Fountain Hills Unified School District (FHUSD) Superintendent Dr. Cain Jagodzinski presented an updated mission statement for the 2023-24 school year to the FHUSD Governing Board on Wednesday, Aug. 2. The Board voted 5-0 to table the statement and send it back for further workshopping after being deemed “too wordy” by multiple Board members.

Jagodzinski and the district strategic planning team worked with stakeholders to create this statement: “As a District of Excellence, the opportunity is here, in a caring community, for students to achieve 21st Century skills and become the leaders of tomorrow.” The current mission statement is “We achieve and Celebrate Educational Excellence.”

Member Dana Saar was the first to say the new statement was overlong, and he also said the new offering was more of a vision statement. He views mission statements as something short enough to put above a door and see every day, and “something you can ask yourself if you’ve accomplished that day.”

Saar’s sentiments were echoed by members Madicyn Reid and Lillian Acker. Reid said she loved the part about “in a caring community” and said she would have moved it up to the second line after “District of Excellence.” Ried also said she “could maybe see cutting out the ‘to achieve 21st century skills’ and let that be inferred.”

Jagodzinski said each part of the statement was thoughtfully considered, and that being long was intentional. He will take the feedback from Board members back to his team and present another potential mission statement at a later date.