The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board held a regular meeting online on Tuesday, May 12, where members discussed board meeting dates for the 2020-2021 school year and awarded a five-year contract to an auditing firm. One major piece of news from the meeting was the retirement of Fountain Hills High School Principal Cain Jagodzinski, which will be effective on June 12.

It was also on the agenda for the Board to approve the hiring of a new middle school principal and an exceptional student service coordinator, but both items were shelved for a later date, as a decision for both positions had not been reached.

The Governing Board only had one item in its information and discussion portion of the meeting, which was meeting dates for the 2020-2021 school year. As in past years the proposed schedule has the Board meeting on the second and fourth Wednesday from August to June. The two exceptions to this are in October, when a meeting will be held on the first or third Wednesday due to fall break, and in May, when a meeting will be held on the second Tuesday due to Senior Recognition Night.

On to action items, the first item was the approval of awarding a five-year contract to the auditing firm Henry & Horne. Henry & Horne has worked with the district previously on its audits and Board members expressed their approval with the firm’s work.

Next up, board members decided on their top five priorities to submit to the Arizona School Board Association for the association’s 2021 legislative political agenda.

With priorities holding steady, the Board decided to submit the same five goals from the previous year. These include the following:

1. Fully fund full-day Kindergarten.

2. Revise school finance formula to provide dedicated revenue source less reliant on the general fund or annual legislative appropriation.

3. Eliminate unfunded mandates and administrative burdens.

4. Provide additional stat funding for nationally competitive salaries to attract and retain teachers and staff.

5. Fully restore ninth grade CTE/JTED eligibility and funding.

The final action item approved by the board was the ADE Food Program Permanent Service Agreement, which was amended to include a seamless summer option.

The next Governing Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 10.