The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board held a special meeting Wednesday, April 6, when members voted unanimously to accept the resignation of Superintendent Kelly Glass.

Glass was initially offered a one-year contract to serve as FHUSD’s Superintendent on March 18, 2020. On January 14 of this year, Board members voted to have a third-party investigation into Glass after certain issues were brought to their attention. As this is a personnel matter, FHUSD is limited on what information it can share from the process.

In a statement released by the Board on Thursday, April 7, the investigation found that Glass had done no wrongdoing. Glass followed District policies regarding allegations of bullying, according to the report, did not retaliate against several former employees, and presented the Board with accurate information about an employee’s resignation.

The statement was part of the Board’s employee separation agreement with Glass, and Board members could not share more details than what was in the statement. While the investigation concluded that Glass was in the clear, the Board and Glass realized that they have different visions for the future of FHUSD and that led to the split.

After accepting the separation agreement, the Board unanimously voted to begin the search for a new Superintendent at the special meeting. The drafted timeline has a new Superintendent approved by Tuesday, May 10.

Board President Nadya Jenkins said that the timeline is not set in stone. The hope is to hire someone and have them shadow and learn from interim Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney before he leaves the district on June 30.

Job search

The Superintendent job opening was posted on the FHUSD website on April 7, and the next step in the hiring process is forming two interview committees. One committee will be made up of employees and two Board members, and the other committee will be made of community members, parents and three Board members.

Each committee will be facilitated by a principal, and those interested in taking part should reach out to the District Office at 480-664-5000. Jenkins said typically the Board recruits committee members from volunteer groups or other school organizations because the Board already has their contact info. Jenkins has served on these committees as both a parent and Board member and said the committee size is between 10 to 12 individuals.

Jenkins also proposed that the Board consider previous applicants and view their applications without making them reapply at the special meeting. This could speed up the hiring process, but Jenkins said it’s possible the Board will have to extend the timeline and expand their search.

“We are mindful of the fact that we are not just trying to get a warm body to fill the slot,” Jenkins said. “We want to make sure that whoever we get is suitable for our district. It's very much a balancing act of who is the right person and who is available within our current timeline.”

Per the timeline, superintendent applications will be reviewed and scored independently by Board members and site administrators. Two to four candidates will then be identified as finalists by April 27.

The finalists will be interviewed on May 4, and then the Board plans to hold an executive session in the following days to select a candidate to offer a contract.

More information will be made available at future Governing Board meetings as the search for a replacement superintendent continues. The next Board meeting is a business meeting today, Wednesday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the FHUSD Learning Center.