Parents and students at Welches Elementary and Middle Schools surely noticed some big changes when returning to school last month, including a unified start time, a single entry point for drop offs at the elementary school and a consolidated main office in the elementary school with no office in the middle school.

And the person behind the new way of doing things, Principal Kendra Payne, also happens to be one of the new additions.

“It’s been awesome; I feel like I’ve come back home, I’ve been welcomed with
open arms,” said Payne, who taught at the middle school and served as the
Dean of Students for a year before working at Cedar Ridge Middle School in
Sandy for two years. “The staff has just been wonderful, they’ve been excited
to have me back.”

Payne believes the altered start time of the middle school, 8:30 a.m. (which
previously started at 7:30 a.m., an hour before the elementary school), will
offer a number of benefits, including allowing both staffs to attend meetings
at the same time, giving middle school children more time for sleep and less
unsupervised time for children in the after school hours.

She already credited the new start time as helping reduce the number of
tardy students at the middle school.

She noted that managing the sheer number of students took a little time to
iron out, as now 340 students both arrive and leave at the same time through
the elementary school entrance (for sports, dances and other events, the
middle school doors will be open for drop offs and pick ups).

“You have to adapt and change,” Payne said about the plan her staff devised
before the school year started. “You have to modify right in the moment to
make it actually work for what’s happening at that time. That’s what I love,
though, too, because once the kids come in that’s when life comes in.”

This year, the schools also feature new technology which students and staff
need a little time to acclimate to, including new phone systems and internet
tied into the new Sandy High School and a new lunch number assigned to
students. In past years, students had a four-digit number to access their
accounts and pay for lunch, but the new numbers have six digits – a notable
memorization challenge particularly for the first graders.

“It just slowed things down in a way we weren’t expecting,” Payne said.

Payne noted that the most crucial aspects of school life are performing well:
the students, staff and overall behavior.

She added that her vision is to greater unify the two schools, as in previous
years the schools used different systems (including different student arrival
times and separate staff meetings), and making strong connections to
previous years of lessons throughout a student’s career.

Since her return to Welches, Payne said the school population has changed a
lot, including a decrease in students, which impacts the configuration of
classrooms, grade levels and staffing.

“We have a lot of new blood and really excited teachers who are in the starts
of their careers,” she said. “They’ve got ambition, a lot of energy and a lot of
creativity.”

She’s also received very positive support from the community and has found
the Mountain perspective to be a valuable one.

“I always enjoy thinking about things in different ways and talking to
independent minded people,” Payne said. “I think it brings an extra strength
to Welches that other schools don’t have.”