This week’s Carbon School District update shines a spotlight on Helper Middle School and this year the school was under the direction of a new Principal, Nikki Vasquez. Castle Country Radio sat down with the principal to talk about end of year reading goals, attendance and upcoming field trips.

School ends on May 23 so the school is finishing up with it’s end of year testing and taking a look at their reading goals. “Our reading has been phenomenal actually. I think the entire district is really focused on reading and so we’ve also done a focus on reading. Our eighth graders, when they were sixth graders, they came in at 32 percent proficient on reading on grade level, and it’s a little unfair because they use a different testing tool then we do. But 32 percent proficient when the came in as sixth graders and they’re leaving at 73 percent proficient, actually 74 if you round up,” stated Principal Vasquez. The seventh-grade class came in at 44 percent proficient and they’re leaving at 73 percent proficient and then the sixth-grade class came in at 50 percent proficient and they’re leaving at 60 percent. The numbers show there has been some strong gains made this year with reading.

As for attendance this year, there could always be room for improvement. “Attendance is tough. We did well, we can definitely improve there. There are just some things that kids struggle with and I think COVID is still causing some of that for some of our kiddos and so it’s hard,” said Principal Vasquez. It’s hard to instruct students when they are not there. However, she does appreciate those students who made it a priority this year to attend school regularly.

With the end of the school year comes field trips and Helper Middle School is no different. The seventh-grade students get a few extra trips because of College and Career. This Friday they will head out to the Swell for day to do some hiking and visiting that area. “Eighth graders are headed to Lagoon on Friday and they’re going to be there all day, leave at 8:00 am and get back at about 8:00 pm – 8:30 pm and so that’ll be fun for them,” said Principal Vasquez. The is also an adaptive activity for the special needs students who get to enjoy a day rafting in the Moab area. Field trip details can be found on the school’s Facebook page.