On Wednesday, July 27, Dr. Cain Jagodzinski updated the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board on filled and unfilled positions for this upcoming school year at the Board retreat. The most recent administrative hire came from within, as Valerie Reichler has been named the new Fountain Hills Middle School dean of students.

Reichler has taught in FHMS for years, and Jagodzinski thinks she will be a great compliment for new middle school Principal, Dr. Kimberly Weeldreyer. Jagodzinski also hired a new high school counselor from Tucson. According to Jagodzinski, a big selling point was that the Fountain Hills student to counselor ratio is about 200 to 1, as opposed to the roughly 1,000 to 1 ratio in Tucson.

There are still several open positions. Both the middle school and high school are looking to hire band directors, and Jagodzinski said he is close to confirming those positions.

The district is also looking for a new director of finance and a new director of information technology. Jagodzinski did suggest outsourcing the technology position to a third-party company that could assist teachers virtually.

Jagodzinski and the Board also discussed the substitute teacher shortage FHUSD dealt with last year and expect to deal with again this year. Jagodzinski said FHUSD paid substitute teachers lower than other surrounding districts, and the Board discussed making that pay more competitive.