It was a day to recognize and honor someone known in the halls of Bingham High as Momma Jo. For years, Jolynne Ward has been a fixture in finding the good and sharing it among students and staff.

Now Momma Jo is being honored by the Utah PTA as a “Forces for Good” award winner for starting the “Golden Gate” movement. Jolynne started the very first Golden Gate Club at Bingham High School out of a desire to spread smiles among students and provide opportunities for them to connect with peers and school.

As part of the PTA “Forces for Good” award, Jolynne was recognized for her efforts which have moved countless others, changing people long after the initial impact.

Congratulations, Momma Jo! Keep up the great works spreading smiles and changing lives.

Thank you, Utah PTA, for recognizing positive people doing good work impacting students, teachers and staff in our schools.

Jordan School District is constantly working to upgrade and retrofit older buildings to bring them up to current standards, as those standards change. We contract with an outside engineering firm, which conducts regular evaluations to determine the seismic upgrade needs in our buildings. The most recent Tier One evaluations were completed on four of the schools in September, 2021. Evaluations on the remaining schools listed are in the process of being completed.

• According to the Utah Department of Emergency Management, actual presence on the inventory list released today, does not indicate an imminent failure of the building. There are many factors involved in the ultimate outcome of, or impact, to a building in a seismic event.
• Seismic assessments are always a part of renovation projects in Jordan School District schools, such as the most recent project completed at Bingham High School. West Jordan Middle School was re-built for seismic safety.
• We are currently in the process of doing updated, in-depth seismic evaluations based on current standards, rather than relying on the older evaluations, (released today) many of which were completed in the 1990’s.

We appreciate the Utah Department of Emergency Management and FEMA’s efforts to better understand where their time, and resources in particular, can be utilized to help make all schools in Utah as safe as possible.

Student and staff safety is a top priority in Jordan School District.

If you have a question regarding a specific building, email your name and phone number to this address dave.rostrom@jordandistrict.org and we will contact you.