School News

Welcome to the start of 4th quarter.

Things are going to be coming quick now that Spring has arrived.

A reminder that Spring Break is next week and there is NO School April 4-8.

The Liger Chase is this Friday after lunch.

Valley is currently looking for a music teacher for next year for two periods a day. If you know someone that may be interested please have them call the school and ask for Mr. Nielsen.

Finally we want to congratulate our amazing custodial team for earning the highest level possible on their building inspection this spring. We sure appreciate all that they do for the students, staff and school community.

Dear Valley Parents,

This coming week at Valley we have many events and activities to pass along to you.

Monday February 7 –
Today our 7th grade students will be completing their course selection cards for next year.
Our 8th grade students will be attending an assembly with representatives from the Granite Technical Institute (GTI). The GTI provides some great opportunities for students in Granite to take Career and Technical Education courses. Because we are taking care of registration for the 2022-23 school year this next week, we want to make sure our 8th graders know some of the options that are available to them.

Tuesday February 8 –
Parents are invited to our PTA meeting at 2:00 and Community Council Meeting at 2:30.
Also on Tuesday we will be hosting another Covid-19 Vaccination Clinic in our gymnasium from 3:30 – 6:30. Vaccines are available for anyone age 5 and up (parents must be present for minors to receive vaccine). They accommodate 1st dose, 2nd dose, 3rd dose, pediatric dose and booster doses. It is organized by the Salt Lake County Health department. 

Wednesday February 9 –
Our 8th Grade students will be completing their registration cards with counselors from Granger High School.
Parent Teacher Conferences are available today via zoom. If you would like to sign up for the virtual conference, please sign up at https://pickatime.com/granitesd

Thursday February 10 –
Parent Teacher Conferences will be in-person this evening from 4:00 – 7:00 pm.  The teachers will be in their individual classrooms. We encourage parents to come with their student.

Friday February 11 –
There is No School on Friday due to the Parent Teacher Conferences this week for teachers. Enjoy a wonderful three day weekend.

We look forward to parent teacher conferences and engaging with our students and families this week. If we can be of any assistance, please let us know.

Sincerely,
Rich Nielsen
Principal, Valley Junior High

Dear Parents of Valley Jr,

We had another great week at school this week and appreciated having our students back in the building with us.

We have been asked to send out school level notifications twice a week on the number of Covid positive cases on the Salt Lake County Health Department dashboard. I will link the dashboard here so that you can reference it as often as you would like. Currently the dashboard shows less than 5 positive cases over the previous 14 days. https://slco.org/health/COVID-19/data/ (click on schools tab)  (click on schools tab, then Granite)

We continue to offer masks to students that would like a mask at school. As has been announced, there is no longer a county mandate for mask wearing but we do encourage students to wear masks. We would also like to remind parents to please keep students home when they are sick.

This coming week Intramural Volleyball will begin matches against other junior highs and we wish those students well.

Parent Teacher Conferences are coming up on February 9th and 10th. February 9th will be for those parents that want to conduct the conference remotely via zoom. We will be sending out a sign up email for that next week.  February 10th will be in-person conferences with teachers meeting parents in their rooms. The times for both days will be 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Please continue to reach out to your teachers and the school if there is anything we can do to be of assistance to your student.

Have a great weekend.

Dear Parents and Employees of Granite School District,

We are excited to return to in person instruction this upcoming Monday, January 24^th. We extend our sincere appreciation for the patience of our entire community as we have initiated distance learning this week. Above and beyond the concerns with COVID spread, we hope this brief break has allowed our staff and students a chance to recuperate. This brief video message from the superintendent better explains the need for this distance break –  Superintendent’s Snapshot–  Why there was a shift to distance learning.

Today, the State Legislature overturned the Salt Lake County mask mandate. While the district and our schools continue to adhere to Health Department guidance and strongly encourage mask usage on school property, masks are not required. We will still provide masks (including KN95) for all students and staff who would like one.  Students who demonstrates symptoms of ANY illness should remain home. Food services will resume normal operations and times.

Many students and staff will continue to be in isolation or quarantine, and we appreciate everyone’s ongoing patience as we work through this dynamic situation with this surge. We know that in-person instruction is critical for our students, families, and teachers and we are very excited to return to school on Monday!

Have a safe weekend.

Sincerely,

Granite School District

Dear Valley Jr High School Community,               

As you are likely aware, Granite School District has moved to online learning for the week of January 17-21 due to the high number of Covid-19 cases within the area.  I want to personally thank the students for their understanding of the situation this past week with so many teachers out of the building. We had around 20% of our classes this week without the regular teacher in the classroom. Despite this, the students were very understanding and showed great Liger PRIDE in school. Thank you to everyone for understanding that our teachers are doing their very best in some very challenging times.

 As a reminder, there is NO SCHOOL on Monday January 17 as it is a state holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day).

 For the remainder of the week, our students will be teaching online. We will follow the regular school bell schedule (Valley Bell Schedule).

Teachers will be online during their classes using the Google Meet system through the student’s portal.  All teachers will use the same format for their classes (“Valley-teachername” for example “Valley-Nielsen”).

Some teachers will provide direct instruction each period. Others will post work in Canvas and be online to support the students with their work.

If your student needs a chromebook they may pick it up at Valley between the hours of 8:00 am and 2:00 pm on Tuesday.

 We recognize that many students will have a new schedule beginning on Tuesday with the new semester. Students will be able to see their schedule through their portal. Parents also can access the student schedule and I will include instructions here.

 Student Schedule Via Gradebook

Login to your parent/student portal by going to https://portal.graniteschools.org.

The home page for a parent/guardian will look similar to the image below. 

Click the ‘Gradebook’ Tile. Another login page MAY display, if it does, simply re-enter your user credentials.

The default page when you login to gradebook is the student schedule tab set to the class schedule for the current week. 

To see the student schedule for Term 2, click on ‘YEAR’. The ‘SEMESTER 2’ area will display all courses scheduled for Term 2.

 Crisis Intervention Supports

We are deeply saddened at the tragic news that students passed away yesterday at Hunter High as a result of a shooting. That shooting directly impacts students of Valley as well as extended family and friends at Valley. For students that are struggling and in need of some additional support we will have our counselors and school social worker here at the school on Tuesday of next week if any student would like to come in. Our heart aches for the families involved. Please let us know if we can do anything to support those impacted by this horrible tragedy.

As a reminder, crisis support is also available 24/7 through the SafeUT app or website.

 Vaccination Clinic at Valley Jr

The Salt Lake County Health Department is hosting a Covid-19 Vaccination Clinic this coming week on Tuesday January 18 from 4:00 – 7:00 pm in the gymnasium. This is a community opportunity and not just for students. They will be giving booster shots as well as first or second doses. Please consider this opportunity if you have not yet received the vaccination.

 Please reach out to the school if we can be of assistance this coming week with the transition to Distance Learning.

 Sincerely,

 Rich Nielsen

Principal, Valley Jr High

Dear Granite District Families and Employees,

As you may be aware, COVID case counts in our community and school have started to rise dramatically. The Salt Lake County Health Department has initiated a countywide mask mandate ( Click here to see the order) in effect starting this evening at midnight and running for the next 30-days. At all activities and events on school property, starting tomorrow and when students return to school on Monday, January 10th, they will be required to wear a mask. We would encourage you to have your student come to school with a mask, however, schools will have masks available to your student if they don’t have one.

If any of our schools reaches 30 cases (for schools with less than 1500 students) or 2% of student population (for schools with more than 1500 students), state law requires a “Test to Stay,” protocol, wherein students would be required (with parental permission) to be tested for COVID. Students who test positive or who are unable to be tested, would NOT be permitted to attend school for in-person instruction for a period of 10-days. For more information on case counts and Test to Stay, please visit https://www.graniteschools.org/covid/.

In the event of a Test to Stay protocol being initiated, parental permission for testing would be required. Click here to provide that authorization –  https://c19.health.utah.gov/surveys/?s=ACRKKX7HTJ. PLEASE REGISTER YOUR STUDENT(s) ASAP IF YOU HAVE NOT REGISTERED THIS CURRENT SCHOOL YEAR.

Students who qualify for a mask exemption under the order may make that request by contacting the Related Services office at (385) 646-4548. Employees should contact the Benefits office at benefits@graniteschools.org.

We strongly encourage families to take other appropriate measures while at home and in the community to reduce the spread of COVID including getting vaccinated if you are eligible to do so. Click here for free testing sites in Salt Lake County – testing. As a reminder, if your child is sick or demonstrating symptoms, they MUST STAY HOME and reach out to your health care provider or the Health Department for guidance.  

Please recognize that we have vulnerable students and staff within our schools. There are also sensitive members of our community who could be impacted by exposure from asymptomatic individuals. We thank you in advance for your patience and support as we work to keep our students and staff safe in the midst of this pandemic. 

Sincerely,

Granite School District 

Rich Nielsen

Valley Junior High School Principal

Hello Valley Jr High School Parents,

Happy New Year and welcome to 2022!

We hope that you and your family are healthy and have enjoyed the last two weeks.

We wanted to pass along a couple of quick reminders as we return to school this week and we are looking toward cold morning temperatures.

The main building and hallways typically open at 7:30 in the morning.

We open the cafeteria at 7:20 for breakfast. All students can eat breakfast for free. The cafeteria is accessed through the cafeteria courtyard doors on the Southeast side of the building.

The gymnasium opens at 6:40 in the morning for students that need to arrive early in the morning to facilitate parent’s schedules. This is a great option on cold winter mornings. Students access the gym on the Southeast side of the school building as well.

We look forward to having students back in the building. We appreciate our custodial crew for ensuring the sidewalks are cleared and the building is heated and ready to go this week.

Finally, please refer to the recent information email from Granite School District regarding keeping students home if they are sick.

Thank you.

Rich Nielsen

Principal, Valley Junior High

Hello Valley School Community,

I wanted to reach out prior to the Winter Break and thank the parents and students for a great week. 

This week we had a smooth transition to distance learning on Wednesday. We had fewer than 3 students that were not notified about the distance learning switch and showed up for school. We also had our highest participation rate for virtual classes that we have seen in the last 18 months on Wednesday.

Today we had a very successful Winterfest activity. We are grateful to all of the parents that volunteered to make the Liger Store a possibility.

As we are on the verge of a two week break from school, I would ask again that parents help monitor the social media use of their child. We are still trying to identify the sources of some anonymous Instagram accounts that are harassing in nature.

We also are reiterating the plea from other schools and districts to assist with threats and inappropriate social media posts.  A story in KSL highlighted a couple of neighboring schools that dealt with the issue this week.

KSL Threat Story

When we return on January 3 we will have two weeks remaining for 2nd quarter.
Thanks again for your support of your student and Valley Junior High.
Have a safe and happy holiday season!

Sincerely,
Rich Nielsen
Principal, Valley Junior High

Dear Valley Jr High Parents and Families,

We are still very concerned with the large number of anonymous social media accounts promulgating fights and cyberbullying. While we report these accounts to the various platforms, primarily Instagram, kids are quick to create new ones. We need your help. Please review the attached document and monitor your child’s smart phone and social media use.

As a school and district, we do not have the ability to monitor every student’s social media use and often times, the accounts are private and we are unable to view the content. One of the attachments includes instructions on how parents and student can report inappropriate accounts directly to the platform. Please remind your student that harassment, bullying and racism of any kind will be thoroughly investigated and consequences administered. Certain conduct rises to criminal activity and law enforcement will also investigate. There are serious consequences to these types of activities.

If your student knows who is behind these anonymous accounts we ask that either the student or parent let the school know so that we can get it stopped. If the student does not feel comfortable coming in to report the issue we encourage them to use the SafeUT app.

We are here to support your child’s education and appreciate your support as we work to create a safe environment for all.

Directions for reporting abusive social media accounts

Sincerely,

Rich Nielsen
Valley Jr High

Dear Valley Jr High Parents,

My apologies for the multiple emails the last two days.

I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of a couple of items as we look toward the next two weeks of school.

This week we have school on Monday and Tuesday and then are off for the holiday the rest of the week (Wednesday November 24 thru Friday November 26).  There also is no school on Monday November 29th as it is a teacher professional development day. So in summary there is No School from Nov 24-29.

This year at Valley we have placed a large emphasis on reading and reading comprehension. Part of that focus is to provide students with time each day during 5th period to read. Many students are using novels they bring, but a large number of students are utilizing the SORA Digital Library through the school and district. If you are not familiar with SORA I would encourage you to sit down with your student and have them review the thousands of reading options for them. The reason I would encourage you to do this soon is that it would be a great resource to keep your student reading over the coming week without school and through the holidays.  Valley is at the top of circulation checkouts with SORA this year in the district and it is great to see the students reading.

Finally, as parents and students have conversations this weekend about the weapon incident Friday at school, I would like to let parents know of a resource available to students.  We are very fortunate to have a full time Licensed Clinical Social Worker at our school. Mr. Larsen has cleared his schedule for Monday so that he is available to visit with any student that may be struggling with anxiety or have concerns returning to school. His office is located in the counseling center. Please let Mr. Larsen know if he can be of assistance to your student in this regard (bklarsen@graniteschools.org).

Thank you again for your support of your student and Valley Junior High. Have a great weekend.

Rich Nielsen
Principal, Valley Junior High School