Principal Message

Dear Orchard Families,

I am honored to be the principal of Orchard Elementary School. Let me start by saying how much I appreciate and admire Mr. Volmar for the fantastic job he has done at Orchard. Mr. Volmar was an outstanding principal. It was a pleasure to work with him his last few weeks of school. He expressed to me several times how much he loved working at Orchard and that he will miss it here. We wish him all the best.

I have been in education for 20 years. Mr. Volmar hired me at Morgan Elementary school 20 years ago this month. I taught 6th, 5th, and 4th grades at Morgan and Knowlton Elementary. I loved being in the classroom working with students and families. Last year I was at Bountiful and Odyssey Elementary as the assistant principal. I am delighted to be at Orchard Elementary as the new principal. I am impressed with the faculty and staff here. Everyone has made me feel so welcome.

My husband of 33 years, Tom, works at Salmon Electric. We live in Layton. We have three children. Spencer and his wife Kristen are attorneys and live in Lawrence, Kansas. My daughter Megan and her husband Cobi live in Layton. Megan is a nurse in the ICU at McKay-Dee Hospital. Cobi is going to school to be a teacher and works at Nike. My youngest son Chase and his wife Erika live in Layton. Chase works for Lucid Education and Erika is a nurse at Lakeview Hospital in the ER. I am so lucky to have such an amazing family. The best news is that I am going to be a grandma! Megan is due November 1st.

My focus as the school administrator is to guarantee a safe place for children to learn. Children need to feel safe physically and emotionally. Our focus will be ensuring each student can read and write. Literacy is a gift! We will meet each child where they are on the road to being literate and move them to the next level.

Our theme this year is Together We Soar. I will need your help in this quest. This work is too important and too difficult to do alone. I look forward to working together. Feel free to contact me. I am excited to meet you and your children!

Heidi Short