Dear FHUSD Families and Friends,
As the School Reopening Task Force continues to meet and assess school reopening options and learning models, the conditions seem to change daily. The Governor announced last week that since school funding is essentially based on attendance, schools could still receive funding for students in 2020-21 similar to current year funding if they met certain requirements.
To qualify, schools would need to meet a series of accountability standards.
- They must submit plans to the Arizona Department of Education detailing how they will track attendance for students learning remotely and how they will maintain regular contact with those students. They must track the attendance of all types of learners and provide updates monthly.
- They also must comply with all state and federal financial transparency requirements, and conduct benchmark testing for students in math and English within the first six weeks.
- Finally, if schools choose to offer both on-site and remote teaching, they must make the on-site learning option available for 180 days, the length of a standard academic year. In other words, schools need to be open for students every day of the week.
Given these scenarios, the FHUSD task force was working to plan for instruction to begin according to the adopted 2020-21 FHUSD calendar which has school starting for students on August 11th. However, on Monday, June 29th, the Governor issued a new directive that in-person schooling needed to be delayed until August 17th. As the task force considers both full daily on-site classroom learning for students and virtual instructional models, the rapidly changing COVID-19 environment is impacting district decisions. The district administration, task force and governing board will continue to plan for a school reopening and instructional delivery models that meet the needs of Fountain Hills and still comply with state directives despite the shifting conditions. The plan will be shared with the public in mid-July. Please see the FHUSD website at this link for the
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on district information about the preparation for reopening schools in the fall.
Today is my last day as superintendent of FHUSD, but know that I will continue to support all efforts to provide the best education possible for students and assist Ms. Glass as she guides the district during these challenging times.
Robert Allen, Ed.D.
Superintendent
