| Emery Superintendent Kirk Sitterud presents the USBA plaques to Marie Johnson of Huntington and Royd Hatt of Green River.They were recently honored by the Utah School Boards Association for 16 years of membership and service on the Emery County School Board of Education. |
The Emery County School Board held its March meeting at Canyon View Junior High School in Huntington. Board president Laurel Johansen opened and welcomed everyone to the meeting. CVJH Principal Larry Davis began his presentation by thanking the board for the opportunity to host the board at the school.
Were glad to have you here, we hope you will learn a little about Canyon View. We have a great many programs going on and we are very proud of our school, Davis said.
Davis presented each board member with a small booklet which highlighted the school and its activities. Our mission statement and goals are the driving forces for what we do here at Canyon View, added Davis. That mission statement reads: To prepare every student with knowledge, skills, values, and vision for life-long success.
In the booklet were 10 goals set out for the faculty and staff at Canyon View to achieve during the 2005-2006 school year. They are: provide training opportunities for faculty and staff; establish core action plans for improving test scores; continue to utilize school improvement teams; implement plans approved by the school improvement committee; utilize the community council; establish a parent/adult volunteer program; utilize the student council in decision making; continue to foster business/community/school partnerships; activate, monitor and revise accreditation action plans; and set school wide goals and establish annual improvement goals for each teacher.
Davis stated the school currently has 219 students enrolled and has a faculty and staff of 28 full and part-time people. We have a new teacher this year, Dean Stilson. He is doing an outstanding job. Tina Ward is our new half day resource aide and she is meeting the challenges head-on while meeting the needs of the students, stated Davis.
While speaking about the honors/awards/school and community service aspects of the school, Davis said, This is the section Im proudest of. Junior high students work hard to get projects and do them right. The student council has made large donations to Hurricane Katrina relief ($1,200) and to the Spencers Wishes Foundation ($600). The National Junior Honor Society at Canyon View undertook to make quilts to donate to Primary Childrens Hospital, and worked in conjunction with FCCLA to finance their projects by selling game day concessions.
The peer helper group at Canyon View will begin a penny campaign to make a donation to Shriners Hospital. Another service group is the Student Volunteer Homework Helper Program. These students help tutor and assist with homework helper classes. Helping Hands is another group that volunteers before, during and after school in any capacity that is needed. They help clean up the lunchroom and school grounds.
One of the most competitive programs here at Canyon View is the Top Cat Achievers. These students are recognized for school service, academics, citizenship and attendance. They are on the honor roll and meet standards in Accelerated Reading. Of our 219 students, first term had 105 Top Cats, and second term had 98 Top Cats, Davis stated.
Davis gave a little background information on the Castle Valley Activities Association. He said that it is not strictly an athletics association, but they have band, chorus and cheerleading competitions also. This year the association is comprised of Canyon View, San Rafael, Helper, Mont Harmon and Pinnacle Canyon. We lost East Carbon last year and were very fortunate to pick up Pinnacle Canyon this year. Davis added.
Davis went on to give the board updates on the capital improvement, grant programs and academics. I want to thank the board on behalf of the faculty and staff for all the support, Davis concluded.
In another matter addressed by the board during the meeting was a review of the plans for the gymnasium project at Green River High School. Royd Hatt, board member representing Green River asked to make a couple of revisions to the plans. The first was concerned with the placement of a wall and a doorway. Following discussion, the board agreed on the revision. Another item was the addition of five-six rows of bleachers on the west side of the gymnasium. This addition was also agreed upon.
Business administrator Ross Huntington informed the board that he will deliver the plans to the architect and request the changes, and the revised plans will be put out for bids. That process should be complete before the next board meeting in April.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning projects at San Rafael Junior High, Castle Dale Elementary and Cleveland Elementary will soon be underway. Huntington stated that some of the work will be completed by the districts maintenance crew and the remainder will be done by private contractors. The board approved to move ahead with the retrofits of the HVAC systems at these schools, and noted the work will be completed by the end of summer.
Rod Toomer of Ferron City Council made a request to the board. He asked for the use of a portion of an eight acre parcel of land that belongs to the district and is located at San Rafael. Toomer said Ferron City would like to build ball parks on this property and will do the installation, maintenance and watering of the fields. At the present time Ferron has one ball field and nine teams, including the girls softball teams, stated Toomer.
Superintendent Kirk Sitterud stated that this request came before the board at a previous meeting. The board made the request to have a drawing made of the area, with notations as to Ferrons request. This would give the board a better idea of the actual needs of Ferron City. We have stated previously that we are willing to work with Ferron. All we need is the drawing on paper to look at and we can continue the discussions concerning this request. This would be a win/win situation for both sides, said Sitterud. Toomer agreed to get the drawings and come to the next meeting.
The board approved early retirement requests from Richard Stilson, Stan Parsons and Doyle Jensen. One other request was made, but was discussed in executive session.
The next Emery County School Board meeting will be April 5 at 7 p.m. at Cottonwood Elementary.