Summer is officially over with the Carbon School District starting their 2018-2019 school year on August 20. Superintendent Lance Hatch is ready to embark on his second year with the district and took time to talk about a what is new for the school year.

“We want to just inform the public on a few things, one of them is we are going to be sending out a survey to the public. This is a way for the school board to get some input from the public on a difficult issue and that is aging buildings within our district,” explained Superintendent Hatch. The survey is meant for all members of the community whether you have kids attending school or not.

The district facilities in the question, of course, is Helper Middle School which was constructed back in 1936 and can’t function much longer. Then there is Carbon High School which is structurally sound but outdated and currently houses some classes inside the modulars setup in the back of the school. This makes it impossible to secure the building with students walking to and from those classrooms plus the office is currently housed in the center of the building which is not optimal for safety in this day and age. “We recognize that we’re in a difficult economic time in Carbon County and the idea of increasing taxes is not popular but at the same time we have some needs that can only be addressed through property taxes,” stated Superintendent Hatch. The district is looking at a 19 percent increase to complete the two projects or nine percent to complete one. This is why the surveys are so important and input from the public is needed. Expect to see the surveys at school functions and in the form of mailings.

There is a great addition for parents to keep up to date on what is happening within the district. “We want everyone to pull out their phones and go to the app store, type in Carbon School District and you’ll see that we have an app. It’s a great app, it’s not complicated, it just has calendar and news,” said Superintendent Hatch. Students and Parents can access all the schools in the district or just their child’s school. The app is going to be a great tool between the school and parents with the ability to send notifications about their child’s school.

The Carbon School District looks forward to an educational, fun and exciting school year.