At the Florence Unified School District School Board Meeting on March 8th, the Board approved Mr. Greg Bellemare to be the Principal at San Tan Heights K-8, effective July 1st. Mr. Bellemare was formerly the Principal at Florence K-8 from 2009-2013.

Each summer, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers academically rigorous teacher seminars for K–12 educators.

The Florence Unified School District Unified Sports Program held their 3rd Annual Track Meet at Poston Butte High School over the weekend. Unified Sports Athletes from Florence High, Poston Butte, Queen Creek High, Higley High, Chandler High, Perry High, Hamilton High, Basha High, Payne Junior High, Willis Junior High and San Tan Heights Elementary competed in a series of events.

Congratulations to the following Combs High School Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students for qualifying to take the National Academic exam for ROTC:

The Florence Unified School District Exceptional Student Services Program had students honored at the recent Council for Exceptional Children Conference. Congratulations to Jessica Gardner from the Leadership Academy of Excellence and Chance Giannini from Walker Butte K-8 Leadership School for winning the “I Can Do It” Award.

Throughout this school year, various seventh grade science students at J.O. Combs Middle School prepared projects (with the assistance of their teachers – Mr. Aaron Erwin and Mrs. Barbara Rogers) to participate in the annual Honeywell Fiesta Bowl Aerospace Challenge at the Arizona State University (ASU) Polytechnic campus, featuring Microsoft Mission Control.

Paul Horton, Meteorologist for Channel 5 News, visited a 4th grade class at Circle Cross Ranch K-8 S.T.E.M. Academy.

Last night, Jim Thomas, former Florence Unified School District School Board President and longtime member, was sworn in to serve on the FUSD School Board once again.

Do you know how to classify living things? Well at Ranch Elementary, fourth graders sure do! Students have been discussing how to classify all living things, specifically animals, into whether they are invertebrates or vertebrates. As a culminating project to the unit of study, teachers decided to have the students study an animal that is native to Arizona.

College Goal FAFSA provides information and FREE professional assistance to students and families seeking college financial aid. CAC will host their 2016 College Goal FAFSA event on Saturday, Feb. 13, between 2 and 4 p.m. at the Central Arizona College Maricopa Campus Learning Center, Building B (17945 North Regent Drive, Maricopa, AZ 85138).

The Florence Unified School District has implemented the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support program at all of our K-8 Schools. Some schools are in phase 1 while others are moving through phase 2. These programs have had an extremely positive impact on school discipline across the district and our district-wide behavior referrals have declined.

Central Arizona College has joined the Institute of International Education’s Generation Study Abroad initiative to help more Americans to gain international experience through study abroad programs. This is one of more than 450 new commitments announced by IIE.

The Florence Unified School District was recently notified the Arizona Educational Foundation will be attending the Circle Cross Ranch K-8 S.T.E.M. Academy for a walk-through visit. CCR was chosen as a finalist for the Education Foundation’s A+ School of Excellence Award.

Congratulations to Combs High School as they have been selected as a finalist for the Education Foundation's A+ School of Excellence Award.

Jack W. Harmon Elementary fifth graders finished reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and to wrap up their learning, students created their own underground newspapers using classroom computers and tablets.

Ellsworth Elementary students were on a mission to build, engineer and design a container that would protect an egg from breaking when dropped from the roof of the school. Second graders in Ms. Kelly Bond’s class learned about gravity, how heavy items fall faster back down to Earth when starting in the air.

Students from Ranch Elementary School in San Tan Valley had the unique opportunity to participate in a field trip experience they will not soon forget! Fifth and sixth grade students visited Junior Achievement BizTown in Tempe, and spent the day “at work” in the mock town.

The Florence Unified School District Superintendent, Dr. Amy Fuller, is recommending Lacinda (Cindy) Ritacca to the FUSD School Board to be hired as the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and School Board. Mrs. Ritacca will be replacing Jan Kreisinger who is retiring in April.

J.O. Combs Unified School District was happy to provide the opportunity for Kindergarten students to attend free full day Kindergarten.

The Florence Unified School District (FUSD) would like to announce that Dr. Tim Richard will be returning to FUSD, pending Board approval, as the Planning Principal for the newly consolidated Coolidge Unified School District (CUSD) schools in San Tan Valley (STV).