Carbon School District Press Release
For Keith Palmer, he has had two years of being a “new” principal.
Last year was his first year as a principal at Creekview, after teaching middle school for many years, and it ended in the pause of in-school learning because of the pandemic. This year is his other first year, because, while things have gone smoothly for the most part, it is definitely another “first” in things he, and literally no principal in the state, has ever faced before.
“Different does describe this year,” he said. “For instance, we just started archery practice this week and that is exciting. For now, we don’t know what competitions will look like but we decided that we wanted to give some students some after and before school opportunities to shoot.”
Red Ribbon Week was done in conjunction with Halloween this year. Various speakers, ranging from police to athletes to experts from the health department, visited the school and spoke to the students about the downfalls of illegal drug use, tobacco and alcohol.
Palmer said they also recently did a virtual assembly, a first for the school that was broadcast from the library.
“It was the Reflections Award assembly and all the students, except the ones that got awards, stayed in their classrooms and watched,” he explained. “It was kind of fun when a student won because you could hear cheering down the hall from her or his class. Parents could watch it from home as well.”
Palmer pointed out that with assemblies like that, the virtual alternative might be better in the future. He said in the case of this assembly, students would have taken more time walking to the gym and getting everyone seated than they would watching the actual awards take place.
“This way, when an assembly starts, they just turn it on and then when it is over, they go back to doing things in their classes,” Palmer said.
The school, along with the PTA, has begun Santa’s Workshop, something they do each year. In that activity, the PTA buys small gifts and each child gets to pick something out for someone else they want to give it to. It is an exercise in thinking of other people.
“I think it is one of the sweetest things we see each year as students comment on who they are giving it to and why,” he said. “The day before holiday break, the kids will put what they picked out in a bag and write a card to the person it is going to.”
As for academics, the school conducted testing the week after Thanksgiving and that will give the staff a chance to evaluate how students are doing this year.
“I have not seen the final results yet, but from what we have seen, it appears to be promising,” Palmer stated. “This will be a bit more telling of where we are than things were at the beginning of the year considering what went on last spring.”