PACKED
MEETING •The public meeting on
Elementary Schools was "very well attended."
The board decided to have three K-6 schools
starting next fall. Nephi Elementary, Mona
Elementary and a new K-6 elementary school at
the present middle school building.
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
There will be three elementary schools next year, one in
the current Juab Middle School, another in the current Mona
Elementary, and the third in the current Nephi
Elementary.
Juab School District Board of Education voted to accept
the majority recommendation of the committee assigned to
review options for short and long term growth options and
went with option 6.
After some discussion about the wisdom of adopting a
long-term plan with many decisions still to be made, the
board agreed to follow the lead set by Leon Pexton, board
president, and agree that at least one new elementary school
needs to be built.
"Do we want to table the decision to remodel Nephi
Elementary School and discuss it?" Stacy Brooks, board
member asked. "We may want to sell the property and build a
second elementary rather than remodel the current
school."
Pexton said, via speaker phone (since he attended the
meeting by connecting long-distance from California) for
purposes of planning, it made sense to adopt an approach
with the understanding that, as the data is examined, the
board may make changes in the plan.
Therefore, it was agreed that the long term plan would
involve building a new K-6 elementary school in south Nephi
in 2008.
The existing elementary school would be remodeled in 2009
to facilitate grade K-6.
Additional classrooms would be added to the current Mona
Elementary School in 2009-2010.
The current JMS, which will now serve as an elementary,
will be made part of the Juab Junior High in 2010.
It took two meetings and a discussion session before the
board was ready to adopt the recommendation of the ad hoc
committee and accept option 6, one that the majority of the
board said they had not originally favored.
The dividing line for the coming school year will be 300
North.
The current Nephi Elementary School boundary will start
at the south of 300 North in Nephi and continue south
through Levan to the south border of the district.
West Field and Salt Creek Canyon students will attend the
current Nephi Elementary School.
These students will all be scheduled to attend the South
Nephi Elementary once it is built.
"Students living in a school's boundary would be expected
to attend that school," said Rick Welsh, board member, in
making the motion. The voting was unanimous.
The current Juab Middle School, which will be the North
Nephi Elementary, starts at the north side of 300 North in
Nephi and continues north to Burraston Hill Road on old U.S.
Highway 91.
The current Mona Elementary School boundary will start at
Burraston Hill Road and continue north through Mona to the
Utah County line.
The first public meeting, to take public comment, was
held on April 20, the board's regular meeting night.
Following that meeting the board adjourned for a scheduled
executive session to discuss personnel items.
During that meeting, the board also requested some future
items be addressed by the Superintendent and staff and be
presented at the meeting set for Friday evening.
At the beginning of the Friday meeting, Delanie Hathaway,
board vice-president, said that no further public comment
would be taken that evening. There was just one agenda item
and the board wanted to ask questions before making a
decision.
The board could discuss issues raised at the public
meeting but the public would not be asked to speak, she
said.
One tricky issue had been the handling of the aides which
are paid for out of special federal funds for Title I
schools. North Nephi Elementary will not meet requirements
for the funding but will still need the funds to provide
educational assistance for some of its students.
A comparison sheet was made showing the actual Title I
students who would be served in the north and south
schools.
In kindergarten, there would be 11 north students, and 16
south, first grade would have 4 on the north and 14 on the
south, second grade would have 57 on the north and 18 on the
south, third grade would have 6 and the south would have 6,
fourth grade would have 5 on the north and the south would
have 11.
It was decided that the district provide services to the
North School on the same per pupil basis as the South
School.
"The costs could be covered from the following programs:
Discretionary Federal Special Education funds under the 15
percent rule and/or Federal Medicaid funds," said
Superintendent Kirk Wright.
The cost to provide the equivalent service to the North
School would range from $18,000 to $30,000 (55.65
instructional hours per day times .65 equals 36.17 hours per
day).
Welsh, who had been torn between options 5 and 6, made a
spread sheet summary outlining the number of moves and,
therefore, the impact on students and teachers under both
options.
"My concern was which option, 5 or 6, would have the
greatest impact on the students as far as number of moves
and the percentage of the student population which would
need to move," said Welsh.
The summary he had compiled, he said, showed that option
6 had the least impact on the least number of students.
The data Welsh had complied, said Pexton, was scientific
approach that was a validation of the thinking of the board
and the ad hoc committee.
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