Legislators help dedicate culinary center at DVUSD

Board elects new officers

State legislators joined DVUSD officials at the dedication of the school district's new Culinary Arts Facility. (l-r) Board President Bill Maas, Rep. Doug Clark, Superintendent Virginia McElyea, Rep. Sam Crump, Board Vice President Christy Agosta, and House Majority Leader Tom Boone.

Special to The Foothills Focus
By Alan Richardson

DEER VALLEY – House Majority Leader Tom Boone, who is also a member of the Deer Valley Unified School District Governing Board, was joined by Sixth Legislative District Representatives Doug Clark and Sam Crump at the dedication ceremonies for the large school district's new Culinary Arts Center at Barry Goldwater High School on Tuesday, Jan. 8.

The nearly $1 million kitchen and state-of-the-art classroom provides hands-on training for ten classes of students per day. Andy Baird and Corinne Cole serve as instructors for the culinary program.

While classroom work is limited to one hour per day for students, dozens of students spend another two hours per day in the kitchen after school as part of the school's Culinary Club, sponsored by Chef Andy Baird. There, they learn to cook everything from appetizers through main courses to pastries and other desserts.

Students at the other high schools in the district can participate in the program by enrolling full-time in BGHS.

For the dedication ceremony, the students prepared a wide variety of food for the fifty people in attendance. The 5,174-square foot Culinary Center is moving towards being self-supporting as students sell their catering services to other organizations.

Funding for the facility came for the career and technical education program of the state's J-TED (Joint Technology Education District) project through West-MEC, an overlay school district approved by Deer Valley voters in 2004. Last year, students taking qualified courses throughout Deer Valley 's five high schools brought an additional $850,000 in state funds to the district. The BGHS project took all of those funds.

At the regular Governing Board meeting following the dedication ceremonies, the Board elected Bill Maas as President and Christy Agosta as Vice President. Maas , who was VP, was selected by the other board members to replace Anthem resident Michael Gregoire, who had served since the resignation of Ted Carpenter last March. While the position is traditionally a two-year service, members voted 4-0, with Gregoire abstaining, to make Maas president.

Maas , who was elected to office in 2006, has spent more than 30 years in education, first as a math teacher and football coach at Peoria High School and later as Associate Superintendent for Fiscal Services in the Peoria district. He helped DVUSD's financial situation as Associate Superintendent following the departure of the ex-superintendent, Bill Hill. An unassuming and quiet leader, Maas expressed his appreciation to the board and district for the vote.

Agosta, in her sixth year on the Board, has served two years a president of the board and a previous term as vice president. In her final semester at ASU, Agosta is majoring in Global Business. She was recently recognized by the Arizona School Board Association for her professional development as a governing board member.