SUPAI HISTORY

Students Help Break Ground For The New Supai
November 2nd, 2001

Supai students symbolically broke ground November 2 for a new replacement middle school on the existing campus. Actual construction is set to begin later this month, with completion planned for next August.

The existing structures, with the exception of the gym, practical arts building, and music building, are planned to be demolished next June after students leave for summer vacation. These three remaining buildings, roughly 35,000 square feet, will be renovated as part of the overall project. New athletic fields also will be constructed next fall on the site of the demolished buildings.

The new school, roughly 70,000 square feet, will be rebuilt primarily with 1997 bond funds, with a small amount coming from Students First funding and other sources. Total replacement cost, including a contingency, is set at $11.09 million.

Supai opened in the fall of 1959 as a K-8 facility, but was converted in the fall of 1981 to a middle school for seventh- and eighth-graders.

Teachers, parents, and community members met during May to participate in the design concept for the school. Earlier this year, on March 13, the Governing Board approved the reallocation of $8.5 million from School Facilities Board bond offset funding to help rebuild Supai.

The new Supai will be built according to current district facility standards, similar to other new middle schools in the Scottsdale Unified School District.

The construction team for the project includes: Gould Evans & Associates, Phoenix, architect; McCarthy Building Co., Phoenix, contractor; and 3D/International, Phoenix, project manager.

Students prepare to break ground for the new Supai.	Supai Principal Diane Wells (1999-2002) speaks at the ground-breaking ceremony.
Diane Wells and students break ground!	Construction during the summer of 2002.

Supai Middle School To Welcome New Principal
May 8, 2002

Daniel (Dan) A. Cooper, an elementary school principal from the Murphy School District in Phoenix, will become principal of Scottsdale's Supai Middle School on July 1. The Governing Board approved his appointment on May 7. Mr. Cooper replaces Diane Wells, who is resigning to take a principal post in Chandler and be closer to home.

"I began my career in the Scottsdale Unified School District 19 years ago as a teacher at Coronado High School," Mrs. Wells wrote in her letter of resignation. "The Scottsdale Unified School District has been a very significant part of my life and my family's life for many years," she wrote. "At this point in my life, I have decided that it is a priority to be in a position where I will be closer to home."

Mrs. Wells has been principal at Supai for the past three years.

Mr. Cooper will step into the post at Supai from the Alfred F. Garcia Elementary School in Phoenix, where he has been principal for two years. Prior to that, Mr. Cooper was an assistant principal for four years at the Jack L. Kuban Elementary School in Phoenix. In addition, Mr. Cooper has teaching experience in reading and in science at the middle school level, and as a classroom teacher for fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. He was a teacher at the Art Hamilton Elementary School in Phoenix, as well as in the Casa Grande Elementary School District.

Mr. Cooper has a master's degree in education administration and a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from Arizona State University (ASU). He also was selected to participate in a specially-designed program to prepare principals of urban and rural schools to move into the 21st century. Mr. Cooper completed this special two-year program at ASU in 1994.

Taking the helm at Supai on July 1, however, will not be Mr. Cooper's first experience with Scottsdale Unified School District. He notes that he attended Navajo Elementary School as a kindergartener and first grader.

Supai Middle School opened in the fall of 1959 as a K-8 facility, but was converted in the fall of 1981 to a middle school for seventh- and eighth-graders. Ground was broken last November for a replacement school on the existing campus, using 1997 bond offset monies. Completion of the new campus buildings is scheduled for August.