By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
The winter break signals the end of the first half of the academic year for educators and students across the nation. In Emery County, this first portion has been marked by academic success, community engagement, and athletic accomplishments.
To discuss this busy first half of the year, Emery School District Superintendent Jim Shank joined the KOAL newsroom for an insider’s look at the district, and what lies ahead for academics across the county.
“We took a big focus this year to implement our Portrait of a Graduate that we put together last year and then begin a strategic planning process for the school district called Focus 2026,” shared Shank, opening the discussion. “So we’re looking forward, visionary-wise, in setting our vision, our mission, our goals, these sorts of things that we’d like to establish and then work on moving forward in the future.”
To help establish these programs, the district has hosted several public meetings to gather input on the direction these programs should take. Shank spoke on the importance of outreach when establishing district-wide goals,” It’s our school district, not just one particular body or one particular institution in terms of the big picture. And so we need everyone’s participation in order to understand what that is.”
He continued,” And so we reached out. We’ve done a lot of meetings, I would say over the last 18 months, in the development of the portrait of a graduate, as well as right now. And we continue to ask for that support, that participation with others to give us their feedback through surveys or show up at one of the meetings.”
Moving to athletics, Shank sang the praises of the Emery High Girls Cross-Country team, who claimed the 2025 3A state championship in October. “It was thrilling to see those girls run so well in the cross-country. And so we’re very proud of their efforts in winning that state championship.”
He also spoke to the success of academic all-state recipients from across the ECSD: “We also recognized the other night at board meeting our academic state champions, which are part of those students participating in all the athletics events in the fall, but also keeping their grades at a very high standard. And that’s very exciting to see these kids excel.”
A major work point for the district and the school board is managing policy across the county’s schools. This task becomes larger when the State Legislature passes new mandates on schools. Shank pulled back the curtain and discussed how the district keeps up with these statewide mandates. “They do come in pretty quick, and sometimes the workload’s pretty, pretty high. But we also want to be grateful for the support that they give us. They do support us in all of their finances and all the things that they do for us. And we want to express our gratitude.”
Continued the superintendent,” However, we would also like to express that at least this year in Emory County, we have 82 policies that we’re working through to get changed and put in place for this school year. The year before, it was just over 60. And so we’re always in that progression mode of implementing new policies based upon new legislation that’s come in. It does have its level of work, for sure.”
This process requires more than simply implementing the policy; it also requires that faculty and staff be trained on the policy. “Think about 82 new policies and what that might mean. Do people understand what the changes might be? It takes time to implement those types of things. And sometimes you want clarity and other times you might not have clarity.
So you have to repeat your changes often.”
Closing our conversation, Shank stated,” I just want to express my gratitude to them for their support with all of our kids in the Emory County School District. We can’t do this alone. We need everybody’s input, if you will. And we want to express our gratitude for that. And then also, please, everyone, have a wonderful holiday. Be safe out there, because we care about everyone.”