Foothills Elementary School (FHES) kicked off the year on a sweet note as new principal, Julie Cassano, rolled out a plan to unite her staff while launching into the 2024-2024 school year, her first as FHES’ leader.
Recognizing the importance of team building, Cassano partnered with local ice-cream shop, Josh and John's Ice Cream, to create a custom flavor for the school. Serving as the school’s assistant principal in the years before, Cassano, hoped this would garner new excitement among her staff and community.
"You always want to do something that kind of brings them together," Cassano explained to KKTV 11 News, adding, "But you don't want to waste their time because teachers are very busy people!"
Creating groups of teachers across all grade levels allowed staff members to interact with teammates they may not normally see. Together, each group came up with names for a new ice cream flavor. The winning name, "Falcon Brain Freeze," was coined by kindergarten teacher Lora Tannehill, who was also recognized as the 2022-23 Charles W. Tewell Elementary Educator of the Year.
The resulting flavor, a chocolate mint mousse with Oreo, was an instant success, selling out the first weekend available to the community.
"The critiques are very positive," Cassano told reporters. She noted, “we are a very tight-knit community. I think our families were so excited that our teachers came up with it.”
