School board hears from parents concerning ninth graders

By Alice Wadley Staff Writer

The Emery County School District held their monthly meeting on May 6 at Cottonwood Elementary. Dean Stilson requested summer travel for the girls basketball team. The basketball team would like to attend a camp this summer, preferably the Utah Valley camp. They would like to use their travel money to attend a camp instead of participating in a tournament. The school board approved the request.
Thomas Sitterud, representing a group of parents and ninth grade students approached the school board concerning moving the ninth grade students to high school and the sixth grade students to middle school. He said, a few parents have asked me to be the spokesperson for them. I can’t say I’m speaking for a collective group. Some parents may have different concerns than this group. Last year the Carbon County School District changed their structure to move ninth grade to high school and sixth grade to middle school. The Emery district said the Carbon district change was not going to change the Emery district.
Board member, Laurel Johansen said, this is the first time we have talked about this. It was discussed before, but only concerned sports. We are looking at the issue at this time.
Thomas Sitterud said the parents tonight are talking about the scholastic part of moving the ninth grade students to high school. He received some letters from parents, who voiced their concerns. The most important thing is it will benefit the students educationally. There will be more electives available. Our kids are looking to the future and more electives could provide a path for them to take.
There are more clubs and organizations available at the high school for the ninth grade students. When it comes to extracurricular activities, 38 freshman completed the eligibility form, compared to 87 sophomores, 91 juniors and 96 seniors that participate. Some of the ninth grade students may not be able to compete at the high school level. There is no athletic competition for ninth grade students who don’t want to compete at the high school level. It is not working out with sports. The ninth grade students typically show up late for practice because of the travel involved to get to the high school. Many of the ninth grade students don’t have confidence in their skills.
The students don’t know which school they belong to. We need to teach these kids to be involved. They can be involved in the FFA and the FBLA, but they are not provided at the junior high schools.
We need to do what is in the best interest of the kids. Thomas Sitterud said, I tried to put myself in the position of an administrator. The logistics are difficult. Another question is do we move the sixth graders to middle school. It would probably make sense for the sixth graders to move to middle school. Another question is concerning size. Is the high school big enough. My opinion is yes with the Spartan Center addition. When I went to school we were a 3A school and the high school had enough classrooms for all of the students. There is the same amount of kids so we will need the same amount of teachers. Busing shouldn’t be a problem given we are a rural school.
In closing, Thomas Sitterud shared the ECSD mission statement, “The Mission of the Emery County School District is to provide a comprehensive education that will prepare students to take a proactive and responsible role in an ever-changing world.” We need to look at the mission statement and see if we are meeting the needs of these students. We are excluding these students by saying you are in high school but you’re not. Most schools are going this way.
In summary, we are one of the few school districts who do not have ninth grade in high school. Are we going to bury our heads in the sand and stay this way. We need to move forward because it is the best thing for our kids.
Board member Johansen said we are considering it and we are developing a list of pros and cons. We have definitely been talking about the issue. We hear you and understand your concerns.
The school board allowed comments from the public. One audience member stated, we can’t be hasty or jump to conclusions. We need to educate ourselves with the issue. There are people who disagree with the majority. You may think it is a great idea. We have to look at what is best for our community.
Korinda Stilson commented, I think moving the sixth graders up is the bigger issue. Their level of maturity is different. There is a big difference in maturity at the beginning of sixth grade and the end of sixth grade.
Johansen said, there are issues such as the possibility of closing schools. If this happens some teachers will have to get an endorsement for secondary education.
Superintendant Kirk Sitterud has spent time with the Superintendant Carlson from the Carbon County School District. Carbon County made the change because they were overcrowded at the elementary schools and did not want to build new schools. There are some issues with licensing of teachers. In order to teach at the high school you need to have a major and a minor. If the current teachers want to teach at the high school level they will have to get the proper endorsements. Most licenses in the past allowed teachers to teach Kindergarten through eighth grade. If a teacher wants to teach English, he/she will have to get the endorsement. The Carbon County School District looked at changing their grade structure for a year and a half before they made the change. It has a huge impact on teachers. We are concerned about our enrollment in elementary schools. We don’t know how many elementary students we will have for next year. We receive funding based on the number of students we have enrolled in our schools. Superintendant Sitterud commented, we need to identify 10-12 key issues that exist to make this decision. We will need focus groups made up of parents, teachers, the school board and others to make this decision. We want to be prepared for it. We have some of the greatest teachers in the United States. We can not make this happen this year. We have been consulting with Carbon County and we have a list started. Staffing will be our biggest issue. We need to have the population to support this.
One audience member commented, there is a small percentage of the parent population here tonight to make any decision. Superintendant Sitterud said we will need time if we consider it.
A parent asked about the ninth grade cheerleaders if they go to high school. This hasn’t been considered yet and would be handled if and when the ninth grade students are moved to high school.
Coach Jim Jones is supposed to meet with Carbon County and try to have some competitive sports for the ninth grade students.
Marie Johnson said, we understand what we have is not working. We will do everything we can to make sure it is the best thing for our students.
There are no easy answers, said Johansen. If we can get input it will help.
The school board heard a few more comments from audience members and Johnson asked all of the parents to email or call their respective school board member from their precinct to voice their concerns or any ideas they may have.
Johansen concluded, we are looking at it seriously and we want there to be more benefits than drawbacks. Thanks for your input. We are glad to see we have parents who care and want to see their kids succeed. We all want what is best for our kids.
Justin O’Rafferty, representing Bikers Against Child Abuse informed the school board BACA would be doing their annual coloring contest to include middle school this year. The winning student will have their artwork featured on a T-shirt to be used for fundraising for BACA.
Superintendant Sitterud submitted names for approval: Ralph Worthen, supervisor of elementary education, Cindy McFarlane, Gayla Luke, Eric Nielson, Erin Hurdsman and Yori Allred. He received resignations from Greg Parsons, Joyce Housekeeper and Katie Behling.
The school district has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Grand County School District to provide adult education in Green River.
The school board approved travel for the Emery High band to travel to the Days of 47 Parade.
The school board approved bids for Green River High School parking lot, cement at Cottonwood Elementary and lighting at Huntington and Ferron Elementary Schools.
Principal John Hughes gave the school update. He said the school has created new discipline procedures. There are new security measures in place. Everyone must check in at the office and wear a visitor badge. We have started a Homework Warriors program. We play positive messages every morning as school starts. We have created a positive office referral. We recognize the students of the week. We have a monthly school newsletter and a Facebook page to keep the parents informed of what we are doing during the week. We have a picture board to highlight the good things Cottonwood students are doing. The school board thanked Principal Hughes, the staff and teachers at Cottonwood Elementary for all of their hard work.