Carbon School District Superintendent Lance Hatch, along with Dr. Scott Crane with the Utah Rural Schools Association, paid a visit to the Carbon County Commission meeting hosted on Wednesday evening to present an exciting event coming to Price City in July of 2019.
Historically, the summer conference is hosted in Cedar City. However, recently discussion had come up regarding the rising cost in hotels and meals in the area. A decision to break from tradition was made by the board and three locations were considered: one in Richfield, one in Price and the last in Cedar City once more.
The conference will now be rotated between the three locations each year. This year, Price is playing host at USU Eastern. When the university was approached, they excitedly accepted and stated that they could not wait to host. Educators from across Utah will be attending this conference; all rural schools and districts have been invited.
Dr. Crane, who was the superintendent in Grand County for the last five years, stated that this conference has been hosted for the past 20 years. Their mission is to advocate for education advocacy in rural districts to provide equity, which can be difficult to do at times when not on the Wasatch Front. The conference aims to help provide professional development and increase quality of staff.
Presentations by many leaders and specialists as well as national and international keynote speakers is part of the pull for the conference. Last year, 428 individuals were in attendance. This year, Dr. Crane stated they are expecting anywhere from 400 plus to attend.
Educators will begin arriving to the area on July 10 and will stay until the ending of the conference, which will be around noon on July 12. The summer conference is funded by the Utah State Superintendent of Education as well as attendee’s conference tuition.
