Children who want to attend Mesa’s newest public school will have to prove their smarts first. Students who seek admission into the Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies, the newest of the Mesa Unified School District’s “focus schools,” will have to gather their test scores, letters of recommendation and commitment, and interview with a principal in order to be considered for admission in fall.

Chandler's Summit Academy came to life two years ago during a time of transition in the Mesa Unified School District.

Jessica Yan, a fifth-grader at the Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies, won the Mesa Unified School District’s spelling bee. Second place was won by Alyssa Cooper of Washington Elementary School.

Students in the Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies' Novel Writing Club wrote a cumulative 800,000 words during National Novel Writing Month in November.

Students in the Mesa Unified School District, the state’s largest, will begin their new school year on Monday. Doors will open at two new schools, including the Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies at the corner of Power and Brown roads.

The Mesa Unified School District Governing Board formally adopted a $602 million budget at a Tuesday night meeting.

The Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies will expand to include the ninth grade in the 2008-09 school year.

Students from the Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies are in the running for the FLL Global Innovation Award. The group of 9- to 12-year-olds has invented and patented the “Epi-Watch.” The watch contains epinephrine for those with severe food allergies. The community can vote for the student group, named “The LugNuts,” online at fllinnovationaward.firstlegoleague.org/teams/lugnuts/submission/epi-watch. If they win the award, they will receive up to $20,000 to help make their Epi-Watch a real product.

East Mesa is the newest battleground in the fight for students. This fall, two new academies will open — just one mile apart from each other.

The Mesa Unified School District is considering closing Powell Junior High School to open a community center, adding ninth-graders to three high schools and creating an Advanced Studies Academy on the west side of the district.

Reconfiguring grade levels, repurposing low-enrollment elementary schools and making boundary adjustments for subsets of Mesa students were some of the topics discussed Tuesday as the Mesa Unified School District continues talks of possible change for the 2009-10 school year.

Twenty-two schools in the Mesa Unified School District are running at 80 percent student capacity or less. Seven schools each have more than $3 million in repairs needed in the next five years. The district’s enrollment has dropped by more than 6,000 students in the last eight years, and its budget has been chopped by at least $60 million in the last two.

Last year, the Mesa Unified School District lost the equivalent of an elementary school’s enrollment — about 700 students.

Last year, the Mesa Unified School District lost the equivalent of an elementary school’s enrollment — about 700 students.

The following is a list of upcoming events to be held at the Mesa Arts Center. For ticket information, please call (480)-644-6500 or visit www.mesaartscenter.com

The "Lug Nuts" from Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies won the FIRST Lego League Challenge team championships award and robotic high score at the regional competition, held last weekend at Mesa's Red Mountain High School. The students devised a concept that will help consumers and businesses verify the safety of their meat, which must be kept under 40 degrees in order to avoid bacteria contamination.

City and state champion Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies and runner-up Poston Junior High have qualified to compete in the National Academic League's Championship Tournament of Academic Excellence this spring.

The Mesa Unified School District will pilot an online program - Student MPS Connect - that includes e-mail, calendar, documents and spreadsheet programs in the fall.

More than 80 Mesa high school students took their first formal steps toward becoming doctors, nurses and medical technicians on Monday when they started classes at the new Health Science High School.

Students from Apache Junction, Mesa, Gilbert and Higley unified school districts are out for summer. Check your districts' Web sites for information on registration for fall and starting dates for the next school year.

Children as young as kindergartners could soon participate in the rigorous International Baccalaureate program, according to plans unveiled by the Mesa Unified School District on Monday.

 Mesa residents, parents and business leaders have an opportunity to help their local public school district create a plan for the future.

Mesa's Powell Junior High School will close in May after 38 years, and the Mesa district's high schools - starting with three schools next year - will become ninth-through-12th-grade campuses under a plan approved Tuesday night by the school board.