By Julie Johansen
The Board of Education of the Emery County School District was welcomed to Emery High School by Principal Steven Gordon Wednesday evening for its regular monthly meeting.
First on the agenda were presentations from the school’s counselors, Dayna Terry and Ashley Jensen. Counselor Terry announced College Application Day on Nov. 16. On this day, senior students will have the opportunity to apply for three different colleges and in the evening there will be an opportunity for parents to hear about the changes in FASFA and complete applications. She also presented facts about concurrent enrollment. The need for this is increasing at Emery High as more students take advantage of this opportunity each year. She also related some student comments about the program. They wrote that they feel it is very beneficial, much cheaper and they were learning problem solving life skills.
Jensen then reported about the STEM grant that is financing a computer programming class taught by Mr. Mortensen as well as the district-wide robotics program. Robotics in the elementary is facilitated by Mrs. Frandsen at Castle Dale Elementary and uses Lego pieces. There are 55 students at this site. In the upper grades, robotics are taught and at the present time, 14 junior high and eight high school students are participating. The board gave an enthusiastic acceptance motion and approval.
Chandler Peacock in the EHS automotive program requested travel permission to take five or sic students to Farmington, New Mexico for competition on Nov. 17 and 18. Approval was granted. The independent auditors report for the fiscal year 2016 was also approved by the board. Three names were presented by Supt. Davis for approval to hire; Allen McArthur, head custodian at Canyon View Jr. High, JoAnn Taylor, custodian at Canyon View, and Howie Shorthill, assistant baseball coach at Emery High. All three hires were approved. The reported sports schedule, 2017 board meeting schedule and three-year calendar were all approved.
Principal Gordon next gave his report. He paid tribute to the academic all-staters in fall sports: Aubreyona Migliori and Teren Miller, tennis; Erin Hurst, Allyson Woolsey, Daryl Guymon, cross-country; Kabri Butler, volleyball; and Ty Mecham, football. He also announced the Youth Protection Seminar, which took place on Nov. 3. With the inclusion of the ninth grade next year, Emery High student body numbers are expected to grow from 417 in 2016-2017 to 609 in 2017-2018. He stated that some portable classrooms will be added to the campus to accommodate the increase. They are also considering some schedule changes and teacher realigning for this purpose. He handed out the SAGE test results by demographic groups and reported that Emery High had received an overall grade of “C.”
Superintendent Larry Davis relayed a congratulations from Debbie Marvadakis for the Healthy Lifestyles, Tobacco Use Prevention program. He also gave thanks and appreciation to Olive McArthur for 41 years of service to the district as a custodian as she retires. He concluded by announcing the SESC Legislative Luncheon, which will be Nov. 17 at the Carbon District Office and the USDA Convention, Nov. 5-7.