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Show Teacher Turnover Concerns Aired At School Meeting Teacher turnover at Bryce Valley school was noted as Garfield County school board members met for their March meeting. Five teaching positions will need to be filled for the coming school year as teachers in Bryce Valley area leave for' a variety of reasons. Some Bryce Valley residents have requested the district hire older teachers with families that may be expected to remain in the area, but Supt. Henry Jolley explained that it is difficult to attract such people to rural areas. He added that he has had numerous responses to his request for new teachers by uncertificated individuals who would like to live in the area, but he is required by law to try to hire certificated personnel first. One position at Panguitch Elementary and one at Ticaboo will be open. There will be no retiring teachers in the district this year. Anticipated enrollment at Ticaboo schools fell short of the projected figure for this year with only 31 students currently enrolled. Estimates were based on the number of employees that would be working for Plateau Resources near Ticaboo. Most employees were residents of nearby Grand Junction and opted to work four 10 hour days with three days off each week. This arrangement permitted employees to leave wives and children in bigger cities rather than relocate them at Ticaboo at this time. The current contract for lease of class space at Ticaboo school was agreed upon and passed. The lease agreement with Plateau Resources has been renegotiated several times to reflect the status of attendance at tne Ticaboo school. Following problems of overcrowding of the third grade class at Panguitch Elementary school, six students were taken from the third grade class and placed in a combination second-third grade class. Extra teacher aide time was also rnntrarfpH fnr ncsietanro uith the classes. Principal Bruce Owens reported to Mr. Jolley that the change appears to have corrected the problem and that there have been no further complaints from parents. There will be a plan presented at the next regular school board meeting for addition of classrooms to Panguitch elementary. The district has developed a needs assessment questionnaire which will soon be ready for distribution in the county to high school seniors, staff, and families with and without children in school. Bob Fry, community education director for Garfield county reported to the board the progress of the community education program in the county. He noted that currently there are 60 adults enrolled in community education classes at Bryce Valley High School; 166 in Escalante, and 200 in Panguitch. Some of the most popular classes include dance, art, shop, parenting, and open gym concept. Fry reported that the Panguitch program has been functioning about three years and is currently working to establish the Social Hall in Panguitch as a multi-use facility with its use as a roller rink topping the list. He noted that Bryce Valley is working on its needs assessment and that Escalante has only recently formed its community council with Wayne Banks as director. Fry stated that the three goals he had set for the future were to create great teacher administrator involvement, to expand these programs into the county so that the program becomes county-wide, and to involve teachers to the degree that when the county no longer has a community education director, the program, will continue to function efficiently regardless. |
