The Fountain Hills Unified School District recently continued its discussion on the possible merging of Four Peaks Elementary School and Fountain Hills Middle School, with administrators offering the latest information and progress reports at the April 12 Governing Board meeting.

At the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney, Principal Anita Gomez and Director of Transportation John Flynn spoke to board members about the proposed campus merge.

As was pointed out in the meeting’s backup material, the two schools have occupied the same campus for the past six years, running divided bus routes and bell schedules.

“This creates some challenges for parents and causes a staggered and lengthened schedule for classified and administrative staff,” reads the statement. “Operating as separate entities inhibits efficiency and reduces a variety of opportunities for students and staff.”

The trio speaking to the Board has been working on a proposal for a potential merger for the past several months, creating bell schedules, bus routes and the like while gathering input from teachers, staff and parents.

“This recommendation is to merge the two schools and implement a common start and end time,” continues the background material. “In terms of scheduling, campus supervision, increasing opportunities for student participation in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities and professional development and collaboration, merging the two entities into one contributes to improvement in each of these areas.”

Dr. Sweeney discussed the perceived benefits and challenges of the merge in a recent FHUSD newsletter, while Gomez reiterated these points in a presentation to the School Board.

These benefits included a consolidated bus schedule, the expansion of club offerings for grades four through eight, buddy classroom collaboration, expansion of cross-grade tutoring and school spirit events that include the entire student body. Additional benefits, according to Gomez, include easier scheduling for staff, unified extracurricular activities and teacher development.

Flynn presented the board with a proposed bus route that, at the time, was nearing final adjustments. He explained that the new bus routes would provide easier scheduling for his drivers, as well as parents, demonstrating to the board an upcoming interactive route map that would allow parents to easily locate all nearby bus stops, pick-up and drop-off times.

For parents concerned about students being on unified buses, Flynn pointed to plans to create a “lead by example” peer support group of students, as well as zoned seating for grades throughout the bus.

A proposed new bell schedule was also presented, boasting an 8:30 start time and a 3:10 release time for grades 4-8.

Dr. Sweeney said he is still open to input from parents and the community as additional details are finalized for the upcoming proposal. Said proposal is expected to be presented to the Board during the April 26 meeting, followed by a vote.

If approved, the merge would be implemented for the 2017-18 academic year.