School board meets at Cottonwood Elementary

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The April meeting of the Emery County School District Board of Education was held at Cottonwood Elementary School.
Superintendent Sitterud recommended to the Board the following individuals be approved for vacant positions: Denise Smith: Assistant Cheer Advisor Emery High School; Dallice Webster: Cheer Advisor Green River High School; Tanya Winn: Drill Team Advisor Emery High School; Jon Faimalo: Head Football Coach Emery High School.
Superintendent Sitterud indicated the District has received a letter of resignation from Roseanne Dawes, teacher at Castle Dale Elementary School. Superintendent Sitterud announced the following employees have submitted a letter of intent to retire at the end of the current school year or contract period: Jon Crawford: Director of Student Services; Jim Jones: Principal at Canyon View Junior High School; Deborah Blackburn: Bus Driver and Educational Assistant, Ferron Elementary; Jackie Wilson: Educational Assistant, Huntington Elementary; Jeannie Jensen: Educational Assistant, Castle Dale Elementary.
Members of the Board of Education expressed thanks to all of these employees for their years of dedicated service to the students of Emery County.
Superintendent Sitterud presented the following policy action to the Board of Education for consideration and approval:
GDO-Support Staff Evaluation: Revision based on the new evaluation rule from the Utah State Board of Education. The changes are to be implemented this year. The District is working on new evaluation instruments that match the specific support staff position, per rule requirements.
Principal John Hughes welcomed the Board of Education to Cottonwood Elementary School. He reported on several accomplishments from the past year. Cottonwood was excited to receive a B school grade, one of only three schools in the District to do so. The faculty has implemented the new Go Math curriculum. Through Landtrust funds, an aide has been hired to provide additional math instruction to students in grades 3-6. Principal Hughes is holding regular, test meetings with faculty members.
In these meetings, he visits with the classroom teacher, resource teacher and school psychologist to evaluate each student and decide on strategies to help each student progress. He expressed thanks to the PTA organization at the school for being very active and providing supply funding to each teacher. He also indicated that for the 2016-17 year, the school will be phasing out homework and changing grading to be more focused on concept mastery.
Members of the Board asked questions about the concept of eliminating homework. Mr. Hughes indicated that the decision is research based and has been studied at length by the faculty. President Johansen thanked Mr. Hughes for his report.
Jared Black, business manager, briefly reported on the progress of the 2016-17 budget.
Superintendent Sitterud announced the school district has received the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting from the ASBO organization. He distributed a new sabbatical leave form to the Board of Education. He provided copies of the legislative update book to members of the Board and provided brief explanation on some of the bills passed.
Neal Peacock mentioned that the UEA has started a lawsuit with the Utah State Board of Education over the issue of holding public hearings in the legally prescribed manner.
The board granted a District employee intermittent unpaid leave until the end of the current school year-for medical purposes. The employee does not have sufficient hours to automatically qualify for family medical leave.
A selection committee is being formed to select the next superintendent for the Emery District. The application period is over and the interviews will be held in the near future.