Standard 3.6 Information Resources and Materials

Infinite Campus

They say that hindsight is 20/20. Before the COVID pandemic emerged, Nebo School District had already decided to change its student information system (SIS) from Aspire, a free, state-supported system, to a more feature-rich SIS, Infinite Campus (I-Campus). It was a multi-year process to research, learn about, adopt, and ultimately to migrate all of our data into the new system. Unfortunately, the final steps of the change-over have taken place in the middle of the pandemic. This was our first year with the new system. In hindsight, it would have been easier to make the change in another year, but by the time COVID was disrupting schools, it was too late. I-Campus promises to be a much more powerful SIS than its predecessor. During this first year, however, there have been growing pains. It handles all of our student registration, scheduling, grading, attendance, behavior management, etc. Parents can use it to monitor students' grades and attendance, and even to contact teachers.

Canvas

Canvas is the Learning Management System (LMS) used by the district and PHS for online learning. The Canvas software is integrated with our SIS (Infinite Campus) to enable students to send and receive assignments directly to and from their teachers. Teachers are being trained to have robust Canvas assignments that make use of sound, media, and a variety of digital resources. Students can collaborate with each other and teachers over Canvas, which has been especially useful during the pandemic. Teachers have really thrown themselves into the task of learning how to use Canvas.

Blackboard Communication

The Blackboard Communication system allows us to send out mass phone calls or texts. This is only deployed in rare circumstances like informing parents about a school closure or early out. As Infinite Campus becomes more user-friendly and functional, we expect its built-in communication service to replace Blackboard.

Wasatch Behavioral Health

Wasatch Behavioral Health (WBH) was founded in 1967 to provide quality mental health care for all individuals within Utah County and was the first community mental health center in Utah. WBH is a comprehensive community mental health center offering an array of programs and services for children, teens, and adults in both Utah and Wasatch Counties. School-based services are offered in many school districts, including ours. There are two types of programs offered as school-based services:

(1) Site-based (Special Education classes)

Children in special education services and classrooms may be referred by the school district for mental health services. Upon parental consent, available services include: individual therapy, group therapy, case management, behavior management, psycho-social rehabilitation services, peer support services, psychiatric and medication management and coordination with parents. School-based services are provided in the schools, community, and in family homes.

(2) On-site services in high-risk population schools.

A therapist and case manager deliver services upon referral from the school coordinator, parent, or crisis services. The goal of the on-site services program is to provide community-based, family-centered, comprehensive services to the children and families referred, with a strong element of coordination and accountability.

Safe Utah System

The SafeUT Crisis Chat and Tip Line is a statewide service that provides real-time crisis intervention to youth through live chat and a confidential tip program – right from your smartphone. Licensed clinicians in the 24/7 CrisisLine call center respond to all incoming chats and calls by providing:

• supportive or crisis counseling,

• suicide prevention, and

• referral services.

Tips via the SafeUT app frequently are routed to PHS for us to provide help, intervention, and services as needed.

School Social Worker

Every school in Nebo has a school social worker. Ours is Annie Mason. She works miracles and changes lives. As a valued member of our Youth Support (Tier 2) Team, she works side-by-side with our school counselors, psychologists, student advocates, and administration in meeting the needs of our most vulnerable and impacted students. One of her specialties is helping students and families to access specialized community resources. To read her full job description, click on her thumbnail in this section.

School Psychologist

Every school in Nebo has a school psychologist. Ours is Alan Jacob. He is an expert assessor, listener, record keeper, and healer. He works side-by-side with our other Special Education personnel in the great work of assessing specialized needs and delivering needed services. In addition, he helps students and families access specialized community resources. To read his full job description, click on his thumbnail in this section.

PHS School Website

Our school website is one important way that we distribute information to the public. We work to ensure that the information it contains and its organization are intuitive and easy to access. Over the years, we have become dissatisfied with the look of the site. Currently, a student team is working on redesigning its look, aligning it with our new, student-produced branding and style guide, and making it look sharper and more modern. After they have completed their design proposal, the student team will present it to the school administration and district webmaster for consideration. All of the same information will remain, but it will look better and be even more accessible.

PHS Athletics and Fine Arts Website

The public is also always interested in information about our extra-curricular programs. This year, we created an adjacent website as a complement to our main school website to showcase our athletics and fine arts programs.

Monday Morning Memo

Similar to our patron memos, the faculty and staff receive communication from school leadership in a Monday morning memo. Besides communicating the weekly schedule of events, the memo aims to clarify practices and protocols when needed, celebrate successes, and build networks of communication.