The Boarder
A Summary Report of the January 12, 2021
C F S D Governing Board Meeting
Superintendent Mary Kamerzell shared the following
student and staff achievements.
Science Olympiad
Our high school Science Olympiad team placed 2nd at
the AMS Invitational in November. The team also placed
in 10 of the 18 events at the Winter Invitational on
December 12. Team members are David Aguirre,
Francesca Barela, Jerry Barela, Maria Cazzato, Om
Chabra, Zac Cramton, Aidan Gee, Aditi Ghosh, Bhargav
Ghosh, Rohini Ghosh, Ava Gill, Dean Gill, Zak Gruber,
Becky Han, Joseph Han, Eli Lefkowitz, Andrew
Nesnadny, Margo Nicholson, Sarah Nielsen, Alycia Oh,
Nicole Richards, Simon Rubin-Toles, Max Rubin-Toles,
Julian Sabalos, Annabelle Samuels, Stephen Shaw,
Emily Song, Josh Tint, Mariasha Taariq, Kulindu
Vithanachchi, and Noah Wellman. Their coach is CFHS
science teacher, Terry Fortunato.
Theatre
Norm Testa, high school technical theatre teacher, was
chosen as the recipient of the 2020 Arizona Thespians
Teacher of the Year Award for the South Region. The
award is given annually to a teacher that demonstrates
exceptional courage and devotion to the performing arts
program at a school.
Coca-Cola Scholar
High school senior, Bella Wexler, has been named a
semifinalist for the 2021 class of the Coca-Cola
Scholars Program. She is one of 1,609 American high
school seniors selected as semifinalists from a pool of
99,403 students. The criteria for selection are students'
academic excellence, leadership, and service
demonstrated in school and community activities. One
hundred fifty (150) college scholarships, each worth
$20,000, will be awarded to the finalists.
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Speech & Debate
The CFHS speech & debate team competed in the
Arizona State HDSHC Invitational on January 8-9 in five
different events against 32 teams from 8 different states.
Two Foothills seniors placed in the finals in two events:
4th place, Duo Interpretation - Romit Banerjee and Josh
Tint; 5th place, Humorous Interpretation - Romit
Banerjee. In lieu of trophies, finalists were awarded a
$100 scholarship and other prizes. The team's coach is
high school English teacher, Angela Hill.
Election of Governing Board President and Vice
President
The governing board members elected Amy Krauss as
board president and Carole Siegler as vice president for
2021.
Update Regarding In-Person and Remote Learning
Dr. Kamerzell presented an update on in-person and
remote learning. She said that continuing to offer an in-
person option is in the best interest of our students,
academically, socially, and emotionally. Staff support
students in many ways that cannot be replicated in a
remote setting.
CFSD schools continue to be safe places with a low
incidence of positive COVID cases and no evidence that
the virus transmission occurs at school. Dr. Kamerzell
noted that the district will manage any COVID case
incidence on a classroom-by-classroom, school-by-
school, and department-by-department basis.
The district has been thorough in providing PPE and
other accommodations to CFSD employees to provide
a safe workplace for them as well. The pre-October 26
reopening planning has paid off even though the cost to
make it all happen was significant.
As a reminder, Dr. Kamerzell said that all CFSD
employees are essential workers, providing critical
support to the community, which translates primarily to
providing a place for students to go while their parents
work during the day. The Student Online Support (SOS)
program continues on all campuses whether we offer in-
person learning option for other students.
CFSD has 253 support or classified personnel who must
report to work in person in order to earn a paycheck.
There is no longer an AZ Stay-At-Home Executive Order
like there was in March-May. We were able to continue
paying our support personnel during that time as long as
they were available to work, if needed.
In November, middle school families could request a
change to their in-person or remote learning option. In
December before the 2nd semester starting on January
4, high school families were given the same option. On
January 1st, the district alerted middle and high school
families that they could request a move from in-person
to remote before January 4.
Last week, the Executive Board of the Arizona
Interscholastic Association voted to cancel the high
school winter sports season, affecting basketball,
soccer, and wrestling. On Tuesday, January 12, the
Executive Board reversed that decision. The winter
sports season will occur with additional mitigation
requirements. Our high school administration made the
decision to cancel wrestling several weeks ago before
the winter season was to begin. That decision stands,
but we will proceed with basketball and soccer.
The focus now is doing all that the district can do to
facilitate the COVID vaccination of employees who wish
to be inoculated. The latest information from the Pima
County Health Department is that they will allocate a
certain number of weekly vaccine doses to school
districts, and the district will determine the staff
prioritization for access to the vaccine.
Dr. Kamerzell provided information on the percentages
of students enrolled at each school in both in-person
learning and remote learning options as of January 5,
2021.
In-Person Remote
Canyon View ES 75% 25%
Catalina Foothills HS 42% 58%
Esperero Canyon MS 61% 39%
Manzanita ES 70% 30%
Orange Grove MS 57% 43%
Sunrise Drive ES 70% 30%
Valley View ELC 84% 16%
Ventana Vista ES 69% 31%
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Board members expressed their appreciation of the
district administrative team’s continued commitment to
student and staff health and safety.
Approval of 2021-2022 Calendar
Assistant Superintendent Denise Bartlett presented the
2021-2022 school year calendar for final approval. It
was preliminarily approved a year ago. Highlights
include: semesters divided 85/95 days, new teachers’
report date of July 28 and returning teachers on August
3, August 9 for the first day of school, a full week of Fall
Break October 11-15, parent-teacher conference days
the week of October 26-28, no school on Veteran’s Day,
Thursday, November 11, a Winter Break that includes
three weekends, and May 26 for the last day of school.
Dr. Bartlett reviewed grading days for school year 2021-
2022 for the board’s information. The governing board
approved the 2021-2022 school calendar, as presented.
Consideration of 2022-2023 Calendar (first reading)
Dr. Bartlett presented the preliminary 2022-2023 school
calendar. The draft is very similar to the 2021-2022
calendar: semesters divided 90/90 days, new teachers’
report date of July 27 and returning teachers on August
2, August 8 for the first day of school, a full week of Fall
Break October 10-14, parent-teacher conference days
the week of October 25-27, no school on Veteran’s Day
on Friday, November 11, Winter Break that includes
three weekends, and May 24 for the last day of school.
Dr. Bartlett reviewed grading days for school year 2021-
2022 for the board’s information. A second reading of
this calendar will be on the January 26 board meeting
agenda.
Consideration of Changes to High School Courses
and Programs for 2021-2022 (first reading)
Associate Superintendent Mary Jo Conery presented
the first reading of proposed changes to the high school
courses and programs for implementation in the 2021-
2022 school year. The changes included the addition of
the orchestra program, changes to the course
sequencing and content of the choir program, a
modification to the Earth Science course description,
and two additions in Career & Technical Education
(CTE) – Advanced Computer Programming, and a
shadowing requirement in the Film and TV 3 program.
The board will review the course changes again on
January 26.
Fiscal Year 2022 Draft Budget Process
Dr. Kamerzell reviewed the proposed schedule for fiscal
year 2022 (2021-2022) budget planning.
2020 Arizona Legislative / Governmental Activity
Board members discussed information about Governor
Doug Ducey’s State of the State address that included
information on funding implications for education.
Consent Agenda Items
The governing board approved the following consent
agenda items. CFSD

• December 8, 2020, regular governing board

meeting minutes
• December 8, 2020, executive session governing
board meeting minutes
• Expense voucher memorandum
• Fundraising request memorandum Please welcome new CFSD staff members:
• Personnel memorandum
• 3rd quarter tax credit eligible fees memorandum
Marissa Bejarano, EA Inclusion, SD
Maria Meza, Classified Instructor-Spanish, VV
Upcoming Board Meeting Vanina Morrison, Classified Instruction-Spanish,
The next regularly scheduled governing board meeting OGMS
is Tuesday, January 26, 2021, 6:30 p.m., at the Auston Pisani, Classified Instructor-Science, OGMS
Professional Learning Center at Valley View Early Madison Walton, EA Inclusion, MZ
Learning Center.

• Approval of Changes to High School Courses and

Programs for 2021-2022 (second reading)
• Approval of 2022-2023 Calendar (second reading)
• CFSD Assessment Program and Arizona’s A-F
Accountability System
• Update Regarding In-Person and Remote Learning

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