Question:

I was wondering why Custodians at the schools only get paid one time a month. When the sweepers and all other maintenance worker at the district get paid twice a month. If I had a choice I would really like to be paid twice a month. Is there or will there ever be a chance of being paid twice a month?

Response (Thanks to Payroll and Accounting for assisting with this response):

This is an old and re-occurring question that goes back many years when the district and teachers agreed to pay teachers an equal amount spread over twelve months. This is fairly common in most school districts. The pay frequency is determined by the location or department where the employee is working. Schools spend a lot of time preparing payroll documents once a month now, and would not want to double the time spent on the task. To run two complete payrolls would double the cost of employees and supplies in the payroll department. Also, because most of our money comes from the State Office of Education which transfers money once a month. To move the large payroll up two weeks would cost the district any interest that we might be able to earn for the time. This additional cost would then indirectly be taken out of employee’s salaries. The only non-district exception is for the lower paying hourly jobs of the sweepers, where because of payroll schedules they were often waiting 3-4 weeks for their first pay check.

Thanks for the question.

Question:

I realize that I am a new teacher and my ideals may be high for how much curriculum should be covered in elementary. However, I am saddened at the fact that our school has been highly encouraged to exclude certain content in favor of the “tested” subjects. When did social studies become a thing of the past for elementary schools?

Response:

While the board has designated a 3-hour literacy block, they intend for teacher to be integrating from other content areas (such as social studies). This is the express reason that the district has developed and published our interconnections curriculum to provide resources to teachers and ensure those non-tested subjects are taught. We have a prescribed social studies curriculum at every level of elementary. The board expects these topics to be addressed and integrated into that literacy block as a reading component. The district cares enough about the subject of social studies that we have a specialist at the district level to support the subject. Dawn Hauser is her name and feel free to contact her if you need additional assistance or have other questions. Thanks for the question.

Question:

Thank you for having a blog and for answering so many different types of questions. My concerned is the high number of ELL students in my classroom who are not prepared to start kindergarten. Which the Common Core being implemented I would like to see some meaningful support given to the teachers who put so much time and energy into helping all their students be successful at school. I understand that kindergarten is not required in the state of Utah and with others states (OK,TX) having Pre-K required before starting kindergarten. Why are we missing the boat on early childhood education?

Response:

We don’t believe we are missing the boat. While the state may not mandates early childhood programs, we are acutely aware of the positive impact early intervention can have on any student in terms of future academic achievement. Consequently, we have the most robust, comprehensive, high quality preschool program in the state and have a curriculum model and service pattern that is often replicated in other areas and touted by the State Office of Education. Additionally, we not only offer our preschool program in nearly fifty Granite elementary schools, we offer extended-day kindergarten in some as well for identified students whose lack of skills puts them at risk for success in kindergarten.

If you need more info, please contact our director of Preschool Services, Brenda VanGorder or Rob Averett on extended-day K.

Thanks,

Question:

So far I really like Canvas and a lot of it’s components. Unfortunately, for those of us who cannot yet use the grading program as part of our Canvas we cannot fully utilize it. Using the grade program allows students to see what is coming and to keep all of their classes in order. When will the rest of us be able to use the grade program in Canvas? I have a lot to learn with the program I know, but it feels wrong to only use part of the program.

Response:

We currently have a new grading program that is close to release. When we learned of Canvas this summer we saw it’s grading features. Dale Roberts in Information Systems is working with Canvas to see if the grading features in Canvas can do everything our grading program can do. Part of this has to do with programs talking to Discovery (our student information system).

Great Question!