Survey of 142 stakeholders prioritizes teacher retention, budget management and integrity for next Fountain Hills superintendent

Fountain Hills Unified School officials presented results from a superintendent-search stakeholder survey that drew 142 responses and showed consistent priorities across parents, staff, students and community members.

Presenter Dr. Jaskowski told the board the respondent mix was 43.7% current parents, 30.3% staff members, 9.2% students and 16.9% community members. When asked what factors indicate a superintendent’s success, respondents ranked teacher performance and retention, financial management and student academic proficiency as the top three.

On essential skills, financial management and strategic planning rated highest, with effective communication and innovative thinking close behind, board members said. In personal traits, integrity and trustworthiness emerged as the top priority across stakeholder groups.

The survey also asked respondents to rank district challenges. Hiring and retaining high-performing teachers and staff and managing budget constraints were the most critical; facilities maintenance and academic-achievement gaps followed. Open-ended responses showed recurring themes of declining enrollment, perceived funding shortages and a desire to focus on core academics.

Board members discussed how to use open responses: they favored providing candidates thematic summaries and ranked results rather than full, anonymous responses to preserve privacy and avoid outliers shaping impressions. They also discussed the value of sharing a one-page summary of the survey with finalists as part of candidate evaluation exercises.

Several board members cautioned that some comments may reflect perceptions from outside media or other districts rather than local conditions and underscored the need to publicize district strengths as the search proceeds.