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FHUSD: Consolidation committee forming

Posted 2/15/22

The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board meet last Wednesday, Feb. 9, for an important, but short business meeting. The Board approved a resolution to change healthcare providers …

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FHUSD: Consolidation committee forming

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The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board meet last Wednesday, Feb. 9, for an important, but short business meeting. The Board approved a resolution to change healthcare providers for FHUSD staff, and the approved the creation of an advisory committee to consider consolidation of district sites.

The business meeting began with the approval of the five Board meetings in January. Interim Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney gave an update on current events, noting Jeff Markle, Fountain Hills Middle School principal, and Kevin Wilkinson, McDowell Mountain Elementary School interim principal, will travel to Flagstaff this Friday, Feb. 18, for a Northern Arizona University career fair. Dr. Sweeney also met with new band directors Greg Caruso and Michael Fox while walking through the campuses recently, and he was so impressed with them that he advocated for parents to enroll their children into the band programs.

The Board approved the consent agenda and other reports including site council minutes, financials and a personnel action report. Two high school clubs were approved under the site minutes, the BBQ League/ Culinary Club led by Jasun Zakro, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) led by Olivia Long. Long is bringing back the FCA after a four-year hiatus and Zakro’s Culinary Club will host the first Arizona High School BBQ State Championship on Saturday, April 30, in Fountain Hills.

Zakro also informed the district that he will not return for next school year. Zakro will finish out his contracted term for this year, and the Board expressed gratitude for his early notice. They anticipate difficulty in finding a replacement culinary teacher, but the early notice will let the search begin immediately.

The personnel action report included the new hires of Raymond McCanna as an eighth-grade social studies teacher and Angie Brooks as a database support specialist at the district office.

The Benefits Committee, comprised of eight certified staff members, spent several weeks comparing health care providers and they unanimously reached a decision based primarily on cost and greater access to local medical providers. FHUSD will be switching from Valley Schools Benefit Group to Kairos, effective June 30.

The Board approved the site consolidation committee and put Dr. Sweeney in charge. Per guidelines written by Board president Nadya Jenkins, the committee will meet twice a month and will provide a written report by April 27, and another report by June 29. Sweeney commented that he will provide more frequent committee updates in his summary of current events at Board meetings until the committee’s work is complete.

The committee will be limited to 15 people, and a staff member from each of the three campuses will be required. Sweeney will also reach out to parents and residents that live in close proximity to the sites in question.

For future action, district PBIS leaders will meet this week to continue their efforts of improving the implementation of positive behavior standards. The next Board meeting will be a work study session on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at 5 p.m., and the next business meeting will be Wednesday, March 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the FHUSD Learning Center.