway games, fried food galore and other attractions.
Sheriff Paul Penzone explains Lori Vallow Daybell extradition
Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone holds a press conference after Lori Vallow Daybell was extradited from Idaho to Arizona to face additional charges.
Lori Vallow’s murder trial was rescheduled for early 2025 during a hearing Tuesday.
Vallow appeared briefly in Maricopa County Superior Court for the status hearing but left after the judge decided a news camera could film the proceedings. Vallow’s attorney, Gerald Bradley, had argued to have news cameras removed from the court and for the sealing of all recordings of the hearing made by the court’s own camera system.
Vallow, who was convicted of the murder of her two children, Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan, in Idaho earlier this year, entered the courtroom in an orange jail jumpsuit to appear for a status hearing at 8 a.m.
She faces conspiracy to commit murder charges in the death of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow, and a charge of attempted murder in connection with a drive-by shooting that barely missed her ex-nephew-in-law, Brandon Boudreaux.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Justin Beresky ruled to allow media cameras for the status hearing. But after the ruling, Vallow left the courtroom, waiving her appearance.
Vallow’s attorney then told Beresky that he and his team would need more time to review the large amounts of evidence recently handed over to them. The county prosecutor did not object.
Beresky ordered to push out the trial date from August to February.
Reach the reporter miguel.torres@arizonarepublic.com.
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