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Show School cemsos to stort Novo 3 (Mi u , p, , Jt .. II III I III l.fl .11 I . .. , - ; " I i ' i I I p . ; ' , . . J I ' :. 1,1 . h-4 H I " I l V . i:l 1 1 w If , , V - 1 I! i i v ; i . 4 . ,41 ' rv- i ) 4 fili; fclfilll . ii i:K,,t,! mm mmmsm i--5 f h fl lWiii:lliill I' h 111 i By DONETA GATHERUM FARMINGTON Dr. Richard Kendell, Superintendent of Davis County Schools, is asking all county coun-ty residents to stay home and be counted. Assisted by thousands of trained PTA volunteers, the school district is conducting a uniform, county-wide, door-to-door census from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. The goal is to identify the number of school children and potential school children chil-dren in Davis County and then to project enrollments through the next ten years. All volunteers have been trained in census-taking procedures. They are instructed to stay with the census cen-sus format and not to become involved in-volved in other, unrelated matters. The census answers will be recorded re-corded on "bubble sheets" that can be automatically machine scanned and the data can be quickly quick-ly recorded in a computer program. . Basic questions such as family name, address, number of children in the home will be asked along with some queries about ethnic backgrounds, languages spoken in the home and special education needs of the children. The process will take about 20 minutes per household. People are free to refuse to answer any of the questions. The superintendent ishopeful that everyone will cooperate so that accurate information can be collected. col-lected. Census information will be used only to project school enrollments and to determine prnwfh nattprns Adams Elementary in Layton, the largest elementary school in Davis County, is relying heavily on the District census results to help them project enrollment and develop, programs prog-rams suited to the needs of the children in their area. One thousand plus homes will be contacted by 75 to 1 00 Adams PTA volunteers. Jan Moore is the census coordinator. Pictured Pic-tured are Marilyn Boren, PTA president and Jacque Ralphs, community involvement commissioner. They are asking the census questions to Ryan, Mrs. Jill Poll, Kyle and Troy. Names, addresses and other data gathered will not be shared with any government or private entity. Dr. Kendell says the major reason for taking this county-wide census is to help develop school programs suited to the rapid growth needs of Davis County. Last year the school population increased in-creased by three percent or 1600 new students. Since the district has bonded to its limit in General Obligation Obli-gation Bonds, no new schools can be constructed to accommodate . for this growth. This means the district dis-trict will have to plan in advance and develop new programs extended ex-tended day schools, year round school, boundary changes, etc., to give adequate educational opportunities oppor-tunities to all children. Dr. Kendell anticipates that by next fall, more schools will be on extended day programs and there might be one or two elementary ' schools on a year. round schedule. "We want to get the public informed in-formed of these possibilities well in advance and we want public input early before any decisions are made," Dr. Kendell stated. The computer programs used to interpret the census data will have the capabilities of redrawing school boundaries and projecting enrollment in all grade levels, if the information used is accurate. This will save time and money and be completely objective in suggesting school boundary changes. The door-to-door census information infor-mation will be supplemented by information in-formation collected from city plan- ning departments number of new construction permits, new subdivisions approved, new water-sewer water-sewer hookups, etc. The school district officials meet regularly with city planners and mayors to help plan for growth. "The school population and the way we handle it has a great effect on cities," Dr. Kendell stated. "We impact traffic patterns, the need for traffic guards and other areas that are handled by 1 city governments." The decision to use PTA volunteers volun-teers was made for several reasons. First, there will be a cost savings of between $65,000 and $75,000 to the district. Second, the volunteers will canvas their elementary school neighborhoods where they are most familiar with the people and the housing patterns pat-terns . Finally , this PTA project will bring to the attention of the public that PTA volunteers are interested in developing better schools and serving children. It is not just a social so-cial "punch and cookies" organization. |
