Backpacks, books and fun: District 93 launches new school year
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AMMON — The hallways are packed in Bonneville Joint School District 93 as students returned to their classrooms for a new school year Monday.
“I’m actually really excited for school because during the summer some of my really good friends don’t live so close to me, so coming back here, I get to see all my friends again,” said Hillcrest High School freshman Gavin Lamph.
He is most looking forward to physics and weights classes and is excited to meet his new teachers.
Members of the Hillcrest Student Council welcomed 330 new ninth graders to Freshmen Only Day Monday, helping them find their classrooms and navigate the building.
Junior class representative Ali Maddux shared her advice for incoming students.
“Just try to be on time to your classes,” she said. “Go to your classes. Be very respectful to teachers – that’ll get you really far. Try to pay attention in class as much as you can — (that) helps you so much with homework.”
The high school’s normal schedule will resume Tuesday with the entire body of 1,264 students in attendance.
“We’re just excited to get everybody back in the building and continue the positive momentum that we have going,” Hillcrest High School Principal Ty Salsbery said.
District 93 teachers will educate 13,725 students this year. Elementary students, seventh graders, ninth graders and Lincoln High School students started classes Monday, while eighth and 10th through 12th graders begin on Tuesday.
“We are doubling down on our efforts to design success for each one of our students with a continued focus on using evidence-based instructional practices to help all students learn to read and to help all students learn to write,” said District 93 spokesman Phil Campbell in a statement Monday.
Districtwide, teachers are focusing on helping students “identify main ideas and key details in both reading and writing” to help students improve scores on state assessments, he said.
This year, two high schools in the district will be led by new principals – Justin Jolley at Bonneville and Trent Dabell at Thunder Ridge. Assistant principals Kristin McDaniel and Casey Faulkner will be joining Jolley at Bonneville, with Brian Schultz at Thunder Ridge and Phil Abshire at Hillcrest. Nancy Jackson is the new full-time principal at Praxium Mastery Academy.
The district continues to offer a variety of school choice options to best meet students’ individual needs.
Students can attend “Technical Careers High School, Lincoln Alternative School, Bonneville Online High School and Elementary School, as well as Praxium Mastery Academy, which enrolls students who qualify for Gifted and Talented Education,” Campbell wrote.
Additionally, this year multiple schools are piloting an In Focus program to assist students in developing “successful behaviors.”
At Hillcrest, “our teachers have a really good plan for addressing classroom expectations and behavior,” Salsbery said. “We’re going to roll out some new things with that where every classroom is going to have the same expectations.”
Teachers are implementing a collaborative cell phone policy schoolwide to help students learn to manage technology responsibly.
“We’re optimistic that if every teacher does it the same way, then the kids will work with us,” Salsbery said.
In sports, the Hillcrest boys soccer team defeated Pocatello one to zero last Saturday at the brand-new Westmark Stadium. An official grand opening for the facility will be held before the Civil War match on Sept. 6, when Bonneville faces Hillcrest in football.
Finally, Hillcrest’s principal highlighted the school’s impressive, low turnover rate.
“We only have three new teachers this year … out of 58. So we’re kind of bucking the trend nationally of teacher turnover,” Salsbery said. “We’re really happy with the staff that we have.”
Nearby districts
Madison School District 321 courses also kicked off Monday.
In Idaho Falls School District 91, elementary school students, seventh-graders, ninth-graders and Emerson Alternative High School students return to classes on Tuesday, while eighth and 10th through 12th grades start up on Wednesday.
Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25, Blackfoot School District 55, Fremont County Joint School District 215 and Sugar-Salem School District 322 all resumed school last week.
In Jefferson Joint School District 251, the first day of instruction is Sept. 3.
