The past 12 months have been busy for local schools, boasting a pair of elections, a pair of controversial personnel items, the approval of a new standardized test and more.

Through it all, however, local schools continue to push forward into the future.

Following is the second in a two-part series looking back at 2014 within local schools, covering the months of July through December.

Capital override

It was a close call, but the Fountain Hills Unified School District’s capital override managed to garner voter approval, passing through the November election by around 100 votes.

Back in July, the School Board authorized the capital override election for November, hoping to continue a tax levy to pay for the district’s capital needs unable to be met by the maintenance and operations budget.

Totaling $750,000, or 10 percent of the district’s revenue control limit, whichever is less, the new override will kick in during the 2015-16 academic year and continue for the next six school years.

Current projects planned for funding through the override include textbooks, computers, furniture, building improvements and transportation vehicles.

Shrinking budget

The FHUSD Governing Board approved a $10,172,272 budget for the 2014-15 academic year back in mid-July, down $660,541 from the previous year.

The FHUSD budget is largely determined by student enrollment, which once again saw a decline in 2013-14.

To accommodate this year’s budget hits, the damage is being spread out across multiple areas.

Some $218,976 was cut from regular instruction and $88,679 was cut from special education, a direct result of the drop in enrollment.

Another $199,383 was deducted from plant operations, with smaller figures coming out of areas including central services, school administration, instructional staff and student support.

New principal

When long-time district employee and McDowell Mountain Elementary School Principal Joanne Meehan announced her impending retirement in early 2014, the search was on for a replacement.

The district found said replacement in Valerie Dehombreux, who was teaching in Abu Dhabi at the time.

Dehombreux was selected from a field of around 30 applicants and began her term with the school at the start of July.

New Falcons

Formerly the Bobcats, McDowell Mountain Elementary School adopted a new school mascot in early December, joining the rest of district sites in becoming Fountain Hills Falcons.

Pam Aister

The Governing Board voted 4-1 in late September to dismiss educator Pam Aister based on her involvement in breaking up a heated incident between students on the Four Peaks/Middle School campus.

Aister diffused what has been billed as a racial bullying incident during the 2013-14 school year.

Aister’s subsequent suspension and the hearing that followed were based on her alleged behavior/language used in handling the dispute between the students, which was determined did not actually involve comments of a racial nature.

Officials said five district policies were violated by Aister at the time and the recommendation for Aister’s firing came from a mutually agreed upon hearing officer.

Following her dismissal, Aister received support through an online petition and a local protest attempting to get her reinstated.

In November, Aister took legal action against the School District, seeking a reversal of her dismissal, loss of back pay and “other relief” deemed proper. School Board members were served legal documents on Nov. 12. Neither FHUSD nor board members involved were able to comment on the pending case.

School grades

The state Department of Education released annual grades for schools and districts, with Fountain Hills Unified school District dropping from an A to an B and Fountain Hills Charter School maintaining its A status.

A large portion of these annual grades is determined by students’ performance on the annual AIMS tests, as well as the schools’ and district’s ability to show improvement in results for those exams.

Individually, McDowell Mountain Elementary School received a B, Four Peaks received a B, the Middle School received a B and the high school received an A.

Board members

The FHUSD Governing Board has three new members taking up seats in 2015, including Judy Rutkowski, Wendy Barnard and Edith Stock.

Former members Melanie Anderelli and Helen Howard chose to end decade-long runs with the board at the conclusion of the 2014 term with former member Karl Gaardsmoe losing a five-person election for the three seats. Fellow candidate Robert Gomez also did not receive enough votes to make the board.

Christie Slegers

Following accusations of misrepresentation and the subsequent fallout, FHHS science teacher and volleyball coach Christie Slegers resigned from the district in late October.

Slegers was initially placed on administrative leave following an investigation that resulted from a parent contacting the district and media with concerns over her background.

According to the original accusations, Slegers presented herself to the district and community as “Dr.” Slegers, with no proof of a doctorate. She also claimed to be an Olympic silver medalist, though no record of that accomplishment was provided, either.

Az-MERIT

The Arizona State Board of Education has adopted a new testing instrument (Az-MERIT), set to replace AIMS in the coming year with implementation beginning in Spring 2015.

The ASBE held a public meeting in November to discuss the possible adoption of the new assessment.

Arizona’s Measurement of Education Readiness to Inform Teaching, or Az-MERIT, was then adopted, intended to help “ensure every child is on track to be successful upon graduating high school,” according to the meeting’s agenda.

In brief, the new assessment will be administered to students in third grade through high school in the fields of reading, language arts and math. Students at the fourth, eighth and high school level will continue to take the AIMS science exam for the time being.

High school students graduating after Dec. 31, 2016, will no longer be required to pass the AIMS exams to graduate.

Jim Fairfield

After 23 years of teaching students and coaching the varsity football team, head coach Jim Fairfield has announced his retirement from Fountain Hills High School.

Following the 2014-15 academic year, Fairfield said he plans to move to Washington to be closer to family, and will likely get back into education and/or coaching at some point.

For now, the search is on for a new FHHS physical education teacher and a new head football coach.

Marching band

It’s been a big year for the Fountain Hills High School marching band, going on to earn a number of awards throughout the fall semester, including numerous caption awards and a first place finish at the Phoenix Veterans Day Parade.

Along with taking part in various community events, the Falcons spent the past several months fine-tuning their marching performance for the year, a series of songs mixing pop songs with classical music into a single “Apopalypse.”

The show earned the local band a number of honors at events like NAU Band Day and the state competition, where the squad earned four out of five caption awards for auxiliary, general effect, percussion and visual.