The Uintah School Board will meet Wednesday, April 5, in the auditorium at Vernal Middle School. The board’s work session will begin at 3 p.m. The business meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Agendas for both meetings can be found on the district website under BoardDocs in the School Board tab.
The work session and business meeting will be streamed live on the
district’s YouTube channel.
Kindergarten Plan Review
During the April business meeting, the board will be asked to approve the district’s full-day kindergarten preliminary implementation plan for the 2023-24 school year. The district has developed the plan to offer both half-day kindergarten and full-day kindergarten at all elementary schools in the district beginning in the fall.
The draft plan allows parents to choose between enrolling their student in half-day kindergarten or full-day kindergarten, as required by state law. It also provides guidance for moving a student from one option to the other during the school year if a parent chooses to do so.
The draft plan was developed in response to the Utah Legislature’s recent passage of HB477, which provides funding through the Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU) for Utah schools to provide full-day kindergarten. In addition to funding full-day kindergarten, the legislation requires schools to continue to offer a half-day kindergarten option.
More information about the draft kindergarten plan can be found on the district website at
https://www.uintah.net/news/what_s_new/school_board_to_review_draft_kindergarten_plan.
Uintah FFA wins at Deseret Peak
Uintah High FFA traveled to Tooele for the Deseret Peak FFA Invitational this week. There were about 45 schools who attended the event.
Uintah’s Food Science Team placed 1st overall. Olenka Bidyuk was the 1st high individual, Emerson Hackford was the 3rd high individual, and Addi Oaks was the 5th high individual.
Uintah’s Livestock Evaluation Team placed 1st overall. Blake Holmes was the 1st high individual, Dason Lister was the 3rd high individual, and Waylon Wilkins was the 4th high individual.
Uintah’s Veterinary Science Team placed 1st overall. Jodie Speir was the 2nd high individual, Alyssa Eldredge was the 3rd high individual, and Dallie Hislop was the 6th high individual.
Uintah’s Floriculture Team placed 3rd overall. Aysha Slaugh was the 1st high individual, Taysia Richens was the 3rd high individual, and Isabel Owens was the 4th high individual.
Uintah’s Meats Evaluation Team finished 4th overall, the Poultry Evaluation Team finished 11th overall, the Horse Evaluation Team finished 12th overall, and the Ag Mechanics Team finished 26th overall.
Uintah FFA heads to the state contest April 25-26 in Logan, where they will also compete in Forestry and Nursery/Landscape.
Celebrations
Congratulations to Vernal Middle School's Sophia Hanifin for placing 1st in Environmental Science at the Ritchey Science and Engineering Fair at Weber State University earlier this month. She also earned the Naval Science Award.
VMS's Jacelyn Winterton placed 3rd in Chemistry with her project. The Mustangs who earned Honorable Mentions for their projects were Janessa Cordova, Melody Liebhardt, Sam Sorenson, and Morris Stewart.
Lucas Caldwell, Jay Cox, Vincent Jones, Abbie Olsen, Izzy Porter, and Kaitlyn Sullivan received Excellent ratings for their projects.
Great work, Mustangs!
Congratulations as well to VMS student-artist Auklynd Jones! Her artwork has been selected for the invitation and program cover for the 2022-2023 Uintah School District Employee Appreciation Banquet. District arts coordinator Jim Munford and superintendent’s secretary Phyllis notified Auklynd of her selection as this year’s featured artist on Tuesday at school.
Finally, congratulations to Mr. Uintah 2023 Andy Lassiter and Miss Uintah 2023 Camryn Shepherd. They won the high school’s annual bodybuilding competition Wednesday night, competing against the largest field of students in the contest’s history in front of a packed auditorium. On the boy’s side, Tanner Gay finished in 2nd place and Josh Cheshire finished 3rd. For the girls, Rylee Crane finished in 2nd place and Riata Bell finished 3rd. Bryant Baum won the People’s Choice Award.
Weekend Events
Uintah High Track and Field will host the Uintah Invitational on Saturday at the high school. The field events are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. The track events are scheduled to start at 10 a.m.
The Uintah High Boys Tennis Team is playing in St. George today and tomorrow. They host the Uintah Invitational on April 7 and April 8 on the Uintah High Tennis Courts.
Good luck and GO UTES!
Spring Break
Spring Break is April 10 to April 14. There is no school that week. The district office will be closed April 13 and April 14. Classes will resume and the district office will reopen on April 17.
NOTE: The next Weekly District Update will be released on Friday, April 21.