Skip to main content

Sandy Journal

Summer’s over…it’s back to school

Aug 16, 2021 09:31AM ● By Justin Adams

Hillcrest High students arrived early for the first day of the 2021-22 school year to find their classes in the newly rebuilt school, which is the first four-story school in Utah. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

By Julie Slama|[email protected]

Thousands of school children sharpened their pencils and filled their backpacks in Granite, Murray and Canyons school districts for their first day of school on Aug. 16. 

In Jordan School District, high school students returned Aug. 16 and elementary and middle school students plan an Aug. 17 return. 

In Canyons, students at Brighton High and Hillcrest High arrived early to learn how to navigate through their new school buildings. 

Masks in schools are optional as the Salt Lake County Council in a 6-3 vote overturned the public health school mask order for children under age 12, those who are not yet old enough to be vaccinated, which was issued by county health director Dr. Angela Dunn. 

The free breakfast and lunch program continues this school year in many districts under an extended waiver from the USDA. All students are automatically eligible for the benefit, which will last through the 2021-2022 school year or until federal funding runs out.