Most Murray City school students start back on Monday

MURRAY, Utah —  Murray City schools are about to be back in session tomorrow for most district students. Doug Perry, spokesman for the Murray School District says students in first through 6th grades, and 8th through 12th graders will report on Monday.

Perry says this first week will see early dismissals, mainly to give time for teachers to readjust to any new COVID-19 protocols, to make sure to give the kids the best in-person experience as long as possible.

“If there’s one thing that we’ve learned from COVID is that online digital home learning is not a great replacement for being in class. We can make it work and pivot to that if we need to, but the best experience for kids in all areas that they need growing up academically is to have them in school, in person,” says Perry.

A list of updated list of policies concerning COVID-19 are on the district’s website [murrayschools.org]. Perry said that the policies are overall less restrictive, but are there to keep everyone safe.

Perry says for parents of students in the district to circle a couple of dates, including September 20-22 as Parent/Teacher conferences for Jr. High and High school students, and September 28-29 for elementary grades.

Murray schools are struggling, as are systems nationwide, with staff shortages. Perry says they have been lucky to have filled most full time teaching positions, but have had trouble filling paraprofessional openings, or part-time teacher’s aides and assistants. Perry says the jobs typically pay between $16 and $19 an hour, with flexible hours. Anyone interested can go to their website here.

Seventh graders started back on August 12th, and kindergarten begins on August 24th.

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