School News

Dear Valley Junior High Community,

As we are well on our way in the second quarter, we wanted to send a few reminders and information items.

With the colder weather approaching, we remind parents and students that our gymnasium is open most mornings at 6:40 a.m. for students that need to arrive early. Students are welcome to be in the gym to stay warm, work on school work or play basketball.

The cafeteria opens at 7:15 for breakfast each day. Breakfast, just like lunches, are free to all students this year.

The main doors of the school open at 7:30 am each day.

Traffic on 3200 West is always a concern for our students walking to and from school. Parents are asked to please not drop off their student on the West side of 3200 West or stop in the middle of the street and have their child run across the street without the use of the designated crosswalk. 

There is no school for students from Wednesday November 24 thru Monday November 29th.  This is due to the Thanksgiving Recess and a Teacher Work Day without students on the 29th.

We wanted to pass along some information on the great work that so many of our students are engaged in this year. We again had around 400 students that were eligible for our Reward Activity for the month of October. The criteria was to have fewer than 4 tardies for the entire month. It is awesome to have so many students that consistently get to class on time and show Liger PRIDE.

Also we are grateful to have our students back in the building this year as opposed to doing distance learning like last year. The result has been a sharp decrease in the failure rate for the 1st quarter of the year. Last year we had a class failure rate for first quarter of 26.3%. This year, with our students all back in the classroom, we had a failure rate of 11.7%. This is the lowest failure rate in the last 5 years at Valley. Great work to our students and teachers this year!

Thanks again for your continued support of the students and staff at Valley Junior High.

Dear Parents and Employees of Granite School District,

We have reached out to you previously on this issue, but now reach out again. An ongoing problematic trend has arisen on the Tik Tok social media platform, wherein students film themselves stealing items from or destroying school restrooms and other facilities. Within the last month alone, we have seen a significant spike in vandalism at several school locations and damage done at every level, including elementary and jr. high.  

New challenges have been introduced which would have student sexually harass fellow students or assault school employees. We call upon parents and families to help our children understand that such acts are criminal. In the interest of our staff and students safety, such acts will be aggressively investigated and charged and invariably, when convicted, students and families will be responsible to compensate for damages.

Despite the tremendous investment and resources in cameras and security systems, the eyes and ears of our students continue to be the best tool in helping keep our students safe. As such, please also encourage your student to report unsafe or other criminal behavior to a trusted adult, or if they wish to be anonymous, they can report directly to our police department at 801-481-7122 or utilize the SafeUT app.

We sincerely appreciate your help in working to curb this expensive and destructive trend.

Granite School District

Hello Valley Parents and Guardians,

Parent Teacher Conferences
This week we will be hosting our Fall Parent Teacher Conferences. There will be two afternoons/evenings of meetings. On Tuesday all appointments will be pre-scheduled through zoom. On Wednesday the appointments will be first-come first served and in person in the teacher’s classrooms.
We are strongly encouraging parents utilize Zoom on Tuesday as opposed to in-person on Wednesday. Currently about half of the possible appointments are available. Please sign up via the website https://pickatime.com/granitesd.
If you are unable to utilize the zoom conference on Tuesday and need to participate in person, we strongly recommend only coming with one parent and the student in order to minimize the number of people in the building. Masks are also recommended and will be available if you need one.

No School Friday
There is no school on Friday October 1st due to Parent Teacher Conferences this week. Enjoy a safe three day weekend!

TikTok Challenge and Bathroom Update
Over the last week or so we have seen a decline in the amount of vandalism in relation to the unacceptable TikTok Bathroom Challenge that was sweeping the country. We had multiple students suspended and referred to law enforcement for criminal charges for vandalism. We appreciate the many students we had reporting the damage that allowed us to find the students responsible for the damage.
As you likely have heard, we had all of our student restroom soap dispensers removed from the building. The vast majority of them were ripped off the walls and destroyed. This obviously creates multiple problems in terms of proper hygiene and hand washing. We have obtained two soap dispensers that we are going to place in the Center Hall bathrooms. We will be checking that bathroom multiple times each period to try and ensure that the soap remains accessible to students this week with hopes of purchasing and mounting additional soap dispensers over the coming weeks.

Behaviors Vastly Improved
We appreciate all the parents that had conversations with students about how to deal with conflict and what to do if there are rumors of a fight. The last two weeks in school the behaviors and amount of student conflict has been drastically improved. We have been able to work through a number of conflict mitigation strategies with students that were willing to say they were having issues with other students. We are grateful for the progress being made and look forward to continued teaching opportunities.

Picture Day Retakes
For any student that needs to use the picture day retake please mark down November 2nd on your calendar. More information will come out prior to the retake day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Rich Nielsen
Principal, Valley Jr High

Registration Information:

• Registration materials will be mailed home the week of July 19.

• Registration for students that attended a school in Granite School District last year will be completed online in the parent portal beginning July 28th.

• Students that are new to Granite will begin registration August 2nd.

Valley Jr. High has completed its reopening plan for the 2020-21 academic year. Please see below.

Valley reopening plan

Valley Junior High Community Council will meet on April 28th at 2:30 pm. The meeting will be held via Zoom meeting room.In order to maintain security in light of recent Zoom-bombings, a meeting code is required. If you would like a meeting code, please email Principal Nielsen at rsnielsen1@graniteschools.org.

Today, in a news conference, Governor Herbert announced an extension of the statewide school dismissal through the end of the school year (Memorial Day).

Valley’s website will continue to be updated with information regarding lockers, refunds, grades, and Chromebook returns so please check back frequently.

Teachers will be available via Google Meet for students to connect with during the following times:

Department	Days	Time
Math	Monday & Wednesday	12:00 – 1:00
Science	Monday & Wednesday	9:30 – 10:30
English	Monday & Wednesday	10:00 – 11:00
Social Studies	Monday & Wednesday	10:30 – 11:30
CTE	Tuesday & Thursday	9:00 – 10:00
PE/Health	Tuesday & Thursday	9:30 – 10:30
Special Education	Tuesday & Thursday	10:00 – 11:00
Arts & Spanish	Tuesday & Thursday	10:30 – 11:30

For support from a teacher please email them directly. If you need support from administration or school counselors please email or call:

Rich Nielsen, rsnielsen1@graniteschools.org, 385-646-5237

Jen Jacobson, jkjacobson@graniteschools.org, 385-646-1113

Sarah Rogers, swrogers@graniteschools.org, 385-646-3655

Jacob Ballentine, jballentine@graniteschools.org, 385-646-3657

Genevieve Strattman, gstrattman@graniteschools.org, 385-646-1535

Gov. Gary R. Herbert and State Superintendent Sydnee Dickson announced Monday, March 23 that Utah’s K-12 public schools will extend their dismissal through Friday, May 1.

State officials and health departments will continue to evaluate the situation and make determinations as time goes on regarding the remainder of the school year after May 1.

“These are unprecedented times in Utah’s and our nation’s history,” the governor said, “I have been overwhelmed with Utahns’ outpouring of support for one another, and nowhere has this been more evident than in the way our educators are supporting Utah students and families.”

Distance learning and meal services will continue through the extended dismissal.

Families will still be able to continue to checkout Chromebooks and the lunch program will continue in the same format as well.

“During the uncertainties of the coming weeks, it is more important than ever to remain socially connected with our students and families while doing our best to ensure learning continues.” said superintendent Dickson. “The flexibility and initiative of our educators is a shining example of how we rise together in challenging circumstances.”

For more statewide information, we would encourage you to visit https://coronavirus.utah.gov/.

What is COVID-19, and how bad is it?

Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a new virus strain spreading from person-to-person in many countries, including the United States. Health experts are concerned because little is known about this new virus.

At this time, there are a small number of cases in the U.S. Reported cases range from mild illness (like a normal cold) to severe pneumonia that requires hospitalization. So far, deaths have been reported mainly in older adults who had other health conditions.

How can I help prevent?

Here are 4 everyday measures that can help prevent you from getting COVID-19 or spreading it to others. They should be practiced by all people in IRC, in all locations at all times.

1. Wash your hands often using soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub. Avoid touching your face, unless your hands are thoroughly cleaned.
2. Cover mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing. Discard any used tissue immediately and wash hands.
3. Avoid close contact with anyone who has cough or fever. Maintain at least three feet/one meter distance.
4. Stay home if you feel sick with fever or cough. Follow guidance from your local health authorities and notify your manager.

Symptoms

• A cough
• Shortness of breath
• Breathing difficulties
• Fever (high temperature)

Please Note

Masks are not advised: except for those who are ill or health care workers caring for the sick.

Follow your local government’s guidance: staff should first follow local government advice and restrictions. Where they don’t exist, follow the IRC’s guidance.

Update on Hunter High School

Earlier this evening, the Salt Lake County Health Department identified potential exposure of COVID-19 at Hunter High School in West Valley City. Thereafter, they directed us as follows:

• Hunter High School staff, students, should quarantine at home until March 27, 2020 and monitor themselves for symptoms throughout that time. Symptoms of COVID-19 include cough, fever over 100° F, and shortness of breath.
• Hunter High School will change from a two-week dismissal, to a two-week closure. CAMPUS WILL BE COMPLETELY CLOSED as we work to sanitize the facilities. Instruction will NOT continue at this time. Rather, school leadership and local health officers will re-evaluate the situation in two weeks, and take the appropriate next steps that will best serve the school community.

NOTE: Only Hunter High School has been impacted at this time. All other schools within Granite School District will continue forward with their respective two-week dismissal plans.

Employees and individuals who are not regularly assigned to Hunter High School but may have visited the facility recently are encouraged to follow general health department guidelines and recommendations for self-care, but are not under the self-quarantine order.

We urge all members of our Granite District community to take the recommendations from the Health Department very seriously; we must ALL do our best to reduce potential spread.