District also looks at vaping education and control
The North Sanpete School District announced that 42 new employees have been hired this past month at a board meeting on Aug. 17.
“We are just one big family and we come together and work as a team, I appreciate that,” said school board member Stacey Goble. She thanked O’Dee Hansen, assistant superintendent, for all his work with the long list of new hires. “This is probably the longest list I have ever seen,” she said.
Of the 42 newly hired employees, only three of those hired were for certified positions. The remaining 39 were for TA’s, sweepers, assistant coaches and other openings. Another school nurse was also hired.
“We need subs.” said Hansen. “That’s a bad low list. We always need subs.”
School Board President Richard Brotherson said he remembered when they needed bus drivers, a bus parked down on Main Street with an advertisement to fill those positions.
Hansen mentioned that he had posted the openings on social media, which brought in a couple of inquiries, but that he would be looking at Snow College career days and other options to help try to bring in substitute teachers.
If anyone is interested in helping fill that need, applications can be found on the school district website.
The PTA is asking area districts to address the vaping problem and they have put together a class action lawsuit.
“If you look at our SHARP survey this is definitely something kids said that they have access to,” said Superintendent Nan Ault.
The SHARP survey was designed to measure adolescent substance use, anti-social behavior, and the risk and protective factors that predict adolescent problem behaviors.
Prior to the PTA’s request, Ault had already applied for a $14,000 grant to purchase vaping detectors to be placed in the schools.
These detectors will notify administrators when vaping is taking place; students themselves will not know that the detectors went off. This will allow administrators to intervene before the student can hide or flush their vaping devices.
Ault said that there is still a lot to do and more education is needed.
North Sanpete High School Principal Christy Straatman said that they are hoping to provide more education on vaping. Some will be done with a school as a whole, but other ways will be with the individual on their first offense.
The board members elected to not be a part of the PTA lawsuit, but the board does support efforts to address the health concern.
“We want to educate them,” said Straatman. “We don’t want to just suspend them; we want to help them.”
