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 You have arrived at the virtual home of Pima Unified School District. We are located in the historical Town of Pima, Arizona and we serve the communities of Pima, Bryce, and Eden in southeastern Arizona. Our district includes one high school (grades 9-12), one junior high (grades 7-8) and one elementary school (grades K-6) with a district student population of approximately 785 students. We pride ourselves on our personalized instruction, focus on individual needs and learning styles, and our small class sizes. We hope you’ll take some time to browse through our site and find out more about our district and what we have to offer our students, employees, and our community!  A recent report published by the Arizona Auditor General categorized every district in the state of Arizona by how much revenue was spent on classroom instruction. I was pleased to see that Pima spends 60% of all dollars received from the state on classroom instruction. To give you some perspective on this accomplishment Mesa, Scottsdale, Fountain Hills, Flagstaff, Cave Creek, and Vail, to name a few, all spend less in the classroom than our 60%. I am extremely excited about the vision of our Governing Board to prioritize taxpayer dollars directly into the classroom.
Also listed in the report is the student to teacher ratio. How many certified teachers do we have on staff compared to the number of students in our district? I would like to report that we have one of the lowest student/teacher ratios in the state, at 15 students to 1 teacher. Again, to help put this number in perspective, we have lower class sizes than Safford, Thatcher, Vail, Flagstaff, Scottsdale, Mesa, Deer Valley, Chandler, and Cave Creek. We are prioritizing what is best for our students despite these difficult economic times.
We have a great community that supports education, and we have excellent teachers that support our students. I have seen the fine work that our teachers do on a consistent basis, and they deserve our praise.
I invite all parents and community leaders to join with me in the coming months and years to contribute even more for the benefit of our children. We will need more supplies, more parents volunteering, more fundraising by the community, and more involvement. We have a great start on providing a quality 21st Century education to our students. Please join with me to help us continue in excellence.
Sincerely, Joseph C. Farnsworth |
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