By Robin Hunt
On Wednesday evening, the Board of Education of the Emery County School District met for its regular monthly meeting in Green River.
Emery High School students Mckay Sitterud and Dallin Braun compete in SkillsUSA and would like to attend the national event. Having placed in a qualifying competition, they came to the board requesting funding to travel to Atlanta, GA for nationals. They were applauded for their hard work and their request for funding was quickly granted.
“We would like to thank our teachers who have helped us get here,” said Sitterud. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
During the meeting, the board also viewed a presentation from Westland Construction on the Emery High School and Ferron Elementary projects. Westland shared milestones and the projected timelines with the board.
Concrete is in the process of being poured at Ferron Elementary. All classrooms will be completed in the next few days, while skylights and folding partition doors will be installed this month. The school should be completely finished by July.
Next, the board had a counselor data presentation. Once per year, the counselor program shares what its focuses are for the students in each school. Emery County School District Supervisor Doug Mecham emphasized how impressed he is with what the counseling staff is doing.
District Supervisor J.R. Jones then commended the principles and the teachers of the district and their ability to roll with the punches. The board next approved the School Land Trust FY23 plans for all schools.
Following this, Book Cliff Elementary Principal Gaylene Erwin gave her report to the board. Her first topic focused on the importance of education in the community. “We need help,” she said. “We need to increase the education in the community and get the students to school.”
She expressed her fears and frustrations about the drop in student attendance. “We have really fantastic teachers,” Erwin emphasized.”I don’t go to a lot of schools, but this group of teachers is fantastic at working together.”
Following Erwin’s report, Supervisor Jones commended her efforts for the school, the students, their parents and the teachers. “She is definitely a person of high quality,” Jones said. “I just want to recognize Gaylene for everything she does for the school and the teachers. Gaylene is irreplaceable.”
Jones then presented Principal Erwin with a thank you basket and the board expressed its appreciation to her as well.