At the Emery County School Board meeting on Wednesday, the board first discussed the approval of high school sports schedules. The law requires the board to approve any travel for sports competition that is over 150 miles one way.
Cleveland Elementary Principal Jerel Lofley reported how the passing of Heather and Broc Jacobson has been a challenge for their school. He also spoke about the elementary summer school program. The program uses teacher recommendations from test scores to determine which students would benefit most. Usually there are enough students to have three teachers during the summer. On Tuesday and Thursday they spend three hours each day reviewing with each student individually for an hour. Thus far, the program has been successful. At the end of each school year the school hands out a summer packet for students to work on. Those that return the packet on the first day of the new school year get rewarded with a bowling party.
Four of the board members took a trip to Uintah and Duchesne school districts last Wednesday. The purpose of their visit was to look at the transition of moving ninth grade to high school and sixth grade to middle school. The board members reported that the trip was very informative. They learned about the challenges and benefits from making the transition. For sixth grade students, it is more social concerns than academic. Another challenge would be the staffing for the seventh and eighth grades. Parents are mostly concerned about mixing sixth graders with seventh and eighth. The council doesn’t think the transition for sixth graders would be difficult, but staffing would. Their next step is to conduct a short online survey, get the word out and receive opinions from parents with the move. They hope to have survey information by November’s meeting.