The Fountain Hills Unified School District (FHUSD) held a retreat last Monday, Feb. 6, primarily to bring its three new members up to speed. The Board typically does one retreat in July before the new school year, and they will have another retreat this summer.

The first action taken was a SWOT analysis, to examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to FHUSD. Board President Jill Reed wanted the new members to give their input first, and after Lillian Acker, Libby Settle and Madicyn Reid wrote items in each category, Reed and Vice President Dana Saar finished the lists.

The Board then went through each section of SWOT and discussed each item, line by line. The Board uses the SWOT analysis to create goals for the year, and Superintendent Dr. Cain Jagodzinski uses the Board’s goals to shape his own goals.

Strengths

The strengths discussed focused around small-town elements, such as small class sizes and involved parents/community members. They also talked about fantastic staff and an improved retention rate of staff since Jagodzinski took over.

Jagodzinski did say that class sizes would likely increase at the elementary level, but they would not be dramatic or sudden changes. The classes could still be relatively small, as FHUSD currently targets 15 kids per kindergarten class, while Scottsdale Unified School District targets 24, according to Jagodzinski.

Weaknesses

Jagodzinski was able to offer up-to-date information that alleviated some concerns over certain weaknesses. For instance, enrollment is on an upward trend, and he has been meeting with a student advisory board to discuss specialty class options and a new class schedule.

Jagodzinski has been considering a trimester schedule that will allow for more prep time for teachers. There is still a lack of teachers in certain departments, like math and foreign languages, and FHUSD will have a better idea of the retention of teachers after contracts go out in March.

The Board talked about transparency and raising awareness. FHUSD has a new Twitter account, and Jagodzinski communicates frequently through the Remind app and Falcon Focus Newsletters.

Saar said the biggest weakness FHUSD faces is demographics, and then said 95% of Fountain Hills households don’t have students in FHUSD. Members thought of ways to increase visibility and talked about trying to include the Falcon Focus in the Chamber of Commerce’s newsletter.

Opportunities

Jagodzinski views consolidation as the best opportunity, but he also wants to continue growing in other areas. Last year, the Board wanted to create a non-voting member position on the Board for a Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation representative. Twenty-five percent of FHUSD’s student population comes from FMYN, and the current Board would like Jagodzinski to follow up with FMYN about the non-voting position.

The Board talked about the wealth of resources in town with all sorts of retired professionals and experts in certain fields. Jagodzinski reminded the Board that students have to request a club that doesn’t currently exist for residents to step in, but he also said he’d never seen someone who was adamant about something not be able to accomplish it with the district’s assistance.

He also reminded the Board that several organizations already serve children in multiple ways. AVID college readiness, the Coalition, Junior Achievement and the Golden Eagle Education Foundation Mentoring Program are all ways local residents can help out FHUSD students.

Threats

The biggest threats according to the Board were a lack of honors and gifted classes at the middle school, and specialty classes at the high school. The Board also discussed the letter grades of the schools, which are not entirely decided by standardized test scores and grade point averages.

Everyone on the Board agreed that they want FHUSD schools to be an “A” or “A+” graded school like they were a few years ago. The Board circled back to the idea that “perception is reality,” and focused on getting information out about how schools were graded to the public.

After the SWOT analysis, the Board discussed best practices, Board roles and a timeline. Board members were advised to enable auto-reply on their emails, and send everything they receive related to FHUSD to either Jagodzinski or Reed. The Board wants information to come from a centralized source to limit confusion and stay consistent with messaging.

The Superintendent should be the voice of FHUSD, and he handles the specifics of how to accomplish the Board’s goals. The Board is scheduled to make their list of year-long goals next August, and they can change the annual schedule in April.