In the Fountain Hills education community, 2019 was a year filled with uplifting moments of hard work paying off and also some more somber moments of reflection.

Following is a look at some of the biggest stories to come out of local schools from January through June, 2019. Check the Jan. 1 edition of The Times for a look back at events ranging from July through December.

MMES A+

On April 10, it was announced that McDowell Mountain Elementary School had received the Arizona Educational Foundation’s prestigious rating as an A+ School of Excellence.

McDowell Mountain Principal Valerie Dehombreux started working on the report that played a key role in achieving the school rating back in October of 2017.

A little over a year and 15,000 words later the report was finished and impressed the AEF enough that MMES received a site visit in late February from two of their judges.

Two months later and the staff received the Foundation’s decision.

“It felt like everything we had done was worth it,” Principal Dehombreux said at the time. “I didn’t let out a big yell because I was with kids doing their AzMerit test, but I looked at them so proudly.”

Allen here to stay

One of the first orders of business for the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board in 2019 was offering then interim Superintendent Dr. Robert Allen a three-year contract for the superintendent position, minus the “interim.”

“After much discussion the board came to realize that we have a gem here,” board president Jill Reed said at the Jan. 16 School Board meeting. “And there was no reason to put out our feelers for a new superintendent.”

At the meeting Dr. Allen, who previously served the district as assistant superintendent of business operations, said he was extremely honored by the offer and looked forward to serving FHUSD for three more years.

Bob Couture

One somber note in 2019 was the sudden passing of beloved Fountain Hills High School teacher and substitute, Bob Couture.

Couture started at FHHS in 2004 after moving to Fountain Hills to “retire.”

He quickly made a lasting impact on the staff and students who crossed his path.

“I think with most people, they have their moments,” English teacher Jamie Sunshine said following Couture’s passing. “But I think with Bob, it was always a moment. He wasn’t that person who you remember doing this or you remember doing that…you remember Bob, because Bob is a living memory.”

Couture was a supportive teacher whose actions stayed with his students long after graduating.

“I was in the band in high school and he and Mrs. Couture would never miss a concert or performance by us,” former student Mark Almeida said. “They were the faces I could always count on seeing.”

EVIT investigation

The East Valley Institute of Technology governing board voted at the end of January to place three top administrators on paid administrative leave while hiring an outside attorney to investigate internal concerns.

The outside attorney’s report found multiple procurement law violations, teacher certification requirements and violation of opening meeting laws and other irregularities that the board directed the attorney report to the state attorney and auditor general.

Principal Mark Yockus, Fountain Hills campus principal Craig Pearson and Superintendent Dr. Sally Downey were all placed on leave but Downey was the only one who parted ways with the school after resigning in April. Pearson is still with EVIT but no longer principal of the Fountain Hills campus.