Celebrating school success

"We had a lot of good things happen this year," Superintendent Craig Barringer said.

Between schools receiving prestigious awards and students continuing to excel in both their studies and school activities, Sweetwater County School District No. 2 has a lot to be proud of. Barringer spoke about the school year with the district's board of trustees Tuesday evening. While the district has accomplished a lot and received several accolades worth celebrating, Barringer says there's room for improvement as well.

Amongst the noteworthy accomplishments the district had were Washington Elementary being selected as a National Blue Ribbon School through the U.S. Department of Education and Green River High School receiving the Silver Award from Jostens Renaissance. Lincoln Middle School was recognized at the Project Lead the Way Conference in Orlando as well, joining 134 middle schools throughout the nation in receiving the award.

"These kinds of accomplishments don't happen all the time," Barringer said.

With district enrollment, the number of students increased slightly with 2,406 students – up 47 students from the 2020-2021 school year. Overall, the district is still down 323 students from its high point during the 2013-2014 year and saw a large decline of 185 students during the 2020-2021 year.

"We are for the first time building back up a little," Barringer said.

Barringer said the district focused on wellness throughout the year, adding two counselors to the district and introducing the Pulse app for students to utilize anonymously to share concerns and anxieties. Barringer said the district also contracted with Care/Solace to help connect families in the district with services outside the schools. Barringer said the program made more than 30 connections between families and those services. The district also recently received a trauma-informed school services grant.

"That is going to be a great benefit to our students too," Barringer said.

In the next year, Barringer said the district wants to improve communication with parents. He said with teacher conferences, parents are engaged with their children's education and meet with teachers until the children reach middle school. He wants to find ways to keep parents engaged as students get older.

Barringer also said the district plans to focus on pathways to graduation as well.

"We saw our graduation rate drop significantly this year," he said. "We lost track of kids during COVID...some of it is we need to build better habits with our at-risk kids."

He said the district needs to build better habits on a timeline that would get kids interested in school again, which includes finding ways to get them into summer school classes. He said they offer summer school but the students who would benefit from it don't take advantage of the offer.

Another goal is to strengthen the writing program in the district's early grades. Barringer said testing has shown the district needs to work on building students' writing skills. Beyond those goals, Barringer said the district plans to continue building on its institutional framework, as well as continue its focus on communication, wellness, and safety.