These two Utah school districts took opposite paths when the pandemic hit

Juab says it “took care of kids,” while Wasatch says it “didn’t change anything.” Here’s how that affected learning in the two districts.

“We took care of our kids,” said Royd Darrington, assistant superintendent for Juab Schools. “I’ll be honest, academics was not at the forefront of what we were pushing our teachers to push to their students. It really wasn’t. It was, how do we build a sense of community?” While Wasatch District students gained two months of progress in math and reading compared to their same-age peers in 2019, Juab students lost roughly a year of ground in both subjects, according to the analysis.

But on paper, Juab and Wasatch are similar small districts, though Wasatch is larger, with roughly 3,300 students in grades three through eight, compared to Juab’s 1,200. Both have about one-third of their students considered to be at the poverty level, according to the national scorecard, and both remained open for in-person learning during the 2020-21 school year.

Wasatch and Juab district leaders said they don’t regret their choices; they did what they believed best for their students and communities at the time.In 2019, Juab’s math and reading proficiency rates were the best they’d ever been, Darrington said. Then scores nosedived.Among the 35 Utah school districts included in the Education Recovery Scorecard, Juab lost the most ground compared to where it was in 2019 — though that does not mean Juab also has the lowest proficiency rates.

More personnel changes followed. New principals took over at three of the district’s five schools and an unprecedented number of veteran teachers left or retired in spring 2020.By the fall semester, nearly half the jobs held by the district’s seasoned workforce had been left vacant or filled by teachers who were new to the profession.

“One thing that we really leaned into happily was the mental health side of COVID,” Darrington said. “We actually made a decision to focus on our students’ well-being and really making sure that our teachers were making solid connections with our students.” Charlotte Crippen, a parent to five children attending Juab Schools, said while her children didn’t fall behind, she’s surprised the district overall experienced such losses.

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