On Wednesday, April 24, the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board held a public meeting where it discussed a new course for the high school, as well as voted on the approval of a revised budget.

The meeting began with an informational reports from FHUSD superintendent Dr. Robert Allen, who informed the board about the upcoming May 6 assembly at McDowell Mountain Elementary School, where the Arizona Education Foundation will present the school with the official A+ School of Excellence red banner.

After approving the consent agenda the board moved into the information/discussion portion of the meeting and began by discussing board meeting dates for the 2019-20 school year.

Governing Board meetings would be scheduled on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month with three exceptions in October, March and May, where a meeting will take place on the third Wednesday to accommodate fall break, spring break and Senior Recognition Night, respectively.

Next, the board heard from Fountain Hills High School Principal Cain Jagodzinski about a new proposed course, Fountain Hills High Peer Assistant (Life Skills).

The course would be a semester-long pass/fail class worth half an elective credit. Students in the class would provide tutoring, mentoring and friendship to the students in Sierra Anway’s Life Skills course.

The board then discussed a change to language in Policy JJJ, concerning extracurricular activity eligibility.

The change would take out the language, “After improving their respective grades such that they shall be reinstated to the teams or extracurricular activities until a subsequent check is preformed unless ineligible for some reason other than academic performance,” to “A student may become eligible after one full week of ineligibility, but not until the student is passing the failed class.”

Jagodzinski explained the reason for the change is to have a clear guideline of the process of ineligibility to stop the practice of ineligible student athletes turning in late work the day of games, in hopes that teachers will grade it all and clear them that day.

Board President Jill Reed expressed concerns that the forced full week on ineligibility might punish students who become ineligible for reasons out of their control. The example Reed used was teachers leaving assignments ungraded.

Jagodzinski assured Reed and the board that he and athletic director Willie Dudley review cases of ineligibility and expectations would be made for any students who were failing a class for reasons out of their control, like a death in the family.

After finishing their discussion on Policy JJJ, the board discussed renewing their contract with the food service management company, Sodexo, next school year. The renewal of the contract would not increase lunch prices.

Finally, the board discussed a proposed field trip for the FHHS World Travelers Club to Barcelona, Spain, from March 6-15 2020.

Reed and the rest of the board gave high praise to teacher Kailani McClain for her thorough package highlighting the proposed trip.

The board then voted to approve the field trip for the life skills class to Special Needs Prom on April 30 and the revised budget.

The Governing board’s next meeting will be on May 15.