274
HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY
choice of attending Union High School or Uintah High School. In 1994 the enrollment was 219 at West Middle School. In 1993 Duchesne C o u n t y and Uintah C o u n t y were involved in a dispute over where the kindergarten through ninth-grade students living in Uintah County on the Duchesne border should attend school. This problem had not been resolved at the time of this writing.
Vernal Middle School In 1982 Vernal sixth-grade students were moved from the elementary schools and joined with the seventh-grade students at the junior high. Knowing that the new high school to be built on the Maeser highway would not be completed before 1986, double sessions were mandatory, with the eighth- and ninth-grade students attending school in the morning and the sixth- and seventh-graders attending in the afternoon. At first these students were considered a part of the junior high, but later in the year Principal John Childs started designating the sixth and seventh grades as middle school. Year-round sessions were discussed but not instituted, and double sessions continued for four years. When the new high school was completed, the junior-high students were moved to the old high school location at 1000 West, and the middle-school students were left at the former junior-high complex. The students became known as the Mustangs and chose blue and grey as their school colors. Dr. William Murphy was the principal of the middle school through 1994, at which time he was replaced by AJ. Pease.
Adult
Education
Uintah School District organized adult-education classes in 1959 with Rhoda Thorne DeVed as supervisor. In 1963 the state approved the adult high-school completion program, making it possible for many people to receive high-school diplomas. In addition, an adult drivers education program became available. The school district also has a community school program which brings the community into the schools and makes the buildings available for use without cost.
Uintah District Learning Center Jeanne Stringham, wife of Dr. Paul Stringham, acquired an interest in special education when she was elected local state PTA repre-
