Uinta County School District #1
May 2018-Weekly Newsletter, Vol. 25
PLC AT WORK
Sustaining this improvement focus and protecting educators from other initiatives as they work to become skilled in the PLC process.
Some states have used a school improvement model that calls upon schools to establish goals for ninety-five different aspects of effective schooling, with quarterly updates on progress. This approach is a recipe for disaster and almost certainly guarantees that educators will devote more time to completing paperwork than engaging in a meaningful process to improve student achievement. Districts that demonstrate the greatest progress in student learning have a shared sense of purpose, a clear direction in which they want to move their schools, explicit commitments from educators regarding the steps they will take to support the collective effort to improve the school, and, very importantly, a few very focused goals. As Fullan and Quinn (2016) wisely observe, “The problem is not the absence of goals in districts and schools today but the presence of too many that are ad hoc, unconnected, and ever-changing. They are too often fragmented and so people see them as discrete demands with little or no connection to the work… The solution lies in developing limited goals, persisting, and avoiding distracters. The best leaders use goals to establish continuous, focused direction” (pp. 20–21).
As school safety across the nation has been an area of emphasis, especially this past year, Uinta County School District #1 has been working to update, improve, and, create safer school facilities for all students and staff. With this is mind, the district has been focusing on three areas to improve and update the security of our facilities. These areas include:
Security Vestibules: The district determined that a top priority was controlling and monitoring public access to our school buildings during school hours. Remodeling the vestibules of each school to increase security by controlling the traffic flow and public access during the school day. The goal was to have the vestibules remodeled as early as summer 2018.
In September of 2017, the district began phase I or remodeling the vestibules. Phase I included security vestibules in three schools: Evanston High School (EHS), Davis Middle School (DMS), and Uinta Meadows Elementary (UME). Working with the State Facility Department (SFD), it was determined to contract with PlanOne, a firm from Rock Springs to develop the plans for the remodel. PlanOne spent considerable time during the fall of 2017 working with the district and school personnel to create architectural drawings that met the needs of each school. Architectural drafts were submitted for review in October and again in February, with final plans drawn up in March. In April, a proposal to bid was placed in the Uinta County Herald, the Salt Lake Tribune, and on the SFD website where contractors from across the nation can access the plans through what are called “plan rooms”.
On May 10, the district had a pre-bid (mandator) walk-through for contractors for this project and only one general contractor and one local subcontractor attended. Due to the low numbers at the walk-through and in a hope of encouraging participation from the local contractor, it was determined to extend the bid opening ten days until May 23rd.
On Monday, May 14th, the district received notice that the only general contractor attending the walk-through would not be bidding on phase I due to the contractor’s current work commitments and previously scheduled contracts. Without a general contractor, phase I of the security vestibule project will not be completed this summer as planned.
In the fall of 2018, the district will re-bid phase I in hopes of securing a general contractor that will have an open schedule in the winter months of the 2018-2019 school year to complete the security vestibule remodels. Completing the security vestibule work would be best completed in the summer months, as that is prime time for contractors and projects. The security vestibules would be a good winter project for a local contractor even though it will be more distracting for the school district.
Uniformed Access Control System- Currently, the district is using three different systems to control access for entering the buildings. The district spent the summer and early fall of 2017 assessing the needs and concerns related to the current access system and determined areas that would need addressed as well as providing an option for individuals in the building to lock down all doors in a building. The district has had three different companies come and take a look at each site and determine the next steps in putting together a bid for work to be completed during the summer of the 2018.
Security Cameras- Since the fall of 2016 much work has been done in updating and adding cameras throughout the district. Currently, all cameras on the inside of DMS, UME, Aspen, and EHS have been changed. Last summer cameras were added to the inside of Horizon. We are currently working with two different companies to get us a bid to complete the outside cameras at both EHS and DMS during the summer of 2018. Although the state provided cameras on the outside of Evanston Middle School, funding wasn’t provided for cameras inside the building. This will also be addressed during the summer of 2018. Clark Elementary will need to be rewired and all cameras replaced, which is also scheduled to be completed the summer of 2018. Cameras will also need to be added at the central administrative offices, transportation, facilities and warehouse buildings.
As a district we are highly committed to providing the safest place of learning for all students and staff and will continue to do what we can to further these three initiatives.
~BIRTHDAYS~
23rd-Jerry Carroll
24th-Brady Matthews, Jerrod Dastrup
25th-George Dickerson
26th-Angel Miller
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
UCSD#1 Administration
Cheri Dunford, Supt., Board Exec. Assistant Ext. 1021
Dr. Joseph Ingalls, Assistant Superintendent K-5 Ext. 1026
Doug Rigby, Assistant Superintendent 6-12 Ext. 1025
Alicia Johnson, Instructional Services Admin. Asst. Ext. 1024
Kristine Hayduk, Human Resources Ext. 1023
Matt Williams, SPED Director Ext. 1040
Shannon Arellanes, SPED Admin. Asst. Ext. 1041
Bubba O'Neill, Activities Director Ext. 1060
Dauna Bruce, Activities Admin. Asst. Ext. 1061
John Williams, Business Director, Ext. 1030
Jaraun Dennis, Facilities Director, Ext. 1075
Email: ajohnson@uinta1.com
Website: uinta1.com
Location: 537 10th Street, Evanston, WY, USA
Phone: 3077897571
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Uinta-County-School-District-1-Pathway-to-Excellence-480272945367024/
Twitter: @ucsd1