Union Middle School Community Council Notes 4/28/22
- Returning council members (current teachers and parents planning on returning next year)
- We are losing 5 teachers and some support personnel, however, we have hired really well for next year. We anticipate we will continue to have strong teachers and support staff at Union.
- New Building Construction Update: They are running 2 months ahead of schedule right now. We still have a year of construction, so that may change.
- Last week of school our staff is going to do a first walk-through to see the progress
- Next year, they will set up some walk-throughs for parents – starting with the members of the School Community Council.
- Reward activities for each grade level on May 20th. Students who have F’s will stay behind and work on finishing work in a study hall.
- Students will turn in Chromebooks on May 19th. We also have purchased a yearbook for each student. We will hand those out on May 25th. We won’t give a student his/her/their yearbook until the Chromebook is turned in.
- Update on school discipline data. The SCC members requested some end of year data. We have had 468 incidents this year which is double the number of incidents at the end of the three previous years. Our top four categories were aggression, disruption, defiance and truancy. As we talked about in previous meetings, we are seeing an uptick in students in crisis. We have provided much more emotional supports for students that have experienced trauma or are dealing with depression and anxiety. This is the reason we increased our counseling team (3 counselors, a social worker, a school psychologist, and an outside contract therapist). We will continue to provide these ongoing supports next year. We also involved our school resource in situations where students broke the law.
- Honors classes-presentation by Marcus Chen and Kamisa Wagner
Our Building Leadership Team is looking at possible ways to provide challenge and more depth of learning for students that are advanced learners. We are wondering if rather than a traditional honors class, any student could complete a portfolio or a project (potentially in all classes) and earn the honors designation. Any changes in an honors program would need the support of the School Community Council, the district superintendent, and the Canyons School Board members. Parents on the community council expressed varying points of view. One was in favor of looking at other models to see if there is a better way to support all students. Another parent wondered if her child would settle for mediocrity if he wasn’t in an honors class. Nothing is decided; this is a conversation we will need to keep having in the future.
This is our last meeting of the 2021-22 school year. We can call a meeting if the need arises. Thank you council members for your service and for generously giving your time to provide us with invaluable feedback.
