Board approves changes to calendar

The Board of Education of the Davis School District approved an alteration to the published calendar during its meeting Tuesday. The professional day scheduled for Monday, Jan. 14 was moved to Friday, Jan. 11. Additionally, Thursday, Jan. 10 will be an early dismissal for elementary and junior high students.

Dr. Helene Van Natter, who chairs the calendar committee, explained that Mondays are the preferred day for a professional day because then it doesn’t interfere with the teacher’s collaboration time on Fridays. Elementary and junior high students follow an early dismissal schedule on Fridays, which allows for that collaboration time.

However, because the originally scheduled professional day falls at mid-year, it could lead to double staffing as the teacher leaving needs the professional day (originally calendared for Monday) to complete grades, but an incoming teacher would start on the first-day of the term, which was originally designated as the Friday before.

New calendars with the corrected dates can be viewed here.

Four among top Utah schools

Congratulations go out to four Davis School District high schools ranked among the top 15 high schools in Utah.
 
Davis High was recognized as the second best high school in the latest rankings from the U.S. News and World Report. Additionally, Viewmont High was ranked No. 6 and Bountiful High ranked No. 9.
 
Also worth mentioning is Woods Cross High which ranked No. 11 in the state.
 
The rankings are calculated using the school’s performance on math and reading assessments compared to the averages of other schools in the state. Also considered is the proportion of racial minorities or economically disadvantaged populations. 
 
Schools in the top rankings must have a minimum graduation of 80 percent and a high number of students completing Advanced  Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. 
 
The graduation percentages for the four ranked Davis School District schools are 97, 96, 96 and 94 respectively.
 
District Communication & Operations Director Chris Williams said the rankings show the teamwork happening between parents and teachers, which is what makes any school great. 

“If you establish a working relationship with your children’s teacher, that school is going to be an excellent school,” Williams said. “Kudos to Davis, Viewmont, Bountiful and Woods Cross — fabulous — but it continues to be something that could only occur if there is a team effort going on.”
 
Davis High was also ranked among the top 1,000 high schools in the nation, coming in at No. 754. Only one other school in Utah made that list.

“Top-ranked schools succeed in three main areas: exceeding expectations on state proficiency tests, offering challenging coursework and graduating their students,” Anita Narayan, U.S. News’ managing editor of education, said in a statement.

Years of hard work pay off
for 4,500 graduates

Recently we concluded another great year for the Davis School District. Teachers across the spectrum said good-by to students they have worked with for the past nine months helping them master critical concepts.   Last Thursday and Friday, we attended 10 high school graduations.  

Over 4,500 seniors accepted coveted diplomas from our outstanding high schools.  Their excitement was obvious and palpable as we shook hands and wished them well.  Allow me to share just a sampling of the tremendous accomplishments of the class of 2018.

• Nearly 6,000 AP Exams were taken and passed.
• Preliminary estimates indicate over 95 percent of our seniors graduated.
• Our seniors earned over 50,000 college credits saving them thousands in tuition costs.
• The class of 2018 earned over $70 million in post high school scholarships.  

We are proud of our many senior men and women who will serve our country in a branch of the armed forces.

The successes and accomplishments of the class of 2018 is the culmination of 13 years of dedicated service of all our educators. The primary grade educators that ensured these graduates could read on level by the second grade.  The exceptional fourth- to sixth-grade teachers that had each student prepared for the junior high school level of rigor they would face. Our outstanding secondary educators that hone the skills each of our students possess.

The amazing accomplishments in the classroom, the choir performances, band and orchestra concerts and athletic fields attest to the outstanding well-rounded education our students receive in the Davis School District.  

Thank you to all our district employees, educators, administrators and classified employees for making a difference in a student’s life.

“Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops.”
— Henry Brooks Adams

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