If Tanque Verde Unified School District's community schools program had been a living, breathing person for its first 15 years, the district might have been found guilty of neglect.
In the early 1990s, Tanque Verde officials had given the reins of the after-school program to teachers and school administrators who couldn't put in the extra time to teach extracurricular classes to students for little money. So classes were held sporadically, at best.
"It was brought to our attention that nothing was getting done," said Mary Dee Miller, coordinator of the current program. "We have been wanting to do this for quite a few years."
Thanks to an intervention last year by the district's former superintendent, an endorsement from its current leader and some staff lobbying, the community schools program had a small but successful rebirth in June, with the promise of more growth this fall.
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Catalina Foothills and Flowing Wells unified school districts are the only other districts in Tucson with similar programs.
In September, former Tanque Verde Superintendent Michael Schwanenberger gave Miller and Marie Scofield, who together run the district's after-school program, carte blanche to reinvent the program. In June, 30 classes in the new program opened to 260 students. Demand was higher than expected, and Miller said she was surprised that families outside the district boundaries also applied for the classes.
Most of the classes were revived from previous community schools sessions, including acting, golf, creative writing and gardening. Some of the new classes included photography, Spanish and speed cup stacking, which Miller said was the most popular course in the summer.
Speed stacking will be one of the 20 or so courses offered in the fall semester, which will begin Sept. 4. Other classes will include pottery-making, tennis and musical theater. The full schedule will be available on the district Web site Wednesday.
This fall also will see the debut of the community schools' first class for adults: yoga.
"Obviously, this is for the whole community, not just kids," Miller said.
Scofield said art and Spanish classes might be added for adults in future sessions.
The community schools program relies heavily on the instructors, who create the classes based on the subject matter they want to teach.
In their efforts to recruit district staff, Scofield and Miller made presentations at all four district schools last spring and asked community members who might have real-world experience to teach kids for a couple of weeks.
Instructors are paid for their time teaching the classes, which will run six to eight weeks in the fall semester, Scofield said.
Sheri Owens, a first-grade teacher at Tanque Verde Elementary, taught reading to kindergartners and writing to first- and second-graders in the summer session. Though she won't have time to commit to community schools classes in the fall, she spoke fondly of the weeks in June that gave kids some extra time to boost their education.
"There was more structure," said Owens, who had taught computer classes under the old community schools banner. "I was amazed at the progress the kids made, and it was great for me because I got some freedom to choose my own books."
Sisters Abigail and Rebecca Auslander took multiple summer classes and said they might sign up for more in the fall semester, but will definitely be a part of next summer's session.
Rebecca, 8, said the jump rope class she took enticed her to be a part of the Twisters jump rope club. "The first day, I learned a lot of new tricks, and the teacher was real cool," she said.
Though Scofield and Miller are eager to see the program grow, they are certain it won't expand to the giant size of the Catalina Foothills' community schools program, which offers hundreds of classes for children and adults.
"We only have a few schools, and they have a larger income base to draw from," Scofield said. "But they've been willing to help us in any way they can."
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