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SALT LAKE CITY -- A KSL analysis of test scores from all of Utah's 600-plus elementary schools shows of the 10 schools that perform at the bottom, five are in the Ogden School District.
Dee Elementary scored dead last. No one is more aware of that ranking than the new principal, Sondra Jolovich-Motes.
"I took it as a huge challenge," she said.
She's in the job because Dee received a Federal Improvement grant -- roughly half a million dollars each year for three years to help raise test scores. But to qualify, the district had to bring in a new principal or risk closing the school.
Related:
Ogden teachers attack new contracts with rally
Hundreds of teachers gathered Thursday to rally against the Ogden School Board's decision to draw up a contract without teacher input."My entire staff and my community council, we looked at our improvement goals and we made refinements," she said.
The overhauls include:
- Up to three hours of reading and language instruction every day
- Increased math to 75 minutes a day
- Summer school
- Home visits for chronically absent students
"We will get our students' learning up. We're very confident that will happen," Jolovich-Motes said.
But they won't do it without overcoming challenges few other schools face.
Every student qualifies for free lunch and half are still learning English.
Third grade teacher Ursula Jones explained, "Some of our students aren't able to get the help they need at home."
Teachers like Kathy Gleed feel they shouldn't be penalized for conditions they can't control.
"They're only looking at what your students are performing at. I'm doing everything I can and my students aren't performing. So how fair is that to me?" she said.
Another teacher, Buzz Stumm, said, "We need to identify the real factors in that poor performance. Teachers are only one part of the equation."
A new contract for the teachers would phase in over six years and would no longer give raises based on experience or years on the job, but on merit. It could set a precedent, depending on how it plays out.
