Content Under Development.

Gadsden Elementary School District #32 covers about 30 square miles in the extreme southwestern corner of Arizona. The district is located approximately 20 miles south of Yuma and is adjacent to the International Border with Mexico and San Luis. The main community in the district is San Luis with about 20,000 residents. San Luis is the 26th largest city in Arizona. The community of Gadsden is located four miles north of San Luis with about 1,000 residents. The area is known for its winter vegetable and summer cotton crops. San Luis provides easy access to cities in Arizona and California: Phoenix and San Diego are easy three hour drives from San Luis. To the South, the Sea of Cortez is about a one hour drive from San Luis. The community is strongly supportive of education in the district with high expectations from all district employees.

The Gadsden Elementary School District #32 operates nine schools including one preschool, six elementary schools and two middle schools. All schools are located in the City of San Luis with the exception of Gadsden Elementary which was the original school under the district. This school is located four miles to the north of San Luis in the community of Gadsden, Arizona.

The district faculty is dedicated, energetic and well qualified with approximately 65% holding ESL or Bilingual Endorsements. Both the professional and classified staff take their responsibilities seriously in the educational arena. The District has a total assessed valuation of $31,000,000 and an operating budget of $20,000,000. The District also receives over $5 million in state and federal grant monies. Additionally, a 28 million dollar building program is in progress.

The District's student growth rate has averaged 10% over the past five years. The current student population is about 4,675 children in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. A large percentage of the district's students are of Hispanic origin and many students are classified as English Language Learners (ELL) according to state guidelines. However, the majority of the students are bilingual in English and Spanish. The majority of the parents in the district work in agriculture with a large number being migrant workers who work in the local area during the winter and then follow the crops to California and other areas during the summer months. Most of the students tend to remain in the district for the entire school year. Parents are very concerned with their children's education and take an active role in the schools. The district sponsors PTA and Migrant Parent Association groups that serve the needs of the parents and their schools.

The San Luis Preschool is part of the Gadsden Elementary School District #32. The program is funded by the State and Federal Governments and is free of charge to the district’s families. Our student population consists primarily of Hispanic, Spanish-speaking children who come from farm working families. While instruction is bilingual Spanish and English, in an effort to foster children’s native languages, our focus is English oral language development through developmentally appropriate learning experiences. Our half-day preschool program consists of a comprehensive program which includes a focus on each child’s total development in the areas of physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, adaptive and communication development. Our program offers a special education inclusion program within the general education classroom. Through the special education services, children who qualify receive therapy and other related services during the regular daily schedule.
We are proud to have received accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Our main goal is to provide our families with the highest quality of services through our program and at the same time continue to maintain the high standards that are required by NAEYC and Early Childhood Standards.