The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board held an open meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 18, where the board voted to terminate the district’s intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) for the 2021-22 school year.

Board President Jill Reed clarified before the vote that they were only canceling EVIT classes at the local Four Peaks EVIT campus.

“The IGA with EVIT is only cancelling classes that are on our campus, it’s not cancelling the whole agreement we have with EVIT for students to go to the EVIT campus and take classes there like firefighting or culinary [classes], because we do have a handful of students that go to campus each year and I would like that to continue,” Reed said. “It’s just not working out with classes on our campus.”

Superintendent Dr. Kelly Glass said that FHUSD is looking into offering career and technical education at Fountain Hills High School based on a survey completed by the students.

Along with canceling their IGA, the Board also canceled the lease for the Four Peaks campus with EVIT. The local campus opened its doors to students in the fall of 2017, with discussions to lease the former elementary school campus beginning the year prior. The plan was to host a slow rollout of courses, drawing interested students from FHHS and potentially surrounding school districts. As Reed noted before the board voted to terminate the IGA for local classes with EVIT, plans to expand never came to fruition.

The next board meeting is scheduled for Dec. 9.