Rich County School Board

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah. September 16, 2015.   The Rich County School Board looked over the home school requests.  Currently, students who have been home schooled are tested and placed within one year of age-wise grade level.  The State has instituted a new policy.  In the future, the parents of home school children can say where their children will be placed in the school system.  They will be placed there for at least 30 days.  The school will use this time period to test and determine if the students are able to handle the school work where they are currently placed.  If the test shows the student would be better off at a different level, the school must talk with the parent to get permission to place the student in a more appropriate level.  A home-schooled student must attend at least one trimester if they desire to have a Rich diploma.

Policy 309.3.4 deals with students who return to public school after being home schooled.  This policy needs to be changed slightly to meet the changes made by the last legislature.  The Board asked that the Two Principals and the Superintend get together to make the required changes to bring the policy into compliance with state law.

Since additional work is needed to bring the policy up-to-date, this action was tabled until next month.

Anyone can opt out of Sage testing. Parents are the individuals to make that decision.  The school can give students competency testing.  To graduate from Rich High School, every student must show they have taken the required classes and obtained the required number of credits.

The motion was made and approved the home school requests.

The Home School Policy 309.3 requires an affidavit from the parents of the students who are to be home schooled.   The board members go over the affidavits and make a motion to approve the home schooling requests.  In the following year, the school is responsible to send a letter by August 1 to let parents know that it is assume their children will be home schooled for the coming school year since there is an affidavit on file.  The families are also given a certificate to show that the children are being home schooled.  This certificate helps parents get their children enrolled in the on-line classes that are available to them.

Some additional employees have been added to the school system.  Christine Brown will be helping in special education.  Sarah Taylor will be the aide in the 4^th grade.  There are 31 students in that class.  A part-time person is needed for classes over 25-30 students.  Alex Sprig will also be working in special education.  He has moved into the area from Texas.  There is a student that needs additional help.  Certain handicapped students are allowed by law to attend school up to age 22..  Jane Walentine is a volunteer unpaid sports helper.

There are about 14 new students in the schools this year.  Actual numbers will be given next month when enrollments in classes are settled.

Currently the school owns a lot in Buttercup Subdivision.  It was donated to the school a number of years ago.  The school continues to pay homeowner’s costs for lawn mowing, water, and so forth.  The lot is too small for school use.  The recommendation was made to sell this lot.  It needs to be placed on the market.

Bridgerland robotics program is moving forward.  The classes are good, and it will provide a wonderful foundation for individuals desiring to go into engineering.  There are 15 students from Rich High School who are taking the class this fall.  Five students are taking advantage of the zero hour (7 a.m.) class.    There are 126 students in the Northern Region enrolled in this program.  Currently the students are learning quite a bit about programming.  The kits provided for the students are really impressive.  Bridgerland will be hosting a meeting where Mr. Peterson, of the robotics program, will talk at the middle school.  It will be an interesting curriculum presentation. Anyone interested is welcome to attend that meeting.

The results of the SAGE tests from last spring have been received.  Last year, everyone was confused and discouraged with the SAGE test results.  However, that was the first year that the test had been administered, and there was no data with which comparisons could be made to determine whether the students had done well or not. 

This year, the scores can be compared with last year.  Not only can the scores be compared with last year’s scores, but comparisons can also be made among similar size schools throughout the state, and how they faired.  Rich Schools did very well.  If a grade were to be assigned, the Rich schools would be given a good solid B.  Hopefully, as the schools continue to use and work with this exam, scores will continue to improve.

The next School Board Meeting will be held on October 21, 2015.