Jordan Supercast

Jordan Supercast

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Jordan Supercast episodes

  • Episode 162: The Driving Force Behind School Bus Safety, Meet Our Mechanics

    They are the driving force behind keeping a fleet of 276 Jordan District school buses running safely and smoothly.

    On this National School Bus Safety Week, meet the mechanics. They are men and women who work behind the scenes, under the hood, examining engines, testing brakes, inspecting tires, even repairing upholstery on some of the largest vehicles on the roadway.

    Find out how our amazing mechanics work day and night, in some of the worst weather conditions, to keep kids safe on the school bus.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are the driving force behind keeping a fleet of 276 Jordan School District school buses running safely and smoothly. It's National School Bus Safety Week, so we are going to take you to meet the mechanics. They are men and women who work behind the scenes under the hood, examining engines, testing brakes, inspecting tires, even repairing upholstery on some of the largest vehicles on the roadway. Find out how our amazing mechanics work day and night in some of the worst weather conditions to keep kids safe on the school bus.

    We're here with Richard Birrell, the shop foreman here at Transportation, where maintenance is done on all of our school buses. Richard, thanks for taking some time.

    Richard Birrell:

    You're welcome. Thank you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    This is one of the jobs where people say, ‘Hey, what do you guys do all summer?’ There's a ton of work to be done in the summer to prepare for the school year and close out the previous one. Tell me what your summers look like.

    Richard Birrell:

    Our summers are just playing catch up, and finishing up with their services. Right now we're in the middle of doing three engines, so we're doing complete overhauls on three of the buses right now. Spring jobs, break jobs, we're going through everything. We went through every bus this year to make sure everything's ready to go again.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And there are a lot of safety requirements and expectations, timing of inspections and maintenance work.

    Richard Birrell:

    Yeah. We make sure all the safety is up on every vehicle here, if it's due for safety emissions or whatever. We've done our emissions this summer. We don't stop. We're busy all year long,

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So it's a lot of work. How many buses do we have in our fleet, would you say?

    Richard Birrell:

    274 as of right now.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And we have a few of those that are natural gas vehicles, right?

    Richard Birrell:

    114 of them.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell me about the maintenance of a natural gas vehicle versus a traditional engine.

    Richard Birrell:

    The only real difference is, they're basically the same engine, other than a natural gas has a set of spark plugs, so we have to do service on spark plugs. But other than that, turbochargers diesel is controlled by intake heat pressure and natural gas is controlled by gasoline, which would be a spark plug fire type situation. So the service on those is a little bit more, every 30,000 miles, but not bad.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And how many people are there on your staff to maintain all those buses?

    Richard Birrell:

    We're nine right now.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Nine of you?

    Richard Birrell:

    Nine of us.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That is a large bus to employee ratio?

    Richard Birrell:

    Yes, we are one short of what we're supposed to have.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now is most of the work that you do maintenance, I assume, but there are some emergencies that happen as well?

    Richard Birrell:

    We do everything in this shop short of transmission work. We do body work, we do engines, we rebuild our own engines. We do frame up, we do springs, We do everything in here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. Nine people.

    Richard Birrell:

    Nine people. I have certain people like this guy that works on this bay right here. He does suspension work. He loves doing it. It's heavy work, but he loves it, so we just let him do it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Okay. Well, it's good to have some people who can specialize. Now, you've got a variety of types of buses also. Some buses that are designed to service those with special needs. And you have different different brands of buses as well, don't you?

    Richard Birrell:

    Correct. We have Blue Birds, Internationals, and Thomas's. We have special needs buses, which is one, like one behind you right here. Like I said, we have 114 natural gas buses. The rest are field trip diesels or pushers, which we call pushers, which is that size right there. We have three different brands. I have 18 years worth of seven different engines, 18 years worth of models on 'em. So we have a lot. We have to learn every year. Just like cars, they come out every year with new stuff on 'em. So yeah, we're constantly learning them.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow, that sounds extremely complicated.

    Richard Birrell:

    We have to be able to know what we're doing so we can teach the drivers what they're doing.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Right. Yeah, exactly. What is the toughest job in the shop here?

    Richard Birrell:

    Right now? Just maintaining the fleet.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah.

    Richard Birrell:

    Just constantly keeping up on with what drivers are going on and constantly making sure things that need to come in here are getting in here and getting back out on the road.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What are the hours during the school year? The hours of operation?

    Richard Birrell:

    We work from 5:30 in the morning till 5:30 at night. I have two crews, an early shift crew and a late shift crew. Early shift comes at 5:30 and they go home at 2:00, and my late shift comes in at 8:30 and they go home at 5:00. Then I have two lead mechanics that hang out till 5:30.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. You really cover the day.

    Richard Birrell:

    And I fill in all the blanks that are missing.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. And I know those blanks do come up. Wow. It's just really incredible the work that you have ahead of you for a small group. I am not mechanically inclined. So just looking at this engine right here seems very, very complex. And this is a unique kind of lift. This has gotta be a lift that's made specifically for school buses.

    Richard Birrell:

    Well, they make it for trucks and everything else. They're 18,000 pounds a piece. That's what their weight lift ability is. But because we have flat floors in here, this is the way we go with it. The new building put the inground lifts in.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, I see.

    Richard Birrell:

    They're all tied in together. So you just push one button and then they all raise at the same time and they all lower at the same time.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So there's basically one tower by each of the four wheels and you push a button.

    Richard Birrell:

    I can take it right here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay.

    Richard Birrell:

    The power's on so I can raise it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, it leans in and lifts that bus.

    Richard Birrell:

    Leans in and picks the whole thing up at the same time.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's really something to see, huh?

    Richard Birrell:

    Well, it saves us. It saves a lot of time and effort on us.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    How much does a bus weigh?

    Richard Birrell:

    36,000 gvw’s on them.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow.

    Richard Birrell:

    Empty is about 24,000 a piece for 'em.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Huh, interesting. How old are our oldest buses, would you say? You said that the grants are over about 17 years?

    Richard Birrell:

    Over 18 years. Because of the grants that we've gotten to buy natural gasses, we are at about 2008, 2009 is the oldest bus I have.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, those grants, when they come through, my understanding is you have to prove that the diesel bus is out of commission. You drill a hole through the engine.

    Richard Birrell:

    Yeah. We have to drill a three by three hole and we have to film it. So there's a three by three hole engine block, so it can't be resold, reused. We have to cut the frames in half, in the middle of the buses so the buses can no longer be used for frame worthy. So we have to film all that while we're doing, or after we do it, we film the whole thing and send it in. So, the bus can no longer be on the road. It has to be destroyed.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So how long have you worked for Jordan School District?

    Richard Birrell:

    23 years now.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. And is this where you got started or did you work elsewhere as a mechanic?

    Richard Birrell:

    I worked through Thomas Lewis Transportation, selling Thomas school buses long before I came here. So I've been doing this about 33, 34 years now.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. Well, we're very glad to have you in Jordan District. It's a huge operation. Tell me, we're standing in the new transportation facility. It's been a couple of years now, but I've heard nothing but good things about the space that you now have to work in.

    Richard Birrell:

    We love this place here. We have 14 bays now total. So every mechanic has their own bay so they can get in and out by themselves. We're not in each other's way. We have plenty of room. We have a brand new welding shop in here so we can maintain and do our old welding, whatever we need to be done. We have a new paint booth, we have a body shop, we have a part-time body guy that takes care of that. And that’s a full-time job just taking care of that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Right? So the body shop and everything in between. Our previous facility was a lot smaller.

    Richard Birrell:

    We had a previous facility that was what they called the dome, or what we called the dome.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah, it was the inflatable building.

    Richard Birrell:

    That’s correct. It was a lot smaller. Yes. When we worked in that, we had to coordinate moving all the buses in that we needed to work on, then moving everything out at the same time so we could concentrate back and forth. Because we only had one access door to get in and out of.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Now with one door and not enough bays for everybody, I'm sure a lot of time was just taken up moving buses around.

    Richard Birrell:

    It was. That's why I said we coordinated. When we’re ready to move, we need to move everything, including what's in the middle, to get it out. So they can get in and out of there. And then they bring another bus in, then we can slide back in again. It took a lot of coordination to do that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Well that seems like a good set up. I see with the hood of the school bus up, I see those horns.

    Richard Birrell:

    Those are air horns.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Those are serious air horns there.

    Richard Birrell:

    Yes, they are. They make a good noise out there.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us. When we come back, buckle up while we take you through a really big bus wash.

    Break:

    Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young life and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Can we walk by one of the bays and just see what that looks like?

    Richard Birrell:

    Some of the bus bays? Sure.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    How much oil do you go through in this place?

    Richard Birrell:

    Quite a bit. We order every 500 gallons, probably twice a month.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow.

    Richard Birrell:

    This bay here is done for my driver's ed vehicles, Suburbans, everything else. I have one mechanic dedicated strictly to this stuff. So he takes care of all driver’s ed vehicles and all the Suburbans we have.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now talk about hard miles. Those driver’s ed vehicles get some hard miles.

    Richard Birrell:

    They get a lot of damage to them.

    Richard Birrell:

    This is Kelly, one of my techs here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hey Kelly, how are you doing?

    Richard Birrell:

    He's got a material list about a mile long on this one here. It started out with service, but he’s got a bunch of stuff going on with it too. So when they come into the shop here, when they're ready to go out the door, they're a hundred percent ready to go. Our philosophy here is, we have one more day to fix it if it takes that long because of what we haul everyday.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You don't send it out until it’s totally ready.

    Richard Birrell:

    Nothing's rushed. Yep.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What's the most common problem that you see coming through on a bus?

    Richard Birrell:

    We haven't lost as many alternators as we used to. Alternators used to be an issue. Because of the EPA stuff that's on these buses, the DPFs and DEF systems, regen systems on them, we deal with a lot nowadays. For an over the road vehicle that does Highway 60-65, it works really well, but for everybody that does stop and go all day long, us, UPS, you name it, it's hard on the system. So we spend a lot of time working on them. Other than that it's services for most of it. Parts, radio, we go through radios and stuff like that. Like I said, he's building an engine right now. Just about ready on that one.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Let's walk over there.

    Richard Birrell:

    Exhaust system. This building was built because of the natural gas. The one we're working on natural gas. If you ever develop a leak, natural gas is lighter than air. Our vent system goes on top and these, all these doors open up to vent everything out.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So if natural gas is leaking, then the building vents itself and reacts to that.

    Richard Birrell:

    Yeah. Right. Natural gas is lighter than air, so it always dissipates above the buses. So if you see a natural gas bus, and I don't have one in here to show you, there's always a vent tube on the top. It'll go up in the air. So our exhaust fans are going up there and every one of these doors will open up to take care of that. So the building was built that way to handle that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And it's important to note that we have enough buses that we can take our time on a bus and make sure that it's tiptop before it heads out of the garage. What would you say to parents and students?

    Richard Birrell:

    Our whole sole philosophy in this place is to make these buses as safe as possible to handle the kids that we handle every day. We know there's a lot of kids out there that we deal with. So our importance is safety on these buses.
    Everybody asks us, do we take the summers off? No, we don't take the summers off.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    No. Summer's gotta be one of your busiest times.

    Richard Birrell:

    It is. Trying to get things back up.
    I have my own upholster in here. She makes all our seat covers and stuff now. We just buy it in bulk and she makes everything in here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So I see those huge rolls of material. And then you've got boxes of various covers for different sized seats.

    Richard Birrell:

    Whatever fits your seat in here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What color is that? Like a slate gray? Is every seat the same color?

    Richard Birrell:

    They're all blue. Yeah, they're all blue. That's just inside of one. They all look like this on the inside.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay. Then blue on the outside, huh?

    Richard Birrell:

    We try to keep everything as conformed as possible because we have a lot of stuff to do.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So as much as you can reduce the variation it increases your ability to do the job.

    Richard Birrell:

    We keep her pretty busy in here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. I'm sure that you do.

    Richard Birrell:

    This is Scott. This is my parts guy.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hi Scott.

    Richard Birrell:

    He spends half his life taking care of my problems.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So how many different parts do we have coming through here, Scott?

    Scott:

    Thousands. I have thousands of parts every day. I do a lot.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What's the toughest part to get these days?

    Scott:

    Tires.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah, that's what Richard was saying.

    Scott:

    Tires are one of the most expensive items to get.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Have they shot up in price?

    Scott:

    They have, yeah. They have. Steer tires run anywhere from $485 up to $500 each. That's why I recap 'em all of my front ones.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So in addition to everything else we talked about, we have a shop that allows us to get everything we can out of every tire and every bus for as long as possible.

    Richard Birrell:

    We run a tire right now, we get an average of 60,000 miles on a tire, before they go bad on us. Then we'll send 'em out and get 'em recapped one time. Because usually by that time, the date on the tire's so old we can't recap 'em twice. If we recap a tire twice after that life cycle's done, the caps are sold to trucking industries or whoever would like to buy 'em. We don't run anything more than twice on these buses here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So you really make the most of everything we've got.

    Scott:

    Every mile. I license all the buses, I make sure they're all inspected. I do the fuel for the entire district. I see the fuel bill for the entire district, and I pay that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's huge.

    Richard Birrell:

    That's extraordinary.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yes.

    Scott:

    That is extraordinary sometimes.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. Wow. Well, thank you for everything you do and for staying on top of this very complex job.
    All right. So we're walking into the paint, collision and wash area.

    Richard Birrell:

    So I have room in here that I can put two buses in at a time for the body side. We just brought one back this afternoon that got wrecked today. We were really hoping to make it through one day, but it is what it is.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Day one.

    Richard Birrell:

    Day one. We have a complete paint booth that we do our own paint work in here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So just to clarify, it's just a little body work. Nobody's hurt.

    Richard Birrell:

    Nobody was hurt.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What's the name of school bus yellow? Is it school bus yellow?

    Richard Birrell:

    There's actually 11 kinds of school bus yellow.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    11 kinds of school bus yellow?

    Richard Birrell:

    So we have to do some matching. Well they call it all school bus yellow, but there's different shades of it. So I can't tell you every one of the 11 shades, he probably could, but I can't tell. But there are 11 different shades of school bus yellow.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay. All right. How about, I mean, isn't there like a fluorescent green you could order just to kind of mix things up a little bit?

    Richard Birrell:

    No, the federal government won't let me do that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So all right. They tell you. 11 yellows is the range. That's it. That's all we got. All right. Fair enough. Richard Birrell:
    This is the bus watch facility, but be careful, that'll shut off.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Did you start it up?

    Richard Birrell:

    I did, yeah. Walked past the eye. So the buses, they can come in here and pre-clean, wash the windshield, do everything they need to do. We don't let 'em clean the inside of their buses in here because we don't want to tie up. We have a lot of buses to get through here. They can come in pre-wash their windshields, backs and then go through the bus wash here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. That is serious business. None of that would even touch my car as it drove through, except for the water. The brushes would be too far away.

    Richard Birrell:

    We've tried the cars and they don't work very well.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It doesn't work in here.

    Richard Birrell:

    But it works great for the buses. And I got a guy in here that comes in the morning, opens this place up, makes sure everything's set up for the drivers, whatever they need. That door's unlocked during the daytime so they can come in here and get any kind of cleaning supplies they need in here to clean their buses every day. And then he'll come back in the afternoon to close it down.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I have to compliment you on this, and I've walked through this place several times. It's always very clean and organized and orderly.

    Richard Birrell:

    Randy's a detailer. She's good at this.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Well, the whole shop looks great. Thanks very much for the tour. Thanks for taking the time. I know you're very busy. Thanks for keeping our kids safe and our buses on the road.

    Richard Birrell:

    Thank you. We do our best.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You do great. Thank you very much.

    Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

    19 min
  • Episode 161: A Bingham High Student and Her National Storytelling Success

    Claire Burnham has a pretty amazing story to tell, one Claire and her family won’t soon forget.

    On this episode of the Supercast, meet the Bingham High School sophomore who is one of only 10 students in the nation selected to be a National Youth Storyteller at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. To make her story even more incredible, Claire was the opening act for professional storytellers, including the King of Storytelling, Master Storyteller Donald Davis.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Claire Burnham has a pretty amazing story to tell, one Claire and her family won't soon forget. On this episode of the Supercast, meet the Bingham High School sophomore, who is one of only 10 students in the nation selected to be a national youth storyteller at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. To make her story even more incredible, Claire was the opening act for professional storytellers at the festival, including the King of Storytelling, Master storyteller Donald Davis. Find out how Claire's love of storytelling began and how her talent blossomed thanks to one teacher in elementary school.

    We're talking today with Claire Burnham, a sophomore at Bingham High School, and a champion storyteller. Thanks for talking with me today.

    Claire Burnham:

    Thank you for having me. This is very exciting.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So, for me too. So tell me, Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, that's where you most recently performed, is that right?

    Claire Burnham:

    Yes, it is.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And I think a lot of people may not understand that storytelling is actually a competitive event. Is that right?

    Claire Burnham:

    Very.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell me a bit about how that works, first of all, and then let's talk about how you got into it.

    Claire Burnham:

    Well, the competitiveness for the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, I don't know the total number of youth in the country who did submit their audition tapes, but only 10 in the country were selected. So it was the best youth story tellers that they could possibly find. Which was very stressful when recording, knowing that this is me going up against some of the best of the best. But while we were there just before the festival and at the festival, there was no competitiveness between the 10 of us because we were just so excited to be there with people sharing similar passions and similar personalities. We had so much fun with each other and we just couldn't believe that we were with so many other talented people.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, tell me about some of those other talented people. There were 10 chosen from across the country. Where were some of them from?

    Claire Burnham:

    There were three from Texas. There was one from Florida and there was one from Arizona.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Ah, interesting. So are there storytelling hotbeds in the country, like where there's a greater emphasis on it and you find more competition, or is it pretty much spread throughout the country?

    Claire Burnham:

    There is definitely a lot of concentration in the south. There are a lot of deep storytelling roots there. I believe the Appalachian, the Appalachian area. It's definitely where a sort of storytelling renaissance happened.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay, so I would imagine that hanging out with nine other storytellers, there can be some really good conversations.

    Claire Burnham:

    Very long, in depth conversations, there were.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Without interrupting each other, because once you get on a story, you gotta let them get right to the end.

    Claire Burnham:

    Exactly. One of the starkest contrasts that I saw from before and after the storytelling festival was my conversations with my friends who are not storytellers. Because at the festival we would talk and we'd have a conversation. One of us would go on a tangent and tell a story, and then, so we would all listen and then we'd, one would be like, ‘Oh, that reminds me of this.’ And then she would tell a story and we would just tell stories and have long conversations. But when I got back I was like, ‘Why do all my friends give such short responses? I'm sure there was more to your experience in that. Tell me.’ They're like, ‘What are you doing, Claire?’

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So you get used to a deep level of detail that not all of your friends can provide.

    Claire Burnham:

    Definitely.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And a narrative arc to the story as well.

    Claire Burnham:

    Most of the time. Other times we just, because we were from different states, a lot of the things we talked about were how different things were in different states. Part of it was the climate, the girl from Florida, she went hiking and she was like, ‘Why is the air so thin here?’ We're like, ‘You good?’

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Because we don't have humidity like she does.

    Claire Burnham:

    Exactly.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And we're higher than she is.

    Claire Burnham:

    Yes. The people from Texas, they were definitely like, ‘It is extremely dry here. This is the seventh time I have put on Chapstick today.’

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's fun. So tell me more about the festival itself. What did you perform at the festival?

    Claire Burnham:

    I performed my original story called the Joys of Apples. So all of the storytellers, we each had one story. The youth tellers each had one story. And on Friday and Saturday mornings, we would go and there were about five or so tents. And so about half of the storytellers, they would go and perform their stories in the tents, and they would open for the professional storytellers. There were about 12 of the professionals. So we got to interact with them a little bit. So we would tell our stories and then the professionals would tell their stories. And then we would basically just have the rest of the day to go around the rest of the festival and listen to more of the stories. Because the professionals, they each had many, many stories because they were performing many times. And so sometimes you had to pick and choose like, ‘Oh, I really want to go see Donald Davis. But man, Tim Lowry is so good.’ And you there was equal opportunity to still see all the storytellers you wanted to. With the Youth Tellers, it was a little harder to schedule seeing them cuz some of us were performing at the same time, but we still got the chance to hear everyone's amazing stories.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now I understand that you got to open for someone who's very well known in the storytelling world. Tell me about him.

    Claire Burnham:

    Yes, Donald Davis. Donald Davis is considered to be a sort of king of storytelling. I mentioned the renaissance of storytelling of sorts, in the Appalachians. And he was one of the main people, if not the main person who helped initiate that renaissance. So he is a masterful storyteller. He has an amazing southern accent and he's quite old. So he will tell stories from his childhood when things were just so different. And the way he tells it, it's exciting, it's funny, it's relatable. It most of the time has much deeper messages. So Donald Davis is quite the amazing storyteller, but I also have personal ties to him. When I was in third grade, he came to my school and he told us stories and he told us about storytelling. We got to ask all these questions. And I looked up at him and I was like, ‘Wow, I wanna do something like that.’ And so he was the person who initially helped start me on this journey of storytelling. To the point where I'm performing right alongside him in a national storytelling festival, which was, it was amazing! I need a better word than that. It was exhilarating!

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Amazing and exhilarating. That's pretty awesome and amazing that you came full circle to get to introduce the person who introduced you to storytelling.

    Clarie Burnham:

    Exactly.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, speaking of your early beginnings as a storyteller, we have Frankie Walton here who was your teacher at the time.

    Claire Burnham:

    Sixth grade teacher.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So she kept the ball rolling for you after you got this initial interest in storytelling. Is that right?

    Claire Burnham:

    Yes, and it is due to my teachers that I was given so many opportunities to start storytelling. I was in third grade when Donald Davis came to my school, and it was the fourth graders who will often write stories and then as they perform them, the teachers will choose the best ones. And then they went to kind of like a district competition so that they could showcase those stories. But me, as a third grader my teacher saw that I might be good at this, so she let me write a story and work with the fourth graders to give it. And then in fourth grade, obviously I was able to tell more stories. And my fifth grade teacher thought that that was great, so I could show the little fourth graders how it was done. And then my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Walton was able to give me the opportunity to do it again. So that was the last year that I was able to perform that particular district wide storytelling showcase. But the company that does it, Story Crossroads, I have worked with ever since.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. That's quite an origin story. Stay with us when we come back. Meet the teacher who inspired Claire's passion and success in storytelling.

    Break:

    Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young life and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at workatjordan.org

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Mrs. Walton, tell me a little bit about what you remember about Claire as a storyteller. Way back when.

    Frankie Walton:

    I think the thing that I remember most about Claire is her passion and her beautiful way that she expresses language. She was a fantastic writer, and so I knew right off the bat that she would be able to deliver her story in a way that would be meaningful to all of us. And I hadn't originally planned on doing the program of storytelling in my classroom, but when Claire came to me and said, ‘I really want to do this’, she ignited a fire in me to give an opportunity to my entire class to do it. And so I was grateful to Claire because she brought her passion to our entire class and to me as well. I'll never forget her standing up in the room, and on audio I can't give it justice, but she put her hands up in the air, kind of like jazz hands, and she just said, ‘Mind blown’. And in that moment, my mind was blown because I saw her talent and her passion and was so excited to see what she was going to do in the future with this talent.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, that's what great teaching is all about. It's seeing that spark, seeing something in a student and providing those opportunities for them. So thank you for, for being that person for Claire. Tell me what was it like in the classroom? What benefits did you see for your students once you opened this up to your entire class?

    Frankie Walton:

    For me, it was really easy to attach storytelling to our curriculum and to the core and the standards. Because storytelling is a way in which you can communicate an idea that opens up doors and windows to other people. And so I was able to see them go full circle with the written word into verbal communication. It was just an easy way to get students engaged and interested in something that they weren't necessarily engaged and interested in to start with.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And storytelling is very natural for humans. We like to click into that mode of storytelling a lot and stories are compelling and can be persuasive and change our minds about things, but also make us test our own thinking as we're telling the story to someone else. So I think that's a great skill for sixth graders.

    Frankie Walton:

    Absolutely. Oftentimes they're shy, and nervous about their social standing and I saw many, many students blossom and just take it in a direction that all of a sudden, they became little humans with so much talent that I hadn't seen before. So it was a wonderful opportunity and I'm very blessed to be able to continue working through the Gifted and Talented department in providing this opportunity for all students in our district.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, tell me what that looks like.

    Frankie Walton:

    So we, in the Gifted and Talented department, sponsor the festival, or not festival, sponsor the Story Weavers competition each year in the spring. And any teacher in elementary grades 3-6 can participate. They just have their students write a story. Most often it's a tall tale or a fable or a fractured fairy tale, something along those lines. They put their little spin on a traditional story. And then the teacher provides the opportunity for the student to then perform that story and to practice that story. And we encourage them to perform it to each other, to other classes in the school, to parents, to anybody they can get their hands on to tell their story to. They have a class competition or a schoolwide competition, and then, the best speakers and storytellers are then invited to participate in a district showcase.

    It's not really a competition. Everyone who participates is featured and celebrated, but we don't really compete for first, second, third. One of the things that's really helpful for our students is that we have adult judges there at our showcase, and those judges are always providing feedback to the students so that they can improve in their storytelling. And we are just so thrilled often to have our students showcase their talents and be able to do it in such a way that's beneficial to each of us, because we get to hear their stories and we laugh and we cry, and we just enjoy being with them and seeing how wonderful these young people truly are.

    Claire Burnham:

    I’ve got mine hanging on my walls. I look at them when I'm writing for school. I look at the feedback that I got when writing in school and I'm like, ‘Yeah, these judges thought that I was good so I can write this paper.’

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So the feedback continues to give you a boost and give you some confidence as you go into each new performance.

    Claire Burnham:

    Precisely.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Sounds as if Claire has created a lot of opportunities for many students years after she first got interested in storytelling.

    Frankie Walton:

    Absolutely. So many of our programs are designed in such a way that the students that are coming up behind them can look to them and see the good things that they do. And Claire has absolutely inspired many, many people.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What's next for you and what do you see into the future as a storyteller?

    Claire Burnham:

    Well, being in the storytelling festival was absolutely a wonderful, incredible experience and I really hope that I can get to do it again. I'm actually already starting to brainstorm a little bit about what story I will use to audition with next time, because it is definitely something I wish to do again. But as for what is next, I plan on using the skills that I learned in my everyday life. Storytelling definitely makes even average life better. It's helped me to have better conversations with my friends. I'm pretty sure it will definitely help me to have the confidence and eloquence that I need in job interviews that I may have upcoming.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I have no doubt of that. I think you'll do great.

    Claire Burnham:

    Thank you. Storytelling also can help with acting and acting helps with storytelling. Sure. I definitely love being an actress. That's one of the reasons why I use a lot of expression and movements in my storytelling.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I have no doubt you're going to be very successful in whatever you choose and that this will help you because as you said, it's helpful in a lot of aspects of life and day to day life. Which brings me to talking with your mom, who's also here. We have Jet Burnham here to tell us what it's like having a child who can tell stories as well as Claire can.

    Jet Burnham:

    It's very entertaining. When I ask her about school, it's not a,’ it was fine.’ I get a, I don't know, 40 minute explanation of what she said and what he did and what it smelled like and what it sounded like. Yeah. Her descriptions are long and detailed.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I think there are a lot of parents who would really like to hear that kind of report on the school day instead of one word and a nod.

    Jet Burnham:

    That's true. I have other kids who only give me that, but I only have so many hours in the day, so sometimes I ask her for the five minute version instead of the 50 minute version.

    Claire Burnham:

    And that is when I learned to talk very fast.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, yes. So she limits your time. You still try to get all the information in. If you can.

    Claire Burnham:

    You can't just cut down the intricate day to day life of what exactly happened in Secondary Math Honors III.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, just a heads up, we are going to have to edit some of this interview either that or make it a three parter.

    Claire Burnham:

    I'm good with that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Which I appreciate because it's very nice to talk with someone who can speak to a topic so easily. Any advice for those who are considering looking at storytelling as a hobby?

    Claire Burnham:

    Many people look at storytelling and think, ‘Oh, I could never do that’. At the festival, there were people who came up to me, they were like, ‘Wow, that was so amazing. I could never do that.’ And I just think you are telling a sort of story right now. Storytelling. It's looking at life and yes, embellishing a little, just being able to talk about it. Whether that's your own life or the life of some fictional character or the life of some tortoise and some hare. One of my favorite quotes that I heard at the Storytelling Festival, and it has stuck with me ever since I heard it, was that we need more storytelling because stories turn people into human beings. And if you just want to tell a story, do it, tell a story. It doesn't matter if you trip up on your words a little, that makes it even better. It adds more human layers to the story.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, thanks for spending the time and congratulations on the medal that you're wearing from the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. And I know you have lots of great stories in your future.

    Claire Burnham:

    Thank you so much.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thanks for joining us on another episode of The Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

    22 min
  • Episode 160: Special Education Teacher by Day, Powerlifting World Champ by Night

    He is a kind, compassionate and caring special education teacher by day. However, when he’s not in the classroom, this teacher is in the weight room defying normal human strength with his deadlifting abilities.

    On this episode of the Supercast, meet Sheldon Russell. An incredible teacher and world record holder in powerlifting weight lifting. Find out how Sheldon has defied the odds in life and is inspiring others around him every day.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. He is a kind, compassionate, and caring special education teacher by day. However, when he's not in the classroom, this teacher is in the weight room defying normal human strength with his deadlifting abilities. On this episode of the Supercast, meet Sheldon Russell, an incredible teacher and world record holder in deadlift weightlifting. Find out how Sheldon has defied the odds in life and is inspiring others around him every day.

    We’re here at West Jordan High School with Sheldon Russell to talk about a world record that he holds. Sheldon, thanks for taking time.

    Sheldon Russel:

    Thank you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now first, let's talk about you as a teacher and educator in Jordan District. Tell us a bit about your career.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Well, I've been all over the place and I did some administration for a while, did teaching special ed, and I decided to go back to doing what I love, special ed. I'm a lot older than I look. I've got a few years left and I thought I'd finish doing what I love to do.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's great. And tell us about your current teaching assignment.

    Sheldon Russell:

    I teach Life Skills at West Jordan High School. High school students with intellectual disabilities, autism, multiple disabilities. It can be challenging, but it's fun.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's hard to come by Life Skills teachers. Explain to those who may not know what a Life Skills class is, what's involved.

    Sheldon Russell:

    We work on a lot of functional skills. So there's kids that may need help with reading or writing or math. My students need help in all facets of their life. So they will have some sort of dependence on people for the remainder of their life. Our job is to help them become as independent as possible. Some kids, we're working on writing numbers, other kids were working on finishing their math homework. But we deal with students with autism, down syndrome. We have kids with physical disabilities and impairments, hearing impairments, vision impairments. It's kind of a challenge, but like I said, I enjoy it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And how many students are served in this support classroom?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Okay, so we have 24 students in our support classroom and we have two teachers in there and we have some assistants that help us out as well.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's a really important program. And you have peer tutors I assume as well.

    Sheldon Russell:

    We do. Peer tutors come and help throughout the day, and they do a journal each week, and it's interesting reading what they write. And I've found this in my life, not only in my life, but I've noticed it with these kids. I'm an educator, but I get paid to learn every day. Working with kids like this gives you a lot of perspective on what life is really all about. So yes, I'm an educator, but I consider myself a professional student right now because I'm taught about life and perspective every day.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's true for the peer tutors that get to be part of your class as well. It's a really important program. Yes, the peer tutors are there to help the students who are in the support classroom and need the help, but I think they learn a lot about life, a lot of perspective. And develop some deep friendships themselves.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Absolutely. I see some kids that have their own challenges as peer tutors themselves, but they come in our room and it brings out the best in them, and they learn a lot about life. And this is my little plug for anyone who wants to go into special education. I tell all my peer tutors. It's a good field to be in.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah, absolutely. And wonderful things happen in our support classrooms in Jordan District. We've done a couple of Supercast episodes in support classrooms, so thank you for filling that role and taking care of those kids that need it the very most.

    Sheldon Russell:

    You're welcome.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now let's talk about your hobby. It's hard to call it a hobby when you have reached these types of heights with a world record. How did you get started in weightlifting and when?

    Sheldon Russell:

    I was seven years old. My mother started dating my stepfather and he was actually a body building promoter.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    A Body building promoter?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yes, he was back in the day.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You were seven and what did he tell you? It's too late almost, but let's see if we can get you started?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yeah, kind of. Actually, everyone was a big Arnold Schwarzenegger fan back in the early eighties. And I watched Conan the Barbarian and I thought he was the coolest guy in the world. I even grew my hair out long when I was in the fifth grade and my dad called me Little Arnold. So I picked up a weight at seven years old and then I never stopped.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And he was here to pump you up?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Exactly. That's right.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay. You picked up, what size weight did you pick up when you were seven?

    Sheldon Russell:

    When I was seven, I had a little hollow bar with little five pound cement plates on each side. And my dad put me through a little exercise routine and then I just, once I hit about 15, I started going heavy. And I've done it for 40 years now. So I did powerlifting. I don't know if you remember those days.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I do.

    Sheldon Russell:

    I do powerlifting. Excuse me, bodybuilding. And I got sick of eating chicken, broccoli and brown rice six or seven times a day. So I was always strong and I always thought I'd compete in the bench press. But I had a friend who got me into, he says, ‘Hey, come, come pull with me.’ And I go and pull with him and the first time we pull together, I pull 600 pounds. He says, ‘Hey, you should compete.’ And then the rest is history. I've been competing solid for three years straight now, and we've done quite a bit. There's more than one world record, but.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    More than one world record. I was selling you short. Tell me exactly what is a deadlift? It sounds like zombies are involved. But what is, what is an actual deadlift?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Well, you feel like you're gonna die when you lift it for sure. But you basically go down to the ground and you basically straight arms, and pull the weight up and stand up with it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So these are the guys who lean over or crouch down, pull up the weights and you just have to stand with the weight. And then you drop it to the ground.

    Sheldon Russell:

    You do not drop it to the ground.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You don't drop to the ground.

    Sheldon Russell:

    You can while you're training.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I always drop it to the ground when I'm deadlifting.

    Sheldon Russell:

    You don't drop it to the ground or the lift doesn't count. So you have to put it back down on the ground. So you pull it up, wait for the judge to wave his hand down, and then you put it down on the ground.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So he has to show that you got it high enough.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yes.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    For long enough. And then you set it back down. So tell me, is putting it back down harder than it looks?

    Sheldon Russell:

    After you've strained yourself? Sometimes, yes. The first time I ever deadlifted 700 pounds was in training and I tweaked my back doing it, but it was still awesome. But I tweaked it, putting it down on the ground.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, when you demonstrated that just now you had one hand facing back and one hand facing forward, is that how you lift?

    Sheldon Russell:

    That's called a mixed grip and I do lift that way. There's people that do double overhand and then they do a hook grip where they take their index figure and hold it over their thumb. That's extremely painful. And I have short thumbs, so I don't do it. I can't do it that way.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That doesn't sound like a good idea at all.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Well, there's people that are good at hook grippers and I am not one of them. I'm mixed grip all the way, which also leads to a bunch of fun injuries as well.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay. Well, so that's a deadlift. Now tell me, how much have you lifted for each of your world records and in what category were you competing?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Okay, so currently I hold 37 records all together between State…

    Anthony Godfrey:

    37 records?!

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yes, in three years of competing. 37 State, National, and World records. So I hold three World records. There's an open federation, that is a non-tested federation, that means anyone can compete in it. I did 700 pounds.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    700 even?

    Sheldon Russell:

    700 even. And in the same competition I also got two additional world records at FitCon. Which were 700 pounds again, in the open division, so that's all ages, and the 45 to 49 age division. Now it's kind of neat because they do a little ranking system on openpowerlifting.org, and right now I'm gonna try and be humble here, but I'm ranked among all drug tested lifters number one in the world.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. Right now?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yes.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow! That's amazing. That’s really cool.

    Sheldon Russell:

    It's okay.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us when we come back more with Sheldon Russell.

    Break:

    Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    When did you realize that you were really good at this? Not just that you liked it, but that you had the potential to hold a world record or three and to really compete?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Well, I was always really strong. I just never considered it, really considered powerlifting. It was when I went with my friend that one day and he taught me. I used to be able to just casually pull 600 pounds off the ground, but my form was atrocious. I was using straps, which help you hold onto the bar. It was when I learned the techniques a little bit more and then immediately thought, ‘Wow, I could make some noise.’ And then in the first competition, I do 600 pounds and we get three state records there in the USPA. And then I thought, ‘Okay, here we go. Now it's gonna be fun.’ And then a few months later I did 655, and then I fought forever to get to the 700 pound club because it doesn't count unless you do it on the platform. So that's kind of cool.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So do you do bench press and deadlift, or is it only deadlift at this point that you're focused on?

    Sheldon Russell:

    The full power in a competition is squat, bench and deadlift. So you could do the full power, which is bench press, squat and deadlift, or you could do push pull would be bench and deadlift, or you can just do bench or deadlift. I've benched and deadlifted in a meet. I wanna do a full power, but I'm too old and it hurts, so I do the best I can. So one day I will do one. I'll probably be really conservative with my numbers, at least on squat. And then we'll see what happens. But I have benched in competition. I have some records in bench in the APF and AAPF, but it's still, it's not like pulling.

    I would be considered a deadlift specialist. So when, when guys get older, they usually veer away from full power. One of my friends I train with is a bench press specialist. Another one I train with is also a deadlift specialist. We're just too old, we sit all day. It's an all day event if you do full power. I can go at 2:00 and pull and be done at 6 or 7 and go home.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now I know you're a comic book fan. Yes. And as a deadlifter, you must connect with some superheroes or super villains. Are you a Hulk guy? Are you a Thing guy? Because you know, those guys can probably lift about 700 as well.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Well, I think you know the answer to that question.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell the people, tell the people.

    Sheldon Russell:

    I have a soft spot in my heart for the Man of Steel. Ever since I was a little boy it was Superman. I do like the Hulk. I do like all sorts of comics, but my favorite is Superman.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    There is something about Superman. Well, you ought to consider Cosplay because as a lifter like that, I mean you've the muscles for it. Have you considered that?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yeah, but I also have the stomach. I could be The Blob. I've got the power lifting stomach. I could be The Blob as well.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, it's a very unique talent and skill and I wonder whether that's something that has helped you connect with students over the years?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yeah, a little bit. When I taught at the middle school, West Jordan Middle, I think the internet was in its infancy at that point. But I did teach an after school weightlifting class. The important thing for me is that if I'm working with a kid and we're weightlifting, I do like to mention that lifting weights is a good metaphor for life. Okay. I didn't have the best situation growing up and I had a hard time, but this was one of the things that pulled me out. So if I'm having a difficult life, I go and lift a bunch of weight. I always made the connection. I tell this to students too. If you can lift that weight, what means you can't do this or that? What makes you think you can't pass that exam if you just lifted the weight you did? So I think it translates to other areas of life. And I tried to tell this to students that I have worked with. Because when you're there, it's just you and the weight and nothing else. And it's just pure determination. And that's what I love about the deadlift because out of all lifts, it's very basic and it's true grit that helps you get that weight off the ground. And good form. But that doesn't sound as cool as true grit.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hey, pure grit with a little bit of form. That's a good combination.

    Sheldon Russell:

    It would also avoid injury. So there you go.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. We were in the gym before. We're now in the weight room and Sheldon is pulling, pulling up plates. Is that what you call 'em?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Year, 45 pound plates.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I know it's surprising, but I haven't done a lot of deadlifting in my life. Okay. Wow. It sounds very medieval in here.

    Sheldon Russell:

    It does. This will change it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So now you do 700 in competition. How much do you do to warm up to do 700 in competition?

    Sheldon Russell:

    One plate, two plates, three plates, four plates, five plates, six plates. Then usually I open up around 630. Then I went to about 670. Then I go to 700. But my goal is to be able to do what I can actually do in a competition. I've pulled 735 pounds in training. So it's a lot different when I'm competing though.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Right, right. So each of these plates weighs how much?

    Sheldon Russell:

    45 pounds.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    How much does the bar weigh?

    Sheldon Russell:

    45 pounds.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    The bar is 45 pounds?

    Russell Sheldon:

    Yes.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I thought maybe I could do the bar. Okay. All right. Let's see. You, you have more plates to put on to get to 700?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yeah. Do you want me to demonstrate the lift?

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Let's do a mild lift and avoid any workers' compensation, shall we?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yes, let's do a mild lift.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And these are the clips, right?

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yes. That hold the weight on. You want to make sure that you like my shirt deadlifts build character.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yes. Okay. What is the lingo associated with lifting here? Those are plates. Those are clips.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Plates. Clips. Barbell. This isn't even a real deadlift bar, this is a regular barbell. I use a Texas deadlift bar that bends really well. It's about $400.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, so it does bend in the middle.

    Sheldon Russell:

    It does bend a little bit. It has some give to it. My wife's gonna listen to this later and I'm sorry, the bar did cost $400. It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Exactly. So okay, well we're gonna step back and take a look here.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Okay. So if you've noticed, you wanna wear either like, I'll train barefoot sometimes, or there's like slippers called deadlift slippers. You want to have a shoe that is close to the ground as possible so you can clamp into the ground and then if you can't, so you can dig into the ground. You don't want cushion on your feet cause you want a stable base. So I'm gonna walk up right to the bar. Okay. Make sure your weight is on your heels and you want as much as possible to be as close to the bar as possible. Then I'm gonna grab and cinch in, make sure my arms are even. So I'm gonna grab and wrap around and then I'm gonna go up. Okay. Then they'll say down, put it down. The most important thing, you keep that weight next to you and like you're almost standing up from a sitting position. You don't want your back to round and you want your head up so as to avoid that back rounding injury. I've seen some pretty bad form. I've even had that pretty bad form. That wasn't the greatest form of the world, but I've come miles since I started.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Great. It's impressive just to see the technique that you applied. Have you ever lifted a car off of someone that was trapped underneath? Cuz it seems like you could.

    Sheldon Russell:

    No. but I have done car deadlift before. Those are fun.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You have done a car deadlift? So how does one go about a car deadlift?

    Sheldon Russell:

    They put a little contraption underneath it with handlebars and then you just go to it and pull it up an do reps.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What kind of car did you lift?

    Sheldon Russell:

    I can't remember. It was a white car. It was a mid-sized sedan.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    After you've lifted a car, everything probably goes white. Okay. As you load this, I'm struck by the fact that you have to walk all the way up and down through the weight room to get enough weight on this bar to hit 700 pounds.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yeah. Well, a little sacrifice. The worst part is putting the weight back when you're done.

    The whole idea of this is a determination sport. I think you learn a lot of life lessons in a weight room because it's just you and the iron and your grit, your determination and your consistency, which makes it key.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's just you and the iron. I like that. And I'm sure that it teaches kids and adults alike that there's something that you didn't think you could do and you can build up to it, and you can work hard, and overcome things, and accomplish things that you never imagined.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Yes, exactly.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, thank you so much for taking the time. It's fascinating. I'm really excited that I know a world record holder in power lifting and I just, I think it's incredible. So it's great to spend time with you and good luck with everything this year.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Well, thank you. And if you ever want a deadlift, I'll train you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    When I'm ready for the next thing. That's, that's, I don't even know what to say. I'll just say, Yeah. When I'm ready, you'll hear from me.

    Sheldon Russell:

    Okay.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    All right. Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see out there.

    22 min
  • Episode 159: How to Identify Bullying Behavior and Stand Up to Stop a Bully

    Do you know someone who is being bullied? Is it something you have experienced yourself?

    On this episode of the Supercast, find out what parents, schools and members of the community can do to help prevent bullying and teach kids that it is not OK. Dr. Scott Poland, one of the leading experts in bullying prevention in the United States, joins us with some sound advice on how to identify a bully and stop the bad behavior in a way that works.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Do you know someone who is being bullied? Is it something you have experienced yourself? On this episode of the Supercast, find out what parents, schools, and members of the community can do to help prevent bullying and teach kids that it is not okay. Dr. Scott Poland, one of the leading experts in bullying prevention in the United States, joins us with some sound advice on how to identify a bully and stop the bad behavior in ways that really work.

    We are here with Dr. Scott Poland, a psychologist, professor, and expert in helping schools with prevention and through all kinds of crises. Thank you very much for taking time with us Dr. Poland.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Thank you very much, Dr. Godfrey for this opportunity today. I compliment the Jordan School District for focusing on the important problem of bullying prevention and the role that everybody has, not just schools, parents, community, students themselves. Everybody's got to be involved making a difference to prevent bullying.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, I appreciate that. And you're right, we all have to pitch in together to make an impact. It's a big concern. It's a term that's used a lot. Let's just start out with talking about what bullying means. What is the general accepted definition of bullying?

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    The definition really stresses. Bullying is all about power. Power that one person has and another one does not. Bullying is repetitive. Bullying is nasty. Bullying is humiliating. Sometimes people are like, ‘How do we know it wasn't good natured teasing?’ But when kids are teasing each other, they walk away at about the same level. When it's bullying, one of them walks away feeling powerful. The one other one is really feeling horrible, and it's really difficult for somebody who's just been victimized by bullying to suddenly be at their best, you know, in their family or in school and trying to learn.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That makes a ton of sense. It's about how everyone walks away from the situation. How prevalent would you say bullying is these days? I know you work with a lot of schools, you're busier than ever. You work at a national level. How prevalent is bullying right now?

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Well, very prevalent. You know, somewhere around 20% of middle school students would say they're bullied somewhat frequently, and it does tend to peak in middle school. You know, the best sources of data for us are the stopbullying.gov website, federal government site. And then most states do a youth risk behavior surveillance survey every two years with middle schoolers and high schoolers. And that's where we really get the data about at risk behavior as well as kids feeling victimized. So it's pretty prevalent, unfortunately.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, I know that it's a term that's used frequently. What are some of the myths that are associated with bullying? Because I think a lot of things get lumped into that category, and if we're specific about some of those myths, then maybe we can be more effective at combating it.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Well, one myth is that the bullies were somehow abused as a child. And that's not true. It's more like those that are the victims of bullying are more likely to have been abused in some way. And then, you know, we'd really like to think that bullies outgrow the behavior, but unfortunately, that's not necessarily true. I think probably everybody listening would be aware of some examples in the workplace and the community, some examples of adults that seem to stay in the position they're in because of the way they interact with others. So I wish I could say, you know, that every kid grows out of it, but that's not necessarily true. Bullies often get what they want. And particularly at the middle school level, the bully actually can become somewhat popular, which is unfortunate. We would hope that kids wouldn't gravitate and basically make the bully feel like they are the popular one. But that does happen.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So they get rewarded sometimes for that behavior in various ways. Getting what they want, experiencing increased popularity, and as a result that that path becomes well worn and can continue into adulthood. That's an interesting point. And concerning. You've mentioned middle school. Is there a particular age where that starts? Is it at the beginning of middle school, throughout middle school and do you see it more and more with younger students? Talk to me K-12, what do we see?

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Well, I think unfortunately lots of at risk behaviors are occurring earlier and earlier. Many elementary school teachers are very concerned about bullying. They're concerned about depression. You know, I think that especially with beginning elementary students, it sort of just starts out with not being respectful of others. Some mean behaviors, a lack of kindness. I think if both of us could wave a magic wand, this is the time where we need so much more kindness in our world and just always being respectful and helpful to others. And, you know, sometimes it's impulsivity and young kids say something that's really hurtful and then they get in a pattern of that. And one of the things that kids have said to me, that are the victims of bullying before, that really made me pause and think. They've said things like, ‘when you get treated this way enough times, you start to think you deserve it.’ And no kid deserves to be bullied. Every one of them. We want 'em all to be connected to our schools. We want them all to have good relations with peers and school staff. You know, we want school to be a place where kids are happy and successful. And then, you know, we talked in the beginning about it's not just for the schools to solve. So that means in youth sports, youth activities, cub scouts, girl scouts, really everywhere, the adults have to be alert and intervene when a pattern of bullying starts to begin.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's really impactful to hear you say that. Just the idea that kids start to think that they deserve the bullying and that what the bullies are saying is accurate. And I suspect that happens pretty quickly. I suspect it doesn't take very long to feel like you deserve it.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Excellent point. And, the research does say kids that are the victim of bullying, at least initially went to adults. But if the adults don't do anything to intervene, and, you know, we need to talk about what should adults do to intervene. But when the adults basically, you know, just kind of write it off or don't get involved. Sometimes I've had people say, ‘Oh, come on Scott, bullying's a part of life. Everybody has it happen. They get through it.’ But it does not have to be that way.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's a really important point that we have this window of opportunity when a child goes to an adult and talks about what's happening. Because if they don't see a result from talking to an adult, then they're gonna stop doing that. And we won't be aware of the bullying. If we rely on our own personal experience to determine whether bullying is happening, then we're going to assume that it isn't, because a lot of times it's gonna happen outside of our view. Is that accurate?

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Absolutely. You made a great point. How do we actually determine if bullying took place? We really need to talk to the recipient of the bullying and find out how did you feel when that was happening? Did you feel unsafe? Did you feel humiliated? Were you getting angry? So, you know, we can't tell for sure without actually talking to kids. And when they come to us, our message, whether it's a parent, whether it's a youth soccer coach, whether it's a teacher, the message should always be, ‘You do not deserve this. We are going to get this stopped, and I'm here for you every step of the way. And if this continues, keep telling me, but we are going to take action to get this stopped.’

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I think what you just said is vital. Tell us that again.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Well, the action that that's really what the adults need to basically say, ‘You don't deserve this. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to get this stopped.’ So that takes us into the realm of we need to support the victim, of course, but we really need consequences for the bully. And the bully needs to know this behavior is not acceptable. Here are the consequences today. If you continue to bully others, these consequences will escalate. And I'm not keeping this a secret. I'm telling all the other adults that are, you know, working together for the Cub Scout program, or I'm a teacher, I'm telling all the other teachers, everybody will be watching you. And remember, these consequences will escalate.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So it's a full court press and it's being very clear with the victim that I'm here with you every step of the way. I love the way you said that, and I need you to keep talking to me about this if it continues to happen. Being very explicit about that so that the victim doesn't say, Well, I talked to an adult and I'm done now.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    And the adults really need to increase supervision. You know, we're concerned in schools, bullying is more likely to occur on a school bus, in a restroom, in the hallway. And you know, one of the things that we need to do really in all student activities is just survey our students, or survey the kids that are in our community based soccer program and find out, first of all, hopefully they feel connected and they're enjoying it. But is there bullying taking place? And what are their ideas in terms of how can we turn this around? How can we reduce and eliminate the bullying that's happening?

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us when we come back. We'll learn how to recognize the signs of bullying behaviors in order to keep kids safe.

    Break:

    In Jordan School District, we like to support students in and outside the classroom along with their families. That's where the Jordan Family Education Center comes in, offering support services and a wide variety of classes for students and their families, free of charge. You can take a class called Blues Busters for children feeling sad or worried. Just Breathe is a class that helps students reduce stress. Or how about a class that supports parents in helping their children make and keep good friends. There are also support groups and free counseling, all provided by Jordan School District school psychologists and counselors. To find out how you can benefit from free family support services offered by the Jordan Family Education Center, call 801-565-7442 or visit guidance.jordandistrict.org.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So let's talk about what happens when a child goes to a parent and says, I'm being bullied. This is happening.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    So we really need parents that are good listeners that would really be empathetic and again, emphasize, ‘You do not deserve this. We're going to get this stopped.’ Now, the parents' reaction might be to actually confront the bully, confront the parents of the bully. And that is actually not recommended. It's more like, I need to talk to whoever's in charge of the Cub Scout troop. I need to talk to the classroom teacher, if the bullying's occurring at school, that is the place to start. I mean, there have been some stories nationally where a dad jumps on a school bus and confronts the kid bullying his child, and pretty soon the dad's arrested. And then, and I've actually had people, like school counselors say, ‘But I'm trained for this. I can intervene.’ And I'm gonna say, ‘But it's your child that's experiencing this. Take a step back.’ And then, you know, we've got to talk about cyber bullying today. But when you're aware that your kids being cyber bullied, your first thought is, I'm gonna take away that computer. I'm gonna get 'em off those sites, but that's actually punishing your child. So we've gotta find some balance here where your child doesn't feel punished because they're telling you what's happening to them online.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Which could result in their not wanting to bring up concerns or issues that they're going through because they're worried that they're gonna be further disconnected from the people in their world.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Absolutely. Tendency to say to our kids ‘Everything's gonna be okay’, or, ‘Oh, let me tell you about what happened to me.’ And really, the more we can hold back from that and just keep saying, ‘I can't imagine this must be so hard, what are your ideas about how you can get through this? Do you see something that I could do to help?’ I actually had a kid the other day say something like this, ‘You know, when my dad gives me advice too quickly, it's like, I know that he didn't really listen to everything that I was going on.’ So I cannot overemphasize with parents, listen and ask your child, ‘How can I help? What do you think would make this situation better?’

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I love the idea of connecting with the child and asking for ideas there. And you're right, when a solution comes too quickly, it's like you're not really listening to the specific circumstances that the child is experiencing, and the likelihood that the situation matches up well enough with a memory of ours that we ought to be sharing our story is pretty low.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    I know, I know.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell me, you mentioned cyber bullying. So rather than disconnecting kids from the sites where they may be bullied, what are some other approaches that may work more effectively?

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Well, we know this is really challenging. You and I, when we went home from school, we probably walked into a house where there was one telephone and there was actually a cord on that phone. Yes. And it was literally like, home was a safe haven, right? That nobody could reach us with humiliating, nasty messages, at least, unless they wanted to talk to my mom first, because she would be the one answering the phone. But we know everything has changed so dramatically. The other day I became aware of a program that I'm really excited about. It's called Wait Until 8th Grade. So really, what's that program all about? No smart phones until your kid enters eighth grade. And of course, kids need a way to communicate, but you know, a kid can have a watch that basically allows them to call six people because they need to get in touch with mom or grandpa or whatever. Of course, every parent is going to say, 'But you know, my kid's telling me every other sixth grader or fifth grader or fourth grader has a smartphone.' But the program actually puts you in touch with others in your community that have the same values about not being in a hurry for all this technology. And then when kids do have all that technology, it actually works the best when, you know, it's a family room, it's a desktop, Parents have passwords, parents are constantly discussing with kids things like, you know, once you post something, it's like there forever. You can't take it back. And I wanna share today an app that I'm really excited about.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    The app is called Rethink Words, and it was actually developed by an adolescent, I think she was from Australia. And when the Rethink Words app is on your phone or on your tablet, it recognizes harmful, hurtful messages and it basically sends you a message like, Is this really what you wanna say? And they have data that like 93% of the time, kids either reword it or they don't send it.

    And then some families and some schools are selecting blackout dates, which is basically, let's turn off all the technology. Let's do an old fashioned board game in our home tonight. So this is an extremely challenging area, but I do see some programs that can make a difference. I wish we'd stop seeing the parents when they come in a restaurant with a four year old, they immediately hand them their phone. I know you see that everywhere in Utah, but it's literally like, kids need to learn to actually just talk to people, talk to their family, talk to their friends. They really need to develop in person skills.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, I'm personally connected to mine and I have to make a conscious effort all the time not to do exactly what you described. You know, we've talked about what to do if your child is bullied and I love the phrases that you used. I love the idea of not confronting the child and parents directly, but talking with the person in authority to work through the system that way. And to make sure that it's addressed that way. That it's going to be more effective. But what does a parent do if they find out that their child is the bully?

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Well, first of all, I would hope that they would not be defensive and we're sharing this information with them in a way that we're not trying to imply you must be doing a bad job for your kid to behave this way. So it's really important that they increase supervision of their child. They might need to take the technology away for a while if their kid is the cyber bully. And we really need to encourage them to get their kids involved in prosocial activities where they're actually helping others. And, you know, when an older kid is tutoring a younger kid, you know, they get immeasurable benefits and they feel good about themselves. And so for parents, it's difficult to hear that your kid is the bully, but it's like, work with the school, work with the community organization, whoever is alerting you to the problem. It's literally like, let's talk together about what we can do and that increased supervision. And yes, I would hope there would be some consequences at home for the choices a kid is making when they engage in bullying.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And this goes back to the myth that you mentioned earlier. When we're approaching it as a school or as parents, we don't wanna make the assumption that someone who is a bully has been abused or that there's some deep problem at home. It may simply be that the bully has been reinforced in that behavior because they tried it, it worked, and they've continued to use that method to feel good about themselves and to get the things that they're looking for.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Absolutely. And I wanna make one more point about if your kid is the one being bullied. We've already talked about the steps that you need to take and you're there for them every step of the way. But one of the things I find with kids is that when they find their niche, when they're involved in some activity, they feel good about, they're treated well in one situation, that really can go a long way to help them still feel pretty good about themselves, even though there's some bullying or harassment in some other situations.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thank you very much, Dr. Poland. What are some other resources that parents can go to for more information about bullying prevention?

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Well, a really great thing is over the last decade there's been a lot of emphasis on bullying prevention. A lot of legislation has been passed. Schools have really stepped forward, like the Jordan School District, and taken this really seriously. There is the website from the federal government, stopbullying.gov. I'm a very big fan of Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media actually has information on digital citizenship really by grade level. So they provide some really clear guidance about third graders and technology, and what should they be doing, and how can they be respectful and kind and, you know, all of their postings. So those come to mind immediately. And then I'm a very big fan of the Rethink Words. If I could wave a magic wand, I'd love to have that app on every adolescent's phone and tablet in the entire country just to try to get them to rethink.

    And then we haven't talked much about bystanders yet, but this is always a big issue in terms of a lot of bullying takes place with an audience. And how do we get bystanders? Some people have actually said that term is too passive. Have you ever heard the term upstanding? Which basically means I'm gonna stand up here and basically with others, let the bully know this is not what we want to have happen on our team, or our community program, or in our classroom. A lot of programs emphasize the role of kids stepping forward and just letting a bully know it's not what we want, it's not how we behave.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I think that's really important because almost anyone can be an upstander. You may not have been a victim, you may not have been a bully, but we've all witnessed it and there's really something that we can do to help. Dr. Poland thank you very much for your advice today and over the years, you've helped us through difficult issues as I know you have for many districts nationwide. So thanks again for taking time with us and for helping us move forward. I wish you the best in everything you're working on.

    Dr. Scott Poland:

    Thank you, Dr. Godfrey. And it's been my pleasure to work with the Jordan School District and thank you for all your leadership, especially in this important area where we all try to stop bullying in our schools, communities, and in our homes because we know that experiencing bullying over many years is extremely harmful to young people.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thank you, Dr. Poland.

    Thanks for joining us on another episode of The Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see out there.

    27 min
  • Episode 158: The Brand New Salt Lake Community College Campus in Herriman Offering New Affordable Options for JSD Students

    It is the state's largest two-year college, serving more than 60,000 students, offering 120 areas of study on 10 campuses in Salt Lake County

    On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with Salt Lake Community College President Deneece Huftalin. Find out how the college is making higher education affordable in ways you may have never imagined. And, how Jordan School District students can benefit from a new SLCC campus in Herriman.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is the state's largest two year college serving more than 60,000 students, offering 120 areas of study on 10 campuses in Salt Lake County. On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with Salt Lake Community College President Deneece Huftalin. Find out how the college is making higher education affordable in ways you may have never imagined and how Jordan School District students can benefit from a new Salt Lake Community College campus in Herriman.

    We're here at Salt Lake Community College with President Deneece Huftalin. Thank you very much for taking time to talk with us.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    It is a pleasure to be with you. I'm happy to be here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Since becoming Superintendent, I've had the chance to meet with you on a regular basis, and I've loved seeing your enthusiasm for getting the word out about Salt Lake Community College. And the opportunities that not just high school age students, but people in the community have. The opportunities here to build from wherever they are. And you've just talked about some of the misunderstandings that people have about financing and what's available here. So I just thought it would be great for us to sit down here at the start of the school year and give some information to parents and students about the opportunities that are available through Salt Lake Community College.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    So I can talk all day. How long? I've got lots of ideas to share with parents and students.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    All right, let's do it. Let's talk right now. Let's just dive into it. What are some of the financial resources available for students? I know that for a lot of people, that's their first thought when they're thinking about college.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    So the number one reason students tell us that they don't come to college, or they leave college early, is finance, and so I have several things I want to say. First of all, college is more affordable than most parents think. And that is because I think they get a lot of news, national news about student debt. And most of that debt is driven off of Ivy League, high end, private, liberal arts colleges who have really enormous tuitions. And often students never pay that sticker price anyway. Community College is not that. We do not have outrageous tuition. Our tuition, in fact, we're the lowest in the state for tuition and fees. And if you fill out the FAFSA and you qualify for federal financial aid, what's called a Pell Grant, we actually pay the difference of whatever you don't get through the feds, we will cover through a scholarship.

    So for those students that are really maybe in the low, low to mid income brackets, who might qualify for a full Pell Grant, we will cover any difference that there is. So for certain students, college could literally be free. Now, not everybody's gonna qualify for a Pell. And so there are still some other ways that you can finance. So we have lots of scholarships that are available. We have lots of ways that we can help you understand what subsidized loans mean and whether that's the right way for you and your family to go. We're also starting to try to hire more people on campus that are students. So if you have to work, that's okay, but work on campus. Because if you work on campus, you're more likely to graduate. You're more likely to finish faster and probably with a stronger GPA. So the first thing I would say is to parents and students, you can afford SLCC. Make sure you talk to your advisor in high schools to figure out how to do that or come and see us and we’ll help you map that out.

    But I would also say, and a lot of people are really worried about filling out the FAFSA for a variety of reasons. Some of them, I understand if you're, if you're a student that's has undocumented status right now, that can be very scary. There are scholarships for students that are undocumented. You don't even have to go to the federal forum. You just come talk to our folks in our dream center, we can help you fill that out. A lot of folks don't want to fill out the FAFSA because they don't want to share their tax information or they can't find their tax information. The IRS is making it easier now to pull that data from your tax right into the FAFSA form. So it's getting simpler and simpler. So before you run away from the FAFSA, which could actually give you free money, really, I want to  just implore parents and students to do it. We leave, as a state, almost $32 million on the table every year of free money that people could use to come to college. So FAFSA is your friend, sit with your college advisor. Most of the high schools now have college access advisors that can help you fill out the FAFSA. And that's just a remarkable resource that is really underutilized. So that's a big thing I wanna say.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell me more about the technical credit certificates.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Salt Lake Community College has degrees that we offer. So Associate of Science or Associate of Arts degrees. We also have certificates in our technical college. And so within Salt Lake Community College, we have both degrees that help you transfer to another institution and get your bachelor's degree. But we also have short term certificates that are technically focused, like welding or truck driving or diesel mechanics. That tuition is subsidized at a higher rate. So it's much cheaper to do a technical college certificate than it is a degree granting degree, if that makes sense.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Just the fact that there are technical college certificates available separate from degrees is a really important point. Because I think there's this misconception that coming to Salt Lake Community College means a step away from trades or away from careers like that. But if you are interested in those careers, the training is really gonna propel you.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Yes. And so we are actually, we have always had the technical college embedded at Salt Lake Community College, but I think it's gotten lost in the shuffle a bit. So we've pulled it out this year and we're branding much differently. So Salt Lake Technical College, you're gonna start seeing that. You're gonna hear that on radio. You're gonna see ads. That's us. That's Salt Lake Community College and it's short term, technical credit at a much less expensive price point. For those short term certificates that are really skills based and are gonna get you out in the work world. And what's great about those is you can come and do a six month certificate, get a job, start making money. And then if you decide you wanna come back, many of those will transfer right into like an associate of applied science degree. So you can come back in a year or two and stack some general education onto that. And maybe now you have a degree that maybe helps you get even more upwardly mobile in your career. So students don't recognize that we are that Technical College, but we are, and they can find lots of information on our website.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What are some of the other programs offered at Salt Lake Community College that are sometimes overlooked?

    Deneece Huftalin:

    I think it's not necessarily programs that have been, you know, overlooked. But I want students to understand that we are in the business of helping them discover what they care about. So if you don't know your major, that's okay, come on. You at least know that you love the arts or you love science or you are thinking about business. That's okay. That's as much as you have to intend right now. And then we'll help you refine that over the first, you know, first semester that you're here through lots of different resources.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So it's generals with a purpose. With a focus.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Yes, exactly. Because what we found out, and this is a big shift to us, Community Colleges, and even some four year institutions, for years had a whole catalog of courses you could take just to explore and figure out what you were passionate about and there's merit to that. Right? There's merit to that kind of wandering and exploring because you take a class that you had no clue you loved. But we also found that students were wandering so long that they were spending money and time and it wasn't tracking into a degree and they started to feel either lost or like they were wasting their time. And in some cases they're wasting financial aid. I would argue you're never wasting anything when you're learning, but I understand you want relevance and you wanna be, you know, you wanna be efficient. So we're trying to help students be much more intentional on the front end. You don't have to zero in on the exact program, but we want you to at least get a little intentional about one of those major areas of study.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So you wander with intent a little bit.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    I love that. That's a good way to say it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us. When we come back more with President Huftalin and how your student can benefit from a brand new Salt Lake Community College campus right here in Jordan District located in Herriman.

    Break:

    Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What are some of the ways that Salt Lake Community College is expanding?

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Yes. Love that question. So I would say two things. One is that we are what we call an emerging Hispanic serving institution. And what that means is nationally, the federal government designates certain higher ed institutions as Hispanic serving. And they do that when your student body becomes 25% or higher Hispanic or Latinx, we are at about 23% right now. And so what, what that means for us is that we have to pay attention to that demographic. And we have to look at the services and the curriculum and the way we do our business and do it with a lens towards serving Hispanic or Latinx students in a successful way. If that makes sense. So we're emerging. We haven't earned that designation yet, but we are expanding our thinking and our programs and our services to be a more welcoming student body, a more welcoming classroom environment for Latinx students. So, we're not really expanding, but we're expanding our thinking, right? And in our service.

    The other way we're physically expanding is our Herriman campus. And this one, I could just jump up and down for joy about that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We’re excited about that. Very excited.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    So if you haven't been to Herriman, and many of you are right there, that's coming out of the ground right now. A building that will open in next August 2023, we’ll be ready for students.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Amazing.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    It's a building that's going to house both Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah. Right in the same building. So students can come right from high school, do their associate degree with us, walk across the hall, do their bachelor's degree. Never leave that Southwest quadrant, right? Save time, save money, save gas, all of that. So we're thrilled about that. And we want you to watch for that, especially those of you that are in Herriman high schools. We're gonna be out and about this fall and early spring, we have some exciting scholarships that are gonna be available for Herriman high school students to come to that campus. We've got scholarships that are intended for students that live in that area that have some college, but they never finished their degree. And we're gonna say with some financial help come back and we're gonna help you. Whether it's the U or us, we're gonna help you finish. So that's really exciting. And we're right across from the Monarch stadium and where Monarch plays, the Real Academy. It's a beautiful building. We have 90 acres on that campus, so we're gonna grow even more over time down there. But I just think it's really exciting and we're happy to have a pipeline for all those amazing students that you have in your high schools. And we want 'em to come to us and to the U.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's a thrill to have you coming to the neighborhood. And to have that partnership with the University of Utah. You can start at Salt Lake Community College and you can move to trades, to a university. There are all kinds of places you can go with this as your launching pad.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Yeah. I cannot say that enough. A lot of students think of us in one way. And what I wanna say is you can have a six month certificate here. You can have a two year degree here. You can go a lot of different ways by starting at Salt Lake Community College.

    I was just last night, I ran into a restaurant quick, and I ran into one of our students and she was just thrilled. She was in her second year here. She didn't know what she wanted to study. She came to Salt Lake Community College last year. She figured it out. She's on track to transfer to the U next year. And she couldn't be happier, but she just had that kind of support. We have small classes. We have faculty that are amazing. I think for many students, we are a high quality college, but we are maybe a little less intimidating than some of the four year universities. And so for some students that have a little, maybe aren't as academically confident as they should be, because they're brilliant we'll help 'em get their start.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I love that. And being out in the Southwest quadrant is really gonna make a difference. Location means a ton because it is intimidating to think about going this far away and trying to work, and manage a family, whatever else is going on in your life. So we love that you're coming out to our neck of the woods.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Yeah. We realized about, well probably five, six, maybe longer years ago, we had a consultant come in and say, how are you serving the Salt Lake county? You know, are you doing what you should be doing? And what they told us back then was that we were not representing the Northwest quadrant very well. And we weren't representing the Southwest quadrant. And that was a lot of growth. So we put our sites on Herriman years ago and to just see that coming out of the ground, and see that starting to really happen after so many years of planning, I'm so excited.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I know it's been talked about for a long time and it's pretty amazing to me that it's happening in a year that it starts. It's great. You've spoken to this a little bit, but what are some of the misconceptions out there about Salt Lake Community College that you'd like to correct?

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Yes. I think we've kind of alluded to some of them, but the first one I would say is that you can afford college. One of the things I didn't mention earlier, which is really important, is we've kept our tuition down. We've strengthened our scholarships. We will help you fill out the FAFSA. So tuition and fees we've really focused on, but a lot of students then have to buy textbooks when they go into their classes. And the other thing we've done is many of our general education classes, that most students have to take, we've removed textbooks from the curriculum. We do what's called Open Education Resources. So these are public domain, high quality textbooks. So a student pays $5 instead of $250 at the bookstore and has access to all the materials for the class. So in and of itself, in addition to lowering tuition, now you don't have another bill at the bookstore, right?

    So there's all these other levers that we're trying to pull. We have childcare vouchers to try to keep childcare costs down. We have free transportation on UTA and the Frontrunner to try to keep transportation costs down. So we are really trying to think about all of the other costs that, you know, really start to add up for students and try to remove those barriers. So that's a misconception. I think that you can't afford it.

    And the other thing is, you already mentioned it is that we are one thing, right? You come to Salt Lake Community to get an associate degree. No, you can come and get a six month technical certificate. You can come and get a one year certificate that could then stack into a degree. You can come and get a two year degree and go on to the U or Weber or UVU or wherever you wanna go for your baccalaureate degree. So there's a lot of ways that you can go in terms of your learning and your career.

    And then the third thing I would say is that while we do have a lot of students, well, we have all of our students commute. We don't have student housing, yet. We're working on that. But there is a sense of student life here. Like if you're looking for a collegiate experience, right. And you think you can only get that by going to the U or going to Weber. You know, I would argue that our student leaders who are planning events, we have clubs that are very vibrant, very engaged. We have short term study abroad trips that students can afford and can go on. So some of those things that you think about for a typical four year environment, you can find here. It's not just a commuter school where you come and go, you can really get engaged. Our athletic programs are amazing. They always do phenomenal work. They number one in many, many ways. Our basketball team is great. Our soccer team was national champion. So if you want that kind of, you know, collegiate experience, quote unquote, we have that to offer. And a lot of students don't know that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's great. Tell me about your background and your journey to becoming president of Salt Lake Community College.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Well, my background is in student affairs. So when I went to the University of Utah as an undergraduate and I graduated in what was called Organizational Communication. Which really just meant that I was studying, you know, communication in businesses and industry. And it was really a degree that let me go lots of different places. And it happened that when I graduated from the U, I moved to California and I got a job at Stanford in the admissions office. And it was really just an entry level, you know, fun place to work. But what I realized there was that you could actually make a career working on college campuses. I'd never thought about that before. And I loved my college experience and I loved that time of life where you're kind of figuring out who you are and you're being exposed to new ideas and, you know, new ways of thinking.

    So I ended up finding student affairs at the higher ed level as kind of a career path. I landed here at Salt Lake Community College in student affairs more than 30 years ago, actually. I'd been around in California and Illinois and I came back to Utah. So I really grew up at Salt Lake Community College. I was mostly in student affairs, loved it. And then eventually became the vice president and really was quite happy working with students. I loved students. But the presidency became open. And I was encouraged to apply by some people that I really admired and trusted. And I've loved it. I'm in my ninth year now as president. And it's just a, I guess I feel honored to be part of this environment and it's fun to represent this environment and it's just fun to see the change and the trajectory that we can play as part of someone's journey. It's cool.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, you're passionate enthusiasm for students and college life and education just shines through every time I see you. So thank you. It's exciting to get to talk with you about it. Any last thoughts for parents and students?

    Deneece Huftalin:

    I would just say if you're a parent and you have questions, do not hesitate to call or come to a campus and go walk up to one of our information centers and say, I'd love to talk to someone in your admissions office, or I'd love to hear from someone in your advising office. We have really remarkable staff who can answer a lot of questions. And I feel like students and parents often don't take advantage of those resources. So don't stay at home wondering what you should do, come and talk to us and we'll help you get on the right path.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, and congratulations on being so intentional about taking those barriers down to admission and, and making a path forward for people who maybe didn't think this was for them. So thank you for everything you're doing to support our district and our students and families.

    Deneece Huftalin:

    Oh, it's my pleasure. We love our partnership and we're gonna do even more. So stay tuned, watch for what we can do for Herriman high school and the scholarships.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Exciting things are ahead. Thanks again, President Huftalin.

    Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

    21 min
  • Episode 157: Rockin’ with Kindness at Midas Creek Elementary School

    A fun new campaign that focuses on kids being kind to one another is taking off at Midas Creek Elementary School.

    On this episode of the Supercast, we find out what “Rockin' and Rollin with Kindness” is all about and how the music-themed campaign is creating lots of kindness rock stars at the school.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. A fun new campaign that focuses on kids being kind to one another is taking off at Midas Creek Elementary School. On this episode of the Supercast, we find out what “Rockin’ and Rollin’ with Kindness'' is all about and how the music themed campaign is creating lots of kindness rock stars at the school. The campaign kickoff involved a concert of course, and I was invited to DJ. You're about to find out how I did.

    We are here with Principal Megan Cox at Midas Creek Elementary. “Rockin and Rollin with Kindness”, that's the program. How are you?

    Megan Cox:

    Yeah. Doing well, doing great this year.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So tell me about this program.

    Megan Cox:

    Yeah, so every year we like to focus on kindness. And so I asked my teachers what sort of thing we wanted to do, and they wanted to go with a rock and roll theme. So we pulled our PTA in and they helped us make the magic happen. So our whole school is decked out in rock and roll through the genres and the decades. And we just kind of pull it into everything that we do.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, your faculty and your PTA are obviously fabulous because there's some incredible decorations through there. When you guys do a theme, you really do a theme.

    Megan Cox:

    Yes. Yeah. We don't go small. We go big. Yeah.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You went big. There are inflated guitars and like the flying V guitar and bands that kids need to know about. I saw a poster of the Ramones. Too many people wear a Ramone shirt. They do not even know who they are. Now the children will know.

    Megan Cox:

    They will know. They will know the good bands of all generations.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell me about the focus on kindness over the years.

    Megan Cox:

    Yeah, so we have teachers nominate two kids every month who are being kind in the classroom, or out of the classroom, and kids can nominate each other. And then they get an award. Every month I come over the Intercom and we celebrate every child in every grade for the kind things that they're doing. I announce why they were chosen and they get to come down and they get a certificate, get their picture taken. And then we post that picture all month long. Until the next group is chosen.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    The things that get focused on by the school, by PTA, by faculty, and by you as the principal are the things that kids understand to be important. And I love that you have emphasized kindness. By the time the student has gone through seven years at Midas Creek, the message should have sunk in and really be a part of who they are day to day. That they're kind to each other.

    Megan Cox:

    Yeah. And our sixth graders, we choose student leaders, the classes choose the leaders every year, and they get to come up with a mission of what they would like to do. And so our last few years they wanted to include buddy benches. So we raised money as a school and we have buddy benches at our playground so that the kids can sit there and find friends and look for people that need a friend. And they do our announcements every day and they share a quote about kindness to the whole school. So that it really is a big message here that we're trying to have these kids really take on and help other kids at our school.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. I love that. We really have to create an environment where everyone's looking out for each other. Everyone feels like they belong and everyone's connected, because I think it prevents all kinds of problems, but it also helps with learning. That's really the ultimate focus is that when you're kind to each other, then you create an environment where learning can happen. Now tell me about the themes over the years.

    Megan Cox:

    So last year we did a Harry Potter theme, which was so much fun. We had kindness keepers, so they were part of the Quidditch team. And that was their monthly thing that they had, which was great. And our school was Hogwarts last year, everyone was divided up into houses and earning points by being kind. So it really was a big fun theme last year. And then the year previous we did, “We could all use s’more kindness”, and it was a camping theme and everything was tied into camping. And we had, you know, picnics and camp outs and whatnot during the school day that the kids could earn. And all of it is just surrounding kindness.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Camp kindness. I like it. There you go. Very nice. Well, I have to say those are great themes, but this is my favorite.

    Megan Cox:

    Yeah. I knew you would like it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So thank you for inviting me to help DJ today. The kids have been looking forward to today I'm sure.

    Megan Cox:

    Yeah. We announced it and they are so excited to have the music, have you here. And then we have our PTA fundraiser that we are gonna be doing in September. And all of that's gonna be rocking and rolling with a color run and it's gonna be a lot of fun.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, on my way back to the car, I'm going to have to walk through every hall to see all of the decorations. I saw Queen, Nirvana, the Ramones, Soul Train, lots of great stuff up there. And it's an opportunity to get the kids' attention. There's no avoiding it. There's no avoiding the theme of kindness. And that's exactly how we want it, so great job.

    Megan Cox:

    Thank you so much.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It feels good. It feels right. You guys are doing great, but you know what? This time you need to be so loud that their microphones can't handle it. You need to blow out those speakers. Are you ready?

    Students singing along with YMCA.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We're here with the student body officers from two of our sixth grade classes here at Midas Creek Elementary, introduce yourselves.

    Kiptyn:

    I'm Kiptyn.

    Ella:

    And I'm Ella.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And how long have you been at Midas Creek?

    Kiptyn:

    Four years.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Four years.

    Ella:

    Since kindergarten,

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Since kindergarten. So this is year seven for you and you've seen the kindness themes over the years. Are you excited for this year's theme?

    Ella:

    Definitely.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's a launch to a great theme. So “Rockin’ and Rollin’ with Kindness''. What does that mean for you?

    Ella:

    It just means that just everybody should just be kind.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And do you remember the themes from in the past?

    Ella:

    I only remember last year's.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And what was last year's theme?

    Ella:

    Kindness keepers.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Kindness keepers. So when you hear this theme, does it kind of remind you to treat people well?

    Ella:

    Yes, definitely.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, good. That's great. And how about for you? What does this thing mean to you?

    Kiptyn:

    Kind of the same as her, like, just to be kind to each other.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You did to show kindness, especially last year with the point system.

    Ella:

    You can, there's this thing called a buddy bench, and if someone's sitting there you can go over and see if they're okay and ask them to play with you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay. That's great. What else?

    Kiptyn:

    I've just been trying to like ask teachers if they need help with anything.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So asking teachers for help, making sure people have a friend. That's great. And it sounds like you have amazing examples in teachers, in the PTA who are really supportive.

    Kiptyn:

    Yes.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What have you been looking forward to this year?

    Ella:

    This actually, just trying to be an officer for Midas Creek.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And what's involved with being a student body officer here at Midas Creek?

    Kiptyn:

    One thing we get to do is we get to walk kindergartners to the bus at the end of the day.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh. So you get to help other students out? That's part of the “Rockin’ and Rollin’ with Kindness''. What are some of the other things that you get to do as a sixth grade student body officer?

    Ella:

    We also get to talk during assemblies and do the morning announcements.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Ah, the morning announcements. Well, it's an awesome day to be at Midas Creek. Isn't it?

    Kiptyn:

    It is really awesome.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    All right. Well, you guys have a great year and enjoy your last year of elementary before you head to middle school.

    Ella:

    Thank you.

    Kiptyn:

    We will.

    3, 2, 1. Here we go.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us. When we come back, we'll talk to the rock star teacher behind the kindness campaign.

    Break:

    Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

    Students singing along with YMCA.

    DJ:

    Yes! Oh, wait. Sorry. I didn't quite get that. Could you really help Miss Cassie out please? Where am I going? Oh, is that right? Oh my goodness Ms. Anderson, these kids are teaching me a lot.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We're talking with Kaila Anderson, teacher at Midas Creek. Fifth grade teacher.

    Kaila Anderson:

    Yes, sir.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell me about this “Rockin’ and Rollin’ with Kindness'' program.

    Kaila Anderson:

    We are super excited for it. We are gonna be able to have students each month who are kindness rock stars. And so we're going to be like highlighting them. I already have kids like, ‘am I gonna be one?’ I'm like, ‘you have to show me. We'll see.’ It’s a little competitive I can tell already. They're really excited.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    The kindness rockstar. That's a catchy name that makes me wanna be part of it. I think I'm ineligible, but I still, you know.

    Kaila Anderson:

    I don’t know, maybe if you're in my class. Come in a few days, I’ll decide.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I'll stop in a few days. Okay. It's a high bar. You've got some great kids. We were just dancing out there. They've been looking forward to this.

    Kaila Anderson:

    Oh my gosh, yeah. They were like dancing on the way back to our classroom. They were just so excited. They were not ready to be done.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I love the rock and roll theme. Where did that come from?

    Kaila Anderson:

    We actually voted on it as a faculty, which was super fun. And so there was a couple different ideas, but this one like won by a lot, like a landslide. Everyone was super excited. They've done a great job decorating the school so the kids have gotten part of it too. So it's been great.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    They've done an amazing job decorating the school. I've never seen the school more all in on a theme. It is top to bottom and the kids are gonna learn about some great bands too.

    Kaila Anderson:

    Oh yeah. It'll be fun to kind of see how we incorporate it in the classroom as well. So, like I was just even thinking about summarizing or inferencing and how you could use songs to do that. Be able to like introduce some of these rock and roll songs and see how they are able to like summarize it in a sentence. Right. So it'll be fun.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. No, that's great. Well, music is everywhere. And what's funny is listening to kids sing along with songs from a very long time ago. From the 1900s. And yet they still connect to some of those oldies. Yeah. Well, that's fun. Tell me what you've been looking forward to this year.

    Kaila Anderson:

    Well, me and one of my team teachers decided to departmentalize. So, I am teaching just literacy and writing, and she's teaching math and social studies and then we have a science teacher. I'm super excited for that because it's been really fun to kind of really focus on one subject and really work with the kids. And work with more kids, because I have two classes instead of just one. And so I'm getting to know more of the kids. I'm able to try different tactics that is kind of hard to do when you have all the subjects that you're trying to focus on. And so it's been really fun to like hone in and really get good and get them excited to read and be better readers.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It also adds another caring adult in their lives, which creates an environment where they can learn anything.

    Kaila Anderson:

    Yes. I totally agree. I think classrooms really work when there's relationships, right? And so like you kind of get those feelings and those connections with music, but then when you have that caring adults as well, like it's even more concrete. And so I think that can just bring a lot of power.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, I love the creativity and enthusiasm you've brought to this. Everyone's on board. It's been such a fun day and congratulations on a wonderful start to the year.

    Kaila Anderson:

    Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thanks again.

    Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see out there.

    14 min
  • Episode 156: The Most Frequently Asked Questions About Using Canvas

    It is a course management system that supports students and teachers in and out of the classroom allowing educators to post grades, information, and assignments online. And, it helps parents be a part of the process.

    On this episode of the Supercast, we explore the most frequently asked questions when it comes to using Canvas. We share some tips for students and parents on how to avoid problems and find success with course content using Canvas.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a course management system that supports students and teachers in and out of the classroom, allowing educators to post grades information and assignments online. And, it helps parents be part of the process. On this episode of the Supercast, we explore the most frequently asked questions regarding Canvas. We share some tips for students and parents on how to avoid problems and find success with course content using Canvas.

    We're here with Ross Rogers, one of our Digital Learning specialists to talk about Canvas. Ross, thanks for taking the time.

    Ross Rogers:

    Thank you for inviting me.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Canvas is something that we all became very familiar with very quickly in the spring of 2020, when everyone was thrust into virtual learning. And since then it's continued to be a part of what most teachers use to track grades and submit assignments. Notice that I said submit assignments instead of turn in assignments, because now they can be submitted virtually. So I'd just like to talk with you about what parents should know to make the most of Canvas. I know that one thing that we talked about in a previous Supercast episode is the difference between Skyward and Canvas. So can you start by just addressing that? And then let's get into some of some of the tricks of the trade when working with Canvas.

    Ross Rogers:

    Okay. So there are two different software programs of district supports. Skyward is our official SIS, which is our Student Information System. And that's where all of our financials are, registration takes place, and our official grade book of the District. Canvas is an LMS or a Learning Management System. And that is a tool that we provide for teachers to put their lessons online. So basically, they can create a lesson in there. They can create quizzes. They can put all of their teaching documents up there. Put videos. post online videos where they're just live virtual office hours, that they can do to support the students in their learning. And part of Canvas, there is a grade program that isn't the official grade book, but we utilize it to sync the grades from Canvas to Skyward.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So Canvas as the learning management system allows teachers to create really, generally, two types of assignments. An assignment that's automatically graded as the student submits it, a quiz or a test or something like that. Also, it allows students to submit other projects that the teacher would have to grade. What happens with projects that need to be graded by the teacher? How does that show up in Canvas? And when does it get transferred over to Skyward?

    Ross Rogers:

    So when an assignment comes in that the teacher actually has to physically grade, it comes into the grade book and it puts like a little paper in the gradebook column under that that says it's been submitted.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So a little icon.

    Ross Rogers:

    Little icon.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So as Friday approaches and parents are checking Canvas to be sure that their child gets weekend privileges because they turned everything in, that page icon is what they're looking for.

    Ross Rogers:

    Correct. That little icon. If it's a dash, that means nothing's been submitted. If there's an icon there it's been submitted and waiting for the teacher to grade it. If there's a score there, the teacher's graded it and returned it to the student.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Long gone are the handwritten report cards that I received in eighth grade where if you had a grade you didn't like, a minus could become a plus, and an F could become an A with a little penmanship. That was what we called Photoshop in the 1900s. But Canvas is different from those handwritten report cards. Canvas shows what's been submitted, shows what's been graded, but it's not the official grade book. And tell me the difference between being a Learning Management System and the ultimate grade book.

    Ross Rogers:

    So where Canvas is the operations of the program. Anything that's submitted in Canvas is what the teacher has graded, but when it converts to Skyward, the official grade book, that's where teachers can actually weight a score.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And the Waiting is the Hardest Part as Tom Petty has told us.

    Ross Rogers:

    It's really about, you know, a final exam and I want this final exam to count for a larger percentage of the grade. And that's what weighting is. And so in Skyward, the teacher can go in and change that. So that's the reason why when parents and students look at the Canvas grade book compared to Skyward, and they're like, well, why is this score different? It's because of the weighting and how the teacher wanted to set that up. And that's why we always say the Canvas grade book is not the official grade book. It is only there for you to see what hasn't been submitted, what has been submitted and what has been graded.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So that's one point of confusion perhaps that parents and students might have is that, ‘Hey, everything looks good in Canvas, but now I get into Skyward and my grade isn't what I thought it would be.’ And it's that weighting of grades and the emphasis on the outcomes of certain assignments or tests or quizzes, as opposed to others being a bigger part of the grade.

    Ross Rogers:

    Well, and lots of subjects, I mean, you look at different subjects. Math can be something that can sometimes be easily graded. But other times, when they're looking at the way that they're doing, sometimes it's like, I wanna see the procedures that you're using. And that's what's being graded. That has to be looked at by the teacher. Language arts, their writing, that has to be looked at by the teacher. So sometimes it takes longer.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Exactly. Now you and other members of the team were the unsung, backstage heroes of getting us through all of that virtual learning. You really did an incredible job. Jumped in, helped lots of teachers and parents and students who had never done this before, understand how to learn virtually. And as much as it was emergency learning, I think things went as well as they could. And it's in large part because you and other members of the team worked so hard to provide great support.

    Ross Rogers:

    It was long hours, but it was what we needed to do to get the students and the teachers and even parents. Because believe me, our phones were ringing from morning until evening.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I remember.

    Ross Rogers:

    And we took the calls all night long because people were struggling and you know, what do you do? You want to help solve that problem so that they're not frustrated. But it was a lot of work. It was our boss back at that time, we have a new boss now, who was forward thinking and saying, ‘we've got to start thinking about this blended learning.’ And so we actually had a jumpstart and had a whole bunch of these things ready, just waiting to get the go ahead. And then we got the go ahead really fast.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, the state of Utah invested in Canvas a long time ago, and it's made available through the state for each student.

    Ross Rogers:

    Correct.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And, as a District, we had put structure in place to make the most of that.

    Stay with us. When we come back more with Ross Rogers, our Digital Learning Specialist.

    Break:

    Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You've talked about the weighting of grades from Canvas to Skyward as one point of confusion. What are some of the other misunderstandings or points of confusion that you've heard about or experienced over the last couple of years?

    Ross Rogers:

    One that we're trying to get fixed right now is parents having their own account. Parents technically should not be logging into Canvas through their student account. It's a violation of the Student Agreement Policy. And so they sign it when they register their kids for Skyward, that they're not going to share their username or password with anyone, and that includes the parents. The parents have access to get their own account on Skyward. And when they do that, all they have to do is get the Observer Code from their student.

    There are directions, step by step with pictures, on how to do that on our digitallearning.jordandistrict.org page, and they can get their own account. When a parent gets their own account, they see everything that the student sees. The only thing that's missing is they don't have the submit button on the assignments. They can't do the work for the students, but they can download every worksheet. They can read everything, they can email the teacher, they have full access to everything. They can see the grade book, they can see what's been submitted. So basically, as a parent having an observer account, they can see everything the student can. And they can stay on top and help that student navigate each week, in a weekly meeting with their students of what do we need to do to be prepared? How are we doing our homework? And so having that observer account is really a positive thing.

    You can have it for every student that you have with just one account. You just have to get an access code for each of those students. And then it's a one time event. Once you do it with one student, you have it until they graduate. It just continues with them. And last year’s teachers and classes drop off and the next year, the new classes join in and you're already set up ready to go. And for our families that have separate parents, like me, a divorced father, I can have access to it and my ex-wife can have access to it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So that observer code allows you all of the access, but it still gives the student full responsibility for their account. Which is really why we're so careful about password security internally as well. Employees are not supposed to share with each other.

    Ross Rogers:

    Correct.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You're not supposed to share with your Administrative Assistant or anyone else because then you have sole responsibility for that account. And I would assume that that's the reason for making sure students don't share that password. So if something does happen, we know that's their work that they submitted and that they have responsibility for everything that happens.

    Ross Rogers:

    We want to get back to the area where the student is responsible for what they're doing. And one of those things is not sharing passwords. Even though you're the parent, and this is my child, it's part of that digital citizenship that we're trying to teach. You know, parents, you have your access to Skyward. The student has their access to Skyward. And we need to keep those separate because we're trying to teach that digital responsibility.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And it's a skill that will be important throughout their lives. So what are some of the other tips and tricks for parents to make the most of Canvas?

    Ross Rogers:

    Once you give access to Canvas, it gives you a tool to help your students by having that, you know, meeting. Whether you're at the dinner table on Sunday night, and you have previously gone through and looked at the schedules of your student’s classes, you know what’s due that week and having that conversation. So how are you doing in school? What things do you have to do? And, you know, it's a way of saying, you know, that student says, well, I don't have anything I'm good this week. I can go play. I can go do whatever I want. And if you have that access, you are now have that tool. You are prepared to talk to that student and say, well, what about this language arts assignment? I saw that it's due here. Well, how do you know that? Well, because I have access. And so what it does is it helps the student know, well, if mom and dad know behind the scene, there's no more hiding that. It just lets the student and the parent be on the same page, lets that student know, mom and dad are here to help me.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Well, I love how it makes us a better resource to parents and it connects us to parents and it allows parents to connect with us. And the way that you described Skyward has always been a chance to peek into the grade book. But Canvas is a chance to peek into the class. I think they're both important components of staying connected with what's happening in school. And like you described, it's not necessarily deception. It's just forgetfulness. I'll talk to my son and say, ‘do you have any homework?’ ‘No, no. I'm all caught up.’ So then we look it up. It's like, ‘oh yeah, there was that one thing.’

    Ross Rogers:

    They're busy too.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's good to have backup. No, believe me. It's good to have backup.

    Ross Rogers:

    Yeah. And so one of the things that goes along with creating an account for a parent is they have an option to go into the settings and put a profile picture on it. So, when you're communicating with that teacher, that teacher would love to know who they're talking to. Sometimes, if you've never met that teacher, they don't know who you are, but if you communicate with them through Canvas and your picture is there, then when you do come in the building, they know who you are and they make that connection immediately. So I always encourage parents to go into the settings, and they can put a picture up. They can also go in and set up notifications. So when do announcements come? When do due dates come? Do they come immediately, or all at once at the end of the day, or all at once at the end of the week? And they set that up. And so I let parents know that because sometimes parents will go in and create an observer account and they're like, oh my gosh, I'm getting bombarded with all the stuff because they haven't gone in and set things up.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Is the default initially to receive all of that information and you can scale it back, or do you need to go in and select when you want the notifications?

    Ross Rogers:

    It’s usually all on.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You have to turn it off, okay. So rather than just disconnecting from Canvas entirely, go in and customize your experience. So you're getting the information you want. I love the idea of a picture. It just creates a better connection.

    Ross Rogers:

    It does. So that when you do walk into the school, the teacher recognizes you because they've been having a conversation for, you know, however long it has been. So that's something that I always tell people to do also. Then also on that page, the digitallearning.jordandistrict.org which is our website for digital learning, under the Big Six category, we have a link for Canvas for education. And we have on that page guides and they're made by Canvas. So we have parent guides, and we have student guides that literally walk you through how to do everything in Canvas. You want to learn how to submit a picture in an assignment? It shows you with pictures of all the steps. So it tells from a parent perspective how to do this, and from the student perspective.

    So not only is it the parent reaching out for help, but now the parent can go in and learn how the student does it to help that student submit maybe a more unique assignment because you can do things differently. You don't have to do everything like we did in the old days, paper and pencil. And Canvas allows it so that, you know, yeah, you can do the old paper, pencil styles and upload that assignment, but you can also do a video. You can also just do an audio review. You can submit something from Canva that you've designed. There's just so many different facets of an assignment that you can do now. And these guides help you learn how to do all those different types of activities.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So, a lot of options and a lot of chances for parents and students to stay on top of what's happening in the class and be connected to it. Any other thoughts that you have for parents or advice for using Canvas effectively?

    Ross Rogers:

    Yes. So one of the other tools that we use here in Jordan District is Google. We are a Google district and Google Drive works hand in hand with Canvas. So much so that people sometimes get confused about what Canvas is because, well, the assignment was on Google Drive because they did the assignment in a Google Doc, but they still have to submit it. And that's through Canvas.

    Well, the issue that we have is in Jordan, we issue every student a Chromebook to use. Sometimes the Chromebook is dead by the time they get home and they never get that power supply out and plug it in. So they go to mom's computer and they sign into Canvas. And when they do that, mom is signed into their browser to the Canvas browser. So it has her personal account there. And when they sign into Canvas, it connects the student to the mom's Google account. So now they go into that assignment and they click on that assignment and it says, make a copy of this Google assignment. And it says you don't have access, request access. And then they come back the next day in school, they're on their Chromebook and nothing is working. They can't, it's asking everything to be reconnected because they're still connected to moms Gmail account from signing in on the home computer.

    The way that you fix that is in most courses, we have told teachers to please turn this on. You go to the Google Drive in the course menu. And once you click on Google Drive, on the right hand side of the screen, you'll see either the picture that they've uploaded of themselves or the initials of whoever's account is logged in on that Google Drive. And they click on it and they can see, is it their district email address or is it mom or dad? And then they can log out at that point and then log back in and it will automatically pick up their district email if they're on their Chromebook and sign them into the correct account. And that's how you fix that. That is probably the number one problem that we see with students is the Google Drive issue.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, thank you very much Ross for taking the time. And as I said, thank you for your support through the last two and a half years and all the hard work you and other members of the team have done to just make this go as smoothly as possible. And now we're in a new era. Now we're in a new era where Canvas is a vital part of what we do. And so thank you for taking the time to help us make the most of it.

    Ross Rogers:

    You're welcome.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see out there.

    22 min
  • Episode 155: Students Who Love Learning Another Language

    It is a classroom where you will find students fully engaged, speaking another language and loving every minute of it.

    On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to Fox Hollow Elementary School where some sixth-grade students share their experience in a French Dual Language Immersion class. They speak to Superintendent Godfrey who is fluent in French and deliver a lively performance using the language they have truly grown to love.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Bonjour and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a classroom where you will find students fully engaged, speaking another language and loving every minute of it. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to Fox Hollow Elementary School where sixth grade students share their experience in a French Dual Language Immersion class. We have some fun together speaking French and the students deliver a lively performance using the language they have truly grown to love.

    We're here at Fox Hollow Elementary to talk about the Dual Language Immersion program with two of the students participating in the program and one of our teachers. Introduce yourself, tell us what grade you're in and just a little bit about yourself.

    Lily:

    My name is Lily and I am at the dual French Immersion at Fox Hollow Elementary. And I really like it here because the teachers are so kind and yeah.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay.

    Spencer:

    I'm Spencer. And I'm in sixth grade and I do the French Immersion as well. And I like it here too, because our teacher is really nice.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Let's talk to that nice teacher.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Hi, my name is Madam Fa’asu or Lydia, and I've been at Fox Hollow for five years now in sixth grade. And it's been an amazing experience.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And can you describe the Dual Language Immersion program for those who may not understand it?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Absolutely. So the students have half of the time in English and half of the time in French. So they start for example, in the English class and do ELA and math, and then they switch and go to the French class where they do science, social studies and French, everything in French.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And when you say everything in French, everything is in French. There is no English spoken by the teacher or the students, because part of the way you learn language is when you need it to survive. Is that right?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    That's correct. They know that the rule is when they step in the classroom, everything is in French, and I send them back if they don't.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, and I've seen as I've observed over the years, even in first grade classes where students are just starting out and they need to ask permission to go to the restroom, they need something in class. And when they have to do that in French, that really forces them to put their brains into high gear and think about how to express that in a foreign language.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Yes, so in first grade when they arrive and they don't know a word of French, one of the basics is to teach them those key sentences. To ask to go to the bathroom or to ask what time it is or things like that. And so they learn little by little and usually by the end of the year, they know all the basics. Instructions or sentences that they need to be in a French class.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Which grades have you taught since you've been here at Fox Hollow?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Fox Hollow I only did sixth grade, but I taught in fourth grade in Canyons School District for five years as well.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay, great. And were you a teacher in France previously?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Yes. I was already an elementary school teacher in France and I taught pretty much every grade level there before I came here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And did you teach primaire or?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Primaire. So elementary and kindergarten even.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, even kindergarten. And how long did you teach in France before coming here?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    About five years.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What made you want to come to Utah to teach?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    At first it was really the experience of trying something new. I was by myself in France . I was like, ‘you know what, if they give me the opportunity to come two years in the US and try new strategies for teaching, why not?’ And the plan was for me to go back to France after two years, but I got married.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, you got married. So do we get to keep you for a while?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    I'm staying.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay. Outstanding. That is great news. I've heard so many great things about your teaching and your connection with students and your support of other teachers.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Thank you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And that you really are at the center of making this program successful. Tell me what it's like for you and for the teachers that you work with to come over here to a new country, new school system. I know that a lot of support is required even in finding housing right away.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Exactly.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So tell, tell me about what that's like.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    It is very difficult when we get there. I would say until December, Christmas, it's an adjustment. We have to figure out cars, driving license, finding a house, understanding the insurance process, absolutely everything. And at the same time, you have to adapt to classrooms that are completely different from what we do in France. In France, the kids are not really allowed to get up or play on the floor or things like that. It's not as positive reinforcement like we do here in the US. So we really do have to adjust and adapt to the way we teach in the US.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So there's a cultural adjustment to the country, but also to what the classroom looks like here versus in France.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Yeah.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell us more about the differences between school here and school in France.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    There is absolutely everything that is different. So first of all, our boss is not our principal. There is usually someone in what we call the academy and that person is in charge of several schools. And that's the person who is the boss pretty much. So we don't even have an interview when we become teachers, it's a diploma and they choose where we're gonna go, but we don't have interviews to go to schools. And then the schedule is very different as well. Some of the schools don't have school on Wednesday, so they go Monday, Tuesday from maybe sometimes 8:30 to 5:00 PM.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. It's a longer day.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    It’s a longer day.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And a longer lunch too, though.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Yep. We have two hours break for lunch, usually.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    A two hour break for lunch because of the importance of that meal in France.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Yeah. And then in the teaching as well, everything is very different. We don't use as much technology. I was very impressed when I saw all those Chromebooks or video projectors and all of these things were new to me.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I was actually a student in France in sixth grade.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Wow.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    My dad taught French and we were able to be on a Fulbright Exchange. So we lived in another family's home and they lived in our home for a year. We just did a swap and my dad swapped jobs. And it was really interesting for me to attend school. He just dropped me off, my dad did, and then I traveled class to class and tried to make my way.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    That explains why you're so good in French.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, that was a long time ago, but I really loved France and I loved living there and I loved being in school. And it's interesting when I have sat in on Dual Language Immersion classes, it has had a little bit of that feel. And even though it was decades ago, I was reminded of what it felt to be in a French classroom. A lot of a lot of focus on the language in France.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Yes, absolutely. And what I like about the program as well is that those kids learn the culture as well. Because I'm teaching them those French traditions that we have, right. Like the day we eat crepes in France or things like that. And I would say when they go to France, it's not gonna be a cultural shock, because they're used to having French teachers who are really native from France.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Sure. I think that's a great aspect of the program, that you learn about how people live differently and how culture varies from country to country. Where it's hard to imagine unless you experience it in a way that dual language immersion students get the chance to. We're very fortunate to have you here, and it sounds like, to have you here for a long time.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Hopefully.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's very exciting.
    Stay with us. When we come back, a special student performance you won't want to miss.

    Break:

    Do you simply love learning online? We can't wait to have you join the amazing teachers in our brand new Jordan Virtual Learning Academy. In Jordan Virtual Learning Academy schools, we offer innovative, fun, and flexible online learning with daily real-time instruction from teachers. Enrollment is currently open for all K-12 students in Utah. Start on the path to personalized virtual learning success now at connect.jordandistrict.org. That's connect.jordandistrict.org.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What are some of the things you think that surprise students the most about French culture?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Hmm. That's a really good question. I should ask them that question.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Let’s bring it to the kids. What has surprised you the most as you've gone through now, six years of Dual Language Immersion about the French language or the French culture?

    Lily:

    I have no idea.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Surprise after surprise, huh?

    Lily:

    Yeah. It's just like, when we learn about all this, it kind of just like clicks in my brain because all around the world, things are different. Like time, how everything has gone by.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    History..

    Lily:

    Yeah. History

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And French is spoken in many countries. So I'm sure you've learned about just how France and French has influenced the world over the years. Tell me, what are your favorite words that you've learned in French? One of mine is anana, is it yours too?

    Spencer:

    Yeah.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Spencer, tell me about that.

    Spencer:

    There's like this French show I once watched and it was like about this talking pineapple, Anana. And I liked watching it and I also liked the word anana because I like bananas and it kind of sounds like the word banana.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Right. It's full of surprises.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    I think there is another one that they like. It's vert because vert in French means green.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It means so many different things.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    It means glass, it means worm and it means towards.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yes. So that's a favorite of yours as well. Qu’est-ce que ça veut dire?

    Lily:

    It means, I think it means a ripe blackberry murmurs to a wall.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh yeah. That's right. Mûre, right. Very good. Now I will just say that when you can manage puns in another language that shows a great understanding of the language. What  have you liked most or what are some of your favorite words Lily?

    Lily:

    I like the word canard because it means duck and I like ducks. Plus it's just a fun word.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Canard. It is funny when you learn a new language that some words just kind of seem to click. Tell me what it's like to spend half of your day speaking only French.

    Lily:

    It's fun because I'm able to learn some of my favorite subjects, not just in English, but also in French. Because it gives me like, new ideas. And when you learn another language, it can really help you through life. If you ever wanna go somewhere new, and you don't know what to do, you can always talk to the people there when you know their language.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Very good. Spencer?

    Spencer:

    I like that in history we've learned about the French Revolution, which I didn't know a lot about before. But now I know a lot about it, and I found it really interesting.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What is your favorite subject to learn in French? What seems to fit nicely with French?

    Lily:

    History or science, or just the entire class?

    Anthony Godfrey:

    The entire class. All right. Fair enough. Spencer?

    Spencer:

    Our teacher's great. I love history. Like it's really fun. We, yeah, our teacher makes it really fun.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What do you love most about your teacher? Elle est bien amusant les gens?

    Lily:

    She is just the best. I don't know. She just, she makes everything so fun. Like when we were doing science, she would have us do like fun experiments with like food. Sometimes when we like the lunar phases, it was fun. Cuz we had to do Oreos and she just makes everything so fun.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh wow. So the double stuff became the waxing and waning moon? Yes. Wow. That's really cool. Spencer, how about you?

    Spencer:

    Like, I don't know. I don't know how she makes history so fun. But, I agree with Lily that she makes science really fun too because we get to do a lot of experiments. And we also did like a play like a couple days ago and it was really fun. It was about like some kids that built a time machine and like went back in time to like each time period. Like prehistoric, then like Egyptian times, and then like medieval times and then like the modern times. And then we also went to the future in it and that was really fun.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Wow. She has really taken you on some serious field trips it sounds like. So I've heard about this play. It really made a big impression on people who saw it and I'm just sad that I didn't realize I was missing out. I heard there was some rapping in French. Is that correct? Could either of you give us a sample of that?

    Lily:

    We could.

    Spencer:

    Okay, I’ll go first.

    Le vent souffle sur les plaines de la Bretagne armoricaine

    Je jette un dernier regard sur ma femme, mon fils et mon domaine
    Akim, le fils du forgeron est venu me chercher
    Les druides ont décidé de mener le combat dans la vallée
    Là, où tous nos ancêtres, de géants guerriers Celtes
    Après de grandes batailles, se sont imposés en maîtres
    C'est l'heure maintenant de défendre notre terre
    Contre une armée de Sumériens prête à croiser le fer
    Toute la tribu s'est réunie autour de grands menhirs
    Pour invoquer les dieux afin qu'ils puissent nous bénir
    Après cette prière avec mes frères sans faire état de zèle
    Les chefs nous ont donné à tous des gorgées d'hydromel
    Pour le courage, pour pas qu'il y ait de faille
    Pour rester grands et fiers quand nous serons dans la bataille
    Car c'est la première fois pour moi que je pars au combat
    Et j'espère être digne de la tribu de Dana.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hey, très bien. Formidable! Parfait.

    Spencer:

    Merci.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Incroyable.  Et toi Lily, vas-y.

    Lily:

    Okay.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Un, deux, trois.

    Lily:

    Le vent souffle sur les plaines de la Bretagne armoricaine
    Je jette un dernier regard sur ma femme, mon fils et mon domaine
    Akim, le fils du forgeron est venu me chercher
    Les druides ont décidé de mener le combat dans la vallée
    Là, où tous nos ancêtres, de géants guerriers Celtes
    Après de grandes batailles, se sont imposés en maîtres
    C'est l'heure maintenant de défendre notre terre
    Contre une armée de Sumériens prête à croiser le fer
    Toute la tribu s'est réunie autour de grands menhirs
    Pour invoquer les dieux afin qu'ils puissent nous bénir
    Après cette prière avec mes frères sans faire état de zèle
    Les chefs nous ont donné à tous des gorgées d'hydromel
    Pour le courage, pour pas qu'il y ait de faille
    Pour rester grands et fiers quand nous serons dans la bataille
    Car c'est la première fois pour moi que je pars au combat
    Et j'espère être digne de la tribu de Dana.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Bravo! C’est super. Wow. That's amazing. I could not do that in English, much less in French so you guys have done great. I know we're running out of time. What would you say to a student who's thinking about doing this? Or parents who are thinking about having their child participate in Dual Immersion?

    Lily:

    I’d tell them to do French Immersion, or just on any immersion because it really can help you in school. I think for me it did because when you're bored in English, you can go have fun in French.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay, fair enough. You can spice it up by adding that extra layer to learning where everything is in a different language.

    Lily:

    The teachers in French are so good. They're like so nice.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That makes me so happy to hear that. That's no surprise, but it's great to hear that from a sixth grader ready to move on to middle school. Spencer?

    Spencer:

    I’d tell 'em they should definitely do it. Because it's definitely a really cool experience. Just speaking French with all your friends and it's just really fun. And I think it's really cool how we even do different subjects other than French in French. So yeah.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Any final thoughts Madam Fa’asu?

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    No, I just think that it's an amazing program myself. I love to see how their results in science on the RISE test are amazing as well. And that blows my mind that those kids are learning science in French and do so well in the state tests. I'm just impressed with everything they do, how well they speak French and I'm not worried about them going to France one day.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    They'll do great. There's no question about that. And my hat is off to both of you for learning French so well and working so hard. And to you, Madam Fa’asu also for making this such a great experience for everyone.

    Lydia Fa’asu:

    Thank you.

    Principal Amy Adams:

    Our French grades 1-6, who are going to showcase all of the things that they have been learning this year and up through sixth grade.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there. Bonne journée!

    Students singing Si j’allais en Chine in French

    Si j’allais en Chine

    Si j’allais en Chine
    Si j’allais en Chine
    Si j’allais en Chine
    Si j’allais en Chine

    Avec mes copains, mes copines

    Tout ‘monde en avion
    Le temps de la récréation
    Arrivée Pékin, me voilà dans un palanquin
    Messieurs, allons vite pour voir la cité interdite
    Si j’allais en Chine
    Sur les collines de Gui lin
    Où l’on dit “je t’aime” en se récitant des poèmes
    Direction Shanghai
    Et après la Grande Muraille
    Soyons à midi au tombeau de Qin Shi Huangdi

    Si j’allais en Chine

    Si j’allais en Chine
    Si j’allais en Chine
    Si j’allais en Chine
    Si j’allais en Chine

    Dire bonjour aux Moines Shaolin

    20 min
  • Episode 154: Safety and Security in the New School Year

    The safety, security and well-being of all students and staff in Jordan School District is a top priority. On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with the District’s Emergency Operations Manager to find out about on-going efforts to enhance safety measures in our schools and buildings.

    Also, find out how a strong partnership with local law enforcement agencies, along with having School Resource Officers assigned to every school is helping to reinforce our safety and security measures.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. The safety, security, and wellbeing of all students and staff in Jordan School District is our top priority. On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with the District's Emergency Operations Manager to find out more about on-going efforts to enhance safety measures in our schools and buildings. Also, find out how a strong relationship with local law enforcement agencies along with having School Resource Officers assigned to every school is helping to reinforce our safety and security measures.

    We're here with Emergency Operations Manager, Lance Everill. Lance, thanks for taking the time.

    Lance Everill:

    My pleasure.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I've worked with you for a long time and your team is on the cutting edge of making our schools as safe as possible. You're quick to respond when we do have a concern and you guys just, I can't imagine anyone doing a better job, so I really appreciate everything that you do.

    Lance Everill:

    That's nice. Thank you very much.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I'm glad that we can sit down for a few minutes and talk about some of the things we've been doing as a district over the years to make sure our schools are as safe as possible. And I think we've done a lot of things to move forward in that direction. Some things that may have been forgotten over the years, or may not be noticed anymore because they've been around for so long. One of those things is name badges. Name badges started a long time ago, and it's a small thing, but it makes a big difference. You can spot who works in Jordan School District or in a school from a very long distance, because they're wearing their name badge. Right?

    Lance Everill:

    Yeah. And that becomes a natural filter. What you'll hear is that it makes it an easy way to identify from a distance who is an employee and who's potentially a visitor. And so when you have some of those simple filters, it helps staff with looking at who's in the building. But it also just as importantly, helps students, parents, guardians and visitors know who do I go to for help.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's right. I also like when people forget to take their badges off and they wear them in a restaurant or a store into the wild and I am able to go up and talk to some district employees after hours who maybe are still wearing the badge. There are some other things that we've done over the years. And one of those is an audit. There's a regular audit of every school to be sure that they are compliant with the plans that we have in place for each school to make sure that they are safe. There are some small tasks, some small things that need to be maintained to be sure the building is safe. What I love about that is ever since it was put in place, I think in 2013. So it's been a long time now, that we all get an email. Everyone at the cabinet level in the administration gets an email about every school. So we have a clear sense for where the patterns are. Now scores have soared over the years on those audits, it's brought attention to the things that needed to be done. And I think we have consistently had high scores in all of our buildings, right?

    Lance Everill:

    Yeah. We implemented it in February of 2013 and it's a pretty rigorous assessment where I wanna say there's at least 40 indicators on there. And so our school safety specialist goes around and randomly just shows up at a school and conducts this assessment. So just like you said, the nice thing is, it provides data. It shows what we're doing well, which is huge, right? We want to continue the things that we're doing well. And then it also isolates the areas where we can make improvement. And it's very specific. The idea is that a school safety team, incident command team, can sit down and look at those or the district administration can look at 'em and we can see the areas where we're seeing trends and routines where we're doing well and where we can improve. Then it becomes easy for the school or the district to make a plan that says, okay, this is how we're going to tackle this area and get better. So just like you had mentioned, what we've seen since 2013 is a gradual increase in scores and performance overall. So there's such a culture of safety and security and just more attention to it and more of knowing what those expectations are.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, along with that, there's a lot of training that happens as well. There's a regular training, regular drills that are required by law, but all of those drills are done following that same protocol. Can you talk a little bit about that?

    Lance Everill:

    Clear back in as early as 1999.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Back in the 1900s. Yeah.

    Lance Everill:

    Back in the 1900s, Jordan School District, in response to some of the critical events that had been happening around the nation, and specifically Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999. The District hired an outside law enforcement professional team to develop an incident command manual specific to Jordan School District. And it's designed to follow the FEMA, the National Incident Management System, but it is written specific for schools. And we have used that same system ever since. We update it to grow with the times, to modernize. But the nice thing is when the police show up or the fire department shows up, city emergency management, county emergency management, state, and federal government, they're following that same basic emergency response hierarchy and protocol outlined in the incident command system. And so that becomes our foundational response plan for every school. The beauty is when you go from elementary school as a student to middle to high school and from high school to your tech center, or a family moves from West Jordan to South Jordan, a teacher transfers from one school to another school, an administrator gets reassigned next year. That foundational plan is the same.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And not only is that foundational plan the same from school to school, but as you said, it mirrors what law enforcement is using in their organization. So when they come into an incident, it becomes really clear who's in charge and who's making decisions. And our decision making tree matches theirs, so we can really be efficient in dealing with a problem and not be subject to confusion in the same way that some others might be.

    Lance Everill:

    Right. A lot of what happens in an incident is just trying to figure out who's in charge, right? Who can we talk to to ask those key critical questions and then make those critical decisions. And sometimes in emergencies decision making, I mean, seconds, minutes matter. Seconds and minutes can really matter. And it's important for us to, as you said, expedite that response. Get to what we need to do and make good decisions as a team. And an important thing too, is that we use clear plain language, but we use age appropriate language for schools, right? It's important that we're honest and clear with kids, but also at an age appropriate level as to not cause panic in them, but for them to understand what the responses are and to empower them with safety measures and safety actions.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Let's talk a little bit about that. Avoid, Deny, Defend. Can you explain that?

    Lance Everill:

    So Avoid, Deny, Defend is a great program that was implemented, I don't know exactly how many years, within this last decade. And we heard back in the past, there was run, hide, fight, and it's these situations to deal with a violence. A violent intruder, or some type of violence thing going on in the environment. Avoid, Deny, Defend became a really good program for Jordan School District to look at when you talk about the nature of our business, right? Kindergarten through 12th grade, educators in schools. So you talk about that Avoid aspect of it. And it's just kind of this response continuum. And really Avoid, Deny, Defend doesn't just have to be applied to violence. It can be applied to any type of an emergency situation. Any student at any age can see a problem or feel like they're nervous or at risk, and they can avoid that problem and get away from it.

    And then we can teach kids in an age appropriate way to get help, to report things when they see things. And that's huge, right? So the best way to deal with the problem is go the opposite direction and report it. The Deny response piece of that is something our schools have been doing for years. And that's when we do a lockout, which locks a potentially dangerous person or situation outside of the school. And we stay on heightened alert inside of the school. Or will we lock down inside of our classrooms and offices in immediate areas when the threat is potentially already in the building. So that locking down, by locking those doors, creating a physical barrier between us and a threat, denies them immediate access to you. And so these are logical things that we can teach kids of any age about locking doors to protect yourself and to stay on the opposite side.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Right. And the Defend portion?

    Lance Everill:

    Well, when we talk about that defense portion of it, and it's only in a last resort, right? The best thing again is to get away from the problem, if you can, or to create a physical, deny barrier by a lockout or lockdown. So avoid it or deny them access to you. Defend becomes a last resort. And it becomes a way to make sure that you're doing all you can to protect yourself and/or others. Here's the thing about warm, fuzzy educators. They are fierce advocates of students, right? And so it's pretty clear to them that they'll do most anything that they can to take care of their kids. We talk about having all these other measures and we have tons of engineered solutions and hardware and things in place to avoid having these problems and putting people in these conflict situations. But it's also something that we discuss and we partner with our law enforcement on to make sure that teachers and teenagers understand that they can do things to protect themselves.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, we also have very sophisticated first aid kits in every classroom and an even larger kit in every school to deal with injuries when they occur. Tell us about that program.

    Lance Everill:

    When we talk about Avoid, Deny, Defend, we naturally piggyback off of that with talking about trauma care. Just basic trauma care that we can conduct in a school. So leaning on our law enforcement and fire professionals, they advised us on what best practices would be and what the best contents would be for these trauma kits. When we presented this to our Board of Education four years ago, the Board instantly said, yes, let's do it. Let's follow our professionals, law enforcement and fire’s recommendation. And the Board said, let's order these kits. We have been able to put a classroom kit and there's almost 3,200 of them out there in every dedicated classroom inside of Jordan School District. Additionally, like you said, we have larger wall-mounted kits. One next to every wall-mounted AED in every school. Plus we also put additional larger wall-mounted kits in large mass gathering areas like gyms, cafeterias, auditoriums, commons. So the whole idea is that we have tourniquets, pressure bandages and great tools like that available on top of our regular first aid kits, to be able to help people in those critical moments until the first responders can get there and give them proper medical care.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Tell me about the specific drills that are required throughout the year.

    Lance Everill:

    Elementary schools are required to do at least one drill per month. Every school starts with a fire drill, and then they do another emergency, like earthquake or lockout or shelter in place. And they alternate fire, other, fire, other all throughout the year. So elementary's one drill every month, fire, other, fire, other, all throughout the school year, secondary schools, fire, other, fire, other, they only have to do a drill every two months. So a secondary school, like a middle school or high school can do a minimum of six drills per year. That's a minimum, some of them do more. And they do what I like to call two-fors. And so when we do the great shakeout around the third week of April with the state practicing for those earthquakes, then the school has an opportunity to do an earthquake drill and to practice drop, covering, and holding. And then they can also do an evacuation, which would be relevant in those situations. If the building was untenable and we needed to get outside, right? So they have lots of opportunity to practice them together.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So there's a lot of practice built in throughout the year. So we have protocols in place that are audited on a regular basis, so that we know what to celebrate and where we need to improve. We have drills so that adults and children are ready for whatever may come their way. And we have kits in place in case there is an injury so that we have all the equipment and training we need to help people in that situation immediately. But we've also made some changes to our buildings to make them safer as well. Talk about that.

    Lance Everill:

    So when we were talking about ID badges, that work as filters, one of a really important thing. When you talk about crime prevention through environmental design, layers become a real clear way to slow things down, to slow people down. Not only if somebody's ill-intended, we want to slow him down and then hopefully we can catch it or dissuade them before they come in and do something. But it also gives us an opportunity to vet people. So we've been working on single point entries. We've been working on a rigorous check in/checkout process verification, vetting who our visitors are. We have multiple layers of doors that our visitors are required to get into those areas, to then announce themselves and their business there at the school. And so that all becomes all those layers to vet, filter and slow down.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, what you're talking about, those layers have been created over time in almost all of our schools. Because the Board of Education has invested a lot of money in remodeling our schools, to be sure that that point of entry moves folks through the office. And I think it's an important point that part of that is to be sure that we're monitoring that and making sure that everyone gets what they need as they come into the building.

    Lance Everill:

    You know, safety and security isn't just about responding to disasters. And it's not just about responding to people with ill intent. Safety and security is about running an efficient campus. You know, most of the time when we have our interactions with firefighters and medical professionals, it's because people have had a personal emergency or accident. So it's really important that we know where people are. We know who's in our building. We know where they're going and we can account for them.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We've talked about things that we've been doing internally, but you also interact a lot with law enforcement throughout the district. We have a number of municipalities that are included in the Jordan District boundary, and you're in constant contact with them on any number of issues. And that's really essential being partners with them, that's essential to our success.

    Lance Everill:

    You know, I know as part of this podcast you'll be having some conversation with our School Resource Officer Mike Ashley, who's from the Riverton Police Department. And he's a prime example of that relationship that you're talking about. As emergencies happen nationally, and whenever there's an emergency at a school, anywhere, every school district then looks at how they're doing business. And not only just the school district, but our law enforcement partners and our fire medical partners. And it's logical that we all say, what are we doing? Let's have that assessment. Are we doing enough? Can we do more? Can we do better? Those are logical things for us to ask of ourselves, to ask of each other. For parents, guardians and students to ask of us, and teachers to ask of us as well. So one of the most critical things that we can do is just to have an important, well cultivated relationship with those professionals in the community, our law enforcement and fire medical professionals.

    I have been tasked with helping to form those relationships and make sure that we are giving them opportunities to give us their best practice input. To get inside of our schools, to become familiar with our schools. But just as importantly, our schools welcome them to come in and sit down and chat once in a while, or let's go on a tour after hours. It's so nice when a police chief walks in and calls a principal by their first name, and they know exactly who that chief is, or the sergeant or the SRO, that says a lot about the relationship. But I think is what's just as important. We can talk all day about the investments Jordan School District is making towards keeping schools safe, but they are all making huge strides. And the level of dedication, the caliber of the officers that they put in our schools and the commitment response time is just stellar. Like, I think we've always had good relationships, but I believe truly that they're the best they've ever been.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Though you can't prevent every incident from happening, I really appreciate how hard we have worked as a district and how you and your staff have worked to make sure that we are as safe as possible. And we're always looking for the next thing that we need to do to be better.

    Lance Everill:

    Thanks, Anthony. Appreciate it

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us. When we come back, Officer Mike Ashley joins us to talk about the important work being done by School Resource Officers who have a passion for working with students and keeping everyone safe.

    Break:

    Do you simply love learning online? We can't wait to have you join the amazing teachers in our brand new Jordan Virtual Learning Academy. In Jordan Virtual Learning Academy schools, we offer innovative, fun, and flexible online learning with daily real-time instruction from teachers. Enrollment is currently open for all K-12 students in Utah. Start on the path to personalized virtual learning success now at connect.jordandistrict.org. That's connect.jordandistrict.org.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We're here with Detective Ashley, the School Resource Officer at Oquirrh Hills Middle School, but much more, you're everywhere. You've been a DARE officer over the years. And you've really advanced things for us in terms of safety with just giving us the opportunity to talk things through with you and sharing your ideas along the way. Tell me about your interactions with Jordan School District over the years when it comes to safety.

    Mike Ashley:

    Sure. Of course there's policies and guidelines that we're given when we start. We are assigned to this job, this assignment, but also what I really like about it is I feel like we're a team. I can sit down with my own administration, wherever I've been. I've been in several different schools in the Jordan District, and I've been able to feel like I'm a team. That I'm part of that team. And also with the District, I can go to anybody, any given time at the district office and be able to communicate my ideas or feelings and they can do the same for me. So it seems like it's just a team effort and we're all working together. We all, we're all kind of traveling down the same highway, but we're all just in different lanes. And it's nice that I feel that I have that support and connection with them and that they have that connection with me.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I like to say that we have the same goals, but different roles. And I really have felt that teamwork from you and from the officers we work with throughout the district. Tell me, one of the innovations that you were responsible for here at Oquirrh Hills Middle School was color coding all of the hallways. Tell me about that.

    Mike Ashley:

    Yeah. So there was an incident that happened, not at our school, but that I saw that the numbers sometimes on the halls are confusing for our officers that respond. And a lot of departments do this where they hand out maps and have guidelines and training, which is awesome. A lot of 'em train in their own schools, which really helps. Helps us prevent any future problems. But one of the things for our school was that we decided to put color codes. We have like a tape running down one of the hallways, like a blue hallway. And then it'll cross over to a yellow hallway, which it has a line like you would see on a road. And one good purpose for it was our seventh graders, when they can't find a way to the class, we’re able to get them to go buy color codes instead of by the hallways.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I walk into a lot of schools and some of them are very large. And a lot of them have similar layouts and sometimes the layouts flip flopped and I get confused a lot. So I really like the color coding. I think that can help a lot of people, not just law enforcement.

    Mike Ashley:

    Yeah. And then when I showed, of course my chief supported it too and so did the district. And then when we have officers respond from the outside, they can see what color that hallway is before they even go down that hallway. So it makes it easy for them to know where we're at if something occurs.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Helps everyone be in the right place at the right time. Now, I know that you have personally been creative in thinking about ways that you can connect with the community, and help prevent problems before they happen, and create a positive relationship between the police and the community. Tell me about some of the things that you've put in place.

    Mike Ashley:

    Sure. I started off when our department started with business contacts. Those are the people that support us a lot of times. And so the first thing is to give them the numbers that they can contact us with. And so that was our first step, just introducing ourselves as a new department and giving that information, they would need to contact us. And then from there, since I worked in the schools, I wanted to reach out with a message. So the message was either a crime prevention message or a message of a hardship card, where it had a list of numbers that people could call. If you had somebody that had addictions, or homeless, or domestic violence. All the numbers that people who reach out that need help, that sometimes they may not wanna call 911. And then we went from there to try to educate parents that things are always changing with the youth. Just to help educate them, to understand the newest trends that are happening with their youth and all the things that are going on.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You and I have talked about it before, but describe for listeners what you do with the tennis ball that you carry around.

    Mike Ashley:

    Oh yeah. So I do a circuit training  during the seventh period in PE here. So I can just kind of rub shoulders with the kids and have something fun other than just talking about programs. And I do it in the summer. And it was a thing I just kind of carried around and then I decided to start bouncing it to the students during recess or during class breaks. And I started trying to get more of a connection because I saw that most kids were receptive to me doing that and feeling I could see it kind of empowered them.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So if someone's walking down the hall, you want to connect with you bounce the tennis ball their way. Yeah. Yep. And instinctively you catch it. Yeah. And now you've made a connection with that that person. And you've kind of opened a dialogue.

    Mike Ashley:

    Yeah. And it doesn't matter what, what state they are in and how they're feeling that day. Or maybe they're feeling down, it just kind of hopefully lifts their day. If I have a student that maybe doesn't wanna do it, then I'll kind of go, oh, it's kind of interesting. Why didn't they want to do that? And try to maybe mend that relationship that for some reason went wrong as far as me being a police officer. What I really feel strong about is, and I know I talked this with Lance, if you know the businesses and you know the kids and you know the parents and you know your senior citizens, you know the community. And so anytime there's an issue, I want the parents to be part of that with my administration. Me and those parents in the same meeting. So we can come to the same conclusion, the same safety plan, you know, as we call it. So that we can understand each other. And I think it feels better if we're working together than if we're all against each other and come from different perspectives. We will, but we can come to some kind of agreement if they really feel it. We really do care about their kids and we really do want to help them.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Love it. Thank you for everything you do.

    Mike Ashley:

    Thank you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

    26 min
  • Episode 153: A Fun Time Talking to Students About the New School Year

    They are headed back to class with big expectations, confident this school year will be one to remember.

    On this episode of the Supercast, we have some fun talking to students about what they want and hope for as they settle into new schools, making new friends and memories. We are excited to let the learning begin for the 2022-23 school year.

    Audio Transcription

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are headed back to class with big expectations, confident this school year will be one to remember. On this episode of the Supercast, we talk to students about what they want and hope for as they settle into a new school year, making new friends and memories. We're excited to let the learning begin for the 2022-23 school year. Enjoying a few laughs along the way.

    We are here in Sunset Ridge Middle School for the first day of the 2022-23 school year. You can feel the excitement in the air. We're here with the students. Tell me your name.

    Taylor:

    I'm Taylor.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Taylor, what grade are you in?

    Taylor:

    I'm going into ninth grade.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Going into ninth grade. You're starting high school. Feels good, right?

    Taylor:

    Yeah, for sure. I'm super hyped for it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What are you looking forward to most?

    Taylor:

    I don't know. Just a new school year. New teachers. I'm taking a ballroom, so that'll be fun. 

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah.. Looking forward to ballroom. That's awesome. I'm sure they're glad to have you in there now. Tell me does the fact that it's high school now change your viewpoint a little bit?

    Taylor:

    Little bit. I feel like I'm kind of pressured to do more things. Kind of just do better in school because the last few years I've kind of been slacking off a little bit. Yeah. So I'm kind of looking forward to a new mindset and just getting ready for this new school year.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Ninth grade does stay with you a little longer than eighth grade. Grade wise and transcript wise. But, I'm sure you're well prepared and ready to go.

    Taylor:

    Oh yeah, for sure. I'm taking on the challenge. I'm ready for it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Are you excited to see friends that you haven't seen much over the summer?

    Taylor:

    Yeah. Yeah. I'm seeing a bunch of people here I forgot about, to be honest, I'm like, oh my gosh, I totally forgot about that person. So yeah. I'm glad to be back.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    They're the friends that are close and then they're the acquaintances. That next circle out of people you know. And hopefully everyone feels like they belong and it's an exciting time for everybody.

    Taylor:

    Oh yeah, for sure. I'm super excited to be back.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What did you miss the most over the summer?

    Taylor:

    Just the energy. You know this school man, it's everyone. Everyone's friends. I swear everyone, everyone knows each other. So being back in this just feels good to have the energy back and being with my people. For sure.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I know your teachers and your principal work really hard to create that atmosphere. So they'll be very glad to hear that. Oh yeah, for sure. Well, I wish you the very best. I'm sure it's gonna be a great year.

    Taylor:

    Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    All right. We're here with more students at Sunset Ridge Middle School. Tell me your names.

    Shekinah:

    My name is Shekinah.

    Elizabeth:

    I'm Elizabeth.

    Rebecca:

    I'm Rebecca.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And what are you most excited about this year?

    Shekinah:

    I mean, if I'm being honest, I'm just really excited to be, you know, circulating classes. It makes me feel, you know, I guess in a way, grown up. I guess.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. You're going into seventh grade? So you're excited about having multiple teachers now? 

    Shekinah:

    Yeah.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And where were you in sixth grade?

    Shekinah:

    I was in Fox Hollow.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And what, what class are you looking forward to most?

    Shekinah:

    Probably science.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah? What do you like about science?

    Shekinah:

    You get to do experiments, you know you know, use the beakers and whatnot. So, and I just think science is really cool and whatnot.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Have you tried out your locker?

    Shekinah:

    It's a lot more complicated than I thought it was.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah, they're not as easy as they should be. It takes some doing. Practice that locker and it'll come in handy. What thoughts did you have in the days leading up to today?

    Shekinah:

    I mean, overall, I was just really nervous, but I kept on telling myself that I'm gonna have a great year. You know, cuz I'm gonna really push forward.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It's exciting to have a fresh start. To be in a new school. New teachers. Get to make some new friends. And what's really thrilling to me, is look at all these people that you're gonna get a chance to connect with. Let's talk with your sisters. And what grade are you going into?

    Elizabeth:

    Ninth.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And what excites you about going into ninth grade? You're a high schooler now.

    Elizabeth:

    I think taking the babies home for child development.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. What class are you looking forward to most?

    Elizabeth:

    Child development.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Child Development. And why is that?

    Elizabeth:

    I don't know. It's my favorite teacher. So

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. That makes a difference. If your favorite teacher is teaching something you want to be part of that. Have you been here at Sunset Ridge all three years? And have you looked forward to being a ninth grader for both of those years?

    Elizabeth:

    Not really.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Why not?

    Elizabeth:

    I just know that it's a little bit stressful because everything starts to count now. 

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It does count more. That transcript follows you, but you're up for it. You'll do great.

    Elizabeth:

    Thank you.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So what grade are you going in? What grade are you starting?

    Rebecca:

    I'm ninth.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And how does it feel to be a high schooler?

    Rebecca:

    Not really different.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    All right. And what class are you looking forward to most?

    Rebecca:

    Maybe like AP Human Geography.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, that's gonna be a good one. That's gonna be a good one. What did you miss most over the summer?

    Rebecca:

    Not really anything. Maybe friends I guess.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Yeah. Okay. Maybe friends. All right friends out there. She really did miss you. She just doesn't want to admit it. All right. Have a great day and a great school year, guys. 

    Audrey Fish, Principal of Sunset Ridge Middle School. How does it feel to have day one underway?

    Audrey Fish:

    Oh my gosh. I couldn't be happier. This day has been long awaited for and the energy, and the enthusiasm, and the faces on these children are just priceless.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    As I've talked with kids, I've talked with employees and teachers over the last week. I think there's more excitement for this year than for any year I can remember.

    Audrey Fish:

    I would agree with that too. It has been just, just we're ready to be back together. Yeah, we're ready to be comfortable with one another reconnecting and finding where we fit so we can learn and grow.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    You know, coming here and, and interviewing students just before school. The buzz was palpable, just the excitement at kids connecting with each other, again, seeing each other. And I think we're gonna be able to connect this year better than we ever have. Not that we're taking our defenses down or that we aren't being cautious, but I think we're going to have the ability to connect with each other better than we have for a long time.

    Audrey Fish:

    I would agree with that. Last spring we hosted our first spirit bowl assembly. Kind of giving them a feel of what a high school spirit bowl would feel like. And they could sit where they wanted, the energy and the enthusiasm. And now they're like, we gotta do that again because it was bringing back that enthusiasm for school and not what we've experienced. With part of the pandemic can feel kind of humdrum and so it's reliving our lives in a better way.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Now, a lot of people wonder, what does everybody do over the summer? And a principal works really hard to plan, to hire, to get everything going for the year to come. And so it really is, it reaches a crescendo and you gradually get there because there are administrator meetings that start us off and then the teachers come back and now to have the students back, the school is really underway.

    Audrey Fish:

    Agreed. And you have downtime and you take, I'm intentional with my family. As we should be, to renew, and as we come back to our careers, this, we have to feel like family here too. And the connections with one another. But you're right. The work, the work continues even over the summer. And so I feel like we've got some great values that we're rolling out this year. Just to be more intentional about being respectful, responsible, and safe. So those are our Falcon values that we worked on this summer with the community and other stakeholders to just say, ‘Hey, this is who we are and this is what it looks like in the nest.’

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What are you looking forward to most this year,

    Audrey Fish:

    Meeting children in their need and watching them grow. I'm looking forward to those connections and meeting more of the community because I've had one year in this community. And now I'm looking forward to broadening my soaring abilities and getting to know more of the Falcon Nation, cuz they just are awesome. And it's gonna be great.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Well, it's really nice to be here in the nest with you. And as you can hear in the background, everyone's gone to class. It's a magical moment when all that planning comes to fruition and everyone's where they're supposed to be. So thanks for your hard work and for the hard work of your faculty and staff to make this work and here's to a great year.

    Audrey Fish:

    Awesome. Thank you Superintendent.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Stay with us. When we come back, we'll hear from some parents about their hopes for the new school year.

    Break:

    Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at workatjordan.org.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We're at Mountain Shadows Elementary, stopping in on fourth grade on the very first day of school.

    Susan Allen:

    Mrs. Durrant, Mrs. Suisuico, and we have Dr. Godfrey who is our superintendent. You guys say hello?

    Students:

    Hello.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Hi everybody. Has anyone been looking forward to the school year starting out? Yes you have. What have you been looking forward to most? Math? Who's looking forward to math? Where are you? All right. What do you love about math?

    Rebekah:

    The thing is I'm trying to learn math.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Oh, okay. Well, Rebekah, I walked in, we're at less than 10 minutes into class and you're already learning math. So all your dreams are coming true. 

    Rebekah:

    It's multiplication that I'm trying to work on right now.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Okay. You memorizing that and learning the concepts behind it? Yeah. All right. Let's see. How about Gage, what's on your mind as the school year starts?

    Gage:

    Probably history.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    History. Okay. You've got a NASA shirt on. Are you kind of a STEM dude? Are you interested in science and flying to the moon or is that just a cool shirt?

    Gage:

    Just kind of, so kind of history and science is what I'm into.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    History and science. Very good. I love it. What else are you guys into? Let's see. Kynli, what are you into?

    Kynli:

    I'm into art and math.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What kind of art are you into the most?

    Kynli:

    I'm into like sketching and stuff like that.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Sketching. All right. I like to doodle as well. Keeps me focused. Ivy, how about you? What are you looking forward to this year? 

    Ivy:

    Art and reading.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Art and reading. Well, you know, what's exciting is that when you're in second grade, you get art, you get reading, you get math, you get science, you get history, you get the whole shebang. So it's gonna be an exciting year. Anyone excited to be back with friends? Oh yes. That's the best part isn't it? All right. Well, I hope you guys have a great year. I know it's gonna be awesome. Thanks for letting me stop in your class and I will interrupt your learning no longer.

    We're talking now with Traci, who is a parent of a second grader and a fourth grader at Mountain Shadows Elementary. We just talked with Kenslee and she thinks that you're okay with the start of school coming.

    Traci:

    Yes, I am so excited. I'm totally okay with this.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    She said that now you can work without distraction.

    Traci:

    Yes. Yes, I can get my work done in a much more timely manner. It'll be really nice to have 'em back in school.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    I get really focused on the fresh year, all the learning that's gonna happen. But I forget the boost this is to parents also. That we're back in a routine and the world has some order to it once again.

    Traci:

    Yes. We tried having some structure over the summertime by doing chores and routine, having a morning routine, reading for 20 minutes, getting dressed, getting up and ready for the day. It's not the same as getting up and getting to school and doing the routine. So yeah, we're excited for the routine part of it as well.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    There's nothing like those teachers and friends waiting for you at school to get things going in a way that they can't really get going in the summer. I'm remembering the talk I had with my 13 year old at the beginning of the summer about the exact same type of schedule. We're gonna read, we're gonna do this. We're gonna do that. It didn't really work out. So I'm really glad that he is now in the hands of seven capable people throughout the day.

    Traci:

    Yes. Yes. Same with us. Ours actually worked out pretty well cuz I had my work routine. So I had to get the kids on routine. Of course you have to go and say, get off electronics. I already asked you to, get off electronics and get your chores done, but we're ready for the routine and their friendships. They're excited to be back with their friends.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    So working from home, you kind of had them anchored to your work schedule.

    Traci:

    Yes. Yep. I had to have 'em anchored my work schedule so I could do my work while maintaining having them at home.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    That's good. That sounds like it worked out really well. Well, congratulations on being at the start of a new school year and I think it's gonna be a great one.

    Traci:

    Thank you. We're really excited. We're excited for fourth grade.

    Tina Susuico:

    So I'm Tina Susuico, the principal here at Mount Shadows. This is my fourth year here and it's amazing.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    And what have you been looking forward to?

    Tina Susuico:

    Really nicely that our kids are coming back to a little bit of normalcy, whatever that looks like. We're excited to have our kids back in school, playing with each other, learning from each other, being interactive and just making a fun year.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    It was really fun to be here as kids were lining up, getting ready to go. Teachers are talking with kids before they come in the building. It's an exciting time. I've felt energy everywhere I've been this morning just because I think there's been more anticipation this year than even in years past.

    Tina Susuico:

    I totally agree. And I think that shows,like just with our community coming in last night, we had our back to school night. They're excited to have their kids back in school. And like I said, just a little bit of normalcy.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    What would you say to parents out there who have just sent their kids off to school?

    Tina Susuico:

    They're in a great place. We have caring teachers. And one of the things I ask my teachers during faculty meeting is why they choose to be here at Mountain Shadows. They could go anywhere else. There's a teacher shortage out there. So why do they choose to stay here? And it's because it's a family and the community's a family. You know, they look at their colleagues as family and friends. It's supportive, it's trusting. So kids are in great hands here.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    We've known that about Mountain Shadows for years. So thank you for being such an important part of that.

    Tina Susuico:

    Well thank you for interviewing me today. Love it.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    All right. Have a great week and a great year.

    Tina Susuico:

    Thank you, you too.

    Anthony Godfrey:

    Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.

    17 min

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