Utopia ISD

UISD is happy to announce the arrival of our new 15 passenger mini bus! Coach Dean and her students got to take the maiden voyage around town with Mr Derry at the helm! The mini bus is white because it is an “activity” bus. While the bus may not be used on a route, it does allow anyone with a class C driver’s license to drive it. This will open up the opportunity for sponsors or organizations such as FFA, one act play, golf, tennis, and cross country to drive the bus and only take one vehicle. The bus will save the district money on fuel expenses as well as wear and tear on multiple vehicles. We can not thank the UISD School Board enough for its visionary forethought and support of all of the students at Utopia ISD!

Important UISD Reminders: Monday, March 8 - Remote Learning Day for ALL students. Friday, March 12 - Early Dismissal at 12:52pm Friday, March 12 - Jr High Spring Fling (6th-8th grade), 5-8pm, Utopia School Cafeteria March 15-19, Utopia School Spring Break

I would like to update parents and community members on the latest information from TEA concerning the closing of schools last week during the bad weather. When the week first began TEA released a memo concerning how many days would be allowed without having to make them up. Every day after that the rules changed, so it was very frustrating and virtually impossible to pass on any information without it being changed within a 24-hour period. Very much like the Covid-19 information that was being received earlier in the year, things changed from day to day. It now looks like TEA has settled on what they will allow and how it must be handled. 1. Schools may file a "Missed School Days" waiver for instruction that was missed during the week of February 15-19. This waiver requires board approval, but may be filed retroactively. The plan is to request a waiver for the instructional days that Utopia ISD missed on February 16th - February 19. This will be a board action item at the regular board meeting on March 8. If approved the waiver will be filed and students will not be required to make up the missed days 2. The teacher in-service that was missed on Monday, February 15 will need to be made up. However, a second waiver is available from TEA to allow schools to offer up to five days of remote instruction while teachers are attending professional development. This waiver also requires board approval. The Utopia ISD board met in special session on Monday, March 1st and approve this waiver. The waiver has now been filed with TEA. If TEA approves the waiver, and there is no reason to believe that they will not, Utopia ISD will move to remote instruction on Monday, March 8th for students and the faculty and staff will come to school to complete their in-service training. By handling the missed staff development in this manner teachers and staff will not have to come to school on the Bad Weather Day on April 26th. I hope this helps clear up some questions that some of you may have had. If anyone has any other questions or needs clarification please feel free to contact me. Thank you, Michael

Utopia ISD OAP Dinner Theater this Friday, February 26, 2021 @ 6:30pm in the cafeteria. Limited tickets, please purchase ahead of time.

The Utopia Independent School District board of trustees is accepting applications for a vacant position on the board. Anyone interested should complete the application on the school web site at www.utopiaisd.net. Completed applications should be mailed to: Wayne Moore Utopia ISD School Board Vice-President P.O. Box 273 Utopia, Texas 78884 All applications must be received by March 7, 2021. For questions please call Mr. Moore by phone at (210) 213-3042 or by email at wmoore@utopiaisd.net

Utopia ISD will return to normal face to face and virtual instruction on Monday, February 22, 2021!

Coach Harris is requesting help getting the baseball field ready on Saturday, February 27th from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM for the upcoming season . Any and all volunteers would be greatly appreciated. No equipment is needed, just helping hands and able bodies.

Utopia ISD will remain closed to all face to face and virtual instruction for Thursday, February 18 and Friday, February 19. Bandera Electric Coop has notified the district that intermittent electrical outages will continue through the rest of the week. Maintenance and custodial staff will be working both days to repair broken pipes on campus as well as checking all electrical and plumbing. We cannot thank everyone enough that showed up today to help clean and dry out classrooms that had water in them due to burst pipes. Utopia is a very caring community where everyone pitches in when help is needed. Thank you so much!

Good morning UISD! I hope this message finds you warm and safe. As we start to thaw out this morning let's celebrate all the fun we had and the beauty we saw on our snow days! Please send pictures of your snow day fun to jmazurek@utopiaisd.net. We'd love to see our students, teachers, staff, administrators and school board members' smiling faces. We will collect all the pics and put together a slide show to showcase on social media later this afternoon. Start sending your pics now!

Good afternoon everyone! I hope this message finds each of you staying warm and healthy! The National Weather Bureau and local weather forecasts are calling for more freezing weather overnight and into tomorrow. Electrical companies are also expected to continue rolling power outages across the district as well. Due to the expected bad weather and power outages Utopia ISD will NOT be conducting school either in person or virtually on Wednesday, February 17, 2021. A decision on whether school will be open on Thursday, February 18th will be made later tomorrow afternoon. Please stay safe! Michael Derry Superintendent, Utopia ISD

Due to inclement weather, poor street and highway conditions, power outages, water outages, and internet outages all school operations and functions for Utopia ISD are cancelled for Tuesday, February 16, 2021. This means that there will be no remote or face-to-face instruction occurring on Tuesday. A decision concerning school operations and school functions for Wednesday, February 17, 2021 will be made tomorrow afternoon.

LATE START Due to inclement weather and in an abundance of caution Utopia ISD will have a two hour delayed start for school on Friday, February 12th. Buses are scheduled to run two hours later than normal. Safety is always the first priority of Utopia ISD therefore, road conditions will be evaluated early in the morning to insure the safe transportation of students.

WEATHER UPDATE Utopia ISD is actively monitoring weather conditions around the area. At present none of the roads in the district have been reported closed or hazardous. At this time school is scheduled to open and operate as normal on, Friday, February 12th. Should those plans change all parents will be notified via the district information distribution system using text, email, and voice message. Any school closing will also be posted to the Utopia ISD web page and facebook page.

Congratulation to 3rd and 6th grade District Academic UIL award winners! 3rd Grade Chess Puzzle - 6th Hunter Schmidt 6th Grade Number Sense - 5th Max Feller Impromptu Speaking - 5th Aurora McAdams Editorial Writing - 3rd Emily Wiekamp, 5th Morgan Rhodes Listening Skills - 5th Max Feller Oral Reading - 5th Macee Rhodes, 6th Alexis Long Calculator Apps - 3rd Rodrigo Rios, 6th Max Feller Maps, Graphs & Charts - 4th Max Feller Ready Writing - 4th Emily Wiekamp, 6th Aurora McAdams

Congratulation to 2nd and 7th grade District Academic UIL award winners! 2nd Grade Chess Puzzle - 1st Brandon Rodriguez, 4th Aubree Dean 7th Grade Calculator Applications - 4th Danika McCarty, 6th Jace Bennett Impromptu Speaking - 3rd Ransom Harthcock, 4th Andy McNeil Oral Reading - 2th Hallie Moore, 3rd Eden McAdams, 6th Chloe Chamness Listening Skills - 4th Andy McNeil Modern Oratory - 1st Chloe Chamness, 5th Kinsley Cox, 6th Hallie Moore Chess Puzzle - 2th Brayden Long, 5th Danika McCarty Editorial Writing - 5th Darcy Clark, 6th Eden McAdams Number Sense - 6th Brayden Long Science - 6th Ransom Harthcock

Congratulation to 1st and 8th grade District Academic UIL award winners! First Grade Storytelling - 2nd Zanna Lopez, 5th Luke Graham, 6th Kasen Bartolo Eighth Grade Mathematics - 1st Taylor Wiekamp, 6th Jayci Barfield Spelling - 1st Taylor Wiekamp, 6th Dustine Charlton Chess Puzzle - 6th Krisjen Manis Dictionary Skills - 4th Christopher Culver, 6th Krisjen Manis Listening - 1st Taylor Wiekamp Reading Writing - 2nd Taylor Wiekamp Social Studies - 5th Taylor Wiekamp Maps, Graphs & Charts - 4th Taylor Wiekamp, 6th Azlan Pfeil Number Sense - 2nd Taylor Wiekamp Science - 1st Taylor Wiekamp, 5th Jayci Barfield *more winners to be posted later*

POSITION AVAILABLE UTOPIA ISD VEHICLE MAINTENANCE / CAMPUS MAINTENANCE / BUS DRIVER Utopia ISD is seeking to fill a vehicle maintenance / campus maintenance / bus driver position. Vehicle maintenance will include but not be limited to daily inspection for any issues, filling fuel tanks, making sure vehicles are ready for extra-curricular trips, taking vehicles to be inspected, having tires changed, etc. Depending on qualifications the position may include normal routine maintenance of changing fluids and battery replacements. Campus maintenance duties will include but not be limited to electrical, plumbing, carpentry, and other general maintenance duties around campus. Assisting with emptying of outside trashcans, mowing, trimming grass and shrubbery, keeping school grounds clean. A successful applicant will either possess a license and certification to drive a school bus in the state of Texas or will be required to immediately begin and complete the process to obtain a license and certification. A yearly exam by a physician is required to obtain and maintain a school bus license in the state of Texas. Interested individuals should complete an online application at www.utopiaisd.net Pay dependent upon experience and qualifications For questions please call (830) 966-1928

To help prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus the Utopia ISD campus has been closed to visitors. In that same effort we are asking that parents not attend the homecoming pep rally in person tomorrow. As an alternative the pep rally will be live streamed tomorrow on this facebook page beginning at approximately 11:50 AM. Thank you so much for your help and understanding!

HOMECOMING MUMS!! COME AND GET 'EM!!

A/AB Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance award breakfast for Junior High and High School tomorrow morning, Wednesday, @ 7:45am in the cafeteria. Elementary Award Certificates, a special snack, and game will be presented to students in their classrooms on Thursday. Unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions parents are not able to attend either event. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.