Weekly District Update - Sept. 17, 2021

Weekly District Update - Sept. 17, 2021
Posted on 09/17/2021
This is the image for the news article titled Weekly District Update - Sept. 17, 2021Welcome to the first weekly district update of the 2021-2022 school year. It’s hard to believe we’re almost a month into the school year.

The Uintah School Board held its first work session and business meeting of the new school year on Sept. 8 at the district office in Naples. The meetings were broadcast on the district's YouTube channel. A video recording of the meetings can be found HERE. The audio recording of the work session can be found HERE. The audio recording of the business meeting can be found HERE.

The school board celebrated the district's Students of the Month for September during the business meeting. The Students of the Month for September are Avery Holtz (Ashley Elementary); Creed Grover (Davis Elementary); Winter Wasinger (Discovery Elementary); Bryon Lough (Eagle View Elementary); Jordan Slaugh (Lapoint Elementary); Jackson Tappana (Maeser Elementary); Quay Partridge (Naples Elementary); Caledonia Montague (Uintah Middle School); Eric Reynolds (Vernal Middle School); Kris Tapoof (Uintah High School); and Parker Allridge (Ashley Valley Education Center). Congratulations to these outstanding students and to those who support them!

During the board’s work session, Superintendent Woodford presented the board with a plan to study scheduling options for the district’s secondary schools.

“We want everyone to have good, solid information,” the superintendent said after the meeting. “The primary purpose of the committee we have formed is to provide the board and the community with the best factual information available. The committee must remain neutral. It will make no recommendations to the board and offer no opinions.”

The members of the committee are Uintah High Community Council Chair Jen Curtis, UHS teacher Jared Scow, UHS counselor Marianne Evans, UHS student Jeffery Langley, Uintah Middle School Community Council Chair Hannah Kunkel, UMS teacher Evonne Guzzle, Vernal Middle School Community Council parent member Fayme Pettit, and VMS teacher Katie Wroblewski. Uintah School Board President Dave Chivers will also serve on the committee. The superintendent will chair the committee.

Secondary school principals, community members, representatives from the district’s partners in higher education, and other stakeholders may be brought in as needed to help with information gathering.

As the superintendent stated, the committee will not make a recommendation to the school board about which secondary school schedule to adopt. Instead, its job is to provide the community with objective information about the various schedule options. The timeline established by the superintendent calls for the committee to initially publish the information for public review and comment during the first week of October. The school board will also take public comment on the options during its Oct. 13 business meeting.

Following the Oct. 13 board meeting, the committee will meet again to make any final adjustments to a stakeholder survey that will be sent out on Oct. 25. The results of the survey will be shared with board members, district staff and the community ahead of the board’s Nov. 10 meeting. During that meeting the board will take a final round of public comment, then decide which schedule to adopt.

Bus information for Fridays is now posted on the Transportation page of the district website at https://www.uintah.net/departments/transportation/friday_bus_schedules. Times posted may vary based on the number of riders. Please arrive at your stop 5 minutes ahead of the posted time to ensure you don't miss the bus. Friday schedules for secondary buses show pickup and drop off times. Elementary school pick up times are the same on Friday as they are the rest of the week.

The district has also updated its website with information about its response to COVID-19 during the 2021-2022 school year. This information includes a link to the district's COVID-19 Dashboard and the state law governing the "test-to-stay" protocol in the event of a school outbreak. You can find this information at https://www.uintah.net/covid19.

It is important to note that the district is only required to report confirmed student cases arising from an exposure at school. Confirmed cases arising from community/household exposure are not reported by the district. Neither are confirmed cases involving district employees. If you are feeling ill for any reason, please don’t come to work. The same goes for students. Please don’t send them to school if they are sick. This will help us keep our schools open for face-to-face instruction.

Finally, good luck to the Uintah Utes tonight as they take on the Payson Lions in the annual Homecoming football game. Tailgating starts at 5:30 p.m. in the parking lot at Coach Belcher Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Tickets are only available online at https://uhsutes.com/event-tickets.
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NOTICE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION

No district employee or student shall be subjected to discrimination in employment or any district program or activity on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status. The district is committed to providing equal access and equal opportunity in its programs, services and employment including its policies, complaint processes, program accessibility, district facility use, accommodations and other Equal Employment Opportunity matters. The district also provides equal access to district facilities for all youth groups. The following persons have been designated as Title IX coordinators to handle inquires and complaints regarding unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation: Dr. Mistalyn Leis, Human Resources Director (435) 781-3100. You may also contact the Office for Civil Rights, Denver, CO, at (303) 844-5695.