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Show Page A9 Thursday, October 28, 2004 '(Efre Grand County School District by Superintendent Ron D. Castle Valley Comments Ferguson The State of Utah has met the mandate of the No Child Left Behinds (NCLB) requirements for measuring Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) through the use of criterion-reference- d tests (CRTs) which are sometimes referred to as core tests. These CRTs have been administered for several years through the Utah State Office of Education, and all schools at their designated grade levels and specified classes are required to take them. This is the second year for the reporting of AYP based upon the criteria set forth by the State of Utah. These tests are one indicator of the progress of a particular group of students in specified academic areas at a certain point in time. They are not themselves the determination of the strength of a schools or districts success. In addition, the outcome of the test does not solely determine a schools ability to meet AYP. A school may meet its targeted level of academic performance on a test and have many other wonderful educational demonstrations of success, but because of other indicators prescribed by federal guidelines, it may be designated as a school needing improvement. The designation of a school needing improvement does not mean that it is a poor school. It means that because one or more (it only takes one) indicators was not met, and therefore, according to the federal guidelines, the school did not meet AYP. These indicators are: (1) Participation rate: Each school must have a 95 percent student participation rate for each sub group and for the school as a whole for each required CRT. by Ron Drake (2) Academic achievement: Each sub meet AYP percentage level specified must group for each test. (3) Attendancegraduation rates: Each elementary school and middle school must have a 93 percent attendance rate average, or if the school is already at 93 percent or higher in attendance, show improvement in attendance over the previous cohort year. The graduation rate for the grades 19-1- must be at 84 percent. (The attendance and graduation rate have not been applied by the state towards AYP at this time.) This means that if the students tested for language arts and math met the designated score for Adequate Yearly Progress, but failed to have a 95 percent participation rate of any one sub group tested, the school would not meet AYP. Sub groups include (1) students jho are designated as economically disadvantaged, (2) students with limited English proficiency, (3) students with disabilities, and (4) students ethnicity designations. Grand County School Districts Adequate Yearly Progress results will be released on November 1, by the School District. They may be found on the Districts web page, http:www.grand.kl2.ut.us along with last years results. The Utah State Office of Education will post the AYP results for all of the schools in the state on its web site http: www.usoe.kl2.ut.us on November 1. In addition, the Grand County School Districts results will be published in a edition coming out early in November. Once the results are posted, the district will provide additional interpretation concerning each schools individual data. of The monthly meeting of the Castle Valley Kenneth E. Perino, DDS Wisdom Teeth Removal Impacted Teeth Dental Implants Orthodontic Surgery Facial Trauma TMJ (Jaw Joint) Problems General Anesthesia & IV Sedation Call toll Ellen Alger Mike Holyoak - Bettie Allee j Allen Mary Allen We Horace Beeman support Norma Beeman Todd Beeman DAVE Dixie Barksdale - DL Pete Byrd John Keogh Mary Keogh David Knutson Pat Byrd George Carter Ann Carter v inn Maiy Jane Cozzens Gary Carmichael Ned Dalton Betty Dalton Jim Farnsworth Layna Farnsworth Jim Salmon for County Council District 4 Dale Parriott for Last summer, a federal work crew cut and cleared a portion of the towns greenbelt, which was coordinated by Ron Mengel and the Firewise committee. Due to community concerns, no herbicide was used to kill the trees and as expected, the tamarisk has since sprouted a multitude of small growth. David Erley is organizing a work force to cut those sprouts this Saturday after the POA annual general meeting in an effort to keep the creek bed clear of such growth. They will cut the growth and let them lay where they fall so time will be spent trimming and not gathering what is trimmed. He is asking all who would like to join the citizen group to meet at the town lot at 1:00 pm this Saturday afternoon, October 30. All participants should wear appropriate clothing and footwear, bring your own snacks and beverages (water) and bring either loppers andor pruning shears. The latter would appear to be the tool of choice, he says. Roberta Knutson Cassandra McDougall Remember to vote on Election Day! Glee Parriott am committed to Grand Countys future. will work hard to (1) move the Atlas tailings using local contracts and workers, (2) work towards acquiring a higher education campus in Moab, (3) achieve year-roun- d jobs our tourism dollars livable a wage, (4) manage paying taxes by providing only essential government and reduce (5) wisely, am also committed to working with state and local elected services. officials to develop planning and implement solutions for Grand Countys economic development. I I Mel Rey Derrick Cook Shelley Cook Richard Cozzens -- Mary Lou Lopez Todd McDougall Ms Ibid Taylor Colleen Taylor Cathy Beeman Josh Bisco Merrill Brady Linda Brady - Chris Holyoak Roseanne Lewis ten-memb- er highly-charge- free Ray Alger guests. The tractor parade got off to a great Ollie Knutson Oral Surgery Specialty Care nt council approved two conditional use permits for Egmont Honer and Elizabeth Cate of Metric Works and Susan Jett of Queen Mabs Court. Egmont and Elizabeth design computer mechanical and electronic parts and Susan makes and sculpts dolls. An important agenda item was the discussion of water issues. Water Agent Catherine Howells reported that she received an answer to the question of whether 20 test wells were needed for a water study or if 12 wells would suffice. Water officials in the Price, Utah office indicated that 12 wells would be sufficient to monitor the towns water quality when money is found to drill the wells. The town received a grant recently to conduct a location survey of the valleys septic systems. The council decided, after legal counsel, that the survey work should be put out to bid before hiring an independent contractor to do the work. The council will award the contract at a special meeting to be held this Friday, Oct 29. The council directed the water agent to look for money for other water projects that the council already approved but lack the funds to carry them out. The council also is forming a town water committee. They will function in the public context under the direction of the town council. They are inviting interested people to submit an committee so all application for the people in the valley will be represented. November 11 is the deadline for submitting the applications. The council is also going to add members to the road committee. More things are going on with the roads now and folks are needed to help with the workload, they say. One of those things is a directive from the state auditor who wants communities to prepare an asset list and come up with a value of roads by the end of the year. The council selected Friday, October 29 for a special council meeting for three agenda items. The first item is to hire an independent contractor for the septic survey, to revisit a 2003 software purchase for town computers and an executive session to review litigation. ners, hosts, artists, crafters, volunteers and Merrie Knutson Times-Independe- 2532 Patterson Road, Suite 10, Grand Junction, CO last Wednesday and with the full agenda, it went on until midnight. The Town Council was held start a few minutes after noon and organizer Catherine Howells provides a description of the entrants: The parade was led by the Phoenix Hummer and driven by Ron Mengel. This fire truck is called the Phoenjx Hummer because it was found dead and out of service at the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. The Hummer was towed to Castle Valley and resurrected by the fire district and it has a great siren, which we all got to hear! Following the Hummer was the Orange Kubota driven by Jennifer Mengel. This hardworking tractor lives near the center of the valley and helps Jennifers husband Ron to keep up with her extended project list. Next was a hardworking lawn tractor driven by Alexa Pierce, who had been looking forward to the parade since the first one in 2003. Mark Webster drove the Round Mountain Vineyards and Winerys John Deer 790 Series tractor. It is small, compact, and still tough enough for all the vineyard chores. It leaves the property once a year for the parade. Following the green John Deer was the enfor the Town of Castle Valley and it was try a very proudly driven by Mayor Bruce Keeler Tonka indeed a tractor toy green (picture green and yellow tractor on a string). The next entry was the Castle Valley Fire Departments brush d truck driven by Bob Lippman. The fire departArmy veteran was resurrected by the ment for brush fires. Ron Drake drove his 1953 Jubilee Model Ford Tractor, which has been working in the valley for the last 15 years. The tractor also towed a trailer, which held two pedal tractors (an International and 8N Ford). On the pedal tractors were Alexas brother, Braxten Pierce and the 2004 Castle Valley Gourdess, Rebecca Martin. (A great costume, Rebecca!). Another 1953 Ford Jubilee tractor was expertly driven by Joe Whitney. Joe tells us that the tractor is older than his father is, but not by much. Bringing up the end was the fire department ambulance driven by Bob Russell. This relic was donated by Grand County and resurrected by the Castle Valley First Responders. Gil Gonzales was Master of Ceremonies for the parade and announced each vehicle as it passed by the spectators. - Grand Junction Oral Surgery Associates PC A miracle happened last Saturday, stated Cris Coffey; the sun shone all day and warmed the gourds. It turned out to be a beautiful day for the annual Castle Valley Gourd Festival and Tractor Parade and a lot of people were on hand to witness both events. Cris says she never is able to find the time to count but it was obvious that many from the valley and elsewhere visited the numerous booths of the venders and demonstrators. Bob Ridges held demonstrations during the afternoon, there was a table for kids to paint on provided gourds, nicely decorated gourds were available for the silent auction and everyone enjoyed the potluck lunch in the firehouse. Cris thanks ah who participated including the plan- Sonja Rey Gr&mid Saina Al Scow Anna Marie Scow Comity Jody Shumway Marcie Shumway Ron Steele Cornell I I am approachable and want to serve the people of Grand County! Montez Steele Paid political advertisement - Tom Stengel Suzie Stengel Dennis Godwin Phyllis Godwin Floyd Stoughton Ryan Talbot Jimmy Hawks Wynette Hawks Lisa Talbot Penny Tanner Steve Hawks Jaylyn Hawks Ray Tibbetts Carolyn Tibbetts Arch Walker Michelle Walker Rick Hirschfeld Cindy Hirschfeld Dim Holyoak ISSN 1538-183- 8 (UPS) 6309-200Entered as Second class Matter at the Post Office at Moab, Utah under the Act of March 3, 1897. Second class postage paid at Moab, Utah 84532. Official City and County Newspaper. Published each Thursday at: 35 East Center Street, Moab, Grand County, Utah 84532 0) address: editormoabtimes.com Postmaster: Send changes of address to: The 435-259-75- FAX t, P.O. Box 129, Moab, UT 84532 435-259-77- and PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Adrien F. 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