A Message From The Superintendent
Happy Friday!
I hope your family and students enjoyed the first week of school. We all have enjoyed having students on campus and in the classrooms.
If you have back to school pictures, please send them to us. We’d love to post your families pictures on the district’s Facebook page. Everyone really liked this last year and we want to continue this tradition. Send your pictures to Krista Andreae.
I wanted to take a few moments to update you on a couple of things happening in the district.
Health Information:
Masks and Vaccinations. As was shared in the Safe Return to School Plan, we are not requiring masks or vaccinations to attend school. This is part of a bill that was passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. If you’ve heard news to the contrary, it’s not true. Students and staff are free to wear masks should they choose to do so and vaccinations are always a personal decision (except the required immunizations to enter school). While this is true in all school buildings and events, it is not true on buses. A federal law requires students to wear masks on the buses. We appreciate your flexibility on this as federal laws trump state laws.
Immunizations. You may receive information from our school nurses regarding your child’s immunizations. To attend school, all students must be properly inoculated. This is a law and not FHUSD’s requirement. To see the list of required vaccinations, please go to this link.
Health Plans. If your child has significant, life-threatening health issues (asthma, seizures, diabetes), we are required to have a health action plan on file to assist if the need arises. If your child has health issues, please complete an action plan and submit to the health office at your student’s school. The links to the specific plans are located in PowerSchool under forms/health information/diagnosed health concerns. You can also contact our school nurse, Lisa Schreiner, for the proper forms.
Lastly, if your child is ill and/or has COVID like symptoms, please keep them home. For schools and classrooms to remain open with teachers teaching and students learning, we have to keep positive cases and COVID-like symptoms down. The Safe Return to School plan on the district website has the signs and symptoms for parents to look for in monitoring your student’s health.
Miscellaneous:
FHHS. Every year, we have to take time to balance classrooms, change classes, or modify schedules. This year is no different. Some classes had 40 students in the class. We should have the majority of the student schedules changed as well as classrooms balanced today. We will still have more to do, but the majority of the changes should be finished thanks to Mr. Brady and Mr. Villa-Rodriguez. THEY ROCK!!! Also, we’ve run into some difficulties in issuing student Chromebooks this week. Students will receive Chromebooks next week. If you haven’t completed the technology use/insurance agreement, please do so. We cannot check out a device to your student until we have all the proper documentation.
ESSER Grants. This year we are finishing up the use of ESSER I and II funding. As we begin to prepare to apply for ESSER III, we are asking for your feedback on ideas you have for spending the money. We used both ESSER I and II for summer programming, additional technology, cleaning supplies and equipment, water bottle fillers at all sites, and personal protective equipment. We have built into ESSER II funds for tutoring afterschool to include transportation. The link to the survey can be found here. If you’ve already provided your feedback, thank you. We appreciate your participation in the planning for our school district.
As always, if you have questions, concerns, or celebrations, we’d like to hear them. As an organization, we are always looking for ways to improve what we do for children and their families.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kelly Glass
Superintendent
Fountain Hills Unified School District
