Yavapai Elementary To Host Community Barbecue, Reopening Event

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Scottsdale Unified School District's Yavapai Elementary School is planning a Welcome Back Barbecue this week, for administrators, staff, students and school neighbors, ahead of the building's reopening for next school year.

The event is set for 5–7 p.m. on Wednesday at the school, at 701 N. Miller Road in Scottsdale.

The event is for Kindergarten through fourth grade students currently attending Yavapai at Hohokam Elementary and Tonalea K-8 students, families of students, Yavapai’s 2022-2023 school year administrators, teachers and staff; and school neighbors, according to a news release.

Tonalea K-8 Principal David Priniski, who will be Yavapai’s new principal next school year, and his newly appointed Yavapai staff will be cooking dinner and giving tours of the campus to students, families and neighbors.

There will be student musical performances and free “Hear the Thunder” t-shirts will be available to students to celebrate Yavapai's reopening.

The school is set to officially reopen for the upcoming school year on Aug. 3.

Wednesday's barbecue is meant to be one of the first of several opportunities for the Yavapai Elementary School community to gather at the school prior to its official reopening.

The reopening of Yavapai Elementary is part of a restructuring of some Scottsdale Unified Schools to create a standalone middle school at Tonalea. This resulted in the redrawing of elementary boundaries for Coronado Learning Community.

Tonalea's current elementary school grades will be moving to Yavapai Elementary for the upcoming school year. Yavapai students who attended Hohokam Elementary for the 2021-22 school year while the Yavapai building was closed will have the option to return to Yavapai for the 2022-23 school year.