Grateful to Everyone Who Continues to Make BCSD Great!
In his weekly message, Superintendent David Long looks forward to the important work ahead.
“Always find time for the things that make you feel happy to be alive.” — Matt Haig
The 2024-25 School Year is rapidly approaching!
Test scores are looking up, summer projects are looking good, and I continue to be amazed at the dedicated efforts of educators in the Beaver County School District. Evidence is all around us that shows just how much you care about kids!
I’m grateful to every one of you for your hard work, your persistence, and your devotion to our amazing students in 2023-24. BCSD continues to be among the Top 10 school districts in the State of Utah, year after year. And it’s not just our wonderful elementary schools making this happen! (And they are amazing)! I’m seeing promising growth in both of our high schools and the record now shows 7th grade students at both schools are beating the state average in English and language arts, and the 7-8 Grade scores at Milford High School now match Minersville School in English and language arts achievement! Well done, everyone!
Summer is the time to reset, refresh, and prepare for the upcoming school year. For the school district this involves a lot of projects to update and refresh our school campuses, closing out the school year and setting up budgets for the new year, updating policies, and working to improve student learning.
Jody Heaps, the outgoing principal at Minersville School, was recognized as Principal of the Year at the Utah Rural Schools Association conference in July 2024. Celebrating her speaks volumes about the work of everyone in BCSD, and Jody’s Video Tribute was well received by everyone at the conference.
I am sure everyone has noticed the blacktops being refinished around the district, especially as we maneuvered delivery locations for our Summer food program. The fresh surfaces and new paint look great!
Some inconveniences occurred with the track replacement at Beaver High School. A complete track replacement required a month-long curing process during June and July which resulted in team practices being moved to other locations. We are all happy to have a fresh, new surface for our athletic programs.
Doors are being replaced around the school district to help with safety and security. And July saw the implementation of our new Key Policy. We will now have ID Badge access only for almost everyone entering our school buildings which allows us to meet current safety and security requirements from the state. For me, knowing our students are safer because we know who is in our schools is the most important reason for this change. Thanks to everyone for working with us on these changes.
July 1, 2024, saw the kickoff of our new financial system in the school district. Budgets and year-end close occupy a great deal of our time, and for years we have relied entirely on the skills and dedication of our business administrator. The new financial system gives us all the opportunity to keep closer track of our budgets and make sure students are getting what they need, when they need it.
Our amazing teachers spent time at the start of summer looking at ways to implement programs better and ways to improve instruction. Many of our high school teachers spent a full week in Milford working with consultants on lesson plans and instructional practices. Elementary teachers worked together on better ways to use resources for reading, math, and science. We are already leaders in the state with our instructional practices. I’m excited to see what we accomplish in the coming year. In BCSD our standard is excellence, let’s continue to set the pace for everyone else to match in Utah schools!
2024-25 will be another great year!