On Thursday, the state extended the mask mandate for Utah’s K-12 schools through June 15, 2021. A copy of the public health order can be found at https://coronavirus-download.utah.gov/Health/UPHO-2021-2-Updated-School-Face-Mask-Order.pdf.

This week, Uintah School District and TriCounty Health Department worked together to provide at least 300 district employees with their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Since the beginning of January, the Utah Department of Health has offering free COVID-19 rapid antigen testing in communities across the state. Uintah High School will host a testing location.

Uintah Schools Superintendent Rick Woodford and Duchesne Schools Superintendent David Brotherson sat down on Friday with V6 Media's David Gale on Friday, Jan. 8, to talk about the state of education in the Uintah Basin.

Uintah Schools Superintendent Rick Woodford has decided that Tuesday, Dec. 22, will be an online learning day for students and staff at Uintah High School.

We're only two school days away from Christmas break and we're celebrating with some good news.

As a result of the decline in positive COVID-19 cases at Uintah High School, the school will return to its normal attendance procedures on Monday, Dec. 14.

As a precaution the 7th grade at Eagle View Elementary moved to online learning today, Dec. 9, for a period of two weeks following a third confirmed case of COVID-19 since Dec. 2.

We received some good news Thursday from the Utah Department of Health and TriCounty Health Department. The recommended 14-day quarantine period for anyone exposed to COVID-19 has been reduced, based on new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of today, Dec. 1, there have been 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 14 days at Uintah High School.

Boundary Change applications for the 2021-2022 school year should be made prior to Feb. 19, 2021.

Effective immediately, Uintah High School students will have the option to participate in school via remote learning from home. Please read the remainder of this communication for important details.

The Uintah School District will begin accepting applications for substitute teachers later this month. The job announcement will be posted on Nov. 30 on the district website and through the Utah Department of Workforce Services website.

We did it! We made it through the first trimester of the 2020-2021 school year and our schools are still open for in-person attendance! Congratulations to all the administrators, teachers, school staff, parents, and students for reaching this milestone.

The Uintah School Board emailed a letter to Gov. Gary Herbert on Monday, Nov. 16, voicing its unanimous opposition to any suspension of extracurricular sports and activities in our schools beyond Nov. 23.

At Lapoint Elementary, one of Melissa Deletant's favorite projects each year is creating a school-wide display for Veterans Day.

The Uintah School Board held its regularly scheduled work session and business meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 11, in the auditorium at Vernal Middle School.

In response to the orders announced Sunday by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and the Utah Department of Health, the Uintah School District is taking the following steps to fully comply.

Uintah High junior Thomas Driggs figured he had a pretty good idea for the service project that's required to earn a leadership position in the school marching band.

The Uintah School District and the TriCounty Health Department have finalized a protocol that allows our school nurses to administer free, optional COVID-19 rapid tests to most individuals who have a mask-on-mask exposure to novel coronavirus in a school setting.

The 93rd National FFA Convention & Expo was held virtually this week and Uintah FFA was well represented.

We’ve received several questions about the district’s COVID-19 Dashboard and want to address those.

Each year, Davis Elementary chooses a theme song. This year’s song is Moment of Truth from the movie Smallfoot. The school has adopted “Come Together” as its theme for the year.

When they take the field at Coach Belcher Stadium this Friday night, members of the Uintah High football team will be wearing masks meant to raise awareness about the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women.

Uintah County has experienced a rise in the number of positive COVID-19 cases in recent days. As one would expect, this is reflected in our schools as well. To keep our community better informed about case counts in our buildings, the district will now update its COVID-19 Dashboard at 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Uintah High School will host two volleyball matches on Saturday, Oct. 24, as part of the first round of the Utah High School Activities Association 4A state playoffs.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, the Uintah High School football team met the criteria for a COVID-19 outbreak, based on the results of subsequent testing of players and coaches. Three confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a 14-day period in a classroom or team setting constitutes an outbreak, per public health protocols.

TriCounty Health Department and the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) have approved a plan proposed by the Uintah School District and Uintah High School that may allow the Utes football team to play in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Uintah High School, with the advice and consent of the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee, has adopted the bear as its spirit animal.

The Uintah School District is saddened to announce that Wednesday night's varsity home football game has been canceled due to a positive case of COVID-19 at Uintah High School.

The Uintah School District has been awarded a $300,000 grant to provide broadband internet access for students enrolled in district programs who do not otherwise have broadband internet at home or do not have adequate broadband internet speeds at home.

We at Discovery Elementary are so grateful to be back in school! Our focus this year is on kindness and we have seen an abundance of it since returning.

It’s been a busy week across the district as we move closer to Fall Break. Here are a few of the highlights:

Ashley Elementary School has been named a National Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Distinguished School for its outstanding work with students who are English language learners.

The district continues to prepare for a potential outbreak of COVID-19 in one or more of our schools. One critical part of this work is the development of “quads,” which will allow the district to reduce in-person attendance to 50 percent or 25 percent of capacity, if necessary, if there is an increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases in our schools.

Uintah High School senior Eoin O'Hearn has earned a perfect score on the ACT. O'Hearn, 17, took the test in June, earning a score of 36. Only 0.195 percent of students who take the test earn a perfect score, according to the ACT website.

The time put into the programs at Maeser Elementary comes from our positive teachers and staff members. Learning is the goal and because of the connections made with students, we come to work ready to succeed no matter the challenge or situation.

The Uintah School District is aware of Gov. Gary Herbert’s response to a reporter’s questions about the need for a statewide mask mandate for all Utah residents. The governor’s comment has no bearing on the existing order that mandates masks in Utah’s K-12 schools.

On Thursday afternoon or Friday morning of each week, we will post a Weekly District Update. This is a summary of important happenings or key issues that are discussed each week during our USD Directors Meeting. Please read each of these updates thoroughly as they may contain time-sensitive information.

The Uintah School District investigates all complaints of alleged misconduct by an employee, as required by federal law, state law, and district policy.

Beginning Monday, Sept. 14, 2020, the Uintah School District will provide free breakfast and free lunch for all kids, ages 18 and under.

Beginning Aug. 26, 2020, Uintah School District Speech & Hearing Department will be completing district-wide Hearing Screenings.

The Uintah School District’s Child Nutrition Department has developed a plan to ensure that students enrolled in district programs receive nutritious meals. The plan also includes processes to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 during the 2020-2021 school year.