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Cain Jagodzinski named high school principal

Posted 5/3/16

Cain Jagodzinski has been named the next principal of Fountain Hills High School following unanimous approval by the Governing Board during the April 27 meeting.

Current principal Tom Brennan …

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Cain Jagodzinski named high school principal

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Cain Jagodzinski has been named the next principal of Fountain Hills High School following unanimous approval by the Governing Board during the April 27 meeting.

Current principal Tom Brennan announced earlier this year that he would be stepping away from his position at FHHS, leading to a search for his replacement. A total of 14 applications were received, with the top three being asked to participate in an interview process that involved three committees of local stakeholders.

On Friday, April 22, Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney announced that he would be recommending Jagodzinski for the position at the April 27 meeting.

“Many of you may remember Mr. Jagodzinski as a former teacher at Fountain Hills Middle School and a former basketball coach at the high school,” Sweeney explained in his announcement. “Cain and his family live in Fountain Hills and his kids attend McDowell Mountain and Four Peaks elementary schools.”

Jagodzinski comes into the job with experience as a high school teacher and dean, as well as middle school assistant principal. His most recent position was serving as middle school principal at Shea Middle School in the Paradise Valley Unified School District.

“Mr. Jagodzinski brings considerable expertise in the areas of curriculum and instruction, the effective integration of student use of technology in teaching and learning, emergency response preparedness and positive approaches to student management and discipline,” Sweeney added.

As for Jagodzinski, he said he’s happy to be a Falcon once again.

“I had heard that Mr. Brennan was leaving and this looked like an exciting opportunity for me to be close to home and support our local town and schools by being involved again,” he said.

Jagodzinski said he tries to be very visible and approachable so parents, students and community members feel they can talk to him about whatever issues are on their mind.

“I’ve really tried to focus on improving instruction in the schools I have worked at,” he continued. “I think any good leader spends a lot of time listening and giving people an opportunity to fill them in on things. But there are certainly things that, coming in, I know I want to do. I want to continue all of the great things that have already been going on at the high school, be a strong supporter of the kids, their athletics and their clubs and, finally, bring in new high academic programs and fine arts programs to continue challenging our students.”

Jagodzinski’s tenure will begin July 1.

“I’m most excited to again be a part of Fountain Hills,” Jagodzinski said. “I look forward to being an instructional leader for the campus.”

According to Dr. Sweeney, Jagodzinski seems like a natural fit for the position.

“I was not surprised to see his application,” Sweeney said. “The committees’ reaction to him was very positive. I think the thing that stood out the most was that he seems to be a man with a plan.”

Sweeney said Jagodzinski spoke with the interviewing committees about specific initiatives he would like to implement at the high school.

“There are things we can change and improve, and he’s got some ideas of how to do that,” Sweeney said. “One thing in particular is that he is very interested in getting the AP capstone project in place. That’s a relatively painless and inexpensive process and I’m pretty excited about opportunities like that.”

Board Vice President Edith Stock joked at the April 27 meeting that she may never figure out how to pronounce his name, to which Jagodzinski said he always tells the kids, “It’s ‘J’ and the other 10 letters are silent.”

Following unanimous approval to offer a contract, Stock said, “Welcome, Mr. J.”