The Boarder
A Summary Report of the February 9, 2021
C F S D Governing Board Meeting
Superintendent Mary Kamerzell shared the following
staff and student achievements.
CFSD Foundation's 2021 Teachers and Distinguished
Educators of the Year
Our CFSD Foundation has named its 2021 Teachers of
the Year, Jason Reinhardt (high school business &
finance) and Meghan Gulley (2nd grade, Ventana
Vista), and the 2021 Distinguished Educators - Shireen
Behzadi (high school English), Ramon Sepulveda (high
school and Sunrise Drive band), and Holly Clark (4th
grade, Ventana Vista).
The Foundation's Teacher of the Year program
highlights the contributions of CFSD teachers.
"Nominees are those who have gained the respect and
admiration of students, parents and co-workers, and
who inspire learning in students of all backgrounds and
abilities." (CFSD Foundation website)
Robotics
The high school FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team,
Pioneer 327, is headed to state competition based on
their successful showing at the January Palo Verde
Invitational. Pioneer 327 was the runner-up for FTC's
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top prize, the INSPIRE Award, which is given to the
team that embodies overall excellence and gracious
professionalism. The team also earned the following
awards: 1st place in the CONNECT Award (connecting
the dots between community FIRST, and the diversity of
the engineering world), 2nd place in the THINK Award
(removing engineering obstacles through creative
thinking), and 4th place in ROBOT GAME (most points
scored in the 3-minute challenge). Team members are
Josh Barlow, David Berk, Henry Bonomolo, Braden
Cantor-Goldner, Danil Clayton, Joseph Cohen, Delaney
Endean, Zak Gruber, Divya Gupta, Dale Nelson, Seth
Rojas, Spencer Schiller, Mallika Sunder, Gianluca
Tenino, and Josh Tint. The team's advisor is Charlotte
Ackerman with assistance from community volunteer
Mark Haye.
All-State Jazz Band
High school senior Kevin Ravellette was named to the
Arizona All-State Jazz Band for the 3rd consecutive year
as the 1st Chair Saxophone. The CFHS Jazz program
has been represented in the Arizona All-State jazz Band
every year since 1996.
Science Olympiad
At the January 16 Casteel Invitational Tournament for
Science Olympiad, the high school SciOly Blue and
Silver teams placed in the top three for 15 of the 16
events, with 9 first-place finishes. The Science
Olympiad advisors are high school science teachers,
Terry Fortunato and Kevin Duong.
Speech & Debate
The speech & debate team competed recently in the
Wildcat Cup with the following team members who
broke in their rounds: 1st place - Romit Banerjee and
Josh Tint (Duo Interpretation), 2nd Place - Jake Martin
(Congress) and Romit Banerjee (Humorous
Interpretation), 4th Place - Josh Tint (Program Oral
Interpretation), and Semifinalist - Maria Cazzatto (Open
LD). The team's advisor is Angela Hill, high school
English teacher.
Flinn Scholarship
CFHS senior Josh Tint is among the 35 Arizona high
school seniors who have been named finalists for the
Flinn Scholarship. CFHS has a proud tradition of
producing 15 Flinn Scholars since 1996. The Flinn
Scholars Program, in partnership with Arizona's three
state universities, provides enriched educational
offerings while covering tuition, housing, and study
abroad opportunities. In March, finalists will be
interviewed by a 5-person panel to select 20 Flinn
Scholars.
Studio Art
These CFHS Studio Art students won Gold and Silver at
the Southwest Region of the National Scholastic Art and
Writing Awards: Maria Cazzato - Silver in Painting, Ava
Sheppard - Silver in Drawing, and Mallika Sunder - Gold
and Silver in Digital Painting. Their teacher is Zoe
Reinhardt.
Update Regarding In-Person and Remote Learning
Dr. Kamerzell provided an update about the movement
between remote and in-person learning. She reported
that the elementary schools had accepted requests from
families to change their learning options (in-person or
remote) effective at the start of the 3rd trimester in
February as follows: Canyon View Elementary, 12
families requested to move to in-person learning, and all
were accommodated; Manzanita Elementary, 35
families requested to move to in-person learning with 34
receiving the accommodation, and 2 families requested
to move to remote learning, and both were
accommodated; Sunrise Drive Elementary, 32 families
requested to move to in-person learning, and 28 were
accommodated since 4 families withdrew their request;
Ventana Vista Elementary, 29 families requested to
move to in-person learning, and 19 were
accommodated, and 2 families requested to move to
remote learning, both receiving the accommodation.
Dr. Kamerzell reported that in November, the middle
schools had started to offer families the option to ask for
a change to their in-person or remote learning option.
She reported that at Esperero Canyon Middle School,
33 families requested to move to in-person learning, and
all 33 received the accommodation. There were 45
families requesting to move to remote learning, and all
45 received the accommodation. At Orange Grove
Middle School, 33 families requested to move to in-
person learning with 31 of them receiving the
accommodation. There were 24 families requesting to
move to remote learning, and all 24 received the
accommodation.
Dr. Kamerzell also reported that in December, families
at the high school were able to request a change to their
learning option effective the beginning of the 2nd
semester on January 4. There were 148 requests to
move from remote to in-person learning, and all 148
requests were accommodated. However, of the 148, 34
students requested a return to remote learning for
various reasons.
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Dr. Kamerzell stated that her data report identified
movement between learning options during a defined
period of time. However, school administrators
continued to initiate changes from remote to in-person
learning on a case-by-case basis. She provided
examples that included: 504 plan accommodations,
Individual Education Program provisions for students
with disabilities that could not be met through a remote
learning option; students who struggled academically
with remote learning and needed supervision, including
access to the Student Online Support (SOS@CFSD)
program, and individual personal family circumstances
that were compelling.
2021 Arizona Legislative / Governmental Activity
Board Members discussed information about the
February 8, 2021, deadline for submission of legislative
bills and the number of bills that will negatively affect
public education. They talked about the proposed
expansion of the Empowerment Scholarship Account
(ESA) that included other categories of eligibility as well
as an increase in the dollar amount for ESAs. The board
also continued their discussion about the possibility of
the Arizona Legislature passing a bill that funded remote
learners at 100%, instead of the 95% funding level
imposed by Governor Ducey.
Consent Agenda Items
The governing board approved the following consent
agenda items.
• January 26, 2021, regular governing board
meeting minutes
• Expense voucher memorandum
• Fundraising request memorandum
• Personnel memorandum
• Gift and Donations memorandum
• Approval of Canyon View elementary school
building restoration and field improvements –
architect / engineering selection memorandum
• Approval of Ventana Vista elementary school
building restoration and field improvements –
architect / engineering selection memorandum
• Approval for the CM at Risk for Canyon View
elementary school building restoration and field
improvements project RFQ # 21-06-23
memorandum
• Approval of CM at Risk for Ventana Vista
elementary school building restoration, field
improvements, and site circulation RFQ # 21-07-23
Memorandum
Upcoming Board Meeting
The next regularly scheduled governing board meeting CFSD
is Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 6:30 p.m., at the
Professional Learning Center at Valley View Early
Learning Center.

The tentative agenda is:

• Update Regarding In-Person and Remote Learning
Please welcome new CFSD staff members:
Siyi Chen, EA Inclusion, SD
Sulim Ordonez, Office Clerk, VV
Brittany Wright, Accounting Clerk, Payables, MAC

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