Superintendent Davis talks about schools/testing/economy

By Patsy Stoddard
Editor

Larry Davis, the superintendent of the Emery School District has set up monthly briefings with the press. He would like to keep the line of communication open between the district and the community.
New this year is the early out day at mid-term. Sept. 18 was the first early out day. On this day the students will still have lunch at the school and then be released early. The teachers will then meet in strategic learning groups for training and discussion.
Superintendent Davis said, “I am in my second year as superintendent and I am ready to expand and reach out a little more. I have started providing a press packet at school board meetings with my superintendents report and names for approval.
“You are always welcome to call and follow-up on questions with me and Jared Black.
“I’ve been more diligent in posting news of the district and putting together press releases and facebook posts.
“The mid-term early out is a new thing. We have professional learning committees. The students are released three hours early. The buses are running. We have tried to answer any questions the parents might have and the principals are working hard to keep the parents informed about early out. All elementary teachers will meet at Cottonwood Elementary. These will be grade level meetings” said Superintendent Davis.
Green River will not participate in the early out schedules because they have an early out every Friday. Huntington Elementary has an early out every Wednesday. Teachers at Huntington Elementary will work on training during their early out days. Green River teachers can come to the trainings if their schedules work out. Superintendent Davis said this is basically an experiment to see if working harder on teacher development improves test scores. The last day of each term will be a day off for students and a training day for teachers.
The principals meet with the superintendent on Tuesdays.
One goal this year is to keep the new website and school calendars updated and any changes will be noted on the website.
“We appreciate the coverage and any other ideas and coverage for feature stories you are welcome to pursue.
“Schools are valuable they are the gathering places in our communities. We try to work with activities and events that want to use our schools and try to accommodate them. We have to consider liability and insurance, but we want people to use the schools. We want to be good neighbors and community partners,” said Superintendent Davis.
The district enrollment was down 29 students on the first day of school. Superintendent Davis is hopeful the final count will be less than that. Fewer students means less funding for the district.
“It’s fewer than we thought, the estimate from the state was 70 students. The first day counts are unofficial. There will be late registrations and students who miss the first day. All of the kindergarten classes are below what we had last year.
“We are increasing the graduation requirements and providing meaningful options for the students. The high school is working hard to expand and improve course offerings. We are trying to keep students in school for a purpose, there are ed net classes and concurrent enrollment where they can obtain college credit at a real savings.
“We always have a problem staffing Green River. The Necessary existent small schools helps with financial support for the school. We are working to expand the CTE program there and working with USU Eastern on concurrent enrollment classes. We are working on a model with the auto program to broadcast the class from Emery High to Green River High and the teacher would go to Green River one day each week. That’s the kind of program that would meet the needs of students in Green River.
“Green River High has been on college tours and that’s been good for the students. Their principal Kacey Fluckey took them to USU Eastern. USU Eastern wants to recruit more students locally. We have a good relationship now with USU Eastern and they have been meeting with our principals,” said Superintendent Davis.
One area the schools will also be working on is managing the curriculum and determining what areas are tested the most and focusing on high priority items. For example the first grade in Ferron or any other school should all be taking the same tests.
On Oct. 4 at the school board meeting at Emery High there will be a review of the test scores district wide. This will be in the library at 6 p.m. Overall 10 schools were tested in three categories. In 30 tested areas, 14 areas test scores increased and in 13 areas they decreased with three areas staying the same.
Ferron Elementary improved in every area of the testing, “That’s impressive,” said Superintendent Davis.
Bookcliff Elementary has improved their scores, they are up 6 percent in language arts, 14 percent in math and 17 percent in science. “It’s really amazing the improvement at BookCliff, I give the credit to the teachers, the Principal JR Jones and to the parents. They have worked hard. They didn’t pout and complain and the parents were behind it and they improved in every category. Book Cliff has a 60 percent Hispanic population and language is a barrier. We are proud of this little school.
“Cleveland Elementary had a slight decline, but I think it’s because their scores were so high the year before. It was only a slight decline. Green River High dropped 7 percent in language arts, 5 percent in math and 5 percent in science, these are not huge drops.
“We’ve hired a new music and arts teacher at Green River. In Green River we would like to see natives who want to come back and teach in Green River.
“The youth protection seminars are coming up on Nov. 2 at Emery High and Nov. 9 at Green River. These will deal with the topics of internet safety, suicide, bullying, drugs and alcohol and other topics. These seminars are required by the state board of education. When we first started holding them they were poorly attended. We weren’t getting the message out, but last year we had a good turnout and the Little Theatre was full. We will take questions from the audience and we encourage everyone to attend. We will send out press releases as it gets closer.
“The robotics program has seen tremendous growth. It started with 17 kids and has grown to 100. It’s k-12 and is in every school. Ashley Jensen wrote the grant to get the funding for the program and also to begin a computer coding class at Emery High. The grant is in its second year. We have a competitive robotics team. This is part of our emphasis to grow the STEM program and get kids interested at a very early age. The next step will be an engineering program that begins with robotics in elementary and follows them to middle school and to Emery High,” said Superintendent Davis.
Emphasis is also being placed on training students for the jobs relevant to our area. Mr. Davis will talk to local businesses and learn of the skill sets needed for these jobs. He is working with Emery County Economic Development and is involved with Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox’s 25 k jobs initiative to put rural Utah back to work.
“This is what we want to do, be a part of reinventing ourselves and through education prepare our kids for the future. We are working to build community partnerships. As we build our economy, people will be able to come back to the county to fill these jobs,” said Mr. Davis.
He has written a letter to the Lt. Gov. expressing the role the school district would like to play in what Mr. Davis has dubbed, ‘Emerynomics”
The Lt. Gov. has said there is grant money available to get things moving in the rural counties.
The transition of the sixth graders to the middle school and the ninth to the high school is going well. Emery High has also started a block schedule.
There are six new teachers and several new aides in the schools as well as lunch workers. There is always a need for substitute bus drivers and substitute teachers. A background check is needed and an approved list is kept for the school secretaries to use when finding substitutes. There is an online training for substitutes.