[Source: Gillian Drummond, Arizona Daily Star] -- "It's a true passion. It's more than just keeping their property values up," says principal Roseanne De Cesari of what her historic Sam Hughes Elementary School means to its neighbors. So when rumors began to fly around the Midtown community that the school was being expanded, neighbors got interested. And when they learned what was planned, they got worried. Turn inside to read the tale of neighbors and parents who fought to keep their school architecturally intact, and of how the budget soared to six times its original figure. When pupils and parents hold their annual Chuckwagon event next weekend, the public will be able to see the results for themselves. John O'Dowd remembers well running through the grounds of Sam Hughes Elementary School in the 1940s. Arriving there as a fourth-grader, he went on to see his four children attend the Midtown school and to serve as its parent-teacher association president. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
