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Many around town are familiar with Dr. Cain Jagodzinski.
He’s a former Fountain Hills High School teacher, principal, and a multiple state championship winning basketball coach for the school. He lives in town and has three children in Fountain Hills schools, and this summer he returned to the district to take over as superintendent.
Jagodzinski was offered the superintendent position back in April. When his name was announced, some guests in the audience of the Governing Board meeting started to cheer. There was another uproar of cheers from a large crowd when his name was mentioned at the 2022 FHHS graduation ceremony in May.
“I’m grateful,” Jagodzinski said. “My philosophy on leadership has always been to be nice to everybody, work hard and be available. I think when you make yourself available to students, parents and staff at all times, that goes a long way to building those relationships.”
Jagodzinski went out of his way to connect with students when he was principal of the high school. His last year with the district, 2020, he adopted an English Bulldog named Frank and raised him inside the school from eight weeks old. Frank was a conversation starter, and Frank also presented awards to elementary students at McDowell Mountain. Frank will make a return this school year.
Jagodzinski did something at the end of his tenure with Fountain Hills in 2020 that cemented his good standing with many community members. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, all school activities and graduation celebrations were put on hold, and most were cancelled. Jagodzinski wasn’t sure at first how it would work, but he promised the graduating seniors “something memorable,” and he delivered one of the few high school graduations in the state that summer.
“I think there were only two high schools in Arizona that did graduations,” Jagodzinski said. “We came up with a plan to do it outside at the football stadium, and we went in 15 yards apart by family. We had three parking lots, and we had them coming at different times, so there was no congregation in the lots. I mean, we tried to think of everything.”
Large school districts were stuck without options to house thousands of students and family members for a graduation celebration. Jagodzinski worked with staff and parents of seniors up until his very last day on contract to put together a safe graduation celebration. Now that the schools have had a full year to return to normal, Jagodzinski said they will continue COVID-19 policies that worked last year.
“My vision for this district is always going to be that you get a personal touch here,” Jagodzinski said. “We’re small enough that you’ll get the extra help you need, we will find a way to find success for all our students, and we’ll always be there to solve problems with anybody.”
Jagodzinski left Fountain Hills to be the principal at Arcadia High School, but his kids remained in Fountain Hills schools. Jagodzinski’s kids were reportedly worried about him coming back to the school system, but he joked because Fountain Hills is a small town, he already knew everything they were doing at the schools from teachers and parents.
With his previous experience in the district, Jagodzinski already knows several staff ahead of his first year as a superintendent. There are many more new faces he has yet to meet, but Jagodzinski hopes to set high expectations and help staff and students alike reach attainable goals.
“Typically, throughout the history of our schools, they’ve been ‘A’ ranked schools,” Jagodzinski said. “That’s where we need to be."
During his four years as principal of Fountain Hills High School, Jagodzinski oversaw the school’s state letter grade improve from a “C” to an “A” and eventually “A+”. He also implemented the high school’s Capstone and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) programs. Jagodzinski wants to maintain that level of academic success and also see a return to athletic success as superintendent.
“We had a run of about nine state titles from 2016-2020, and COVID kind of got in the way of that,” Jagodzinski said. “Now we want to get back to winning as many championships and doing it the right way.”
As coach, Jagodzinski won the basketball state championship for Fountain Hills in 2005 and 2006, and he believes participation in clubs and sports leads to more success for students. He’s also personally invested in athletics because all his kids are athletes at the middle or high school. He said he will support all programs and coaches, and ensure every sport and club has everything it needs to be successful.
Jagodzinski said he lives his job, and he’s always open to helping people. He knows he has to approach each grade and student slightly differently, but he thinks the best way to get through to a student is to show genuine care for them, and that’s exactly what he plans to do when the school year starts. Jagodzinski’s been preparing for weeks, and students will finally return to start the new year on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
