-
Daily K-12 P.E.
-
Declining arts programs
-
Inaccurate school statistics
-
Bonding for capital projects
-
Cottonwood High School
-
Feeder schools and school boundary issues
-
Creation of school district calendars
-
Wednesday afternoon collaboration time
-
Keep communication open, keep parents
informed
-
Lunch program/vending machines
-
The sale of surplus property in South Salt Lake
-
Formation of “sub-districts” by high
school network
-
Measures taken to protect students and
staff
-
Cottonwood Heights vote
-
Reducing class size
-
Rotation of school principals
-
Student names on school and district
documents
-
Student
busing issues
Daily K-12 P.E.
The state core curriculum which must be taught in every Utah school is
determined by the Utah State Office of Education. At the elementary level,
the physical education curriculum for each grade includes four content
areas: fitness, motor skills development, social and emotional development,
and knowledge. Schools must spend a minimum of ninety minutes (exclusive of
recess and other free time) in structured P.E. activities per week to meet
the state requirement.
At the secondary level, the USOE mandate for grades 9-12
is 1.5 units of P.E. credit - specifically a semester each of Participation
Skills, Fitness for Life, and a maximum of one semester of Individual
Lifetime Activities, Team Sports or Athletic Participation.
Other graduation requirements total an additional 25.5 credits. With a
maximum of 32 total credits possible during the 9-12 experience, a student
has the opportunity to add additional P.E., CTE, arts, language or other
courses as he or she chooses.
Whether elementary or secondary, the desired outcome of
all physical education experiences is that every student gain the knowledge,
skills and attitudes that will promote physical activity as part of everyday
life.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Declining arts programs
The state core curriculum mandates arts education K-12
and includes the areas of music, visual arts, drama and dance. Granite
School District has always voiced strong support for arts education and has
made multiple efforts in recent years to bolster such programs.
The Board of Education doubled the number of teachers in
the elementary instrumental music program two years ago and increased the
classes in band and orchestra in our elementary schools from one to two days
a week. An additional elementary music specialist was added to
district staff to create integrated music lessons for use in music
instruction by all elementary teachers, and two such specialists coach
teachers throughout the district in related instructional strategies to
better teachers’ music expertise.
Effective this year, elementary schools also have the
latitude, assuming Community Council and staff support, to designate up to
one half of a teacher allocation for an arts specialist to serve the school.
Many Granite elementaries are doing so; others are providing students with
various types of arts experiences through grant funding from Art Works for
Kids or similar sources.
In our secondary schools course offerings in the arts
areas, like all other courses, are driven by student need. In support
of secondary arts programs, the Board of Education doubled the specialist
support in the areas of visual art, drama and dance and continues to support
the Granite Youth Symphony as a renowned district program.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Inaccurate
school statistics
It is difficult to attribute misinformation to its
primary source, but Granite School District maintains detailed student and
financial records for its schools and shares such data with state and other
agencies as appropriate. Student Tracker is a national system of
student data collection drawing from colleges across the country, a system
in which Utah participates. According to Student Tracker, the
following accurately represents the numbers of Cottonwood High School
graduates who go on to attend, though not always during the autumn
immediately following graduation, a college or university:
|
year
|
# of graduates
|
# of graduates entering college
|
% of graduates going on to
post-secondary education
|
|
2005-2006
|
373
|
229
|
61.39% *
|
|
2004-2005
|
366
|
254
|
69.40% *
|
|
2003-2004
|
441
|
319
|
72.34%
|
|
2002-2003
|
432
|
333
|
77.08%
|
* We expect that the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 percentages
will increase as did previous years as graduates return from LDS missions
and enter higher education institutions.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Bonding for capital projects
The district has worked hard to
get out of debt.
As with a personal home mortgage, it is nice to
make the final payments on your obligations.
After many years of bonding through the growth
years, in 1996 the district paid off all of their debt and shifted the debt
service levies to the Capital Outlay Fund to pay cash for the new projects.
That has worked well for many years as we were
able to construct ten new schools and remodel several others.
The district has saved millions of dollars in
interest and been able to maintain one of the lowest tax rates along the
Wasatch Front.
However, with new growth, replacement needs
across the district and rapidly increasing building costs the district is
considering getting back into bonding in the future.
Before the district can sell bonds, it will be necessary
to hold a district-wide vote for authorization.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October
17, 2007
Top
Cottonwood
High School
Under the current law, if Cottonwood High were separated
from Granite School District, it would likely not have the student body or
school feeder system to remain a viable comprehensive high school.
A division of Granite School District is not on the
ballot at this time and our desire is to keep Cottonwood High School as a
thriving high school with a healthy feeder system.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Feeder schools and
school boundary issues
Anyone may submit a request to have
a boundary area studied.
Patrons, educators, administrators, and city
and county officials may initiate a request for a study by contacting the
Planning and Boundary Department and/or the Board of Education.
Each February the Board of Education reviews
all requests annually to determine which issues to study and continue for
further consideration.
Once an issue is placed on a board-approved
study list, it goes through a process of committee study, local school
input, and public review ending with final action on boundaries taken by the
board in public meetings in November.
The details of this process are outlined in the
“Annual Population Review Procedures.”
These procedures are available for review
online on the Planning and Boundary departmental page found by going to:
www.graniteschools.org.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Creation of school district
calendars
The calendar is created by the calendar committee
consisting of parents, teachers and administrators. All parents in the
district are surveyed every few years to determine the critical elements
desired for the calendar such as starting/ending dates and the length of
winter, fall and spring recesses. Immediate feedback on the calendar can be
addressed by contacting Mr. Paul Hansen at pohansen@graniteschools.org.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Wednesday afternoon
collaboration time
For
many years, elementary school teachers have had 2 hours each week for lesson
planning and preparation. This usually occurs on Friday afternoon unless
school is not in session on Friday. During this critical time, teachers plan
for up to 30 lessons for the next week. However, teachers have expressed
that they have not had sufficient time to review student data and
collaborate with other teachers on behalf of students. Research shows that
these activities are vital in helping students achieve. Beginning with the
current school year, teachers are allowed 6 Wednesday afternoons throughout
the year to analyze student data, share effective instructional practices
with colleagues and discuss student needs. This time was created for
teachers by standardizing all lunch recesses across the district to 35
minutes.. Students still receive the same hours of instructional time during
the year as before. In fact, students receive ten hours more than the 990
instructional hours required by the State Board of Education.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Keep communication
open, keep parents informed
The Granite School District Board
of Education is conducting nine community meetings to give citizens better
access to the board. The responses on this website are part of the
communications plan to help keep you better informed. In addition to these
special board meetings, citizens are welcome to attend any regular board
meeting. If you want to offer suggestions at any board meeting, please contact us
to let us know you are coming and what you would like
to talk about, so we can be prepared to help you.
Schools frequently communicate with
families through back to school visits, school newsletters, telephone calls,
etc. There are other ways we provide communication opportunities for
parents, students, and other patrons. Perhaps one of the most active
communication tools we use is our “Updates by E-mail” service. On our
website, citizens can sign up to receive new information on specific topics
such as school weather closures, board meeting agendas, news about district
division initiatives, school boundary changes, and to receive the
Board Report and other
publications. You may
subscribe to receive e-mail notices on the topics you want here.
Granite District also publishes a
parent newsletter, Pathways,
five times a year. All parents of Granite students should already be
receiving the newsletter. It contains news about the district that affects
all of our patrons. If you are not receiving
Pathways, please visit our website to
download the publication.
If you are trying to reach a
district office and are unsure who to call, go to the district website and
click on Contact Us
in the upper left corner. This page
contains a list of most district departments, their functions, e-mail
contacts, plus phone and fax numbers.
If you are not getting information
you need from any of these sources, please contact us by
e-mail
or by phone (646-5000), and we’ll have someone get an answer for you.
Our mailing address is Granite School District, 2500 South State Street,
Salt Lake City, UT 84115.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Lunch
program/vending machines
Debate is currently underway
concerning vending in schools.
Many changes have already been implemented
including identification of those items of minimal nutritional value, and
the types of beverages that can be sold at each educational level.
Many restrictions are federally regulated.
The Utah State Office of Education
is currently discussing acceptable beverage and vending choices in school.
Granite District is committed to adhering to
these guidelines and eager to encourage healthy food choices in school.
For the past ten years, four elementary schools have served Pizza Hut pizza
as an ala carte item during lunch.
This practice is currently being reviewed by our new school lunch director
and district nutritionist. This
practice is not part of the federally funded lunch program nor is it a fund
raiser for the school.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
The sale of
surplus property in South Salt Lake
When the district purchased the GEC property on State
Street we indicated that the surplus properties would be sold and the funds
used to accelerate other capital projects throughout the district.
The district has worked closely with the City of South
Salt Lake and agreed that the best use would be to sell the land for single
family homes to help establish stability in the neighborhoods and to provide
additional students for the local schools.
The west 4.7 acres of the Lincoln
Elementary playground was sold in November 2005 and new homes are currently
being built.
Approval on the other two properties has taken
a little longer, but we now have city support and the old district office
site has been cleared and is now ready to sell.
The former Woodrow Wilson site is currently
being used as the temporary home of Granger Elementary School while a new
facility is being built.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October
17, 2007
Top
Formation of
“sub-districts” by high school network
Granite School District is
currently divided into 8 sub-districts or networks with the high school
serving as the hub of this structure. We are working to align school feeder
systems to further facilitate this organization. The network collaborates
together to align the K-12 curriculum and instruction. Many networks have
created their own student performance standards and report cards. Networks
are provided funding for professional development as well as for the
creation of effective student learning models. We support network autonomy
and will continue to explore ways in which this structure can be further
amplified.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Measures taken to
protect students and staff
Funding was approved in the budget
year to buy equipment to control access in all elementary schools.
This means that all public access to the school
will be through the main doors and thereafter directly to the principal’s
office.
Other exterior doors will be accessible by electronic
keys issued to district employees.
This will generate a log of who is accessing
the building.
Securing the doors in this fashion will greatly
enhance the safety of students, employees, and patrons.
It is the intent of the board to expand this
school security program to all secondary schools once all elementary schools
are completed.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Cottonwood
Heights vote
State law now has a process, completely separate from
school boards and districts, whereby municipalities can place the question
before the voters in their municipalities whether to create a new school
district.
In November 2007 the voters in
Cottonwood Heights and associated municipalities will vote whether to create
a new district.
If successful, a new district, including the
portion of Cottonwood Heights served by Granite School District, will be
formed and will begin operation as a district in July of 2009.
Although the new district would be the district
of residence, the law provides a mechanism for students to continue to
attend Granite School District schools.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Reducing class size
Each year the legislature
establishes a dollar amount for the Weighted Pupil Unit, that is, a dollar
amount per student.
The WPUs represent the money that pays for
operations and maintenance (everything from utility costs at the schools to
fuel for school buses).
Funds for teachers also come from the WPU.
In many years, the WPU increase has not covered
the increases in costs of doing business – the same inflation costs that
impact families also impact school districts – and student opportunities
have been reduced and class sizes have sometimes needed to be increased.
Last year’s legislative increase
to the WPU gave Granite’s board the opportunity to reduce class sizes.
We are dependent upon the legislature for
future increases.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Rotation of
school principals
Although we are supportive of continuity of school
leadership, our experience has shown that rotation of principals is a
healthy practice both for school communities and for the career of the
principal. Although there is no specific number of years determining a
principal transfer, we typically look at transfers when a principal has been
at a school about 7 years. However, this general rule may be shortened or
extended due to factors such as retirement, transfer requests, pressure by
communities, application for promotion, or need for unique skills in another
area.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Student names on
school and district documents
The law requires that schools
keep accurate records.
This means that official student records such
as transcripts, diplomas and state tests must reflect a student’s full legal
name.
Although the student accounting computer program
maintains a student’s full legal name, schools and teachers are certainly
allowed to use student nicknames in the classroom and elsewhere.
At times schools print lists from the student
accounting program and some confusion results.
We are reviewing the student accounting program
to determine what programming changes would be necessary to be able to
generate lists with a student “preferred” name.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top
Student busing issues
Thousands of students are
transported daily to and from Granite District schools, as well as to
educational field trips, and sporting events throughout the state.
Student safety is always in the forefront when
planning and/or executing the overall student transportation plan.
When large numbers of students live
in one neighborhood and are bused to a given school, each student is
assigned to a particular bus.
This bus assignment is determined by the
student’s address and the total capacity of the bus.
Bus assignments are important to accomplish the
following:
1. Control overcrowding issues insuring that every
student has a seat
2. Helps the bus driver identify students that should be on the bus
3. Helps improve overall student behavior
4. Enhances the ability of the bus to maintain a time schedule.
When bus schedules and/or
procedures are changed, parents will be informed in advance through
communication from the school and/or the transportation department.
Should parents have any questions or need
additional information regarding bus schedules or assignments, please feel
free to call 646-4280.
Asked at Cottonwood High School network meeting, October 17,
2007
Top