About Weinberg Gifted Academy

Inspiring brave minds, and fostering a collaborative space for unique learners

Weinberg Gifted Academy strives to ensure a rigorous, self-contained learning environment specifically tailored for gifted students. Serving eligible learners throughout the southeast Valley, we provide an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM). Our outstanding teachers and staff are dedicated to developing each student’s unique academic, social-emotional, and creative potential. Guided by our core values of bravery, kindness, and adaptability, WGA is proud to offer a deep climate of connectedness through campus-wide events, clubs, and community impact.

Interested in touring Weinberg Gifted Academy? Our school tours normally take place on the second Tuesday of each month. Please give us a call to RSVP for an upcoming tour (480) 812-6600

Important Contacts

All school numbers begin with (480)812-XXXX

Name (with email)	Title	Ext.
Marcie Romero	Principal	6600
Brittany Shirkey	Dean of Students Special Education Contact	6606
Dan Utrera	504 Coordinator	6609
Jody Engelken	Attendance Technician	6600
Jennifer Eskina	Health Assistant	6600

Department	Ext.
Attendance Line	6603
Transportation - District Main Office	(480)424-8600

5245 S. Val Vista Dr.
Gilbert, AZ 85298

Phone: (480) 812-6600

ContactWGA@cusd80.com

School Hours

8:30 am - School Begins
3:00 pm - School Dismissed

Early Release

11:30 am
11:10 am - Last Day

Office Hours

7:30 am - 4:00 pm

Important Links

Additional Information

Drop Off and Pick Up Information

top image aerial view of campus with routes, bottom image neighborhood roads with highlighted parts showing where not to park

As an open-enrollment school, a large percentage of students are dropped off and picked up by personal vehicle. We need your help at the end of the day to ensure pick up goes smoothly and efficiently. Across the district, a good measure of pick-up procedures by the end of the first full week of school is 20 minutes, from bell to last student loading. That is also our goal. Please remember to have your car sign (your homeroom teacher will give you these) posted clearly in the windshield at pick up and keep it posted until your child is in the car to help us with this process. All K-2 students and their siblings will be dropped off and picked up in the WEST parking lot, entering Appleby heading north on Val Vista and exiting to Val Vista. If you drive southbound on Val Vista and turn directly onto Appleby, then you will need to go directly into our parking lot to park.

Dropping off your child on Val Vista Drive is absolutely not allowed.

All 3-6 grade students will be dropped off and picked up in the EAST parking lot with all traffic entering Appleby. The preferred route to the 3-6 parking lot is to use Queen Creek to get to 156th (near Perry High), then south to Appleby. If you choose to go northbound from 154th to Appleby from Ocotillo, please know that the side streets, shoulders, and driveways are all private property (refer to the second image for highlighted areas to avoid).

Note: Again, we love our neighborhood and appreciate our neighbor’s support. Many of the houses around WGA are owned by families who have been in this area well before the school was built. Please help us show respect for them by minding the posted speed limits, taking care not to block driveways and side streets, and keeping an eye out for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

FAQs

What is Weinberg Gifted Academy (WGA)?

WGA is a self-contained K-6 school for students who are eligible to receive gifted services based on district criteria. As with all teachers of gifted students in CUSD, teachers at WGA must have or be working toward, a Gifted PreK-12 endorsement. WGA supports the district's gifted academy approach by offering rigorous, accelerated coursework in a 21st-century framework, focusing on social-emotional development, rigorous research-based curricula, and authentic problem-based learning opportunities.

How do I enroll my child in WGA?

What is WGA's curriculum?

Like all gifted students in CUSD, students at WGA will receive instruction accelerated by at least one year in the areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics according to state standards. Research-based, vetted curriculum materials at WGA include Engineering is Elementary, integrated Science/Social Science units, Eureka Math and Glencoe Math, Junior Great Books, HMH Into Reading, Savvas myPerspectives.

What technology will WGA students have access to?

WGA is a 1:1 device to student school. All students use G Suite for Education applications including Google Classroom. Additionally, K-6 students at WGA engage with coding and design tools including Ozobots, Sphero, Microbits, sound and video production and editing tools, and 3D printers and CAD software. Technology is integrated into instructional planning with the goal of cultivating knowledge and skills to go beyond consuming and move to creating with technology. We introduce tools to students that support specific instructional strategies and skills and, as they gain confidence and experience, encourage students to consider these tools as possibilities they might use to identify and solve problems.

What opportunities do WGA students have to engage in the arts and athletics?

At WGA, we understand that movement, music, and arts education support learning in myriad ways. Each of these provides opportunities to cultivate critical thinking, creativity, fine motor skills, working memory, attentiveness, self-esteem, goal-setting, teamwork, math and spatial reasoning, as well as perseverence, patience, and passions. The arts and movement are woven into our learning in the classrooms and students also engage in a cycle of enriching special area classes that include Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Physical Education, and Technology. Our special area teachers collaborate to help students make connections between disciplines, apply and practice content and skills in creative applications, and add technical skills and tools that better equip them to identify and solve problems in the world.

Is there before and after-school child care at WGA?

What social/emotional support does WGA offer?

We recognize that exceptional and twice-exceptional learners deserve a support system that endeavors to understand their unique asynchronous development and social/emotional needs. Our teachers embed developmentally appropriate social/emotional learning in every learning opportunity through Costa's Habits of Mind, de Bono's Thinking Hats, Gould and Kaplan's Icons of Depth and Complexity (as explained by Ian Byrd) as well as instructional strategies that challenge students to practice personal development and metacognitive skills like perseverance, insight, situational awareness, and goal setting. In addition to ongoing professional development related to research-based practices to support the social/emotional needs of gifted learners, WGA will use the district-adopted Caring School Community SECL curriculum.

What extracurricular opportunities does WGA offer?

We believe before- and after-school experiences are a vital part of building a community and tapping into the interests of our students and staff at WGA. Our students have enjoyed teacher-run clubs like Beginning Coding with Dot and Dash, VEX Robotics, Math, Pokémon, Running Club, 3D Printing, Cheer, and Ceramics and vendor-provided clubs like Chess, Bricks 4 Kidz, Soccer Shots, Young Rembrandts, Spanish, Yoga, and Golf. Please look for information about Clubs in communication from your child's teaching team and on the Community Education, Sports & Enrichment page.

Where do WGA students go for Junior High?

As an open-enrollment elementary school, there are many exciting Junior High options for students who attend the gifted academies. Many of our students stay in gifted programming through 8th grade at Willis, Bogle, San Tan, and Payne Junior Highs. Others attend the Arizona College Preparatory Oakland campus or Basha Accelerated Middle School and still others move into honors programming at any of the 10 Junior High options. WGA strives to prepare students to develop the technical, global, academic, and personal skills needed to succeed in Junior High and beyond.