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Superintendent's message
Year four!
I am so grateful for the opportunities I have been given and for the support that I have been
shown. The staff with which I have been graced is incredible and the sole reason that I am
grateful for this opportunity and the reason I strive to be better at this job every single day.
We are continuing to make some exciting changes in the district!
Last year we hired a math teacher at the elementary to split the classes in half so the teachers got
to teach one grade at a time instead of squeezing everything into one lesson with two grades. We
saw significant growth across the district and have allowed the majority of our students to gain
more than a full year’s math knowledge in less than a full year. A huge amount of growth that is
a testament to the dedication of our staff and the support of their school board.
With the success of the math program, the board decided to hire a teacher to do the same thing
with our English Language Arts program. Our 3rd & 4th (Shannon Shaffer) grade teacher moved
into our new ELA role and we hired a former student in Fossil (Kim Sullivan) to take over her
role of 3rd & 4th grade teacher. In addition, we hired a coordinator for the Distance Learning
Program (Katie Jaeger) to streamline the flow of communication between both entities. I
continue to be amazed at the support the kids, the staff, and myself enjoy from a supportive
school board.
We made some shifts in our physical spaces within the district this summer as well. We
purchased the former Shamrock building and have converted that into a beautiful space for our
District Office as well as a great board room for meetings and a large room set aside for records
storage. Our OYC crew did a great job of helping move furniture, files, and other needed items
between the old office and the new building. They also painted and helped move supplies
between rooms. We created a new space for our daycare and hired two new women (Kayla
Bernard & Catherine Espinoza) to run it, while we wait for our library project with the county to
come to fruition. We created classroom spaces for our math and ELA teachers to do their jobs in
a more formal setting and to create space for our kids to further grow.
We continue to create opportunities for our students and staff to grow. Our elementary staff
continues to implement the Science of Reading and work through Orton-Gillingham
certifications to better serve our students with dyslexia. We continue to work on support for
positive behaviors and are beginning to implement Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to
further scaffold our students as they learn to manage behaviors and move forward in school. We
continue to implement programs to improve our education, our environment and our physical
spaces. We have some other exciting projects planned in the next two years which will hopefully
benefit the community as a whole. We are continuing to move forward to make this district even
better than it has historically been.
I will always welcome and encourage anyone in the community to come and see me. I look
forward to the opportunity to talk to you and make sure that you are heard in our quest to educate
our children.
We continue to work on a plan to put air conditioning in our gymnasiums to hopefully create a
place for a cooling shelter as well as make them more comfortable for late summer games.
As I mentioned, we welcome in new staff members this year and look forward to their
contributions to an already talented and dedicated staff. I encourage you to come in and visit
with us and get to know, or get reacquainted with our staff!
Athletics have started and we look forward to seeing you at games. I am very excited to see your
children in school this year and look forward to welcoming our new staff members aboard as
well.
Please feel free to come see us! We are here to serve!
Jon McMurray
Superintendent
Fossil School District 21J
I am so grateful for the opportunities I have been given and for the support that I have been
shown. The staff with which I have been graced is incredible and the sole reason that I am
grateful for this opportunity and the reason I strive to be better at this job every single day.
We are continuing to make some exciting changes in the district!
Last year we hired a math teacher at the elementary to split the classes in half so the teachers got
to teach one grade at a time instead of squeezing everything into one lesson with two grades. We
saw significant growth across the district and have allowed the majority of our students to gain
more than a full year’s math knowledge in less than a full year. A huge amount of growth that is
a testament to the dedication of our staff and the support of their school board.
With the success of the math program, the board decided to hire a teacher to do the same thing
with our English Language Arts program. Our 3rd & 4th (Shannon Shaffer) grade teacher moved
into our new ELA role and we hired a former student in Fossil (Kim Sullivan) to take over her
role of 3rd & 4th grade teacher. In addition, we hired a coordinator for the Distance Learning
Program (Katie Jaeger) to streamline the flow of communication between both entities. I
continue to be amazed at the support the kids, the staff, and myself enjoy from a supportive
school board.
We made some shifts in our physical spaces within the district this summer as well. We
purchased the former Shamrock building and have converted that into a beautiful space for our
District Office as well as a great board room for meetings and a large room set aside for records
storage. Our OYC crew did a great job of helping move furniture, files, and other needed items
between the old office and the new building. They also painted and helped move supplies
between rooms. We created a new space for our daycare and hired two new women (Kayla
Bernard & Catherine Espinoza) to run it, while we wait for our library project with the county to
come to fruition. We created classroom spaces for our math and ELA teachers to do their jobs in
a more formal setting and to create space for our kids to further grow.
We continue to create opportunities for our students and staff to grow. Our elementary staff
continues to implement the Science of Reading and work through Orton-Gillingham
certifications to better serve our students with dyslexia. We continue to work on support for
positive behaviors and are beginning to implement Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to
further scaffold our students as they learn to manage behaviors and move forward in school. We
continue to implement programs to improve our education, our environment and our physical
spaces. We have some other exciting projects planned in the next two years which will hopefully
benefit the community as a whole. We are continuing to move forward to make this district even
better than it has historically been.
I will always welcome and encourage anyone in the community to come and see me. I look
forward to the opportunity to talk to you and make sure that you are heard in our quest to educate
our children.
We continue to work on a plan to put air conditioning in our gymnasiums to hopefully create a
place for a cooling shelter as well as make them more comfortable for late summer games.
As I mentioned, we welcome in new staff members this year and look forward to their
contributions to an already talented and dedicated staff. I encourage you to come in and visit
with us and get to know, or get reacquainted with our staff!
Athletics have started and we look forward to seeing you at games. I am very excited to see your
children in school this year and look forward to welcoming our new staff members aboard as
well.
Please feel free to come see us! We are here to serve!
Jon McMurray
Superintendent
Fossil School District 21J
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USDA Nondiscrimination Statement
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant's name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant's name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
- mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or - fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or - email:
[email protected]