This past year, school systems navigated health concerns while trying to return to a normal campus environment.

Fountain Hills Unified School District delayed students from a full return to the classroom following winter break and made adjustments throughout the year to keep in line with recommended safety precautions.

The pandemic still affected the daily lives of students and educators, but the first half of the 2021-22 academic year has been closer to normal than the year before. What follows is a recap of the biggest school news stories of the year. Additional stories will be covered in the Jan. 5 edition of The Times.

Students honor late Rob Ralph

The Fountain Hills community lost Rob Ralph in September 2020 and students, parents and coworkers pitched in to fund a memorial for the track and field coach who had been with the Falcons since 2018. The Falcon community started a GoFundMe to raise funds, first reported by The Times on Feb. 3, and the sitting bench and memorial plaque were installed adjacent to the high school track on May 20.

“My son, Brant, and I so appreciate the generosity of the Fountain Hills High School track team, led by Nick Goodman, and the Fountain Hills community for donating funds to purchase the beautiful memorial bench installed on the high school throwing field,” Cyndi Ralph previously said. “We know that Coach Rob would feel so humbled and honored by this special remembrance. Since Rob is interred in rural Iowa, having a memorial so close to home is particularly meaningful to us. A special thanks to Nikki Lies, who led the project from fundraising through installation.”

Superintendent contract

Dana Saar rejoined the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board on the first meeting of the year, Jan. 13, 2021. Saar originally served on the FHUSD board for 14 years, from 1996 to 2010. Because his new tenure had just begun, Saar abstained from voting on Superintendent Kelly Glass’ contract extension on Feb. 10.

The rest of the board voted 4-0 to extend Glass’ contract by three years. Glass was brought up for a one-year extension on March 18, 2020, right as the pandemic was beginning. Glass has spent most of her tenure with FHUSD dealing with COVID and its aftermath.

More learning opportunities

The Schools section of The Times from March 24, 2021, shares information related to three ways local high school students could improve their education. Fountain Hills High School revamped it Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, the FHUSD Governing Board approved three new Career Technical Education (CTE) classes for the high school, and the East Valley Institute of Technology Governing Board voted to cut fees for high school students in half for the 2021-2022 school year.

AVID was introduced to the high school in 2017 and former athletic director Willie Dudley ran the program until his retirement at the end of of the 2020-21 academic year. FHHS leadership discussed wanting to have a more aggressive recruitment into AVID, and Laura Herron nearly doubled the size of AVID from 16 students to 31 this year. As the new AVID coordinator, Herron also planned an AVID scholarship signing ceremony this past September.

The local EVIT campus closed during the 2020-21 school year, and without access to their courses, the FHUSD Board looked into restarting the CTE program on the high school campus. Superintendent Glass explained that the three courses, culinary arts, business management and sports medicine, were chosen by high school students in a survey. Jasun Zakro and Kevin Clancy were hired to teach the programs, and Zakro has already made history. He organized Arizona’s first high school BBQ state championship through the National High School BBQ Association. The statewide competition will be held in Fountain Hills on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

Falcon Nest

High School athletes now have a pregame and postgame meeting location other than their locker rooms. The Fountain Hills Athletic Booster Club held a grand opening of the new “Falcons Nest” on March 25 to thank the local businesses, organizations and individuals who assisted in the building of the room.

The room behind the gym was supposed to open last fall but was delayed by the pandemic. The Falcons use the facility to watch film, regroup after games, do homework and relax in comfortable chairs or play foosball with teammates.

Mask protest

About a dozen students carrying signs lined up outside of the District Learning Center before the FHUSD board meeting on May 11. Signs included slogans ranging from “Free our Falcons” to “Give us our voices back” and “No more masks.”

The Governing Board heard 11 public comments from concerned parents and teachers, and the board learned that a group of 243 local parents signed a “Declaration of Parental Rights – Fountain Hills,” which had circulated online. The declaration explained the goals of the group and the measures it would take if their demands were not met. The declaration explicitly mentions concerns about the use of masks, social distancing on campuses, and more.

It was previously reported by The Times that the declaration ends stating its signers “assert our rights as parents to reject” the use of masks, social distancing and mandatory temperature checks on campuses, and “to demand that no curriculum containing teaching related to or similar to what are known as The 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory and Systemic Racism be taught in our schools.”

FHUSD decided to continue safety protocols for the rest of the spring semester, which was only two and a half weeks, but FHUSD did use the summer to develop less intrusive safety measures which were announced in the Safe Return to School Plan on July 28.

Celebrations

Members of the Fountain Hills High School graduating class of 2021 got to finish their high school careers as most high schoolers do. They danced and celebrated their academic achievements together.

The Falcons had prom night on Saturday, May 1, and graduation on May 28. From 10 p.m. the night of graduation to 4 a.m. the next day, graduating seniors enjoyed the festivities of the 25th annual Falcon Fiesta. Every graduating senior had their attendance fees covered by donations from the Fountain Hills Community Foundation and the Verne C. Johnson Family Foundation.

Charter School closes its doors

On May 27, it was announced that Fountain Hills Charter School would close its doors for the summer and not re-open for the 2021-22 school year. It was further explained that the closure would be indefinite. Low enrollment was to blame for the closing, as the school only had 56 students by the 100th day count.

Principal shakeup

The Fountain Hills Unified School District School Board hired Kris Alexander to be the principal of Fountain Hills High School in June of 2020. Less than a year later, the board hired another high school principal in Chris Hartmann, and promoted Alexander to a district role.

Hartmann had been in education for years but left for the corporate world for four years. He wanted to return to working with kids, and Fountain Hills seems like the right fit for him. Hartmann was once a resident of Fountain Hills, and he had previously worked with Alexander at Dessert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, so Hartmann said working with Alexander again and the community were reasons he applied for the position in Fountain Hills.

With Hartmann’s hiring, Alexander became the Executive Director of Student Services at the school district office. The move kept experienced administrators with a history of cooperation in the Fountain Hills Unified School District.