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May 23, 2003/Iyar 21 5763, Vol. 55, No. 39
Nursery land dedicated as educational center
BARRY COHEN
Editor
Land a Valley entrepreneur purchased 43 years ago at the western boundary of Phoenix for a family-run nursery has been transformed into a family education center for parents and children of the Isaac School District.
"This used to be a cantaloupe patch on the edge of cotton fields," said David Kazan of the site at 2941 N. 43rd Ave.
The site is now the David Kazan Family Education Center, where approximately 150 people gathered for its dedication ceremony on May 15.
Kazan purchased the land when he arrived in the Valley in 1960 and established the first of six Tip Top Nursery locations. He sold the business in 1980 but kept the land on North 43rd Avenue.
He donated this property to the Isaac School District in 1996, said Becky Gallegos, director of both the David Kazan Family Education Center and the Community Resource Center of the Isaac School District.
"This community has been very good to me," said Kazan. "It is with pride and humility and great satisfaction that I am now able to share this site with the Isaac School District and this community."
Any family in the district can use the center's educational resources, said Gallegos.
The facility includes six classrooms for preschoolers and an adult technology lab. The center received a grant for the purchase of 20 laptop computers, which adults can use to study for the GED, English as a second language or computer literacy. Classes are held 8:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m Saturday. The center also offers "School to Home Connection" classes, teaching parents the skills they need to help their children learn to read, explained Gallegos.
"Parents have to come to class when their children are here," she noted.
During the dedication, Arturo Meza represented the parents of the preschoolers when he thanked Kazan "for the opportunity for my daughter and I to be learning together."
Also present was Dr. Paul Hanley, Isaac School District Superintendent. "As you look back in life and talk about what you've done in your career, you know, a legacy is something that lasts forever," he said to Kazan. "I think this building and this facility is going to be a legacy that's going to change this community, as we educate our parents and we educate our children."
The dedication included a musical presentation by the preschool students and their parents, in addition to a ribbon cutting ceremony by David Kazan. Family members present were David's daughter, Lisa, and son, Larry, in addition to Larry's wife, Elizabeth, and their children, Lizzie, Brian, Colin and Benjamin.
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