Fountain Hills staff recommend Wonders ELA adoption; materials to be on 60-day display

The Fountain Hills Unified School District heard a detailed recommendation to adopt Wonders as its K–5 English language arts curriculum for the 2026–27 school year, and placed the materials on public display for the required 60-day review period.

Principal Val Reichler and the McDow Mountain review team told the board they narrowed five MAU-approved programs to two and, using a board-approved rubric, selected Wonders for its phonics progression, decodables, differentiated small-group supports and teacher-facing digital tools. “Wonders kept sticking out as our number one option,” Nicole Latona, dean of students at McDow Mountain and a member of the selection committee, told the board.

First-grade teacher Paige Mount said the program’s classroom resources and online library were immediately usable for teachers and strongly supported classroom instruction: “I can’t say enough how much there is to use… everything was right at my fingertips.” Intervention reading teacher Talia Houseil described the committee’s rubric and said Wonders scored highest for alignment with the science of reading, foundational skills (phonics and fluency), text quality, and usability for teachers.

Principal Reichler presented the vendor quote for a five-year license and classroom sets of consumables. Staff said they adjusted quantities to account for shifting enrollment and added modest padding for student materials; they described the figure to the board as roughly $99,000 for the package as proposed and noted that line-item details are available in the procurement packet on display.

Board members questioned the vendor’s digital features, data storage, and the presence of social-emotional learning (SEL) materials. Staff demonstrated the teacher and student views of the platform (accessed through the district’s Clever portal), explained that assessment data are stored in the vendor’s cloud accounts and that teachers can hide optional SEL presentations if the district elects to do so. Several trustees requested a copy of the rubric and additional documentation, which staff said would be provided.

Because the curriculum is MAU‑approved and the committee recommended Wonders, the board voted to place the materials on display for 60 days beginning the next day; the item will return as an action item after the display period for final approval or modification.