ST. GEORGE — Winston Churchill, the great British statesman, soldier and writer once said, “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”

The new school year began Thursday for Washington County School District students and starts Monday for Iron County students.

While learning tends to be the main focus of education, “knowing” holds an important place in the process.

Thus the following “things to know” are essential for both students and parents as a fresh academic year begins:

New process of review of books and materials

Due to the recent passing of HB 374 – Sensitive Materials in Schools and with the adoption of the Utah State Board of Education Library Materials Model Policy, each school district is required to create a district policy that abides within the guidelines of HB 374 and the USBE Library Materials Model Policy (click here).

Part of the requirements is the district must have a review process properly set up for books that are considered questionable for appropriateness for the age group of the school. While the book is under review by a selected board, the book can only be checked out by parents. Students will not have any access to any book that is under review or “Restriction” status. If the book is “Removed,” then it will not be able to be checked out in any library within the district, even by parents. Both Washington County School District and Iron County School District have their policies approved and ready for the school year.

For more information about the library review process for Southern Utah schools, read the following article: Here’s what the recent approval of Utah’s banning book process means for Southern Utah schools.

The National School Lunch Program waiver, which provided free meals for all students, expired in June after the academic year of 2021-22 concluded.

Not every student is eligible to receive free school meals anymore. Since the Covid-19 pandemic federal program waiver expired, the $14.2 billion program goes back to serving around 4.9 billion lunches, if the statistics are similar to 2019, before the pandemic as reported by the FDA.

For a student to qualify for free or reduced meals, they have to fit within the following criteria:

• At or below 130% of the Federal poverty line can receive a free lunch.
• Between 130 and 185% of the Federal poverty line can receive a reduced-price lunch.
• Above 185% of the Federal poverty line can receive a low-cost, full-price lunch.

Individual schools will have applications for free and reduced meals when a parent registers their student for school or will send home an application at the beginning of the school year. For more information, a parent may contact the student’s individual school’s office for more information.

Gender and racial equity

The Utah State Board of Education tabled the draft they were working on for gender equity and passed on the duty to the local educational agencies to create their own policy regarding gender equity on Apr. 7.

This was after feedback was sought earlier this year through a survey back on a “gender identity” guidance document that resulted in over 20,000 comments, the most ever received by the USBE.

Due to Utah state law, the current policies have been sufficient for the school districts.

Utah has actually been at the forefront of gender equity, having passed gender equity laws back in 2015, almost five years before the Supreme Court ruled on gender equity being a requirement in state law.

The state of Utah has not adopted a state rule regarding the use of bathrooms. It has discussed school guidelines and left any further policies or guidelines to individual districts.

The main thing that Utah laws require is that there is no rule or policy within schools that is administered that is not required by all other students. All students must have the same regulations, and no one is segregated with a special set of regulations, all in accordance with the following federal laws: Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, and Office for Civil Rights regulations.

In Utah, critical race theory is not supported and is even declared by state legislatures to be harmful. However, educational equality is fully supported. Utah schools denounce racism and embrace equality.

The USBE forbids instruction or any sort of training “that promotes or endorses that a student or educator’s sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or membership in any other protected class is inherently superior or inferior to another sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other protected class.”

WCSD and ICSD have released statements that cover the equity of all students, especially in educational opportunities. Click here for the WCSD statement. Click here for the ICSD statement.

Currently, ICSD and WCSD do not have policies specific to transgender students or gender-identity issues and bathroom use. The practice followed by school administrators if addressing this situation is that they consider the desires of the individual student and of the student’s parents as well as the privacy interests of other students. These situations have been and will continue to be handled on a case-by-case basis.

For more clarity on information pertaining to individual school policies and regulations, you may contact your individual school administration.

Additionally, policies in the ICSD address harassment of any type, including actions based on sex, gender, race, etc.

School safety within Southern Utah schools

School safety has always been a top priority of both WCSD and ICSD.

WCSD recently proposed and working on equipping all school campuses with video camera surveillance as well as currently, most schools have stationed School Resource Officers.

ICSD has working video surveillance and constantly evaluating better safety practices to help keep campuses more secure. Maintenance is working on increasing security at the front entries of each school. These include access control systems that utilize a doorbell-like camera requiring a secretary to allow entry.

ICSD Communications and Foundation Director Shauna Lund said, “We continue to work with the chief of police and county sheriff to increase security in other ways. Our parents, students, and the community are our best advocates regarding safety. If you see something, say something.”

WCSD/ICSD are seeking to be self-sufficient within 10-20 years.

The WCSD is in talks and proactive in seeking complete self-sufficiency within 10 years. They currently have a proposed date of being fully self-sufficient by the year 2032

The ICSD also is in the works to get full self-sufficiency within a 20-year timeframe. They will pay off one bond this year while they currently have a $69 million voter-approved bond from 2021. This bond’s funds are only approved for certain school buildings or enhancement projects. ICSD has a AA credit rating — the highest credit rating a district of its size could expect. Over 85 percent of the overall $115 million budget goes to personnel, directly impacting student learning.

Though the process of self-reliance includes multiple moves within accounting, finances, and business features, both districts have confirmed there will not be any deductions, budget cuts, or financial shortages that will affect the education efficiency of students, including resources, equipment, and materials.

Though some tactical financial moves will seem unlikely a step towards self-sufficiency presently, in the long run, and in the end, the moves will benefit the school districts greatly with predicted huge savings of over $10+ million by the time self-sufficiency is achieved for both districts.

The Iron County School District stressed a new app that keeps parents and students up to date on proceedings and events within the school district. The ICSD app puts everything a parent wants at their fingertips. Schools can add news items, events, and social media posts to the app. Eventually, the app will also facilitate direct communication with parents for announcements down to the classroom level. Click here for Android. Click here for IOS.

As Churchill outlined in his statement earlier, learning isn’t always found attractive, but it is essential to be educated, especially when pertaining to federal law and the “do’s and don’ts” which have recently come about from lawmakers on all government levels, engendered by the recent social movements seeking equality and justice.

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