The planning process for future Fountain Hills Unified School District academic calendars is under way, beginning with a brief discussion during the Aug. 27 Governing Board meeting.

Superintendent Tom Lawrence announced that he would be forming a calendar committee soon and, to get the ball rolling for the planning process, asked board members for any initial guidelines or direction they would like to see for proposed calendars.

“I’d like to get the committee together ASAP, so we look forward to any initial direction from the board,” Lawrence said.

In particular, Lawrence asked the board if three primary guidelines utilized in years past should once again drive the focus of current planning.

These areas included the length of the calendar (how far in advance are they planning), whether or not peer district calendars should be considered and if there were certain dates (end of the school year, for instance) the board would like to see continued moving forward.

In recent years, FHUSD has adopted calendar plans in three-year blocks. Board President Helen Howard said that she would like to see that practice continued, as it provides consistency and easier planning for families and employees.

The board also agreed that peer districts should still be taken into consideration, as more closely mirroring the dates of surrounding districts tends to make scheduling easier.

Families with children in two districts, for instance, can plan a vacation without hindering one of their students’ education if both districts share a common spring break, for instance.

As for specific dates, the board also agreed that FHUSD has started a bit too early in recent years, and would like to see the start of future academic calendars pushed further into August.

“I’m certainly not tied to the school year ending before Memorial Day,” said board member Jill Reed.

“The most complaints I hear are that we’re starting too early in August.”

Board member Karl Gaardsmoe added that he would definitely like to see the fall break retained in future calendars.

Lawrence will present these initial guidelines to his committee, which will then begin work on planning future calendars to present to the school board for consideration at a future meeting.