It’s been about five months since Superintendent Lance T. Hatch joined the Carbon School District and it seems he has fallen into his duties quite well. Castle Country Radio caught up with him to talk about his experience so far and what is in the future for the district.

“It’s been amazing, I’ve really enjoyed the work, it’s great work, it’s work that I love to do. As an added bonus, I get to do it with people who are incredible. We have amazing people who work in Carbon School District,” said Superintendent Hatch. His teaching experience and educational background working in rural schools has been the right fit for the entire district.

He began his teaching career in Uintah School District at an elementary school where he taught the second, fourth and fifth grade. Later he became a Principal at Monticello Elementary in the San Juan School District and eventually became the Elementary Supervisor in that district. In 2012, he relocated to Uintah County where he became the principal at Ashley Elementary School while working on and acquiring his PhD. Obtaining his d promoted him to be the Director of Human Resources, a position he held for two years before coming to Carbon.

Since his arrival he has made some great strides within the district. “We have focused a lot on collaboration, teacher working together to help kids. It has been received so well and the teachers are amazing there in their collaboration groups effectively and we’re seeing some great things there,” stated Hatch. The schools have been hard at work establishing some great improvement plans, working on their goals so that they can achieve them successfully by the end of the school year.

The Career and Technical Education is a program that creates pathways to a lifelong career through technical education. “I’ve also really enjoyed working with the high school and the middle schools on the vision for the future and we’ve talked a lot about pathways,” said Hatch. “Those pathways are going to be key and we’re building those, we’re working on them, we hope to have several ready to go at the start of next school year. But we’re excited about the possibilities and where we’re going with that.” Part of making Career Pathways a successful program is by working cooperatively with USU-Eastern to make sure that the classes are available for students to obtain their certificates.

The school district is looking forward to the remainder of the school year, as well as, a promising future.