Iron County School District teachers, staff kick off new year with commitment to ‘gold standard’

Superintendent Lance Hatch welcomes Iron County School District employees to opening institute at start of school year, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 8, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — Iron County School District teachers and staff members started a new school year on Monday, exactly one week before the K-12 students are officially scheduled to be back in school on Aug. 15.

Canyon View High School band plays a musical number during Iron County School District’s opening institute to kick off the new school year, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 8, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“As we welcome you to a new school year, we want to remind you that we have in Iron County School District an important mission,” Superintendent Lance Hatch said, addressing the hundreds of employees gathered in the Canyon View High School auditorium.

“We believe it’s a noble mission, perhaps the most noble of all endeavors, which is to expend our energy and our lives helping others,” Hatch said as he then reiterated the district’s mission statement: “Our mission is to support families in developing college and career readiness by building knowledge, skills and relationships for all.”

Hatch said while current research suggests that 7 out of 10 high school students will end up in jobs that don’t require a college degree, “10 out of 10 careers are going to require learning after high school.”

“We have to prepare our students for a world where they have to continue learning after high school,” Hatch said. “We do that by helping them to obtain the knowledge and skills and the relationships that are needed to be successful.”

Hatch then talked about his former high school typewriter teacher, Mr. Palmer, who had enough confidence in him to enter him in a statewide skills competition.

Slide explaining “gold standard” for Iron County School District employees at start of 2022-23 school year, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 8, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“I ended up taking second place,” Hatch recalled. “And the academic standard was to demonstrate composition skills at the keyboard. That standard changed my life. Because it was the first time that I felt success academically. I knew I could do something, and I knew I could do it well. And I thought to myself, ‘If I can do that, in a room full of really smart kids, maybe I can succeed in other areas, too.’ It was a springboard for me for many things.”

Hatch then outlined the district’s theme for the coming year, “The Gold Standard,” and talked about how teachers can facilitate their students’ mastery of the standards that are being taught.

Hatch then mentioned several issues that teachers often deal with as they address the needs of students, including social-emotional learning, racial and transgender issues, mental health, school safety and poverty.

“These are all things that we must do so the students will learn and master standards,” he said. “But that’s not why we’re here. It’s not our purpose. It’s not our cause. You will never find a greater supporter of positive behavior supports than me,” he said. “But that’s not why we’re here. We use positive behavior supports to help students learn. And they learn the standards.”

Hatch then showed a short video clip of a college athlete who fell down at the beginning of the final lap of a 600-meter race but got back up and managed to retake the lead in the final lap and win the event. He thanked the district’s educators for being willing to follow through and finish strong, just as the runner did.

Hatch also said he plans to continue spotlighting success stories throughout the district via the “Iron 5” initiative he started last year.

“We hope that when you have students who have mastered standards, and they have risen to that gold standard, we hope that you’ll take a few pictures, send me what standard, and show the tasks that they are able to do that they could not do before,” Hatch said.

“We want to still focus on the five-to-one,” he added, noting that relationships thrive when there is at least a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions.

School board president Michelle Lambert speaks to Iron County School District employees during opening institute at start of school year, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 8, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“I hope that we can all agree that we have assembled here in this room, the very best educators,” Hatch said. “I don’t think there’s another group as good as you. We have the talent, we have the experience, we have the knowledge base right here in Iron County to be able to accomplish what we need to do.”

Following Hatch’s remarks, Iron County School Board President Michelle Lambert then spoke, likening the district to an “amazing, educational cruise ship” with more than 10,000 students on board.

“Together, we’ve got thousands of people on board this ship, and thousands of ideas and perspectives and needs and desires,” Lambert said, as she outlined three of the school board’s important roles. 

“The first is, we are responsible for hiring a captain for the ship,” she said. “And we did that last year by hiring Captain Hatch over here. I’m sure you’d be happy to be called that. We’re grateful for Superintendent Hatch.”

“The second role is to set policy,” she added. 

“The third and perhaps the most important thing that we do is that we set the direction, we set that mission and vision,” Lambert said as she further explained how the district’s new mission statement came about over the past year.

“We came together a year ago and we said, ‘OK, where do we want to go?’” she recalled, expressing her appreciation for all the emails, texts and comments that were received during the development process.

“Your input matters and you have a voice in what we do,” Lambert said. 

Lambert expressed her appreciation to the teachers and staff as she concluded her speech.

“You truly are heroes in our community,” she said. “The work you do is vitally important for our children, for our families and for our future. We believe in you. We support you. We really, really try our best to do all that we can to support you. We trust you with our community’s most precious individuals. And we expect great things from you because we know what we’re capable of together.”

Noted educator and author Anthony Muhammad delivers keynote address to Iron County School District employees at start of school year, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 8, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Following Lambert’s remarks, newly hired teachers and staff members were introduced and a slideshow was shown highlighting various schools throughout the district.

Wrapping up the morning institute session was an hourlong keynote presentation delivered by Anthony Muhammad, a former middle school educator and administrator from Michigan.

Muhammad’s talk focused on professional learning communities, or PLC’s, and how teachers can make them work.

Muhammad recalled how he, as a newly hired principal in 2001, had been sent to attend a mandatory PLC conference. He said he started out as a “begrudging” participant who sat at the back waiting for a chance to sneak out of the room. But then, he said, the conference’s speaker “started making some sense.”

“About 15-20 minutes into it, my deep reluctance turned into curiosity,” he said. “By day two, my curiosity had grown into interest. By day three, that interest had grown into fanaticism.”

After having bought into the PLC idea “hook, line and sinker,” Muhammad said he took it back to his staff.

“I went back and shared these ideas with my brand new staff,” he said. “And to their credit, they weren’t adversarial or combative. My staff was very pragmatic.”

“See, they knew we weren’t what we were supposed to be, and that we could get better,” he said. “I didn’t know that was such a blessing in 2001. Because they were open to alternative concepts. They weren’t stuck in their ways. So as things made sense, it was logical, they were willing to try. And that’s how we were able to make so much progress so quickly.”

Noted educator and author Anthony Muhammad delivers keynote address to Iron County School District employees at start of school year, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 8, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Muhammad used a professional sports analogy to talk about the “gold standard,” first talking about the New England Patriots under quarterback Tom Brady, winners of 10 conference titles and six Super Bowls. The Patriots’ culture was imbued with an expectation for success, he noted.

“Now, we can sit back and admire that culture,” he said. “But here’s the good news … we know how to deconstruct it and understand it so that anybody can develop a Patriot culture. Let’s flip them upside. The flip side of the New England Patriots are my hometown team, the beloved Detroit Lions. If you’ve watched the Lions, they’ve made losing an art, the art of pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory. They find new ways to lose. So when thinking about your culture, you can be Lions. Or you can be Patriots.

“You want to be a team where everyone walks into training camp thinking championship and unprecedented success,” he added. “That doesn’t happen overnight.”

Muhammad then talked about how successful organizations are driven by a sense of purpose.

“People don’t buy what you do, people buy why you do it,” he noted.

Muhammad went on to highlight several key concepts found in the book, “Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work,” by Richard DuFour.

“The difference between healthy and toxic isn’t really monumental,” he said. “It’s how they respond to challenges.”

Noted educator and author Anthony Muhammad delivers keynote address to Iron County School District employees at start of school year, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 8, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Muhammad said those who are part of toxic culture tend to find other people to blame.

“Has anyone ever known someone who finds new and creative ways to complain about the same thing over and over again?” he asked. “That’s the hallmark of a toxic culture. They try to relieve themselves of any obligation to resolve the problem.”

“I’d be better off analyzing my obstacles and then creating a plan and sticking to it, to overcome in order to get better,” he added. 

To see the official Iron County School District 2022-23 calendar, click here. For registration and other back-to-school information, visit the district’s website.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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