Utopia ISD

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.

All grade levels at Utopia ISD will be returning to face-to-face instruction on Monday, January 11th. Parents with specific questions concerning their students ability to return after a quarantine period please call (830) 966-1928.

The Jr. High Basketball game that is scheduled for Thursday, January 7, 2021 in D'Hanis has been moved to Utopia. The game times will be: Girls A at 5:30pm Boys A at 6:30pm

Good afternoon everyone! To say that the first day back from winter break has been challenging would be an understatement, but once again the Utopia ISD family has overcome the obstacles and we are well on our way to getting over another hurdle and moving forward in a positive direction! As many of you are well aware, a significant number of the faculty, staff, students, and community members of Utopia ISD were affected by the COVID-19 virus over the winter break. After analyzing all of the information that our awesome faculty and staff gathered today, we determined that it will be best to continue with remote instruction for the PK through fourth grade classes for the rest of this week (January 4-8). There is only one teacher in those grades that is able to return before January 11th and there are not enough substitutes to be able to cover all of the classes. On the other hand, the vast majority of our fifth grade through twelfth grade students and faculty are healthy and able to return to face to face instruction. Therefore, students in these grades will return to on campus face to face instruction on Wednesday, January 6th. We will also be implementing some new procedures as well as reinforcing some of the existing protocols. A plan has been developed for checking students' temperatures when they come to school each day. Parents will still need to complete the COVID-19 certification for each of their students each day before sending them to school, but teachers will also check temperatures when the students arrive to their first period class. Please be aware that any student with a temperature or COVID-19 symptoms will be sent home. Options for returning to school will be explained by the school health professional upon pick up. Any student over ten years of age must wear a mask while in a school building and unable social distance (six feet). Students ten years of age and younger will be asked to wear masks when moving from one location to another and when exposed to students in other grade levels. Parents and guests will NOT be allowed in the school buildings during school hours. If a parent or guest needs to deliver something to a student or needs to pick up a student they must check in at the front desk and must be wearing a mask before being allowed in the building. Noon meals will still be allowed to be delivered to the campus. However, all meals must be delivered to the front desk and picked up by the student there. Students needing to pick up technology or anything out of the classroom or locker may call the front office at (830) 966-3339 to make arrangements. Concession stands at the basketball games will be suspended until further notice. Utopia ISD has been very fortunate that the COVID-19 virus has not affected us more that it has. However, with the occurrence of these cases over the winter break we are reminded that we are not immune to the effects of the outside world. We thank you for your continued patients and understanding while we take the precautions necessary to protect the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and community. Thank you, Michael Superintendent Utopia ISD

Utopia ISD will be in a remote learning setting today and tomorrow. Further detailed information will be released as soon as it is compiled. Thank you

December 16, 2020 This evening the administration at Utopia ISD was made aware of the fact that an employee of the district tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Upon learning of the positive test results the district followed the Texas Education Agency guidelines for close contact and contact tracing to determine what individuals in the district would be affected. Following the guidelines, it was determined that five faculty members and two students will require quarantine. At this time no further action is being taken to cancel or postpone any other activities. However, we will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments, if it becomes necessary. The safety of the faculty, staff, students, and community members will always be the first priority of the district. Once again, we appreciate your understanding and patience in these very uncertain and trying times. Thank you, Michael Derry Superintendent Utopia ISD