The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board met for a retreat this past Monday, Feb. 6, and members have another business meeting today, Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m.

The retreat happened after press time, but there were several items on the agenda. Since three new members were recently sworn into office, the Board will discuss their best practices, roles and a timeline for goals they want to accomplish.

The Board also performed a SWOT analysis to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the district. The Board will discuss options and areas where they can act and improve.

The Board meeting tonight includes six action items and six discussion items. The Board will revisit two student trip proposals to Scotland, England and France in March of 2024, and Germany in May, 2024.

The Board will also revisit Policy Advisories 740-741 in their second reading and discuss policy advisories 743-743 for the first time. The Board will revisit Policy advisory 739, which relates to parental consent forms for sex education curriculum and material deemed “sexually explicit” by the state.

The Board will vote on a purchase over $100,000 for RNA Facilities Management and on a preschool tuition hike for 2023-24. It will also revisit the AVID field trip to Northern Arizona University and vote on it.

The Board will continue their discussion on incomplete grades and also review the 2023-24 Maintenance and Operations Budget and Capital Budget for a first review. The Board will also discuss a half-day for students on March 10, and procurement for the consolidation project.

The Board will continue its district celebrations of academic achievement. The student Falcons of the month are Cheri and Leon Lane from McDowell Mountain Elementary School, Rylee Pena from Fountain Hills Middle School and Fabian Pena from Fountain Hills High School.

The staff of the month are Melissa Hyde from MMES, Christine Rios from FHMS, Alison Mecom from FHHS and Gary Grover from the District Office.

All Board meetings are held in the district learning center and are recorded and livestreamed on the FHUSD YouTube channel. The next meeting will be a work study session on Wednesday, Feb. 22.