Working with students regarding discipline matters in the high school has undergone a dramatic transformation this school year. Driving this change in dealing with discipline is the desire to keep students in school and improve overall school climate. Our new discipline practices focus on exposing the root causes of student misbehavior and working to mitigate those causing factors. We aim to build healthy and strong relationships with our students and as a result hope to improve their engagement in their learning. Traditional discipline focuses on violation of rules, while restorative practices consider how relationships have been damaged. Restorative practices are based on the positive relationships that students and adults have with one another. Simply said, it's harder for a student to act in a defiant and disrespectful way towards adults who clearly care about them and their future. Restorative practices and alternative discipline are forward thinking practices that require administrators to be creative in transforming discipline incidents into learning opportunities. 

One alternative to long term suspensions that this administration has used this year is alternative discipline assignments. Students who have had experience with these types of assignments have created reflective and thoughtful projects on subjects such as traffic laws, research on current reports about health issues and deaths caused by vaping, research on costs to repair damaged items and writing proposals for restitution, respecting our campus and those who work to keep it clean and safe, advice to underclassmen, and writing apology letters to stakeholders. 

We recently shared the TED Talk, "Every kid needs a Champion," with our staff where Rita Pierson eloquently affirms our philosophy in dealing with students at the high school. We crafted our restorative practices, alternative discipline assignments, supports and interventions around the belief that "teaching and learning should bring joy and every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be." Rita's powerful talk can be seen by clicking here. 

Like her, we strive to be a champion for our students on our Campus of Champions!

Kiwanis Pacesetters

Congratulations to Nate Ball, Cole Schulze, Gianna Barker, and Dani Meyers for being selected for this award. Each of these students has done an amazing job of representing FHHS and leading as champions!

Fountain Hills Art Festival

  

 

The Life Skills Program selling their tie-dye creations at the Fountain Hills Festival of Arts and Crafts!