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When you enroll in a college or university, you expect that your tuition dollars are being put to good use, and one important measure of quality is whether the institution is accredited. Accreditation is an assurance that the school you’ve chosen meets certain standards — and it applies, not only to colleges, but to high schools.

Each of Canyons District’s high schools are fully accredited, which means that employers and colleges will accept with confidence the diplomas they award. But accreditations have to be renewed periodically — and Canyons has decided to take its accreditation a step further by seeking districtwide certification through the Utah State Board of Education-endorsed agency Cognia.

Why go districtwide and what does that entail? It’s a heavy lift. Canyons will be the third school district in Utah to take the systemwide approach, said Jesse Hennefer, Associate Director of CSD’s Instructional Supports Department. But it makes sense to view K-12 systems holistically when you consider high school is the culmination of, not just four years, but 12 to 13 years of schooling. “Where schools have school improvement plans, this is our system improvement plan,”  Hennefer said.

Listen to Connect Canyons: Episode 23

The entire process began in 2019 with data-gathering and surveying of employees and parents.  The next phase will involve a virtual visit by a review team of educators from across the country. They’ll spend a few days learning about Canyons District, reviewing data, and interviewing parents, students, teachers, and administrators — the end goal being to deliver a notice of accreditation.

The final report that’s produced, along with supporting documents, will be available for public review and published on the District’s website, said CSD Student Support Services Director Cindy Hanson. “This is an objective measure of our growth and progress. It’s really about keeping ourselves accountable to the goals we’ve established for ourselves.”

More Connect Canyons Episodes 

It’s been said that the influence of a great principal can never be erased.

 But don’t just take our word for it. To kick off National Principals Month, we asked students around the District to share what principals mean to them and their schools. Answers ranged from cute to sincere.

 Jason Mun, a student body officer at Hillcrest High, described principals as being organizers and intermediaries between teachers and students. “My favorite thing about our principal is that he’s hilarious,” Mun said. “Mr. (Greg) Leavitt is awesome, and he’s constantly thinking of us.”

 Bonus: Mr. Leavitt occasionally buys pizza for students at football games, and has been known to make three-plus-hour drives to watch sporting events.

 A young student at Bell View Elementary shared two reasons why she likes Tamra Baker and other principals. “I would say because they keep children safe, and they help people.” Victoria, a fifth-grader, respects principals for being leaders, helpful and friendly.

 “Miss Baker’s always really nice,” Victoria said. “She’s always trying to do something new at our school.”

 Sunrise’s lead administrator, Dr. Angela Wilkinson, received high marks for being “very nice” and for allowing students to buy fun stuff through a points system. In addition, one student noted, “She helps us out when we’re sad.”

 Brighton High student Johnny McFarland credited all of CSD’s principals for caring a lot about different groups of people: students, staff, teachers, and community members.

 “They have to pay attention to so many different factors,” he said. “Principals do it all.”

 That, McFarland added, includes being aware of everything that goes on, making sure everyone is cared for and happy, listening, and working hard. Those are among reasons why Brighton Principal Tom Sherwood earned a 2021 Canyons Apex Award for being the School Administrator of the Year, and why Alta High Principal Brian McGill was named Utah’s High School Principal of the Year.

 “I think principals are really great for schools and the community,” McFarland said. “We really appreciate them.”

 Other words students used to describe CSD principals: aware, caring, super strong, resilient, awesome, supportive, engaging, and helpful. The list could go on, too.

 “If I could say anything to my principal, it would just be, ‘Thank you,’” Hillcrest student Luke Bangerter said. “He’s such a loving guy. He’s always looking out for us, and he makes it feel like Hillcrest is a big, giant family. … (Principals) help the teachers teach and help the students get to where they need to be — in class and getting your (work) done. They’re amazing.”

It’s good timing for National Custodian Day — celebrated every October 2nd — to fall on a Saturday this year. If anybody deserves a day off on their special day, it’s the 150 full-time custodians and 500 part-timers who five days a week clean 6.1 million square feet around Canyons School District.

 As CSD custodial lead trainer Todd Muir wrote in a recent email to his massive crew, “The calendar says it’s our day, but, in fact, every day is our day.”

 Isn’t that the truth. Imagine for a second what lunchrooms, classrooms, hallways, gymnasiums, and every other nook and cranny in the District’s buildings would look like without the consistent, attentive care of our custodians.

 On second thought, don’t imagine that. It wouldn’t be pretty.

 Instead, you could — and should — thank custodians for the work they do to make the District sparkly clean and sanitized. It needn’t be a thankless job, that’s for sure. That’s especially the case now, seeing as daily duties of the CSD custodians have increased in both workload and importance since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. To lower the risk of novel coronavirus spread, custodians are tasked with cleaning schools thoroughly throughout the day and into the evening hours. Cleaning crews also regularly disinfect classrooms, hallways, and commons areas with hospital-grade cleaning detergents.

“Please just understand what I said last year at this time is even more true now,” Muir told CSD custodians. He put the next line in bold. “A well-trained custodian will prevent more illness than any doctor will ever cure!”

 To that point, think of the preventive care and cleaning that’s been done over the years by the 16 CSD custodians who’ve put in over 25 years of service. That group includes one custodian with 30-plus years of experience, two devoted employees who’ve been on the job for more than 35 years, and the Custodial Ironman of the District: James Sheely, who’s toiled away at Midvalley Elementary for an incredible 42 years.

 Canyons’ custodians were aptly called “unsung heroes” when the Canyons Board of Education and Superintendent awarded the 2020 Canyons Apex Award to Custodial and Grounds Coordinator Kevin Kelson.

 An anonymous writer described a school’s invaluable custodian like this: “The first to arrive each day. The first called to help. The last to leave. The one that befriends everyone. The one that takes complete ownership and is always ready to help no matter how difficult. The quiet hero of every school facility. The school custodian!”

 Enjoy your day off, custodians. You’ve more than earned it.