Box Elder School District among the last to head back to school; largely due to the County Fair
Aug 28, 2023, 11:02 AM | Updated: 12:18 pm
TREMONTON, Utah — During the month of August, students across the state have been heading back to school. Box Elder School District is one of the last school districts to head back to the classroom in the state, which means across Utah: School is now in session.
McKinley Elementary School takes us back to where it all begins.
“They are capable of doing great things, and that’s what I want them to believe,” said Melissa Archibald.
Archibald is a 4th grade teacher at McKinley Elementary School.
McKinley Elementary is also welcoming a new principal, Jacob Balls, better known as “Mr. B”.
“We’re gonna have 100 kids that are brand new to school,” said Balls. “[We’ll] probably have a couple tears, but we’re gonna be able to see some good learning going on and lightbulb moments all year.”
He said there is a reason why they start back to school later in the year.
“The county fair. We have a ton of participants in the county fair. There are over 700 animals shown this year.”
Some of those students who like to go to the county fair are in Archibald’s fourth-grade class.
“We get to have a little bit more fun I think in 4th grade,” said Archibald.
Students at McKinley Elementary will get to sleep in a little longer as they do not start until 9:00 a.m. The reason is largely because of bussing among other schools.
“Every year we put in over a million miles of bus miles… double running,” said Steve Carlsen, Superintendent.
Carlsen said over 12,300 students are expected to start school in the Box Elder School District. As a district that covers a lot of ground geographically, some of the older students stay with host families during the week so they do not have to commute as far back and forth to school.
For many of those students, their new start in elementary is the beginning of a new learning and a new learning theme.
“I just love our theme this year, ‘Thinking Up’ and building kids up. We just always want to think positively and to think that we have grit,” said Archibald.
