Flowers and Bullets Collective (F&B), which has leased the site since 2017, will buy the property at the cost of demolition, said TUSD operations program manager Bryant Nodine. The purchase price for the property was listed as $300,000 for him in the contract.

“Essentially, they do the demolition and transfer the property to them because the value of the property is essentially the same as the cost of demolition,” Nodine said at the TUSD Steering Committee’s Feb. 28 meeting. said in

The former Julia Keane Elementary School sits on 9.7 acres at 3538 E. Ellington Place near South Alvernon Way and East Silverlake Road in the Barrio Centro neighborhood.

Focused on creating healthy communities by embracing their cultural roots and promoting the arts and sustainable practices, F&B uses this land for its community garden. Nodine said he agreed to purchase the site once the organization had raised enough money to purchase and maintain it.

On the night of February 9, the Tucson Fire Department responded to three fire alarms at the old school building. Nodine said the fire damage has pushed up the schedule for demolition of buildings in the district.

“The Flowers and Bullets Collective has determined that it is in the Barrio Centro and Julia Keen community’s best interest for (F&B) to undertake the demolition, so it will have autonomy and a say in which structures of the building to keep. F&B wrote in a letter Nodine read to the steering committee.

Nodine added that F&B has funds available for demolition and has begun financing the cost of renovating and maintaining the building it wants to keep.

“When Keane closed, it was detrimental to our community,” said F&B co-founder Tito Romero. “It was two meals a day for our kids, it was youth sports, it was employment. increase.”

For more information on the Flowers and Bullets Collective, please visit: flowersandbullets.com.

Mission View Elementary School in South Tucson celebrates its 100th anniversary this month with an evening of entertainment, food, games and vintage car displays.

The event will be held on Friday, March 10th from 4:45pm to 9:00pm at 2600 S. Eighth Ave. on campus. There will also be performances by 10 mariachi and ballet folkloreco groups, including Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School. This event is free to attend and open to the public.

Mission View Elementary School, which opened on January 4, 1923, was the first campus in the Tucson Unified School District to offer a bilingual education through an interactive bilingual program, the district said in a news release.

“We proudly foster bilingualism and take pride in our culture and heritage,” the school district wrote. “Our school also offers mariachi classes for older students and thrives on a wonderful schoolyard that students regularly plant and harvest.”

For more information on the school’s Centenario Celebration, please visit: www.missionview100.org.

Three Pima County schools have received 2023 A+ Schools of Excellence Awards from the Arizona Education Foundation.

The local schools were Flowing Wells High School in the Flowing Wells Unified School District and Senita Valley Elementary School and Vale Blended Learning in the Vail Unified School District.

A total of 36 schools were accredited statewide. Schools are evaluated based on their success in teaching and learning strategies, student achievement, leadership, and integration into the community.

The A+ School of Excellence Awards are separate from the Arizona Department of Education’s designated letter grades announced last November, which classify Arizona’s public schools into the AF grade range based on a set of criteria. increase.

To view a complete list of Arizona schools with A+ Schools of Excellence awards, please visit: azedfoundation.org.