| April 30, 2018
To MUSD Parents/Guardians:
As you are aware, the Arizona Educators United #RedforEd movement and Arizona Education Association involving educators and staff across the state have actively engaged in walkouts to bring attention to the issue of low public education funding in Arizona. Marana Unified School District school-based educators and staff have joined this movement in solidarity to demand clear, sustainable solutions to Arizona's educational funding crisis and to express themselves about the impact of the school funding issues in Arizona. On Friday, April 27, the Arizona Legislature adjourned without reaching an agreement on the Governor's recent budget proposal. The Governor's education budget proposal must be considered as a part of the entire Arizona budget, which must be acted upon by our elected leaders in the House and Senate. If the budget is affirmed, the Governor then needs to sign it into action. To that end, educators across the state continue their walkout and efforts to have their voices heard at the state level. As previously stated, our District is committed to re-opening schools as soon as possible. We also recognize that we cannot hold classes, expect meaningful learning to take place, and provide a safe environment without a sufficient number of teachers. At this time, the Marana school district does not have sufficient staff to provide instruction, appropriately supervise students, and ensure student safety. As a result, all 18 Marana schools will be CLOSED Tuesday, May 1 and REMAIN CLOSED until we have sufficient staff to reopen. It is our hope that a budget agreement will be reached soon. We know that this is an unprecedented time in our state. We also recognize that this situation creates additional stress and uncertainty for our students and families. I want to reassure you that we are continuing to monitor this situation closely and are working hard and exploring all options to minimize impact on our students and families including but not limited to the following:
• Ability to minimize impact of school closure without challenging families by adding days to the school calendar.
• Elimination of any potential impact on our graduating seniors.
• Development of plans to address many other items successfully including Advanced Placement tests, senior finals, online course work, and alternative credit options.
• Communications with the Department of Education regarding the school calendar. The District will continue to provide updates to parents through email, phone call, and text as applicable. Updates will also continue to be provided on our Website at www.maranausd.org and on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/maranaschools/. If you have not recently done so, please take a few minutes to review the FAQs. We encourage parents to read the FAQs for valuable information regarding breakfast and lunch meals, activities, athletics and field trips, graduation, educational meetings and more. We are focused on reopening schools as soon as soon as possible and are committed to providing our students with a successful and rewarding finish to the school year. We would love for this to happen sooner rather than later. With only 18 school days remaining in our current school calendar, we have a lot to get done! Thank you again for your patience, flexibility, and support during these unprecedented times. We will continue to keep you posted. Sincerely,
Doug Wilson, Ed.D.
Superintendent Attached: Copy of Letter | 
LettertoParents04302018.pdf (190.4 KB)
