I wanted to take a minute to discuss our current alignment in the AIA, 3A Conference for athletics. Athletic conference alignment can be quite confusing, and I hope to give everyone a better understanding of how it works. Every two years the AIA aligns their conferences based on student enrollment. For the past 10 years, the AIA has wavered back and forth on the number of conferences Arizona should have. It went from five conferences to seven for a few years, down to four for a cycle, and currently they offer six conferences. This is completely out of our control as a member school; we are placed where they place us. To determine which conference a school is placed in, the AIA divides all schools into two categories. Schools that are above 1000 students are placed into 4A, 5A, and 6A conferences. The top 1/3 of schools with the highest enrollment are placed into the 6A conference, and the bottom 1/3 of schools are placed into the 4A conference. Schools in the middle fall into the 5A conference. The same is true for schools that are under 1000 students. The largest schools based on enrollment are placed into the 3A conference, while the smallest are placed into 1A. Schools in the middle fall into the 2A conference. Based on our current enrollment of 550 students, we are the second smallest public school in 3A. This fluctuation over the past 10 years has led to many schools losing rivals, gaining them, and traveling to different schools each season. From time to time we are asked why we do not petition up to a higher division. It is quite difficult as both the 3A conference would need to release us, and the new conference would need to accept us. In addition, it would not be a level playing field for our school to join a large conference that consists of schools with enrollments between 1000-3500 students. One of advantages to playing for a small school is the opportunity it affords. Students at FHHS can play several sports and play at a high level. FHHS has a long history of excellence in athletics, and with 17 state championships, we truly are a campus of champions. 

2017/18 Registration

Believe it or not, but it is time to start thinking about course selections for next year! Our counselors will be meeting with current students soon to go over options and share with them new class offerings and signature programs. We will be offering the following new classes: Dance, AP Environmental Science, Statistics, AP Statistics, and Nature of Science. In addition we will be offering AP Capstone and AVID as new signature programs. Look for more information in late January and early February.

PPAC

Our next Parent and Principal Advisory Council meeting will be held on 1/18/2017 at 6:30 pm in the front office. This is a great opportunity to share in the decision-making process at FHHS.

Hoopcoming Week

Hoopcoming week is January 23-27, with a winter formal dance on Saturday, January, 28th at FHHS. The Hoopcoming games, boys and girls, will be played on Friday, January 27th in the main gym. Please come out and support our local teams!