Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Rich Civic Times Staff !

Bobbie Coray

Anita Weston

Randall Knight

Joey Stocking

Drill Team Denied Early Morning Practice

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  December 19, 2017.  In the last month’s school board meeting the board accepted the recommendation of Principal Rick Larson on practice times in the late afternoon and evenings for the Rich High Drill Team as a compromise position.

Ruthann Jarman, Rich High Drill Team coach, accompanied by team parents, told board members that while she appreciated the practice policy that was decided upon, it will not meet the team needs.  She would like to appeal for early morning practice for the girls in the regulation gym.

Point by point she made the case for the needed practice in the gym that will mostly resemble the gyms they will be competing in.  Practicing in the lunch room or the smaller gym makes precision drills almost impossible as the lines change from gym to the ones they painted on the lunch room floor. She said that practice needs to be on a consistent surface. 

Early morning practices make the most sense because there are no other teams using the main gym at that time.  Jarman cited several examples of other schools which allow early morning practice for their drill teams.  Not only that, the schools allow parents to take the girls to the practice which Jarman said would be done by team parents without needing earlier buses. 

One objection to early morning practice was the length of the school day and its effect on school performance.  Jarman said that making the girls practice until 7 p.m. also lengthened the day and also cut from family time.  She said that the girls and their families preferred an early morning practice for the next six weeks. 

Another was that on snowy days the roads might not be plowed for a 6 a.m. practice.  However, she called Ben Negus who plows county roads and he indicated that they are required to plow the roads by 3 a.m. “It is no darker at 6 a.m. than it is at 7 a.m.” Jarman said.

Other drill teams practice 10 to 15 hours a week.  The Rich team practices 8 to 10 on inconsistent floors and the competition judges’ comments reflect that.  They are often criticized for not getting spacing right because they are practicing in non-standard places.  The girls are willing to practice more and longer and give their all, Jarman reported.

She asked the Board to let her try for the next 6 weeks.

The Board then asked for an executive session which included Principal Rick Larson and Superintendent Dale Lamborn.  After a period of time, they were sent from the session and Jarman was asked to go in. 

The Board returned to open session and said only, “We will keep the policy made at the last meeting.”

Winter Moon

Photo by Jim Stone, Garden City

Legislative Issues That Affect Schools

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  December 19, 2017. Representative Logan Wilde, District 53, told school board members that the legislature was concerned with how the changes to the federal tax just passed would affect Utah.  It will have consequences for small schools.  The conservative Utah Taxpayer Association and Senator Howard Stephenson are for equalization but Wilde has districts in his area, which includes Rich, Morgan, Summit, Daggett and Duchesne, that do not want equalization since the formulas for rural schools may penalize them.

There are already over 300 bills written for this year and 1000 more are proposed.   The legislature is codifying the code for schools to make rules the same across the state.  New bills will have to meet the new code.  The school board association has proposed this. 

“Everyone wants to fix something in schools,” said Superintendent Dale Lamborn,  “A lot of problems are anectdotal and solve one person’s problem in one district and really aren’t state problems and could be solved by local school boards.  It probably doesn’t need to be state law.”  

Wilde agreed school boards should propose the rules for their districts. Utah Now is a proposal which may be on the ballot this year.  It has been proposed by business leaders to add more funding for schools so that business and industry will have well trained workers.  It has caused a backlash among some legislators who are writing punitive bills against the schools if it passes. 

Governor Herbert says  that the initiative is a double edged sword, if it passes the legislature will feel out of the school tax loop and if it doesn’t they will see it as the electorate doesn’t care about education funding. 

Lamborn said, “if they pass it and the legislature takes away WPU monies it will make it a wash. And some legislators are offended by that initiative.”

“Statewide,” Wilde said, “there is a big variance in opinion”.  

Letter To The Editor

To the Editor:

The board is considering building a gym, stage and additional rooms at the middle school. Below is a letter to my fellow board members regarding options we should consider that I sent several weeks ago and was referred to during the meeting.

This is the the link to the audio of the board meeting. The discussion begins around 58 minutes and lasts until about 1:30. You may be interested in listening.
http://win2016.richschool.org/min/dec19/dec19.mp3

Fellow Board Members,

On my way to Richfield for the boys tournament Friday, I will be stopping at the school in Delta to look at their new gym. Sorry I can't ride with you all but this saves me a lot of time. I have made a few notes on the building and future planning issue and have added an item we have not discussed which I believe should be part of the discussion.

The middle school gym is heavily used all school year and especially during winter season and it is basically scheduled from 8 am to 8 pm most days and on snowy days it is a challenge for elementary recess time. On Saturdays during mid-November through mid-February, many parents and children spend hours watching basketball as 2 each 7th & 8th grade teams play throughout the day. Because there is only one gym, when students play on multiple teams, parents watch games their own children don’t play in as they wait for the next game their child does play in. This makes for a long day for visiting teams and all parents and families who don’t live near the gym. We could also use some middle school classroom space and elementary classes are fairly full. There is one classroom available for growth in the elementary but if two or more classes increase beyond allowed students per class, we will have another problem to solve.

I see 4 options we can consider. The fourth option has been brought to my attention several times and I think it needs to be explored along with the first three.

1) No change.

No building, no program elimination.

2) Eliminate Middle school athletics.

Least cost to the district. We are the only middle school in the state that has a middle/jr High School athletics program. Our program exists partly due to our location and lack of club programs and also because we can play Wyoming schools. The Wyoming schools really don’t like to come to Rich Middle School to spend all day playing in one gym, so there is some pressure to provide better facilities. The Saturday middle school games could possibly be scheduled to play at the high school where two gyms are available. This option does not help the class room issue.

3) Build a new gym and additional classroom space at the middle school.

Greater than $4 million, plus cost of additional class room space. This would require asking the public to pay for a bond. We have asked an architecture firm to do some preliminary plans and cost estimates. The potential classroom structure has not had a preliminary done.

4) Plan for the future by buying land in Garden City and build an elementary school there.

No formal cost estimate but I am sure this option would be the most for initial cost but if we are going to spend 4-6 million dollars on a gym and expanding classrooms, then we should instead, consider building an elementary with a gym in Garden City. As of fall enrollment, 83 out of 120 (69%) children attending North Rich Elementary come from Garden City and the growth trend indicates Garden City will continue to grow. I looked at 2000 and 2010 census data and found children ages 5-19 in 2000 in Garden City was 111 children, in 2010 it was 173 children. I can’t find data but from my memory when I graduated in 1990, I think there would have been 70-80 children from Garden city. That makes a 30 year trend. Will this growth continue?

I hope we can be wise and judicious with public funds, provide good facilities for public education, and prepare for the near and distant future for the entire district.

Thanks for your consideration,

Bryce

Pickleville Philosopher

Holiday Memories

By Jim Stone, The Pickleville Philosopher

To me being thankful started when I was just a little boy.  I was living with my grandmother.  She had been through the depression and some really lean times in her life with the way the world was back then.

It was Thanksgiving and we were all hungry, looking forward to eating to our hearts content. Well, me and my sister Susie Stone started to look around to see what was in the cupboards and cabinets that grandma was going to prepare. There was like nothing that looked good.

Grandma came in to the kitchen and asked us kids to go do our chores and go play.  She said Thanksgiving supper would be ready by three o’clock sharp .   Me and Susie asked her what are we going to have.   There was not much food in the house.  

Grandma sat us down and wanted to tell us kids about the days in the depression when her and granddad had nothing to eat the day before Thanksgiving so they could have a nice meal on Thanksgiving day.   They had 2 potatoes, a handful of carrots, some old dried up corn and a small bag of flour.

“And Jim we were thankful to have every single speck of it,” she said.

Grandma said it was late and a very bad storm had set in; you couldn’t even see out the front room windows.  "We were hungry and sitting together under the blankets when we heard a bang, bang, bang on what we thought was the front door."

“Your grandad went to answer the door and no one was there, but what was there were two dead Canada geese that couldn’t fly and navigate in the bad storm.  It was a blessing that to this day I see so vividly, all the sudden we had not only a grand Thanksgiving, we had food for days.  We both felt bad that the geese lost their lives,”  she said.

“You kids that’s when we were the most thankful  we’ve ever been.  You kids have it easy compared to how we had it back in those days.  Now go do what I told you and supper at 3.”

Susie and I went out and sat on the porch for a minute.  All we herd was clickity clank bang, bang, boom, boom, it was a lot of commotion going on with grandma in the kitchen.

“Susie did you believe grandma’s story about the geese flying into the house,” I asked.   She said, “I do.” I said I did too.

Well we got our chores done and headed home.  Before we got to the kitchen we could smell fresh bread, steamed vegetables and a giant turkey with all the trimmings that we couldn’t find earlier when we thought there was gonna be no Thanksgiving.

We were both speechless.  We never said a word to grandma but to this day that’s where I became thankful for what we had been blessed with.

Also to me, maybe not only being thankful but giving to others, kinda like the geese flying into the house giving their lives up on the night before Thanksgiving .

Snowy Forest By The Lake

Photo by Lauriann Wakefield, Little Starling Photography, Garden City

Laketown Cemetery Fees And BRAG Report

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  December 6, 2017.   McKay Willis reported to the commissioners on The Laketown Cemetery and the BRAG human services committee.  Willis wants to put small headstones on unmarked graves.  Some are old, but some are persons whose families do not want to or cannot put on a headstone.  Willis wants to put the headstones on and then put a lien on the person who owns the grave or the families of the deceased. 

It is still unclear if they can attach the taxes of the family.  Commissioner Norm Weston suggested that there be a cemetery district fund built to pay for unknowns and unmarked graves.  Commissioner Bill Cox said the graves do need to be marked. 

As of January 1, 2018, there will be a $300.00 opening and closing fee for graves.  Up to now it has been free.  There will be a $500 for non tax payers who need a grave opening.

Willis attended the BRAG meeting.  He said there are over three hundred people in Rich County considered to be living in poverty. Twenty percent are under 18.  BRAG forecasts the population of Rich County going down this year, but remarked that there have been new families moving in and more homes being built. 

 Meals on Wheels is going well, but the new van is needed.  Willis said that BRAG was not aware of the bus being wrecked this fall.  Commissioners felt that they could replace it after the first of the new year.

The Commission is still up in the air about what kind of van to buy.  After the first of the year, there will be a new state contract let for vans and trucks.   Cox said that he was trying to decide if a smaller van would be better.  However they did need to have a wheelchair accessible van or else they would not be compliant with ADA regulations and would lose their funding.  That kind of vehicle can run $110,000 to $117,000 and the company said that they are 180 days out on new orders.

Empty Nester Party

Inviting EMPTY NESTERS in Garden City

To a Pot Luck Dinner

Upstairs at the City Offices Lake View Room

6:00 p.m.

Monday, January 8

Speaker Senator Lyle Hillyard on upcoming legislature

RSVP with what you are bringing to Randall Knight at Knightrh1@gmail.com

Come at 7:00 if you just want to hear the speaker.

We want all the Empty Nesters in the area to get acquainted so come!!  

Snow Clouds

Photo by Lauriann Wakefield, Little Starling Photography, Garden City

Bear River Mental Health Finances.

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  December 6, 2017.  Reed Ernstrom and Rob Johnson, Bear River Mental Health, told county commissioners that the audited financial statement was a clean audit.  They show a loss of million dollars this year mostly because they had transferred 15 apartments used for Mental Health clients because it is more  BRAG  competency.

They need to  estimate how many people will be in the hospital each year.  This year $1.5 million was spent for inpatient mental health stabilization.  More people have been admitted for longer stays and more acute needs.  They think with more case management the hospital stays can be shorter.  Medicaid revenue was down $167,000, but they still are in a strong cash position because the four previous years they had gained a million dollars.

Suicide is a big topic being discussed in the State Legislature.  Teens are more at risk.  Ernstrom said that “hopefully by having therapist in school might identify students who are struggling.”