Students are returning to school this month, and some will see changes, including new rules and new administrators. 

The first day of classes in the Park City School District is Monday, Aug. 18, and the district’s new and updated logos for all schools will be on display. A welcome back concert to celebrate the staff and community will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Canyons Village on Thursday, Aug. 21.

The district theme is, “One Park City: Where Learning is Personal and Every Path is Possible.”

Lyndsay Huntsman, who was named superintendent in January, said the district continues to align its work to a five-year strategic plan that is entering its third year.

Goals include 80% of multilingual students reaching English language proficiency within five years of enrolling in the district; 90% of students reading on grade level by the end of third grade; 90% of students reaching proficiency by the end of eighth grade math; 75% of students meeting certain benchmarks for English and reading; and a 100% graduation rate for Park City High School.

Grade realignment — grouping preschool and kindergarten to grade 5, grades 6 to 8 and grades 9 to 12 — has reduced the number of transitions for students from four to three. 

The district will be piloting an Artificial Intelligence tool for grades 6 through 12, with implementation in November, according to Huntsman.

Beginning in the fall, all Park City School District students in grades 6 to 12 at Ecker Hill Middle School and Park City High School will have to secure their phones in magnetic locking pouches during school hours. The requirement was implemented to comply with a state law that took effect July 1.

In the spring, the Park City School Board approved some other key administrator positions for the 2025-26 academic year. 

Caleb Fine is serving as the Park City High School principal and Ben Mueller was selected as a high school assistant principal. Isaiah Folau is the new Ecker Hill Middle School principal and Dan Gallery is the assistant principal. Jacqie Spell started this school year as principal of Jeremy Ranch Elementary School.

Trailside Elementary School Principal Tracy Fike became the district’s Career and Technical Education director in July. Jamie Weekes is the academic dean at Trailside Elementary and Missy Tschabrun is the preschool coordinator.

More recent appointments are Craig Jensen, who will step into the role of transportation director later this month, and Veronica Ramos as interim executive director of human resources.

Treasure Mountain Junior High was closed, and the district officially broke ground on a sports complex at the site. Expansion of Ecker Hill Middle School is being finished, and upgrades to Trailside Elementary are complete. For construction updates, visit pcschools.us/about/construction-updates.

Joanna Andres, a Park City High School Social studies teacher, is one of five finalists for the 2026 Utah Teacher of the Year award. An announcement of which of the “Fab Five” gets the honor will be made on Sept. 4.

North Summit School District begins classes on Wednesday, Aug. 20. The district plans to continue its programs, which it says have led to years of student success.

In personnel changes, Wade Murdock started serving as the new superintendent this summer. Aaron Preece moved into Murdock’s former position as principal of North Summit Middle School. A half-time assistant principal opening was filled by Katie Silcox, who also works half-time as the Career and Technical Education director. 

The North Summit School Board has adopted a resolution to put a proposal for a general obligation bond on the ballot in November to fund a new high school and indoor pool.

School will begin on different days for Wasatch County School District students depending on their grade. The start days are:

• Monday, Aug. 18, for students in grades 1-6 and 9.
• Tuesday, Aug. 19, for students in grades 7-8 and 10-12.
• Monday, Aug. 25, for kindergarten students.
• Tuesday, Aug. 26, for preschool students.

This summer, the district hired a new superintendent, Garrick Peterson. His former position as assistant superintendent will remain unfilled at this time. 

Among other administrative changes for 2025-26, Brian Thorne joined the Teaching and Learning Department, focusing on Student Success; Lana Wright was named head principal of Rocky Mountain Middle School; and Amanda Edwards was named administrator at Wasatch High School’s Alternative School. Drew Camps Wofford, McKenzie Neiufi and Colleen Tolles have been named assistant principals at Wasatch High School.

Construction on the new Deer Creek High School is progressing and is on track to be completed in the spring and opened in fall 2026, according to district officials.

Repairs and updates have also been done or are in progress of being completed at other Wasatch School District schools. The work includes moving J.R. Smith Elementary’s portable classroom to a more accessible, safer spot and installing parking lot lights for increased security; replacing the main playground structures at Old Mill Elementary and Midway Elementary; replacing all the carpet in Rocky Mountain Middle School and repainting the halls to match the new school colors; and updating the restrooms in the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten areas at Heber Valley Elementary. 

Classes begin on Wednesday for most students in the South Summit School District. Students who attend Silver Summit Academy returned to school on Aug. 13.

Superintendent Greg Maughan said the district’s goal is to always show improvement in academic achievement. The focus is to help develop the dispositions that align with Utah’s “Portrait of a Graduate,” he said. 

The portrait, created by the state Board of Education, identifies the ideal characteristics of a Utah graduate after going through the K-12 system. 

The district is implementing SHINE, a mentoring program for new teachers and teachers who want some additional support, Maughan said. 

“It’s also a goal to show continuous growth for not just our students but for all of our employees, making sure that we’re building our capacity as leaders and teachers and paraprofessionals,” Maughan said. 

The South Summit School Board has written a cellphone policy for the district that aligns with state code. So far, the ban on using the phones during classroom time has worked well in Silver Summit, Maughan said.

He said students are coming back to schools that are “fresh and ready and exciting,” thanks to the Facilities Department’s work over the summer on maintenance and repair projects.

All districts are ready for school to begin.

“As we start the year, we encourage everyone to be mindful of increased traffic and to watch for students walking or biking while the weather is still pleasant,” Huntsman said. “We’re excited to welcome our students and families back for another school year.”

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Utah lawmakers are using statewide legislation to ban cell phones in classrooms starting this summer.

The state Senate and House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 178, which prohibits the use of cell phones and smartwatches in classrooms unless a school district establishes a policy outlining specific exemptions. The bill goes into effect on July 1 if it is signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox.

All three school districts in Summit County — Park City, North Summit and South Summit — already have policies in place that have effectively banned cell phones for years.

“I think anytime we can pull them away from the screen, especially in the world of social media and gaming, we’re doing a lot for student learning and healthy adolescent development,” explained Caleb Fine, interim career technical education director for the Park City School District.

Fine said the district will likely work on creating an overarching policy and formalizing procedures for Park City High School, but both Ecker Hill Middle School and Treasure Mountain Junior High School already have a strong, established system.

“Ecker Hill has a pretty firm no cell phones rule, and it’s working. They’re not using any pouch devices or whatnot,” Fine said. “At Treasure Mountain Junior High, we piloted Yondr pouches, and we’ve had incredible data coming out of that. …These are pouches the kids keep on their person. They lock, and you cannot access your phone without a specialized unlocking magnetic device.”

Holland Lincoln, whose three children attend McPolin Elementary School, said she’s excited about the new state law because social media and screentime negatively affects kids’ mental health. She said she doesn’t plan on giving her children a cell phone until eighth grade at the earliest.

“I think there’s a lot of grassroots support for this kind of thing, but having it come from the top down is so invaluable, especially since things aren’t being done at a federal level,” Lincoln said. “It seems like it’s really up to states now, so we’re over the moon. … I think it just bolsters and gives parents more support in making these really hard decisions.”

Children learn how to grow both socially and academically while at school, and removing the temptation of cell phones helps them with development, Lincoln added.

“If you put a cell phone in front of a kid who doesn’t have a fully developed prefrontal cortex, I think that’s really problematic,” she said. “These kids aren’t learning how to interact with one another, to navigate conflict, to debate, to be kind. They’re not learning that. There’s an intermediary, and it’s a screen, and that’s how they’re interacting with their peers. That’s really sad.”

Parents across the Park City School District overwhelmingly supported a cell phone ban in schools in a survey distributed last year, Fine said. Students, too, have been fairly cooperative, and the policy’s effectiveness has been evident in the district’s disciplinary numbers.

“When kids are not on social media during the school day, getting charged and aggravated and upset, the interactions in the hallway are healthier. They’re not spurred on based on communication happening all class period,” Fine said. “Face-to-face communication is powerful in terms of development, and it’s also a powerful mechanism to keep student behavior in line with what we want our students to do, just be quality young men and women and continue to learn to grow.”

South Summit High School also has a policy requiring students to put cell phones away while class is in session, and North Summit School District uses cell phone “pockets” to mitigate distractions and track attendance.

“Each classroom has a pocketed display that has enough room for each student to have a cell phone in it. A lot of the teachers, that’s how they do their seating chart or attendance, by whether or not a cell phone is in that pocket,” explained North Summit High School principal Devin Smith. “They have an assigned pocket that they are to put their cell phone in, and we’ve been doing that for at least five years.”

Smith agreed with Fine and Lincoln’s assessment that cell phones have changed how students interact with each other, but he said there haven’t been as many noticeable behavioral differences at North Summit High School because it’s a smaller community.

“Most of our kids, even ninth and twelfth graders, they know each other, so while they’re at school, they’re very active in communicating with each other face to face,” Smith said. “It’s when they’re not together, whether they’re at home from school or it’s the weekend, that they’re really on turbo communicating with each other on social media.”

And although Smith recognized technology has its perks, he said he generally supports restricting cell phone usage in schools.

“We always want to do what’s best for kids, and we want them to get the best education possible,” he said. “Being in compliance with this law during the class period, I think helps kids be less distracted and will give them a better chance of learning.”

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Monaye Whyte’s just trying to get her 3-year-old daughter, K’Leyah Senior, to preschool. Because she doesn’t have a car, that means paying Uber $40-$50 for each of the four trips K’Leyah makes to school each week.

When she moved from Jamaica to the Silver Creek Village in April, Whyte thought her child would be able to attend the nearby Trailside Elementary School for early education programs. Later she learned that although she has “Park City” in her address, she lives in an unincorporated spot of Summit County within the boundaries of the South Summit School District. 

To send her daughter to preschool, she has to accompany her over 15 miles to South Summit Elementary School.

“It is a difficult process,” she told the Summit County Council during a public hearing on Dec. 6. “She’s autistic, so she needs the interaction with the other kids.”

On school days, which are Monday and Wednesday, Whyte takes K’Leyah on the 15-mile trip from their home to Kamas. On Mondays, even though her school day is only two hours long, Whyte said she has to travel back to Park City to get another Uber driver who is willing to make the trip to pick her daughter up. On Wednesdays, Whyte’s husband picks K’Leyah up and Whyte goes to work. 

Depending on the day, this costs around $80-$100, and Whyte is concerned snow storms and rough weather are going to bring higher prices with them.

If she tries to stay in Kamas and find a ride, she explained it is nearly impossible.

“We are unable to get Ubers from Kamas when we’re there. We have tried so it doesn’t cost us as much,” she said. “We’ll sit there after she’s finished at 11:30 for an hour before we can get one.”

“That all sounds reasonable,” Council Chair Roger Armstrong said with sarcasm. “How can we help?”

Whyte told the council that after she tried to transfer her daughter to Trailside Elementary, K’Leyah was rejected. She appealed the decision and explained the situation, and the appeal was rejected less than half an hour later.

“Unfortunately the district is closed to out of boundary children this year due to the construction at all schools combined with current projected enrollment,” Park City School District Board of Education Chair Andrew Caplan told her over email. “I would encourage you to contact the South Summit School District and petition them to build a school closer to Silver Village.”

When Whyte explained the response, County Councilor Canice Harte took a note from Armstrong.

“Also sounds reasonable,” he added, with sarcasm.

John Kenworthy, the owner of Flannigan’s and Whyte’s employer, also talked to the council about the preschool and the mother’s situation.

“She’s just excellent in every way. She is the poster employee we all search for in town. We all know we have a tremendous issue with the wealth gap,” he said. “It is probably a minute and a half, less than two minutes to Trailside from her house. … The problem’s just going to keep growing and growing and growing. And I really appreciate your time, I know it’s not your jurisdiction.”

Armstrong told Whyte to reach out to him after the meeting to see if he could do anything, and said later he is working to see what he can do.

When contacted by The Park Record, Caplan and other Park City education board members opted to speak through the district’s spokesperson, Heidi Matthews.

Despite Caplan’s suggestion to Whyte that she ask South Summit School District to build a new school closer to home, Matthews said that even if the Park City School District were to open enrollment to students outside the district’s boundaries, preschool wouldn’t apply.

“Preschool is reserved for those who live in the boundaries of the Park City School District,” she said. 

Asked if South Summit School District offers any transportation options that could connect Silver Creek Village with South Summit Elementary, the district’s superintendent, Greg Maughan, mentioned that grades K-12 are at Silver Summit Elementary and Silver Summit Academy, both of which are within walking distance of the neighborhood. Both schools, he said, can accommodate K-12 students who move to their boundaries.

“SSSD does not provide transportation options for pre-K students,” he said in an email. “I am unaware of any school district in the state that does provide transportation for pre-K.”

While Whyte said Silver Summit Elementary did offer a once-a-week, one-on-one 30 minute preschool session between K’Leyah and a teacher, she’s worried her daughter would not get the benefits of socializing with kids her own age.

“She’s mostly non-verbal,” Whyte said. “She says a few words but she doesn’t talk talk. … Since starting school, she has been trying to say a lot more words. She’s just doing so much better based on her interaction with the other kids and as well as her teacher.”

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