001We're getting started five minutes late, but we are going to go ahead and get started tonight. We welcome everybody who's here. It is Tuesday, April 11th, 2023, and we're going to begin by indicating who is here. Julie. Julie Jackson. Kim Chandler. Connie Burgess. Chris Wynn. Karen Winder. Clark Nelson. Rich Nye. Todd Haber. And Nicole McDermott. Thank you. We're so excited to have so many people here today, tonight, for several different things that are happening. We'd like to first take just a minute to introduce anybody who's visiting here. Do we have any representatives from PTA here? Yay! Welcome. That's all we've got. But thank you for being here. We appreciate you being here. Gespa? Do we have any Gespa? Oh, thank you. Introduce yourself to everybody. Thank you. And GEA, our group over here. Thank you.
002Thank you so much. We appreciate you being here. Office professionals. I know we had some earlier. Where are they? There you guys are. Julianne Hamlin, President. I have with me today Dana Breeze, President-elect. Trinda Burdett, our Secretary. And Verily Evans, our Membership Chair slash Administrator. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. Middle managers? Any middle managers? Okay. Do we have anybody from the Granite Education Foundation? All right. And elected officials? I know we had some. There's Karen. Senator Vaughn, Senator Todd Weiler is here. And we should have one more. Representative Doug Welton, are you here? Not yet. Okay. Thank you both for being here. We appreciate you. And we're going to recognize them a little bit later. We are going to turn the time over to Jake Brown, who is the
003principal at Bennion Junior High. Woo-hoo. And he's going to come up and do the Pledge of Allegiance. I welcome you to rise and join me for the recitation of the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God. Thanks, Principal Brown. And we are going to turn the time over to Ben to introduce our reverends. Thank you board president superintendent board members Executive leadership were very excited this evening for our revenues this evening We will have a presentation of a play monologue from the West Valley Elementary I'm going to turn the time over to principal Jeff Walton to introduce his group in the meantime While he comes up I'd invite board leadership board members and other individuals come off the stand so to view that presentation All right, I'm
004very lucky to introduce the awesome West Valley City Kiddles. They're going to be performing Annie, and they're going to be doing Hard Knock Life. And these kids have been practicing since October, and they are fantastic. We're super excited. I sit in my office after school, and I can just hear them practicing. I'm going to miss that. They're performing tomorrow night at 6. and Thursday night at 6 at West Valley Elementary. And I'm going to miss hearing them practice after school. We have some wonderful teachers that have been working with them since then, Carly Kennington and Cassie Harris, and one of our other amazing employees, Kelly S. is going to be here also. Kelsey S., sorry about that. So here they go, the wonderful West Valley singing Hard Knock Life. Goodness! My folks are never coming
005for me. I gotta go find them. Annie, you're crazy! Miss Hannigan will catch you. I don't care. I'm getting out of here. Wish me luck. Good luck, Annie! So long, dumbbell man. Good luck. Caught you! Get up! Get up! This is Miss Hannigan, brought in orphan. I'm orphaned. My mother and father left me notes saying they love me and they're coming back for me. That was 1922. This is 1933. Parents still here, will you guys stand up and just be recognized? Thank you for your commitment also in helping your children, supporting them. I just want you to know that Michelle Jones is now jealous and wants to teach elementary school. All right. Thanks so much to West Valley Elementary. That is so much fun to always see those kids and how hard they work. and
006to see that here. So we appreciate them being here. We're going to turn the time over to Ben for some recognitions. Thank you. We have a large consent agenda item, and I know a lot of people are waiting, but it's at that time of year as we wrap up the legislative session that we recognize. some important contributors who watch out for public education and and work with Granite School District on a number of critical and important issues and so we wanted to take the opportunity to recognize a handful of individuals. We will actually have some additional recognitions in the May meeting individuals who couldn't be with us tonight. So please look for those next month. We'd first like to recognize Senator Karen Kwan. Could she come down and join us real quick? So Senator Kwan,
007you're going to look at them for a little bit here. Come on. This is their meeting, so we, right? So Senator Kwan stepped into a new role as a state senator right before the legislative session started. She was a very adept representative on the House side and decided to go over to the dark side in a special election. No offense, Senator Weiler. So with respect to that, she had some big shoes to fill. We've had a lot of support over the years, and we were glad to recognize Senator Karen Mayne last month with a Lifetime Achievement Award. But I would say that if anybody was up to the task and with the desire to do so, it was Senator Kwan. She took on an RFA for us, a request for an appropriation, and worked that
008through the process to the best of her ability. And we're still going to keep working on that through the interim. But she's been very supportive on a number of other issues related to specifically to Granite School District. And she's been very supportive of some other initiatives, particularly in relation to safety. She's a parent of ours and has children in our system. And we're so very glad for her help and support at the legislature this year. Would you like to share anything with us really quick? You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. Been as a politician and a teacher to speak and so you know I've got 50 minutes in me y'all have that is that okay? Just wanted to say thank you. You know we're an education family my husband of
009course is here with the Granite School District as well and so it's something that when I first ran from in 2014 it was I always knew that education was going to be the at the top of my agenda and so I'm so very pleased to be able to do what I do every day and thank you for everything that you do every day. Thank you so much, Senator Kwan. I think everybody on the board recognizes you and knows what you do for education, so we really appreciate you. Thank you so much. Thank you again Senator Kwon. Our next recognition is a little bit unusual because we've not typically recognized representatives or senators who don't serve our particular area, but as we were kind of reviewing on this latest session and some of the efforts, the
010extraneous efforts that were made in behalf of Granite School District, there was a few individuals in particular we felt would be appropriate to recognize, so we hope that Davis School District will not be jealous. So we're pleased this evening to recognize Senator Todd Weiler, and I'd ask him to join me up here with me. He was pretty key on a couple of things, but I've known Senator Weiler since prior to his appointment to the State Senate. And he's a good friend, but more importantly, he's a very effective legislator. And so there was a couple of key issues that he helped us on. He is in a key place also when it comes to school security and some of the safety issues and juvenile justice reform and has a very... loud voice there and so we'd
011like to be connected with Senator Weiler and discussing those important issues as they relate to our students. So he ran a bill for us that was not successful and he pointed that out to me when I asked if you'd be willing to come and be recognized. He's like, well the bill failed, what do you want me to do? And they're like, no, it's okay. It's the effort that counts, and we'll be back on that bill, right? We're going to make some changes and come back. So we're very pleased to recognize. I wanted to make one other accomplishment. As far as HB 304, which was juvenile justice reform, as we pushed that bill towards the Senate, that was a very important bill to Granite School District and to public education in general, and mostly... with respect
012to the important strides that are being made with respect to juvenile justice reform. So as we brought that bill over, there were some key things that we were looking for in that legislation, but there were some other adjustments that wanted to be maintained, and Senator Weiler was a key leader in the room on the Senate side to help us make the appropriate amendments. He could have just voted no. because he didn't like a part of it, but like any good collaborator, and we look for those people in the legislature, people who are willing to get people together and find a common ground, and he did that, and he made that, what was it, the Sixth or Seventh Amendment happen, and got the bill through on the Senate side, and we're so very grateful for those
013adjustments. So I turn time over briefly to Senator Weiler. Thank you. I just want to recognize, and I don't say this lightly, for the past three years and one month, I think out of any elected official in the state and perhaps the nation, I think you have the hardest job. One thing I learned during COVID is no matter what the legislature did or didn't do, at least 30% of my constituents were mad at me. And, you know, you're on the front lines. I say this with all sincerity, I'll never take what you do for granted. Thanks so much for coming and joining us here, Senator Weiler. We appreciate it. We do have one more. And very pleased to recognize Representative Douglas Welton and invite him to join me down here. It was a busy day
014and I didn't have a chance to confirm that he would be able to join us tonight, so I'm glad to see him. And that he found his way here, because this is a hard place to find. So, if you don't mind, Representative Welton is actually a teacher in another school district down south, and we don't really talk about anything in that other county, so I'm sorry, I'm not even going to bring up their attention. This kind of goes the same way. He's not one of our elected officials, but he cares about public education. And even as a newer legislator, he's already making some huge strides and having a profound impact. And I'm going to let him explain his bill here for us. But school grading modifications, we all recognize the challenges with school grading. And
015this has been a huge heavy lift and a burden, recognizing... We all seek for quality accountability. We want to be held accountable. We want to be providing quality educational experience to our kids. But sometimes things don't pan out the way that they're intended to. And he's been working on this issue and has been quite effective and found the right moment and the right time to present a bill and was quite successful in getting school grades eliminated and moving towards a more broad-based and more accurate, I would say, reflection of our schools. how well they're doing. So I'm going to turn a little bit of time over to him and then we'll proceed. Thank you. It's a pleasure to join you, and it's always a pleasure to be with educators. As someone who teaches in a
016district south of here, in south Utah County, I appreciate all that you do, and our teachers and our educators and our board members. It's a difficult job to raise our kids and to help out and to help our parents and be partners with them. This bill is really important to me. Like Ben said, we don't shy away from accountability. We embrace accountability. We want to get better and we want to do better. But the school grading as it was set up just kind of unfairly targeted our schools, particularly our lower socioeconomic schools, with a broad stroke that didn't really talk about the details and what we were doing well and where we needed to improve. And so moving away from the letter grade to a dashboard system that lets us see more granular data. helps
017parents, helps teachers, helps board members, superintendents to focus on better outcomes for our students. And so I was grateful to be here at the right time to be able to pass this piece of legislation. Thank you. We're not going to make these folks stay with us the rest of the night, but can we give them all another round of applause? We appreciate their efforts in the legislature. Thanks, Ben. All right. We are going to move on to our consent agenda. We do, just so you know, we do patron participation time. We do have somebody signed up for that. However, it does have something to do with an agenda item. So we are going to move that to the agenda item and just go on with the consent agenda. So with that, I'll entertain a motion.
018I'd like to move that we remove from the consent agenda the closet of three novels item under the land trust amendments for further discussion. Okay, so there's been a motion to remove from the consent agenda the item of three novels from the land trust amendments. I'll second it. Okay, so we have a motion and a second to remove the... Say that again, Kim. The class set of three novels item under the land trust amendments. Thank you the class out of three novel items under the land trust amendments There I was just gonna ask can you please elaborate as to your reason? I feel like I actually went and read all three of these novels myself Prior to this meeting I feel like there's a couple of issues that I have with them one being they
019are Filled with profanity. I don't know that we should be having books in our schools that are profanity-laced, but also because they offer a biased argument of controversial political viewpoints presented through emotion and with no balance. I don't feel that ELA or English class is the proper place for exploring political issues through literature. So the books also, to me, didn't appear to have advanced vocabulary or high-level writing presented. And so I feel... That we should be, when we can, addressing these things up front rather than trying to correct things and fix things once they're already in place and in use. And given that this item is presented for us to give a yes or no vote on, a yes vote means we approve. And so I personally cannot approve of this particular item. So the
020motion is that we remove this from the consent agenda. For the purpose, we can discuss it after that as a separate item. So that is the motion and the second on the table. Any other questions? Yeah, so to clarify, if we remove this from the consent agenda, we will vote on it after the consent agenda. Correct. We'll vote on the consent agenda first and then this. Questions, comments? All right. All in favor of removing the purchase of the three books from the land trust amendment, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed? All right. That passes. So now we can have a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of what was already removed, what was removed. I move that we accept the consent agenda. I'll second. All right. We've had a motion and a
021second to approve the consent agenda, of course, with the exception of what was just removed. Any questions, discussions, issues? Okay, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed? All right. So that has been approved. We are going to go ahead and pause just for a moment because with that consent agenda, we have some administrative appointments and transfers that we would like to recognize. So we're going to turn it over to John. Good evening, Board of Education and Superintendency. It's actually my privilege this evening to introduce to you some of the new appointments that you just made. This is actually an exciting time of the year. I just have to say it's always fun for me because we have some very talented, skilled, hardworking administrators, and it's nice that they have chosen to make their
022careers here in Granite. So I'm going to start off with, I'm going to have them stand. And then after I introduce them, we'll have them introduce whoever they have with them here tonight supporting them. So we'll start with Josh Leroy. We have Josh standing in the back. Let me tell you a little bit about Josh. Josh completed his administrative internship in Box Elder School District. He has been an assistant principal at Olympus High School and has been the principal at Churchill Junior High and is currently serving as the principal of Olympus Junior High. Josh will be the new principal at Cypress High School. Josh who do you have here tonight with you? Thank you. Where's the cypress swag guys? Yeah, Rob, where's the cypress? Next up we have Brian Murray. Brian was a teacher for
023us in Hunter junior high he's also been an administrative intern at Hunter High School He's been an assistant principal at Churchill junior high and is currently the assistant principal at tears for high school Brian will be the new principal at Valley junior high Congratulations suit you have here tonight with you. Thanks for coming tonight Next up. We have Robin tin brink. We don't know who that guy is in the back back there That's great. Okay, Robin has taught health and PE and was an assistant principal at Brighton High School. We stole her from Canyons District. Robin is currently the assistant principal at Cypress High School, and she will be the new principal at Kennedy Junior High. All right, Robin, who do you have here tonight? Great. It's good to have you here tonight. All right,
024next up we have Amy Fischler. Amy has been a secondary teacher at Olympus High School and taught math, or she's also a math curriculum specialist or has served as a math curriculum specialist. She has been the intern assistant principal at Jefferson Junior High this year, and next year she will be an assistant principal at Cypress High School. I was expecting Rob to scream out, go Pirates again, but that's okay. Go Pirates! There you go. All right, Amy, who do you have here tonight with you? Great. It's good to have you here tonight. Assembly pants to follow. All right. Next up, we've got Terrell Richards. Oh, look at this. Let's go to him. Okay, you guys, take note. Emmy just raised the bar. Way to go. That's Taylor's bill right there. All right. Terrell has actually
025been in Granite quite some time. He's been a teacher and a coach. He coached football at Hunter High School. He was also a teacher at Granite Connection High. He is currently an administrative intern at Granite Park Junior High. Terrell, next year, will be serving as the assistant principal at Taylorsville High School. And he just received all kinds of swag, so I'm sure he'll be sporting those colors for us. All right. Who do you have here with you tonight, Terrell? Good to have you here tonight. Okay, next up we have Ashley Snarr. Ashley taught at Cypress High School. She also taught at an alternative high school in Idaho. Ashley is currently serving as the intern assistant principal at Kearns Junior High. Next year, she will be the assistant principal at Cottonwood High School. Ashley, who do
026you have here tonight with you? And you also have some many Cypress friends. Yes. All right. Good to have you here tonight. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have Taylor Cater. Taylor was a teacher at Skyline High School. That's actually where I met him for the first time. I was actually his assistant principal at one time. I'm surprised he would even talk to me. But he's also been an administrative intern at Wright and Valleycrest Elementary Schools. He is currently an assistant principal at Fremont and Armstrong Elementary Schools. And next year, he will be the new principal at Howard Riggs Elementary. Taylor, who do you have here tonight with you? Great. Good to have you here. Okay. Next up is Ali Terrazas All right Let me tell you a little bit about Ali. Ali has
027taught at Granger High School And she was also a teacher for a while in Salt Lake District Ali was administrative intern at Jacqueline in Lincoln Elementary Schools Allie has been an assistant principal at Redwood Elementary and she is currently an assistant principal at Farnsworth and Monroe Elementary schools. Allie will be the new principal at Rolling Meadows Elementary next year. All right, Allie, who do you have here tonight? Great. We understand. Congratulations. Next up, Lindsay Weaver. Lindsey has served as a teacher at West Valley and caught when elementary schools. She's been an administrative intern at Pioneer Elementary She is currently serving as the assistant principal at elk run and Plymouth elementary schools Next year. She will be the new principal at Hillside Elementary All right, Lindsey, who do you have here tonight with you? Thanks for
028coming tonight. All right next up Next up. We have Hannah cuz old Hannah has served as a teacher and in Canyon School District She's also been a PBIS and an MTSS coach for us here in Granite She is currently in an intern assistant principal at Matheson junior high Hannah will be an assistant principal at Hillsdale and Jacqueline elementary schools next year All right, feel free to introduce who you have with you tonight. Thanks for being here tonight up next is Lindsay Neal Lindsay served as a teacher at West Valley Elementary. She's also served at Lake Ridge and Truman Elementary Schools. She's also taught at an elementary school in China. That's pretty incredible. She is currently an administrative intern at Lincoln and Pleasant Green Elementary Schools. She will be an assistant principal at Pioneer and Pleasant
029Green Elementary Schools next year. Lindsay, who do you have with you tonight? Fantastic. Thanks for coming tonight. Next up we have Katie page Katie taught at Jacqueline, Okra Hills and West Kearns elementary schools Of course, those were not all at the same time. You understand how this works She is currently an administrator intern at Redwood Elementary Katie will be an assistant principal at Academy Park and hunter elementary schools next year Who do you have with you tonight? That's awesome. Thanks for being here tonight Next up. We got Megan Stewart Megan has been a special education teacher at Oakwood and Springling Elementary Schools. She also taught fifth grade at Banyan Elementary. She is currently an administrative intern at Cottonwood High School. Megan will be an assistant principal at Beehive and Wilson Elementary Schools next year. All
030right, Megan, who do you have with you tonight? Great. Thanks for being here tonight. Okay, in just a moment I'm going to share with you just briefly some of the transfers. We don't invite those that are being transferred to come to board meeting, but we'll just go through that quickly. Before we do that, though, anybody that's a teacher or an administrator that's here that was not receiving an appointment but was here to support someone else, will you please stand up? If you're an administrator or teacher, we know about Rob, but anybody else, put you here to support those. Okay. Thank you so much for being here. It's awesome to have all the support for our administrators. Okay, now let's have family members of those. Please, all family members of administrators that are here to support
031those that got appointed, please stand up. Let's give them a round of applause as well. Thank you for being here. I don't know if we planned the theme night to be It's a Hard Knock Life or what with that song, but I thought... You know, administration and education can be very difficult, and we so appreciate all that you do to support those of us that have chosen this career. And trust me, they will need to lean on you. So thank you so much for your support and for being here tonight. All right, let me just run through some transfers. Before I do that, though, let me explain to you kind of how this all happens, because sometimes people ask. Why do we have so many appointments and transfers each year? We always have retirements that
032kind of trigger some dominoes in place. And then the other thing that we do is each year we send out to all the administrators an administrative interest indicator. And so they put down for us. Kind of what they hope to do in the next year sometimes they tell us that they're applying for a promotion or Sometimes they may put put that they would like an opportunity to have a different experience and that could be anything from Going from elementary to secondary or secondary to elementary or going from one level to the other within secondary So we have that as well And there are times as well that folks will ask for a different experience just because they've been in the place for quite some time and they want an opportunity to get a new experience
033and to challenge themselves with another opportunity. So we have that as well. There are times that we do make transfers that we that we feel are needed as well Just for the benefit of the district overall but most of these happen because or are triggered because we either have retirement and creates dominoes or it's been at the request of The administrator. Okay, so let me go through some of these real quick John Anderson who's the principal at Wasatch this year will be the principal of Olympus junior high next year Mary Basso, who's principal of Kenney Junior High, will be the principal of Wasatch Junior High next year. Ben Anderson, who's currently the principal of the GTI, will transfer to be the assistant principal at Skyline High School. Tim Munt, who is currently the assistant principal
034at Skyline High School, will be transferred to be serving as the assistant principal at Westlake Junior High next year. Heather Sonny, who's currently the assistant principal at Cottonwood High School, will be transferred to be the assistant principal at Skyline High School next year. Andrea Wynn, who's currently serving as principal at Crestview Elementary, will transfer to be assistant principal at Bennion Junior High next year. John Workman, who's currently serving as the assistant principal at Bennion Junior High, will transfer to be the assistant at Granger High School next year. Kip Carlson, currently the principal at Spring Lane Elementary, will be the principal at Fox Hills Elementary. Some of these schools closed, obviously, and there's been retirement, so there's a need for movement. Amber Clayton, who's currently the principal at Mill Creek Elementary School, will be the principal
035at Woodstock Elementary next year. Terry Danes, who's currently the principal at Fox Hills Elementary School, will be the principal at Crestview Elementary. Terry's actually here tonight. Terry, will you please stand up for just a moment? We didn't drag her here, but she's here tonight. And you have your husband here, right? Well, there you go. That's incredible. Well, thanks for being here tonight. Rachel Lowry, who's currently serving as the principal at Twin Peaks, will be the principal at Granger Elementary. Ben Peters, who's currently principal of Howard Riggs, will be serving as principal at Magna Elementary. Ben's actually here tonight, too. Ben, will you please stand up for that? Just want you know, these are overachievers. We did not ask them to come to board meeting tonight. So all right Lauren Anderson assistant principal at magna and
036Upland Terrace will be serving as the assistant principal at Upland Terrace and William Penn next year Allison banks who's currently serving as the assistant principal at Granger Elementary Will be serving as the assistant principal at Armstrong and frost elementary schools next year Becky Dees who's currently serving as the assistant principal at West Kearns Elementary School will be the assistant principal at Rolling Meadows and West Kearns next year. Ben Johnson who's currently serving as the assistant principal at Westlake Junior High will be serving as the assistant principal at Oakwood and Woodstock Elementary Schools next year. Anjali Luther who's currently the assistant principal at Diamond Ridge and Moss will be the assistant at Diamond Ridge and Fremont next year. April Reynolds, who's currently principal at Magna Elementary, will be serving as the assistant principal at Granger Elementary
037School next year. Melanie Roybal, who's the assistant principal at Stansbury Elementary School, will be the assistant principal at Farnsworth and Elk Run. And Rebecca Spence, who's currently the assistant principal at Academy Park and Pioneer, will be the assistant principal at Plymouth and Silver Hills Elementary Schools next year. So those are the transfers as well. And I gave all these folks... Two assignments tonight, so hopefully they will follow it. One is we've given them permission to exit this board meeting quietly so they don't have to stay for all of it. And two, they're supposed to take their families out for some type of celebration. So kids, that means your parents should be buying you some kind of treat before they go home tonight. Okay? So thank you. We'll go ahead and excuse you at this time.
038I move we take a five-minute saunter for a break. Is there a second? Would you like to second that? Anybody? I'll second that. Okay. We're going to take a five-minute saunter. We didn't get to go back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If we have a part-time writer, that's... I know! That's right. So I just played with someone a song. That's a picture. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. All right, I think we've had our ample time of five minutes. I don't know where Chris is. She really sauntered far and rich. You, though I'm impressed, are back. So we'll start. We'll take that as a win. We should probably wait until they're back. Do you want me to go get Rich? Is he out there? Yeah.
039I got him. You're good. Thanks. I'm gonna wait for Rich. I'm not sure. As soon as the weather turns, I feel like wearing it. Every year. And then I don't wear it the rest of the time. I don't know. There's something about it. Your five minute saunter is over. I think so. Apparently Chris did too. All right, so to review, we have now approved our consent agenda with the exception of the three books that were listed in the land trust amendments for purchase. So we can entertain a motion on that. Hi, welcome. A motion on? Either we need to approve it or... A motion to approve is basically where... A motion to or to not approve it. Maybe discussion? It's still part of the consent agenda, so we either need to approve it or not.
040I will entertain a motion. So how would you do that? So, like, I can move that we discuss the... You can make a motion and a second, and then we can also discuss it at that point. That's what I'd like to do. What you just said. Two. Okay, so make a motion. I make a motion to do that. I know. Repeat what Nicole said. Which that, so to clarify here, you've got to get a motion to approve or not approve what's on the table, then a second, and then the discussion is opened up after there's a motion on the table. Oh. Does that help? Yes. Okay. Okay. We got it. Go ahead. I mean, my motion would be to not approve the three books, the purchase of the three books that are listed on the
041Land Trust Amendment. Do we have a second for that? Okay. So there's been a motion to not approve the books that are on that as part of the consent agenda. There's a second. At this point, we can have discussion. I'll start out. I kind of laid out my concerns already earlier on and reiterate those. I think there's some policy adjustments we are going to need to look at as a board down the road in regard to these kinds of books coming in as well. But again, I think I feel when we have the opportunity up front to address books that are concerning, we should do that. I'll let someone else speak at this point. So as a point of order, I just want to make sure everybody understands this is already part of a board
042policy. So if we do not vote to approve these books, we are essentially voting against what policy we have already in place. Our policy... Is there on how to remove books if we do not approve of books or if the public doesn't approve books on how to do that, that is in that board policy. If we don't, if we, I believe we've been planning to look at that board policy anyway. But that is already in place and a method and a way for parents to be able to appeal that. And there's a novel policy where these books have already gone through that process. Is that what you're saying? Yes, they've already been through that process. Rich, do you want to say something to that? Yeah, just to specify, it is Article 10A10. That is the
043board's approved policy for selection and for appeal of novels that is currently in place. It was last reviewed in 2018, I believe, and it is something that would be the subject for the board's desire and direction to review in law and policy. But to the point, we do have about 11 pages. policy on novel selection and appeal. My question is, do we know that these novels have already been, they're already on the approval list? Those, yes, these three, looking through, and we can forward the links to that list, the novel, the books that have been approved, but these three books have gone through the board policy for selection currently. Can you clarify? They've gone through the board process for selection or they were indeed challenged and then confirmed? They have not been challenged or appealed
044in any formal way. The initial selection process is spelled out in board policy and then reviews a review committee and things and they review it and then they put forward a recommendation to include on the novels list. But there still is the option that if something is found in those books that is unsuitable, isn't grade level appropriate, isn't appropriate generally, that an appeal can be made for them to be reviewed. At that point, that review, as current board policy would state, of those novels would go to a review committee that's made up of three parents, as determined by the PTA region. for selection on that, three teachers and one district specialist for review. Again, that's all specified in the existing board policy in terms of process. But to be clear, these books have been on
045the Novels Committee list since 2018? I'm not sure exactly when they were on, but they are on the approved list of novels. And have never been contested? Not to this point. Okay. To my knowledge. I've not seen a review of that. Is one of them all American boys? No. Okay. I apologize. Do you know the policy well enough to give a brief summary of what the policy goes, the steps that it goes through to be approved to be on the list in the first place? Who reviews it? Who gives that approval? Yeah. And as mentioned, it's 11 pages. But to summarize, typically what happens is a teacher is looking at different. novels that they would like to consider or use as part of the required curriculum. They submit that request to the district specialist who
046then convenes that review committee to review the book. And they do. I couldn't speak specifically to the rubric on that at this point. Maybe Assistant Superintendent Anthony could speak to what those details are. It's spelled out in the policy in some linking forms. that I'll also share. But at that point, the determination is made, yes, this act. And actually, even within that group, there's percentages of approval, right? So you might have one person on the committee that disapproves it or two. Is that enough? If it is, then it's appropriate for these grade levels. There's some for the junior high or the high school levels that they could level up, if you will, depending on the nature of the content. but it is very grade level specific. And, again, that's spelled out in Article 10A10. Assistant
047Superintendent Anthony, anything further on that? The only other detail I'd add is the percentage is a 75% vote for adding it to approved novels or to appeal it off of approved novels, which three-quarter vote. It is a vote, straight yes and A, but that's percentages. The review process to add, if you get in there and look through this, board policy is quite a bit more, to add is much more substantive than to appeal. So if we vote to remove this, we're essentially voting against existing board policy. I'll say that I guess my vote will be a double negative. I'm going to vote not to. not approve the books. And the reason why is because I support that we have a policy in place that handles this situation and that it's not something that we address
048here in board meeting because the minute that we address these three books, the floodgates are open for us now to become that approval committee. And I would argue that we have that our policy in place is much better than that policy. And I like a more democratic process for these books. So while I appreciate that if there's a problem with this book, with these three books, if there are problems with them, I believe our community will bring it to us and that we will put it through a process and that we can protect our kids. Through our process and as you know that I feel like maybe there are some ways that we can improve that I'm sorry Kim not Chris There are ways that we can maybe improve that and I'd like to continue
049to work on that And I think law and policy is the place to do that But I think the place to handle that is in the policy not necessarily in board meeting. So I'll be voting against the remote current proposal And I appreciate the discussion to understand that, you know, as we go, yes, you know, to Julie's comments. I appreciate that. I appreciate your explanations. Also, can you clarify? So this was supported and voted on by Taylorsville's Community Council who are elected to represent their community in this. Can you clarify that? Sure. And I wasn't at that meeting. I don't know if Connie was. I have contacted the Community Council president. I said, what was the discussion about surrounding this? She said, let me review them and get back to you. And she got back
050to me and said, you can let the board know that we as a community council approve it. I do have a couple of them that are still reading it, reading some of them to have further discussion about it. But they're pretty, I'm just going to let you know, their Taylorsville Community Council is a pretty active council. There's about 20, between 20 or so staff and parents that come. consistently every month to that and they're not ones that are just rubber stamping whatever because they have they have pushed back against some of the things that have been recommended on that so I think they're a very thoughtful council having said that I don't know you know that they I don't know the depth of knowledge that they have of that but having it be part of
051the approved novel list I think they they looked at that I know their vice principal looked at it so it was something that they did consider and look at, just for that perspective. We're going to pause because we do have Todd Morrill here who is asked to give public comment. And as it pertains to this particular agenda item, we're going to invite him up. Todd, as you come up, please state your name just for the record and also your address where you live. And then just take three to five minutes and address the board. Just right here? Yep, right there. Hi, yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Okay. Yeah, Todd Morrill, 6016 South, 2200 West, Taylorsville. I've lived in Taylorsville for most of my 57 years. I've been, you know, different, out of the country,
052different things. I cannot believe that my fellow friends and neighbors approved any of this. I just can't believe it. And I've been on a community council myself, Cottonwood, several years ago. And I know that that council was a total sham. Everything got just pushed through. The principal did whatever she wanted. I had objections with the school musical. We never got to vote on it. She did the thing with the drama teacher and the choir teacher. They decided. They already had bought the rights to it. And then they came and told us what they were doing. So, you know, I don't know what's going on in the Taylorville Council, but I know those people there. These books, I've looked at them. I was going to read some out of it, but we have a nice little
053six-year-old girl here tonight who's interested in this topic, and I'm not going to make her listen to this. But if these are going to be in the schools, I think we should have to listen to it because they are horrible. When you've got a grandmother and grandfather saying the F word to their grandson. in the no kiddo book. Even my ninth grade daughter looked at that and she said, why don't they do something decent like something by Ray Bradbury or something? Because it's a graphic novel. Not only is it not good, it's a graphic novel. I think, why are we doing graphic novels when our kids can't even read? Like, what are we doing? So I'm against it for that reason. They're all very bad. And I wouldn't trust Taylor'sville High School for these kind
054of things because I have nephews who go there. And I've been informed that one of them was given the book All American Boys to read, which I was going to read some things out of that. Just as bad. You've got all kinds of profanity, all kinds of sexual innuendo. Nothing any of you would let your kids read. I can promise you that. Or your grandkids or anybody else. So why are we giving this to our kids? I don't understand it. And if we have to overrule these councils, then I think do it. You created the councils. You can overrule these people. So when you say it's democratic, I don't think it's not democratic because when I got on it, I think no one else was even running for it. So those councils, you just pretty
055much, you want to be on it, you're on it. So like I say, I don't know about this Taylorville one, but I know how other ones have been. So I appreciate Kim and Julie's comments. I think Kim was very brave to bring this thing up. But I think you've got to get a different approval process. You can't rely on community councils to do this. Because I doubt most of them have even read the books. That's a lot of reading to do. People are very busy. And probably what happened is they brought the English teacher in there and said, are these okay? And she probably said, yeah, they are. And they all just said, okay. That's how it was on our council. Whatever the principal said, everyone just rubber stamped it. Please be aware that that's
056what happens on these councils. So I think you want to revisit this whole thing. Like I said, I was going to read some of that, but I would not vote on this unless you've read these things because I think you'd be quite shocked that anyone would recommend these things. It's mind-boggling to me. Plus, as Kim said, it's not just the filth in it. It's the political things, too. These are very controversial issues. that we shouldn't be ramming down kids' throats. There's no excuse for that. So for that reason alone, even if they were clean books, I would say don't use these things. And one of them, All-American Boys, has things in it that would really, really scare certain minority populations. And these kind of things don't really happen here. So it's not like you're preparing
057them for something that might happen to them in their lives. So it's very unnecessary to scare kids. So anyway, I completely agree with Kim. These things should be voted down. You need to change your policy on how you do this. If it's 11 pages long, I would say there's something wrong with that. If anything has the F word in it five times, then I would think that's probably not something we want in our schools. And I will sit down. Thank you very much. Thanks, Todd. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts. All right. Is there any further discussion? Any questions? All right. So we have a motion to... not approve the three novels that were listed in the Taylorsville Land Trust Amendment. And we have a second. So we need to vote on that right now. All
058those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say nay. Nay. Okay, so I believe that has been voted down. So now we can entertain a different motion. I make a motion that we approve the, is it the books or the entire? She just said the purchase of the books on the land trust. Okay, the purchase of the books on the land trust. Okay, so we have a motion that we should approve the books listed on the land trust amendments for Tayserville High School. Second. Okay, we have a second. Is there any further discussion, questions? Okay, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Nay. Abstain. We have one abstention in Clark, one nay in Kim, and five yays. All right, thank you. And thank you, Todd. We do want to reiterate that
059it's not about that, but there is a process. And we have a board policy in place. And if we do need to look at that policy, let's look at it. But let's make sure we follow our policy that is already existing. Do you have anything for me? I would just say, if it were the board's request, that staff would prepare that agenda item for policy and law, if that's something you'd want to extend the discussion on. Thank you. Okay, we are going to move on to our first reading. Doug, you're up. We have two readings tonight. We're doing the first reading first, correct? Yes. Okay. So the first reading is a small change to our fiscal policy manual. We are requesting this modification basically to fit our current practice. In the past few years, the
060district has offered... dinner cards to employees in recognition of their 25 years of service with the district. We used to have dinners during COVID. We had to kind of change the way that we were doing those things. And in fact, we found something that apparently employees like a lot more. And so we are proposing a change to fiscal policy manual section 15. the Tokens of Appreciation, Employee Incentives, and Gifts Policy to reflect, once again, that 25-year recognition that there's the option of using a token of appreciation in lieu of a celebratory banquet. If you have any other questions about that, please feel free to ask. So it's for the 25-year recognition and retirement. Oh, and retirement. I apologize. You're right, Todd. That says and or in the policy. Yep, it does. Thank you, Todd. So
061I did have a comment on just that one little part. Instead of saying in lieu of the former celebratory, can we just say in lieu of a celebratory banquet? Sure. Does anybody feel strongly about that? I just, I think. It's a little clunky for future reading. We know, we understand, but a future board may not understand why in lieu of the former. And it also allows if that ever does, if teachers ever want to have that banquet again, it allows us to do that. I'm not, you know. That makes perfect sense to me. Thanks for that. That's excellent. Any other questions, discussion? Yeah, I just thought it was really weird because as I was reading through the restrictions and limitations, It's like you can't give tokens of appreciation or incentives for employees, right? That's what
062it says in C1. And then in the exemptions, it says, exempted our expenditures for cards, thank you notes. Oh, excuse me. I was imagining that there was like a gift card in the thank you note. Oh, you're saying you can buy a thank-you note. Sure, right I can give it to someone. Yes, not you're saying this is same. Okay. Sorry. I was all screwed up What about exempted our expenditures of morale funds? What does that mean exactly like I could buy a lunch for my staff? With public funds for morale? That's right. So, again, there's no changes to any portion of that policy except for number five. But on number two, in response to the question, morale funds, there is a morale budget that each of the schools has. And so principals are given wide
063discretion as to how they use that for their staff. I see. Yeah. Yeah, my question was 100% because I'm hearing principals and teachers say, like, we can't, we can hardly do anything. And now I realize it's because the morale fund is probably pretty low. And so it's not a policy problem. It's a budget problem. Okay, sorry. Irrelevant. Market is irrelevant. I appreciate the bird walk. That's excellent. Any other comments, questions? I just want to say this is, you know, COVID brought some really negative things to education, but we actually learned that teachers and our employees love to get that $100 gift card in the mail, and they get to go to dinner with their family rather than be with us, which you can blame them. And also, they get to choose where they go, you
064know, because there's a lot of, you know, it's one of those cards that have a lot of choices. If there's a silver lining here, it's offering still to go celebrate, but celebrate with our loved ones, you know, at least $100 on our dime. And at the end of the day, that is a much lower cost than putting on the banquet anyway. So it actually saves us money. Silver linings. Although I'm personally hurt that you don't want to spend the money. I also think it gives some options and flexibility because if they couldn't go on the night of the banquet, they'd kind of just miss out on the whole thing. So I like this flexibility better. We just miss being able to shake their hands. I mean, if you guys didn't get to, that was always
065such a fun thing. I would say as much as we're considering this, one way to honor them, there's a lot of different ways, but one way that we could still shake hands and acknowledge that is perhaps in a faculty meeting toward the end of the school year is being able to recognize them in front of their peers, shake their hand, and give them the envelope and express our appreciation. So we still would love that interactive and personal expression of gratitude, and so we're looking at ways to do that. So look for that board members as we get to the closer to the end of the year that they will hopefully be sending us out invitations for that. Okay. I move to approve as the first reading the fiscal policy manual. Let's see. What is that?
066Tokens of appreciation and play incentives and gifts. I'll second. You'll second? Okay. So we have a motion. To approve the fiscal policy manual 15 tokens of appreciation employee incentives and gifts and we have a second Is there any further discussion questions as a first as a first reading? Did I not say that? I'm sorry you did and I didn't know as a first reading I couldn't remember. Okay. All right all those in favor, please say aye. Aye any opposed? All right motion passes on the first reading All right, Doug, second reading. We have one second reading tonight. This is Article 9A1B. We have already discussed this in last month's board meeting. This is self-reporting requirements and background checks. You'll remember that this modification was simply to... be a little bit more nuanced in how we
067approach the requirement to do fingerprinting. There were individuals that we were requiring to jump through that hoop who were just volunteering and not being paid by the district. And so we made the modification to the policy that only those that are receiving compensation from the district will be the ones that are fingerprinted. will maintain the requirement to be fingerprinted according to the statute. Now, keep in mind that volunteers that have significant unsupervised access to kids will still be required to be fingerprinted. So that doesn't change anything in the policy. However, we just didn't necessarily believe that all volunteers, some of our community members who help teachers or chaperone, but don't have... any type of extended unsupervised access to kids should be required to go through that fingerprinting process. So that's why we made the change.
068And if you've got any questions about that before we vote on the second reading, I'd be happy to respond. I do have a question. I feel like there's some edits that we made that aren't in this version. I don't know if they were lost along the way. Just for example, Section F. We talked about human recourses that should be resources. Ah, thank you. And that that sentence, we've made a change, I thought, to the wording of that sentence. Let's see. Because it currently reads, human recourses shall request such information from the most recent employer where the applicant or volunteer in a qualifying position, where the applicant or volunteer directly cared for, supervised, controlled, or in custody of a child. So we'd updated that. I don't remember the exact language. Yeah, we did. Let me go
069back. Kim, I think perhaps there was, for whatever reason, that change wasn't accepted. And so I'll go back and make sure that that does get accepted from the first reading. Sorry for not pointing it out sooner. I only noticed it now. No, I appreciate that. No, thank you very much because I think that's just a clerical error. We didn't accept that change from the previous reading. So thank you. Is there any other questions or comments, thoughts? So would I make a motion with... Kim's change. Yeah, do I have to articulate Kim's change? Really Services will correct the clerical error All right. Well, I'm making a motion that we accept as a second reading article mine a 1v Is that a V if it's lowercase? It's a V. It's yeah self-reporting requirements and background checks with
070Kim's changes. All right, we've had a motion. I'll second it. All right, so we've had a motion and a second to accept Article 9A1V as a second reading, which is self-reporting requirements and background checks with the clerical errors corrected that Kim brought up. Any further discussion or questions? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, board members. Thank you, Doug. And with that, I believe that takes us, wow, to our superintendent. It's 830, guys. We're going to take that to the superintendent's report. Rich is going to fill up some time since we're early. I have some time. I could fill up some time, yeah, since we're early. Thank you, Board President. Thank you, Board. Just a couple of items of note that I'd like
071to bring your attention to. One, a lot of exciting work occurring in our schools as we take a look at what it looks like between now and the end of the year. Thank you. You know, a can won't have much in it for long. So, anyway. Working with the principals, taking a look, again, just to bring back and constantly keep in front of us the work that they're doing, the priorities that they set as articulated in their continual improvement plans. Again, this last couple weeks in meeting with the principals, actually we had spring break and then a USBA conference. Is anyone going to talk about that? But I would not need to. I'll just make mention of it. But anyway. Working with the principals and the teachers, taking a look at those priorities, those action
072steps, we have a lot to celebrate and will have a lot to celebrate by the end of the year because many, if not most, I would say the vast majority of the goals are being reached in our schools. That comes to some hard work. Think literacy goals, numeracy goals, graduation, first-time credits, attendance. has improved in some schools. They made that a priority to reach out and I'll be able to provide a report for the board in that as we finish up the year. And so I appreciate the good work that's going on in our schools. On a very somber note, it's not lost on any of us, some of the tragedies, the threats that are occurring in our schools across the country. That's not lost here in the Granite School District as we identify ways
073to continue to improve safe and secure campuses. We've made this a priority with the legislature, the request for appropriations, the RFA that Ben alluded to in recognizing Senator Kwan. We worked with her to get a $12 million, well, we proposed a $12 million in appropriation from the legislature to help us in just that. Now, while that wasn't... Funded per that appropriation request we did receive some funds from the legislature this last year to continue in our efforts to provide safe and secure campuses. We'll have more information on that as the the State Board provides the details and what our allocation of that of that fund will be so more to come on that. Today in the last few years the district has spent approximately 18 million dollars on safety and security alone. We're not resting
074on our laurels there because there's still more to do. And so when we think of video security systems and enhancements, there's investments being made there. Our standard response protocols, think our instant command systems. We did a tabletop exercise today in executive leadership team as to how to respond to an event, both at the reactive stage, but also thinking proactively what needs to be in place. to help mitigate some of the impacts. We are tightening up and further refining and defining our school resource officer agreements, our SROs. with our partner agencies, but it should also be noted and celebrated that the Granite School District does have our own police department, Chief Porter back there as well, who helps provide coverage, safety and security and resource officers in our schools. Granite is the only district in the
075state of Utah that has such services to provide that extra level of safety and security and responsiveness. And I have shared this with Chief Porter and several of his officers, how pleased we are. At the fine police work that's been done over the last couple weeks given some of the threats and safety and security issues that we've had You've seen those in the mail you in our emails and our texts, but we appreciate the work the responsiveness of our police force some of those hardening strategies also will Hardening strategies when it comes to safety and security Yeah, we had in the construction update what some of those single point of entries look like what their secure vestibules look like What those ringing entries look like door alarms weapons detections and so forth is a multi-layered
076approach and not a single silver I'm not even going to say it but in terms of There's not one single approach that can solve such a complex issue as providing for safe and secure campuses, so it has to be multi-layered. We are encouraging and further promote the use of student reporting. If students see something, we need them to say something. They have SafeUT app that they can do that to help have more eyes on the situation on our campus. Looking at more mental and emotional behavioral health supports in our schools, that's part of the softening strategies. And as the board approved, I believe it was last month, some strategic threat assessment resources to help us identify where our gaps may be. And so this is an ongoing effort, maintaining that constant vigilance to make sure
077that our schools are as safe and as secure as we need them to be. That when children, or when parents send their children to school and when our employees show up to work in our schools, they can have some confidence that we're doing all that we can to help keep them safe and secure. maximize what it means to have that safe learning environment where learning can flourish and our students and staff can feel safe. Recognizing that there are these threats, we are actively, proactively looking at all angles to address that. We've had study sessions on this topic in the past. If so desired, once we determine what even some of our next steps are, some of The feedback that we're getting from our schools, from our parents, from our students, some of the pilots that
078we're running, we're happy to share that information with the board as well in whatever format would be appropriate, whether it be at a study session, information item, or otherwise. So ongoing effort, recognizing that... The threats do exist, not only within our communities, within our society, and we want to make sure that our schools are safe places as much as we can. So with that, Board President, I'll close my report unless there's questions or comments to that end. Okay. Thanks so much, Superintendent. Julie, should we start with you? This week I got to go to an open house at William Penn Elementary where they invited, they'll be absorbing the DLI population of Mill Creek Elementary, which we just closed. and there was a lot of contention and discussion and worry surrounding how that was going to
079look as we were deciding that vote. And when I showed up to that open house, I did not know what to expect, and I'm going to tell you the honest truth. I walked through the parking lot taking deep breaths and saying, Courage, everyone in this building may hate you because you just closed their school. I walked in there, and there was... joy and love and inclusivity and I could not have asked for a better scene to witness. Most people saying, this is going to be amazing. Teachers saying, this is going to work. This is going to be really good. And kids saying, I can't wait to come here. And parents saying, this is going to be really good for my kid. And saying that to me in Spanish, you know, knowing that that Spanish language
080is because it's a Spanish DLI program. And I just, I think we have amazing communities. I really think we do, and we rely on them, and they make a difference in how our kids achieve. And so I really appreciate those communities that are transitioning right now and the efforts that they are making to make that a successful transition for their kids. I truly believe that those changes are going to... Impact our kids for the best that's not to say there aren't sacrifices to be made and I think that we'll feel those on day one until we get used to those sacrifices I Also, just wanted to report that in two weeks I'll be spending the weekend in St. George with the USBA. And so I'll be, we'll be chatting with all the other board member
081representatives and from across the state. And so we'll be talking about what our agenda will be for the next legislative session, as well as what other kinds of. you know, just changes things that we want to see across the state in education. And so if any of you has any input or thoughts that you would like me to share in that, you know, in that venue, make sure to get those to me. Thanks. Kim? Thank you. I think on the... tone of the, you know, speaking of school closures last year, I wasn't part of that process last year or that vote, but this year I get to be part of our current PAC study. I've appreciated going to listen to the community in the meetings that are being held. And, you know, honestly, the community's
082positive at this point. You know, the questions are sincere. People are open to what we might come up with. So I think that's promising and good to hear that and see that in the community. We also, this past month, I mean, a lot of things happened in the months. I'm just trying to pick a few highlights, but district community council, I wanted to mention, I've already reported to the board on that, but I wanted to let you know that I appreciated the presentation of the current policy we have in place regarding HB 374 challenged books. I thought that was done very well and explaining very well how that policy works. And, you know, the legislation review is always fun to go through and interesting to see how that impacts the community. So in addition to
083that, I was able to go attend the Gerald Wright School play recently, and that was really fun to be at. Just the excitement of the kids to be involved, the teachers, the community. They did a really good job. And West Valley Elementary, you can see here today, was super excited about their play as well. I'm going to try to make it to that one. And then I just wanted to mention the student body officers who were here tonight. You could see the enthusiasm in their faces for what they were doing and just their positive energy and really appreciated that from them. So I'll leave it at that. Thanks, Kim. Connie? Same as I went to Eisenhower's play, I am just so thrilled that so many young people can get involved. And how they did the
084choreography was amazing for junior high school kids. I was so impressed. I enjoyed the NSBA conference. I went to one talking about Title IX. I did sleep through some of it, but because they went clear back to where Title IX was started. But it was fascinating to understand what it was originally and how it has just changed over the years. And so it's still in progression, in changing. I went to another one that talked about it takes a village and how one school district had... used so many outside businesses and I know we have done that and how grateful I am that in Granite School District we do have outside help that are willing to help our schools. So I just have enjoyed it. The boundary meetings that you're holding now are... amazing and people
085are interested. So it's really interesting to me to see the community come together and find out what's happening in their neighborhoods. Thanks Connie. Chris? Okay. Some of these have already been mentioned, so I won't reiterate those. But one of the things I want to talk about is the new principal changes in our schools. A lot of times that feels so disruptive to our students and our parents. But I think we can look at that with excitement. And as new people are brought in, how that changes a lot of the culture of your school sometimes or just the, you know. the feel of your school. And I just would encourage staff and our parents in those schools that had changes to embrace the changes. I know they're well vetted. I know they're, it's not, principals are
086not placed lightly. It's a very diligent process that I appreciate that our district does. And I'm excited for it to get to know those new principals in my schools. And the assistant principals also. And I just want to thank those who have attended the open houses so far. We have one more left for the pack. It's next Monday at Hunter High. I'd encourage parents who have not attended any. meetings yet to come to that one. It's great information about changes that could happen in our schools and boundaries and all kinds of things. And it's very informative. And so I would just hope that if you haven't been to one in your area, is one of the schools impacted, if you got the postcard to please come. Um, USBA was great to, to get to know
087board members better. And also some of the classes to learn, um, a lot of things that are affecting our district are affecting other districts. Also, we have kind of a lot of the same concerns around the country, and it's really nice to be in classes that you're hearing that some of our challenges are also happening in other places. And some of the ways that are, um, brought to attention and how they're being dealt with, um, Granite is really heads above a lot of the game to say the least we are really a progressive good district with sound procedures and policies in place and I'm really grateful it made me very grateful to be part of Granite School District when I was at that national convention and then my last thing is just I see PTA
088parents are representatives here and I was just thinking how much parents role in education is huge. And we've seen it just lately, especially with some emergency situations that what you're teaching them at home is so valuable when it comes to their classroom and their learning behaviors. And I just appreciate all of our hard parents. Our parents, they might not be able to come to everything, but they are showing up for their kids in huge ways. So that's all I have. Thanks, Chris. I'm going to be brief. I had the opportunity to go to Hunter Elementary and see Annie Kids, and so it was fun to see kind of the same song, of course done a little bit different ways and different interpretations, but still just as cute. And I always appreciate Hunter Elementary for extending
089a personal invite to me, reminding me of when those playtimes are. Speaking of the new principals, I knew I was getting two new principals. I have three junior highs in my precinct, and I knew two of the three were going to be getting new principals, which is always a little nerve-wracking because junior high, let's face it, it's junior high, and it's a hard place to be, and it's a hard place to be a principal. So I welcome our two new ones at Kennedy and Valley with open arms. I've already emailed them, welcomed them, and then I do have one elementary that... It has a retiring principal. So just welcome to those new principals. I'm excited to get to meet them and get to know them better. Just one quick thing. It has been good to
090go out to PAC. Last night at the current high, it became very apparent that we need to do a little better on our translation services. And so in speaking with Ben, we're going to get some headphones. And so these meetings can be translated into Spanish as the presentation is going because there was a cluster of parents there. who were there to learn, to grow, but they didn't understand the first 45 minutes worth of presentations. And so, yes, they were able to ask questions for those that stayed afterwards, but it was almost like not in real time, if that makes sense. And so, you know, as we go out to these community meetings, we're learning, we're growing, we're adapting, and we're still welcoming feedback on how we can improve. And that's just a, that was a
091case in point for that. So that is all I have. Thank you. I echo the sentiments that have been expressed about the National School Board Conference. I personally appreciate the opportunity to seek some professional development in my role and for the chance to hopefully grow my capacity. And I especially was appreciative of the principle that we all learned that if you've gone on too long, all we have to do is say cue the music. So I'm glad we haven't had to cue the music yet tonight. Do you want me to pull the music up? Finally, in my role with the Budget Committee, I have an opportunity to look at where our tax increments lie and explore some of the issues that we're facing going forward on a budgetary basis. One of the things that I
092want to make sure I express to our board is what I hear from many teachers and have heard for some time now that there is a significant need for paraprofessionals in our classrooms. And I hope that we as a board make significant consideration of that point as we go forward in this budget season and budget ratification process that's upon us here shortly. And that's all I have for my report tonight. All right, just to wrap it up, just real quick, want to give a shout out, Benyon Jr., they did Matilda. It was fun to go see them and their enthusiasm. I echo what you guys have all said. It's fun to see how many kids get involved in that and what a great opportunity it is for those kids. Just to give you a little
093bit of an update, we did not do a law and policy meeting this month just because it turned out to be really hard to stick it in between everybody leaving and spring break and everything. We will continue that. So if you are worried that you did not get an update, you didn't get an update because there wasn't one. So I will just echo also, NSBA conference was very, it was really good. It was, we missed Kim. She was out sunning herself on a cruise ship with her family. With a lot of sunscreen, right? Kim, just say cue the music. But we did miss you, but I think we all took different things away from there. One of the sessions that I'd love to explore and maybe even share with you guys a little bit more
094later, but was on how low-performing districts, board meetings and how they run and how high-performing district and how the focus of what we have should be student-driven. I really appreciated the things that I learned there and getting to know you all better and just having some fun, even though we didn't get to go out in the warmth as much as maybe we wanted. But it was still fun, and it was a lot of really good training that we got. All right. With that, I just want to note that it's before 9 o'clock. Thank you. And I will entertain a motion. I make a motion that we adjourn. I'll second. All right. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All right. You can sleep here.