The Carbon School District announced last week that they have named Mika Salas as the new Superintendent. She is very familiar with the district as she has been a student, educator and administrator throughout the years. Castle Country Radio sat down with Superintendent Salas to see what she has planned for the new school year.

The last few years the district has put a huge emphasis on improving reading skills and that is going to continue again this year at the local elementary schools. “You know we are very proud of the work we have done the last four years. We will continue to make reading the focus but not just in words but in our actions, in our trainings, in our initiative. So I’m very excited to continue that reading focus,” said Superintendent Salas. She is looking forward to seeing all the success that the district has seen over the last four years continue on this upcoming school year.

Not only will reading be on the agenda this year but basic math skills will be important too. “Now that our reading scores and our reading improvement has come up so much it’s obviously the next thing, we look at is basic math skills for elementary. We want to make sure that not only can our exiting students from elementary school read at or above grade level but that they also have mastered the essential in math and really just are add, subtract, multiply and divide. If we can get them to do the basics skills to mastery level it just changes their trajectory, it makes everything easier for them,” stated Superintendent Salas. The district hopes to see huge improvements this year when it comes to basic math skills.

It’s important for students to get involved in extracurricular school activities as it helps them to be successful students academically. “One of the great protective factors for students is involvement in school, connection to school and some of that happens with the academic interaction and positive interactions with teachers but so much of that happens with extracurricular outside, co-curricular activities and I would just encourage all parents to talk to your principal and found out what kinds of activities are offered at the school and get your kids involved,” said Salas. This is particularly important for secondary students.