Fountain Hills Charter School is in a state of transition, with an administrative shuffle, decreasing enrollment and a shrinking budget leading to the need to make some adjustments at the start of the 2017-18 academic year.

In an effort to correct course, FHCS this year contracted with The Charter Management Group, consisting of partners Douglas Pike and Bil Zeleny. The duo makes administrative decisions and serves as principal on the local campus.

With the fall semester in the rearview mirror, Pike said he feels FHCS is ready to once again start moving in a positive direction. Still, he admits the transition has had its fair share of challenges, with several local parents stating concerns about recent alterations to class composition, the makeup of the governing board, etc.

“My understanding of last school year, as I was not here at the time, was that the administrator opted to leave, the budget was tight and there has been, for several years, a downtrend in enrollment at the school,” Pike said. “The other not-so-obvious issue was that one of the primary board members [Michael Bashaw] had moved out of state, which is not as effective.”

When The Charter Management Group was contracted to take over stewardship of the campus, Pike said there was some resistance.

“I would liken the experience to someone who moves into a new house,” Pike said, adding that some folks are happy with the new neighbors while others preferred the way the old residents decorated the house.

After meeting local parents at various back-to-school events last fall, Pike said work began on getting FHCS back up and running. Several board members resigned while Bashaw stepped out of his corporate officer position.

“I was placed in as president of the corporation and president of the board of directors,” Pike explained. “All of this was done publically.”

With the board in transition, the next big change came early in the semester when one of FHCS’ teachers left. That created a situation where additional classes needed to be consolidated.

It’s common practice for multiple class levels to be combined within a charter school system but, with a position empty, FHCS had to combine three to four grade levels into a single classroom.

“That was upsetting to some of the parents,” Pike said. “We’ve made efforts to hire a new teacher. We’ve brought in several potential candidates and have found them to be unsatisfactory.

“The staff and I have counseled together and worked hard on smoothing the transitions…The teachers are comfortable that our students are progressing, work is being done and good things are happening.

“In general, I believe there’s been good effort by many staff members to put back the pieces they feel have dissipated over the past several years.”

Pike stated the school’s PTO reorganized this school year and has been chipping in whenever possible, taking over crossing duties and lunch room duties in order to lighten the load on educators so they may focus on the needs of students.

“Despite the changes, the classrooms are still small, averaging 24-25 students per classroom, which I feel is very manageable,” Pike continued. “We’ve increased the teacher aid time substantially this year, too, so the actual ratio is more like one teacher to 12 students, as we generally have two people in every classroom now.”

While this interview was conducted in late 2017, The Times was notified Monday, Jan. 8, that a new teacher had been hired for the fourth/fifth grade classroom, which should rectify consolidations that took place during the fall semester.

Looking ahead, Pike said he wants the focus of conversations to be on what FHCS can do to improve.

CMG

Pike explained that The Charter Management Group wears many hats, fulfilling whatever duties are required by the school contracting the organization.

“One group, for instance, wishes to become a charter school, so CMG is currently writing the application to begin that process,” he explained. “We’re working with them on that process; from their financials to their curriculum, hiring needs and things of that nature.

“We’ve worked with charter schools to help them expand…There’s a school in northern Arizona that was in financial difficulties, so we stepped into that school, similar to [FHCS], took over management and put them back on a sound financial footing and solid academic course. They’re not out of the woods yet, but we’ve got them on a good trajectory.

“We would like [FHCS] to reach that same state and we think we’re on that path.”

Pike said the question of the future is an open-ended one when it comes to CMG’s continued involvement with various schools.

“It depends on the needs of the school and what situations they’re facing,” he said. “[FHCS] has had 200-300 students in the past and now has 70. We need to at least double in size before we start looking at additional decisions such as adding staff.

“What I know is what the financial situation looks like right now. We’ve spent four or five months dealing with some major financial issues and we’ve finally gotten it to a point where we don’t have to deal with those anymore. We can now look forward.”

Looking forward

Pike said that his first semester at Fountain Hills Charter School has not been without some growing pains, but he feels steps are being taken to keep things moving in a positive direction.

“There have been parents who have come away [from our conversations] more educated and understanding of why we’re doing what we’re doing, and there are still some parents who feel there is more they would like to know,” Pike said. “And we encourage their continued involvement. Their children are still here, for which we are appreciative of, and we will continue to do the best that we can for them.”

To those who have questions remaining, Pike said his advice would be to ask.

“The dissemination of information is incumbent upon us,” Pike said. “The teachers have blogs, they send home notices, the school has a website and we do e-mail blasts with updates. In this media-driven age, we have a Facebook page with information. There are multiple venues, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is getting their questions answered. So our first level of encouragement is, yes, come ask the question.

“Charter schools were intended to meet needs; they fill a lot of roles…We are the only charter school in Fountain Hills. We are a small, personable environment where personal relationships are valued…That’s what we’re known for and we’re proud of it, and we want to be known for that by even more people.”