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Show A2 Wednesday, October 31, 2007 West's Future Continued from Al district was to eliminate the ninth grade, which at the time had some 30 students. Sullivan explained the district couldn't justify the number of teachers and courses for the ninth graders and opted to bus the students to Vernal Junior High School. While some attended the junior high, others enrolled at Uintah River High School, the charter school in Fort Duchesne or enrolled at Union High School in Roosevelt. ,In the 2002-03 school year, NCLB required the district to offer alternatives to attending West. Sixth through eighth graders grad-ers can opt to attend classes in Vernal-with the district picking up the cost of transportation i Hasin Clinic offering: j i L : J VV Laser Hair Removal ' L i i i . . i VrSkin Rejuvenation for fine lines & wrinkles x : U f . V tLr Vein Therapy for spider veins I J JJ ' T?' BASIN CLINIC n Of3JL 379 North 500 West, Suite 1A V I S Vernal, Utah 84078 ;EMPiii5TrE ElGJinaioMCE m m m m m aaaHBBBh wmm Sutherlands Makes Your Building Projects Easy! POST FW.:Z CVIWIZSS 5TC3AG2 SK3D2 RATIO D3XtS yExpertAdvhe! tff Hexwe nans iyi - or attend classes in Duchesne School District by providing their own transportation. Sullivan explained when the district started offering the alternative, al-ternative, there were more than 200 students at West, but the school's population has steadily declined since then, and is now around 130 students. "How do you provide a program pro-gram when your student body only justifies four to five teachers?" teach-ers?" Sullivan said. With the low number of students, teachers at West are teaching multiple subjects. However, NCLB requires that a certain percentage of teachers be "highly qualified," meaning they have a major in the subject they are teaching or have taken equivalent course work, such as a minor with continuing education Financing Options! jVTlVe Deliver! (call for rates) Lowest Hncing! hr Om will help keep your child fit. The other will only keep your child's thumbs fit, You can decide which will win with your kids. For help, visit intermountainUve.org. Vernal West, under its current configuration, con-figuration, cannot meet this requirement. In the 2003-04 school year, the district began working with the Connections program to offer supplemental services to students. stu-dents. The following academic year, after failing again to make AYR the school began using the Northwestern Educational Assessment to help determine individual student needs. That same year, the district remodeled the library to update it with new resources. To place more emphasis on the areas where scores are lowest, the district started a "double-time" structure of classes in math and language arts in 2005-06. Students spend twice the instructional instruc-tional time in the classes. And the district has hired educational reform specialist Vicki Dahn to unmatched Experience! MitT?raTr5T?i Express work on new ways of teaching students. Sullivan said the efforts in 2005-06 looked promising and West almost made AYP under "safe harbor." For schools that are below the proficiency standards stan-dards of the act, safe harbor allows al-lows them to attain AYP if it can reduce the number of students who do not pass the test by 10 percent. A school that had 45 students below the requiredlevel one year could make safe harbor if that number dropped to 40. However, under safe harbor a second criteria is also measured. In Utah, that's attendance. The attendance benchmark is 93 percent or better. But for many schools, that goal may be out of reach, so any improvement in attendance at-tendance is considered adequate for safe harbor. And while test scores at West were up in 2005-06, attendance dropped below the previous, year's levels. Sullivan said the district has started tracking attendance at schools whereit is lowest. He said at West, the district sees higher absenteeism on Fridays and the day after tribal dividends are paid. Sullivan explained many School Voucher Continued from Al that most students in lower-priced lower-priced private schools have been pulled from public schools because the students are failing there. While opponents worry that private schools are successful success-ful because they can turn away troublemakers or academically-challenged academically-challenged students, supporters argue that students who do well in public school tend to stay where they are, while parents of struggling students are most likely to seek a private school. "Most children do well in Utah public schools, but some fall through the cracks," according to the supporting argument in the voter's guide. "Sometimes a different school would help those children learn and reach their full potential." The opposition rebuts that argument by saying that Utah already offers parents and students stu-dents choices through 'open enrollment' en-rollment' and charter schools. Locally, arguments against vouchers have included claims that there are no private schools in the Uintah Basin, and therefore there-fore the area would not benefit from vouchers. But Vernal has both the Frontier Learning Center and the Uintah Basin- ChUanAMdniy.An& ' the'Uinf-Uuray Yndiah "Res-' ervation is the Oasis Christian School in Ft. Duchesne. Although opponents argue vouchers would not pay enough to allow low-income students to afford "good private schools," none of the three schools in the Basin, which together serve about 150 students, charges more than $4,000 for yearly tuition. Like most of Utah's private schools, the Basin's three private schools are either sponsored by. a church or have a religious component in the curriculum. This would not disqualify them for receiving vouchers and opponents op-ponents say this could lead to lawsuits. Despite these worries, for 5 years voucher-program opponents oppo-nents have done most of then-work then-work in the state legislatures and not in the courts. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold an Ohio voucher system that benefited schools regardless of their religious affiliation. The American Civil Liberties Union had temporarily blocked the voucher system, arguing that it violated the First Amendment's ban on state established religions. reli-gions. Voucher opponents also object, though, that private schools would be able to turn away students without having to explain their reasons to the state because, unlike the state, they are not required to accept parents whose children attend West work for the Ute Tribe, which works four 10-hour shifts and takes Fridays off. And there is a tendency to take students out of school when parents aren't working. Asfortheother high absenteeism absentee-ism day - the day after dividends are paid - Sullivan said parents have additional funds and may take students out of school to go shopping or to take a family outing. The district curriculum director di-rector also explained parents of students at West are more likely to have not performed well themselves academically. When a students comes home with course work that is at or above the parents' level of understanding, parental involvement drops. Sullivan added that as few as two generations ago, most of the tribe spoke Ute first and English was a second language. Further, Ute was historically a spoken language and it wasn't until just a few decades ago that it developed into a written form. Although English has now become the first language, many Ute words and structure are still used by much every student who applies. Other arguments turn on whether the voucher system will drain money from the public system. Both sides admit that the program would leave less money in the school system, but supporters sup-porters emphasize that it would also leave fewer students, while leaving more money per student for those who remain. Under HB 148 public schools would be completely reimbursed for every lost student for 5 years. After that they would retain only the difference between the price of the voucher and the amount normally spentforapublic-school student. Today the state provides $7,500 per student, meaning at 2007 levels, public schools would keep between $4,500 and $7,000 for ever student who opted to accept a voucher. Worries about money are high in Utah because, despite spending a larger part of its budget on education than any other state, Utah's public schools have less money per student than any other state. Three major causes combine to create this discrepancy. One is Utah's lower-than-average incomes, which is not fully compensated by its higher-than-average tax rates. Second is that Utah families are larger than the national average. TtaTd,fUtahrha8 theTnatibn 8" lowespeecwBtogpfjxiilvdrejiiBMi; private schools. Two Arrested Continued from Al on 2500 South heading west to 1500 West. He then turned right on 1500 West, heading north. By this time, other entities, including Uintah County Sheriff deputies were involved in the incident and were preparing to put spikes down near' 1500 South and 1500 West. However, before reaching the deputies, Peters stopped at a residence where he and the passenger exited the vehicle. Police reported the female subject, later identified as Vanessa Van-essa Trout, entered the residence and Peters fled down the south side of the house and into a field behind the lot. Deputies pursued Peters into the field, where he was apprehended. appre-hended. Adult Probation and Parole officers arrived at the scene to assist shortly after the two were taken into custody. Vernal police and deputies apprehended Trout inside the Ernies IX (USPS 0892-1091) Periodical postage paid at Vernal, Utah Published weekly at 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Vernal Express at 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078 OFFICE HOURS: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Phone: 435-789-35 1 1, Fax: 435-789-8690 DEADLINES: News, legal notices, classified ads and display ads must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication PUBLISHER: Kevin Ashby - kashbyvernal.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Les Bowen - editorvernal.com ADVERTISING MANAGER: Byran Marshall - adsvemal.com ADVERTISING: Jacque Hobbs CLASSIFIED: Tonya Harmer OFFICE: Harriet Harding WRITERS: Mary Bernard Elizabeth Goode Casey Christensen PRODUCTION: Heather Crosby Michele Roper On the Web: http:www.vernal.com Email: editorvernal.com I Subscription Rates: I Clip and Send to: In the Uintah Basia j Vernal Express 54 N. Vernal Ave j Vernal, Utah 84078 I Name I Address City Cuft or Check only, of the tribe. This year, faculty at West have started looking closer at professional development and have started formal meetings with each other to more closely collaborate on what is or isn't working in the classroom. Sullivan Sul-livan said these professional ' learning communities are being be-ing used district-wide and are helping teachers become better equipped in the classroom. Also new this year, sixth graders grad-ers work with just two teachers. Sullivan said the goal is to remove re-move barriers created by having multiple teachers each day and increase the teachers' ability to track and monitor students in multiple subjects. Technology is better integrated inte-grated into the classroom with one computer for every two students. stu-dents. Teachers use technology as they instruct students and research can be done live on the Internet. Sullivan said to attract more teachers to West, the district has offered a $5,000 bonus to educators educa-tors who transfer to the middle school. But he said that effort has been largely unsuccessful. Nationally, an average of 10 percent of children attend private pri-vate schools, with some states privately educating as many as 15 percent. Utah has only 3 percent of its children in private schools, weighing down the public system even more. That anomaly is the product of Utah's unique history. In the early 1890s Congress gave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints two ultimatums before it would grant statehood to Utah: criminalize and end polygamy, and do away with church-sponsored schools, turning turn-ing education completely over to the state. Because of the extra strain from several sources on the Utah's public schools, voucher opponents are worried about any change in the state's funding criteria. cri-teria. According to pro-voucher activist Daniel Earley, however, their biggest motivation is control, con-trol, not money. "Per-pupil funding would go up in public schools because of vouchers," Earley said. "What the national groups who are driving driv-ing the opposition want is control of the national curriculum." Utahns for Public Schools-an organization opposed to Referendum Referen-dum 1 and school vouchers - w as contacted at the same time as Vote For 1, the prtRroucKer" organizationhowEvenithegroHpni was unable to provide anyone for an interview. residence. Police found an outstanding out-standing warrant on Trout issued is-sued by Vernal Justice Court and arrested her on the outstanding warrant and for evading officers. offi-cers. Peters was determined to have an outstanding warrant issued by 8th District Court. He was booked for the outstanding warrant, evading officers, the matter with Adult Probation and Parole, and for driving without a valid drivers' license. Both Peters and Trout were booked into Uintah County Jail. The owner of the home consented con-sented to a search of the home and police called on the services of Naples K9 unit JonNae and Cpl. Valeen Horrocks. Horrocks and JonNae searched the Mustang and residence. resi-dence. Reports indicate the K9 indicated on a metal briefcase, which contained suspected drug paraphernalia. Charges involving the briefcase are still pending. lYr.S26-2Yr.S48 Out of the Uintah Basia I lYr.S42-2Yn.S70 i OatofStote-lYr.S462Yn.S80 i I I Zip4 II Sorry No Charges j |