The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board met last Wednesday, Nov. 9. The Board conducted a Superintendent evaluation in an executive session before the business meeting, and the Board discussed implementing a new instructional time model at the end.

The instructional time model would be an action plan to be used if any future issues keep students off of campus, such as the water main break in early October. The plan would be used in emergency situations to prevent students from making up class after the end of the school year.

The Board heard three presentations in the meeting, one from a local girl scout troop, one from the Golden Eagle Education Foundation and one from the high school student government.

The girl scouts made a presentation to Superintendent Dr. Cain Jagodzinski several weeks ago with an idea to paint the PBIS storeroom at the middle school. The girls came up with the plan and are currently working to impact positive behavior on campus.

The Golden Eagle Education Foundation is trying to reinvigorate their mentor program. They’ve won awards before and had as many as 125 mentors in one year, but they currently have 23 mentors. There is one mentor at the high school, seven at the middle school, and 15 at McDowell Mountain Elementary School. There are currently three people waiting to be trained.

Fountain Hills High School Student Government raised approximately $500 from homecoming ticket sales, and the organization is looking to do their first charity event since 2019 this year. They are looking at possibilities while also planning the hoopcoming dance for Saturday, Feb. 11. STUGO could not get a bonfire for homecoming week, but they hope to arrange a bonfire for hoopcoming week.

The Board continued their new tradition of district celebrations and honored staff and students from each site. Staff of the month were Lorrie Gonzalez from McDowell Mountain, Kryssie Beard from the middle school, Yolanda Nez from the high school and Leah Gleason from the district office.

Students of the month were Avelynn Sobol from McDowell, Jayden Shipman from the middle school and Connor Davies from the high school.

Late Board member Judith Rutkowski also received an Honor Roll award from the Arizona School Boards Association. Following the awards, the Board gave conditional approval for an eighth grade trip to Washington D.C. next spring break, and they updated and approved extra-curricular fees and policy-advisory 737-738 relating to Covid-19 vaccinations.

The next Board meeting will be another executive session continuing the Superintendent evaluation on Tuesday, Nov. 29. The next public meeting will start at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 14. It is the only scheduled meeting for December, and it will follow another executive session at 5 p.m.

All Board meetings are held in the FHUSD Learning Center and are livestreamed and recorded on the FHUSD YouTube channel.