Following the legislative session, two major programs will be cut from Utah public schools, including grants for early literacy and digital learning programs.Bo
Following the legislative session, two major programs will be cut from Utah public schools, including grants for early literacy and digital learning programs. Following the legislative session, two major programs will be cut from Utah public schools, including grants for early literacy and digital learning programs.
Both programs were digital, as the school district says the legislature is pushing away from online learning and technology in the classroom. The legislature is cutting about $2 million from the Washington County School District. $1 million from that is digital teaching and a learning grant that ran for more than 10 years. It focused on teaching educators how to use technology in the classroom and online data to check students' learning progress."At any given time, those specialists were in buildings working with teachers throughout the week," Superintendent Richard Holmes said. "Their focus may be in one school, 'We need more help understanding how to read the data', others may be, 'Can you help us learn how to utilize our technology,' whether it was a smart board within a classroom, 'How do we use that to enhance our instruction?'""I think the biggest concern is being able to provide those services in a much quicker response and helping those students or those teachers who need help; it may be a little slower," Holmes said. "Some things we just won't be able to do anymore." The legislature also cut an online program that prepared students with basic literary tests before kindergarten. Steven Dunham, a communications spokesperson for the Washington County School District, said, "We'll see more in-person training, we'll see more one-on-ones with students that might be struggling in areas of reading." Superintendent Richard Holmes says the legislature also passed laws to limit technology in grades K-3. "They just don't want to go 100% with technology where everything's done on a keyboard or a computer," Holmes said. "Let's get a book in their hand, an actual book, and do reading." While the school district says they agree on the importance of a strong foundation without technology dependence, they do hope to still find a way to offer the data and professional development for teachers with "different tools". "Professional development does help a teacher stick with their career longer, it helps them feel good about their, their career and their profession," Dunham said. "Then, they can then make it more fun for their students." Some parents at Sunset Elementary were happy with the shifts away from expanding technology, preferring hands-on learning. Others, such as the mother of three WCSD students, Giovanna Shurtliff, shared, "I think that's the way the world's going. It's best to have our kids on the loop on how that works." She added, "It's so important that we give these teachers the proper training. How are they supposed to pass that on to our children if they don't have the proper training? I'm definitely not in favor of any of those cuts." Most parents agreed that the online literacy program was helpful and interactive for their students to get ready for kindergarten. "I recommend it to any parents, and I wish my other two kids had it as well," Shurtliff said. "It was very interactive, very much age-appropriate. There's music involved, little cartoons involved, and I feel like that's the way that our children learn the best." Shurtliff added she wishes the legislature had more of a relationship with parents directly on what they want for their children's education. "If there was surveys or any contact directly to our senators, our representatives, it would've been much, much better for them to be able to tell this is what matters to our voters, to the people of Washington County," Shurtliff said.Family members of Eric Richins expressed relief after a verdict was delivered in the trial of Kouri Richins, the Utah woman now found guilty in connection withFollowing a weeks-long trial, Kouri Richins was found guilty of murdering her husband, Eric Richins.The 35-year-old Utah mother of three was accused of poisoninA Utah woman was convicted Monday of aggravated murder after poisoning her husband with fentanyl and self-publishing a children’s book about coping with grief.PA former Utah Highway Patrol trooper is facing criminal charges in Box Elder County after investigators say he showed pornography to a teenage boy and exposed hAn unsealed search warrant revealed new information related to Kouri Richins’ mom, Lisa Darden, which suggested that she could have played a part in planning an
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