Episode Three: Catching Up With Students at the Start of the School Year

Welcome everyone to the next episode of Provo City School District's What's Up with the Sup’ podcast. Today is August 25th, 2023. I am Superintendent Wendy Dau and I am super excited for the podcast this week. With the school year in its early stages, I wanted to catch up with a few students to see how the school year is going and to talk to them about their experiences at school. So this week I will be joined by four students, Eliza Doxey from Timpview High School, Lilly Tuinei from Provo High School, and Emily Astle and Dottie Worthen, who are sixth graders at Provost Elementary. But before I talk to them, let me share some of our weekly updates. SEP conferences for secondary schools are coming up on September 19th through the 21st. Look for more information from your student's school. Please continue to check your school's website, calendar, and social media for important information and dates. If you qualify for free or reduced lunch, remember to send in your application within the first 30 days of school. This process does need to be completed every year. Please remember to update your information in PowerSchool. This process also needs to be done every year so that we know how to contact you in case of an emergency. The next school board meeting will be a study session and a business meeting on Tuesday, September 12th. Study sessions generally begin at 4 p.m. and are held in Board Room 1 at the District Office. Business meetings start at 7 p. m. and are held at the Professional Development Center at the District Office. Both meetings are open to the public. The Foundation's Links for Kids golf tournament will be held on September 28th. If you are interested in participating, please visit foundation.provo. edu. And don't forget, my weekly videocast will be coming from me on Friday as well. And now for our community feedback section. At the end of each podcast, we ask our listeners to submit any questions or topics that they would like us to address on the podcast. So thank you to those of you who have submitted questions and feedback. Not every question we receive warrants a full podcast episode, but we also want to acknowledge the questions and provide some answers. So we have created the community connection segment where we will answer one of the questions whenever we receive them. So this week question comes from listener Flor. Flor asked me to address safety issues in the drop off and pick up lanes at our schools, and we know that these drop off and pick up lanes before and after school are kind of a crazy time. With multiple cars all trying to go through the same area, and there are tons of kids everywhere it can be hectic. Each of our schools has unique drop off and pick up areas. As such, each school works to identify and communicate these drop off and pick up instructions specific to that location. We try to have as much adult supervision in these areas as possible for the safety of both our students and their entire family. But it is important to remember that we need to work together. So we ask our parents to please be very patient during the drop off and pick up times and follow the school's established guidelines. Please drive slowly, stay calm, be patient, and work together to get our students to and from school safely. Later this year, we do plan to have an episode devoted to all things related to school safety. So thank you for your input, Flor, and I hope you're looking forward to that podcast as much as we are. If any of you have any topics or questions you would like us to address on the podcast, please email us at podcast@provo.edu. Wendy: So I have Eliza Doxey here with us today. She is the student body president at Timpview High School and is a senior because obviously you have to be a senior to be a student body officer, correct? Eliza: Um, well, actually anyone can be, but usual