PHX Council District 1 Newsletter

Our next meeting will be Monday, March 24th, at the Beuf Community Center located at 3435 W Pinnacle Peak Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85027. Plan for check-in to begin at 5:30pm and the meeting to start at 6:00pm.

You can register below for the upcoming meeting! As a reminder, please fill out the form SEPARATELY for EACH member of your family planning to attend. Thank you!

The City of Phoenix recently launched ParkPHX, a web-based application dedicated to making finding parking downtown easier than ever. ParkPHX is designed to provide easy access to information on all public parking facilities in one convenient location—helping users find parking based on what matters most to them, from cost to electric vehicle charging stations. Along with information on each public parking facility, such as ADA access, EV inventory, and height limits, ParkPHX will also provide integrated parking reservations and dynamic pricing for participating partner facilities. The web-based application is intended to allow all demographics to easily access the tool. Reserve your parking ahead of time the next time you visit downtown at parkphx.com!

Join the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department second annual PICKLEBALL AM Tournament at Paseo Highlands Park on Saturday, April 5th.

Open Doubles and double elimination tournament (any gender doubles - can be male/male, female/male, female/female). One person registers for the team (2 to a team). You can only play in one division. Please during registration, specify t-shirt size for you and your partner. Shirt will be for top 1st, 2nd and 3rd of the division.

All participants must register by Saturday March 22, 2025. Tournament check-in will begin 30 minutes before your assigned tournament time. All brackets will be double elimination with awards for top three of each division. Register your team by clicking here.

Please join your Black Mountain Precinct Commander Siekmann along with officers who serve for Coffee with a Cop at Biscuits Cafe at 310 E Bell on March 27th at 8:30am. This is a great opportunity to come out and meet the members of our police department that make up the Black Mountain Precinct.

Please join your Cactus Park Precinct Commander Hein along with officers who serve for Coffee with a Cop at Ronnie's Cafe at 4323 W Cactus Rd on April 30th at 8:00am. This is a great opportunity to come out and meet the members of our police department that make up the Cactus Park Precinct.

The officers of the Cactus Park Precinct actively work to address criminal activity in our community, and we like to highlight a small fraction of this work with you, our community and business leaders. Regularly, the showcased examples start from a call for service from an engaged community member like you.

In an Emergency or to report suspicious activity 911 | To report a crime or non-emergency 602-262-6151 option #4 | Silent Witness 480-WITNESS

On February 28, 2025, as part of the one-day crime suppression component for a police training class, officers focused on addressing criminal activity along 27th Avenue between Camelback Road and Indian School Road on bicycles. This crime suppression operations resulted in 13 arrests (4 were drug related). Great work by the officers involved and special thanks to the Training Detail for allowing us to support this training.

If you have any questions or concerns in your area or are looking for ways to be more involved in your community, please click on the link below and contact your area Community Action Officer.

The City of Phoenix is ready to launch the community survey. This survey asks questions on a wide range of topics around life in our community, from what residents think is working, to where they see a need for improvement, providing feedback that is used to calculate ongoing satisfaction scores. The survey is one more way to gather information from residents in our effort to more holistically understand neighborhood issues and enhance our responsiveness to community priorities.

The survey takes less than five minutes to complete and is available in both English and Spanish. The survey system sets response targets based on Census data to ensure community representation. Survey responses will be anonymous.

The survey is served up to residents on various websites and social media platforms. Residents can also respond to the survey directly with this link.

We’ve also created a survey landing page on Phoenix.gov to answer questions, including the security and privacy of the survey.

Congratulations to Highland Lakes School, Stetson Hills School, and Terramar Academy of the Arts for being awarded the prestigious A+ School of Excellence Award by the Arizona Educational Foundation for 2025!

These three schools are part of a group of only 53 schools statewide to earn the honor this year:

Do you know someone looking for a job or even exploring a career change? Come be a part of one of the best midsize employers in the state of Arizona!

DVUSD's annual career fair will be held on Saturday, April 12 from 9 a.m. - noon at the district office at 20402 N. 15^th Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85027.

19 Mountain Ridge High School students representing the Anatomy Club at Ridge competed in the 2025 Brain Bee Neuroscience Competition held at Midwestern University’s Glendale Campus.

The 27th Annual Arizona Regional Brain Bee, is similar to a spelling bee, though instead of testing a student’s spelling ability it is an educational competition focusing on neuroscience.

Mountain Ridge High School’s brain bee team was recognized as the highest scoring team for the event as well as for bringing the most amount of students.

This year’s Arizona Regional Brain Bee featured 75 students from 21 Arizona high schools testing their knowledge of the human brain, how it governs human behavior, and the science that helps medical professionals understand brain function. Questions ran the gamut from identifying physical features of the brain itself to naming brain disorders and diseases to surgical and medical practices that modify neural behaviors.

Special shout out to Ridge Brain Bee team member, senior, Vishnursee Murthee, who placed third overall individually in the competition!

Congratulations to Mountain Ridge High School senior Pravneet Chadha, and Sandra Day O'Connor High School senior Maya Ysabella Bustos on advancing to the finalist round of the 2025 Flinn Foundation Flinn Scholarship!

Pravneet and Maya are 2 of 36 finalists who have advanced. Approximately 20 Flinn scholars will be announced later in the spring.

This year, DVUSD is proud to recognize 13 National Merit finalists representing four of five district high schools!

The selection process involves evaluating substantial amounts of information obtained from both students and their high schools. Included are the Finalist’s academic record, course load, and difficulty level, depth and breadth of subjects studied, grades and test scores, the student’s essay demonstrated leadership and contributions to school and community activities, and the school official’s written recommendation and characterization of the Finalist.

The pool of students is narrowed to 2,500 Finalists nationwide to compete for one of the National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. Winners are selected by a committee of college admission officers and high school counselors.

Congratulations to several DVUSD Mandarin Immersion students at Boulder Creek High School who recently brought home the hardware from the Arizona Chinese Speech Contest hosted by Arizona State University.

Genevieve Curtis and Dillon Andrew won 1st place, Clarissa Wen, Allison Eng, and Porter Kooyman won second place, and Hannah Bennet won 3rd place. A job well done in showcasing the Mandarin Immersion programs at DVUSD!

The DVUSD pom and cheer squads once again dominated at the USA Nationals Competition in Anaheim!

The Deer Valley High School Skyhawks claimed the National Championship title for Varsity Novice Pom.

Mountain Ridge High School's pom team came home with a three-peat victory at Nationals! The team claimed the Game Day All-in-One National Championship for the third year in a row.

The squad also won not one, but two AIA state titles last month. For the second time, Mountain Ridge Pom won in the category of Open Small Jazz. If that wasn’t enough hardware for the Mountain Lions, the team also earned the “Most Entertaining” award for the entire Jazz category for the third year in a row.

BCHS Girls soccer 2025_Open Semi finals.jpg

After an overtime thriller against Basha High School, the Boulder Creek High School Girl's soccer team punched their ticket to the first-ever Girl's Soccer Open semi-finals! The team made it farther than any DVUSD soccer team in the district and finished the season with a 10-2 record.

The Sandra Day O'Connor Eagles punch their ticket to the Open State Semi-Finals with a road victory 69-64 over Basha High School on Feb. 28! The Eagles faced off against top-seeded Perry High School and unfortunately ended their run at the Open title despite coming out strong and playing hard. This is the farthest a DVUSD team has gotten since the Open tournaments started!

After a dominant 67-41 win over Dysart High, Deer Valley High School’s Boys Basketball continued their quest to defend their 4A state title March 6 at the Veterans Memorial Collesium. The Skyhawks came up just shy of a repeat state title losing 55-59 to Saint Mary’s after a tough game and becoming the 4A State Champion runners-up.

News From Washington Elementary School District

WESD Offers Summer Kindergarten Program

Calling all parents and guardians of incoming WESD kindergartners! Did you know that you can help your child gain the tools they need to be successful by registering them for WESD Jumpstart, our free, four-week, half-day kindergarten readiness program? Available at 27 locations in the WESD, the program will be offered this summer from May 27 to June 19! During the program, children will make friends, learn kindergarten routines and practice kindergarten readiness skills. Free breakfast and lunch are also included!

Registration for Jumpstart classes will begin on Monday, March 24. To participate in the program, children must be registered in a WESD school for kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year. Registration can be completed online or in-person at the WESD Welcome and Registration Center, located at 3200 W. Cholla Ave. For more information regarding the Jumpstart program, please call 602-347-2641 or email WESDKinderJumpstart@wesdschools.org.

WESD Accepting Tax Credits

Have you filed your taxes yet? There’s still time to make a tax credit donation to a WESD school and have it apply to your 2024 taxes! Your donation gives back to our students by providing them with the opportunity to participate in field trips and succeed in extracurricular activities!

Donating is simple! You can either stop by your school office to complete a tax credit form or visit here to make your donation online. We are thankful for your support!

WESD to Host Teacher Interview Fair

The WESD is hiring teachers for the 2025-2026 school year! Please join us for our next Teacher Interview Fair on Saturday, March 29, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at the WESD Administrative Center, located at 4650 W. Sweetwater Ave. We are looking to fill a variety of teaching positions including kindergarten through sixth grade, seventh and eighth grades, all areas of special education and music.

Our District offers competitive teacher salaries of $53,000-$84,950 with performance pay, student loan forgiveness, school-age child care discounts, medical, dental and vision benefits, employer-matched contributions to Arizona State Retirement and much more. The WESD also provides the most support for teachers including instructional coaches on every campus, weekly Professional Learning Communities (PLC), regular professional development and social workers on each campus.

Those interested are encouraged to preschedule an interview by calling Lydia Garcia at 602-347-2622. Walk-ins are also welcome. To review our current job openings and apply online, please visit here.

News From Glendale Union High School District

Glendale Union High School

GUHSD is proud to celebrate three of our athletic teams for earning the prestigious AIA Sportsmanship Award – an honor given to only one boys’ and one girls’ basketball team per conference. These awards were earned by, and granted to the Greenway High School Boys' Basketball team, the Moon Valley High School Girls' Basketball Team, and the Glendale High School Girls' Basketball team.

The Sportsmanship award recipients are determined by game officials based on key criteria including:

Fair play and respect
Graciousness in victory and defeat
Positive attitude and helpfulness
Academic standing and good citizenship
Conduct Beyond the Court

This recognition is a testament to the character and excellence that define our student-athletes and schools. Congratulations to our players, coaches, and school communities on this well-deserved achievement.

Greenway High School

Greenway High School recently welcomed representatives from Arizona State University’s New College for an on-site visit in Greenway's College & Career Center. The event provided students with valuable information about academic programs, admissions, and the opportunities available through ASU’s New College.

Students learned about degree pathways, scholarships, and resources that can help them take the next step in their educational journey. The visit provided students with valuable opportunities to explore and learn about their post-secondary options, helping them make informed decisions about their future.

Moon Valley High School

Moon Valley High School’s Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Culinary students showcased their skills at the State Leadership Competition, earning impressive results. The talented team brought home two gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals, demonstrating their dedication and expertise in the culinary arts.

The competition provided students with the opportunity to test their culinary abilities against peers from across the state while developing leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. Their outstanding performance is a testament to their hard work and commitment to excellence.

Congratulations to all the students who participated and to the dedicated teachers who play a vital role in ensuring students have access to valuable opportunities and are well-prepared for their post-secondary journeys.

Interested in serving on Phoenix's Boards and Commissions?

District 1 is seeking community leaders interested in serving as the District's representative for various boards and commissions, such as the Village Planning Committee.

Vice Mayor O'Brien has been appointed chairperson of the Economic Development & Housing Subcommittee, and is also a member of the Public Safety & Justice Subcommittee. Visit the Council Subcommittee webpage for the schedule of public meetings.