#FountainHillsFriday: FH Unified School District
The 2016-2017 school year is off to a tremendous start, in no small part due to the hard work and collaboration that went into our schools being well-prepared to welcome back our students on Monday, August 8th. Our principals, teachers, support staff, and parent and student volunteers put in the time and effort to ensure we had a smooth start. Yes, there were the late registrations, the waits for last minute schedule changes, lines at lunch, traffic in the parking lots, and buses that are a little off schedule, but these are things that get worked out quickly and disappear soon. As I visited the sites on the first day, within minutes of the bell sounding for the start of school, it appeared as though we’d been in session for a month. I saw teachers teaching and students engaged in learning, and those were beautiful sights. I learned early in my career that such smooth starts don’t happen by accident, so thank you to everyone for getting the year off to a great start and a special thanks to all of our parents for trusting us with your kids.
We have hired some great new teachers and instructional aides at all of our schools and we posted their profiles and pictures on the district’s Facebook page during the summer. We also use the Facebook page to regularly post highlights of teacher and student accomplishments. If you haven’t been following us on Facebook, I encourage you to do so and here is the LINK that will take you to the district’s Facebook page.
We are working with EVIT (the East Valley Institute of Technology) to repurpose the original Four Peaks Elementary site on Calaveras. Pending a thorough inspection and agreement on the financial feasibility of repairs the district will need to make, I am optimistic that EVIT will begin leasing the building on January 1, 2017 and then renovate to meet their needs through the month of June. Our expectation is that the facility will open as an EVIT satellite in August of 2017. I believe that this partnership is a win-win-win-win situation: a win for the district, a win for EVIT, a win for the Town, and most importantly, a win for our students.
FHUSD has a long history of students achieving at the highest levels and going on to experience tremendous success in college and careers. In addition, we offer campus environments that are smaller and more personable than those usually found at larger schools in larger districts. Through many conversations last year, there was agreement that we collectively need to do a better job of “telling our story” and positively promoting our schools. To those ends, we are working with Brokers Alliance to produce a series of short videos that will be used as part of a digital marketing campaign that began on August 8th, with a one-minute video titled, “We Choose Fountain Hills”, featuring several of our high school students. I want to express my sincere gratitude to Brokers Alliance President and CEO David Racich, Chief Marketing Officer Eric Palmer, and Marketing Coordinator Shaon Shamsul. The Brokers Alliance team has stepped up to provide the resources and professional expertise to assist us in “telling our story,” and such support is a great example of how one entity in Fountain Hills is willing to help another.
Much of the information in this article is information that I have shared with our parents, staff, and community members through our weekly electronic newsletter called the Falcon Focus. If you are not on our mailing list and would like to be, send me an email at: patrick.sweeney@fhusd.org and we will add you.
Here’s to continuing to work together to make Fountain Hills the best choice for business, living, and going to school.
Regards,
Patrick
Superintendent FHUSD
