001All right, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to our board meeting tonight. It is September 2nd, 2025. This is our 7 PM board meeting, and we're going to begin by indicating who is here. Clark, >> Clark Nelson, >> Chris W, Burgess, >> Kim Chandler, Julie Jackson, >> Todd Hover, Ben Worsley, >> Nicole McDermott. We're going to excuse Karen Winder. She is out of the country and hopefully having a delightful time. Um, we'd like to introduce some people who are here tonight. Do we have any PTA representatives? Thank you for >> being the council president. >> Thank you so much. Thanks for being here. GA >> Michelle Jones, president. >> Um, granite office professionals. Oh, there you are. >> Over here. I know. Um, Gana Reese, president. >> Thanks for being here. Uh, middle managers.
002Do we have anyone for middle managers? Gaspa. Um, Grant Education Foundation. I didn't see anybody, but I kind um elected. We have Representative Lubé, please stand. Um, any other elected officials? I didn't see anybody. Thanks for being here. And then anybody who's um administrator in in our buildings, would you guys please stand and be recognized as well? >> You're it. Oh, okay. Thank you. Um, we're gonna go ahead and turn the time over to Jared, right, who is the principal at Good evening. Um, just want to introduce the amazing student body officers from Granger High School. Um, after spending about 15 seconds with these students, um, as I know anybody is their experience, you get excitement and, um, a great deal of hope for the future because of who they are and who they're becoming.
003So, with that, I'd like to turn the time over to President Jose Landa, the student body president of Granger High School. [Music] If you're going to present, we'll come down. >> Yeah, we want to go. >> We want to see your In Congress on July 4th, 1776, the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in which parties. >> We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. At Granger High School, Lancers are grateful for our lives and the liberties that are granted to us, our state and nation. We are also grateful that we can pursue our own happiness in many diverse ways. Elorus una out of many what has
004been our country's deacto model from its founding at Ranger High School. This model is manifested today. >> Lancers are what make Ranger High School possible for today. Every day we seek to succeed with such a diverse group. We know that 60% are Hispanic, 22% white, >> 4% Asian, 7%, 2% American >> and 5% are African. >> Our true purposes are individual. We don't know who or what is going on in the life of however the mission of being thoughtful and trying to connect with each lens empowers us. As different as we are, we are all language from here to high school. We are studying and learning at the same place at the same time while staying together. I have seen how many school I teach and administrator. So the reality is that are actually being
005created inventions for life as well. But most importantly, So that's why I say being a lancer is amazing but a lancer is way more than a title and ranger is not more than this is much more because when we are together we all become strong united and every time we think of one another that is why as we see the [Music] differences make us stronger our similarities make us one we are Lancer is more than a title. We stand up, stand together. We are [Applause] [Music] Tyler. Tyler. He's so [Music] principal. Do you want to? >> Sorry. We're We're going to invite uh principal Wright back and he's going to come back and do the pledge of allegiance for us. >> Jose lander. >> Jose's going to come do it. Everybody can please stand. >>
006Everyone please stand. >> I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Thanks, Granger High School SPOS. You guys are amazing. That was incredible to hear. All right, we're going to go ahead and move on to our good news minute. And we'll go ahead and start with Clark. I was invited to uh participate in the red carpet uh welcome uh at Bonavville Junior High School and it was a treat uh and a pleasure to um greet students as they came back to school for their first day uh of junior high or back to junior high. Um that coupled with a bunch of um high school
007athletics um and sports and activities um and student government activities that have kicked off. Um it's been a very exciting uh first part of the school year and it's been a pleasure to be a part of it. Thanks. >> Um I have just a couple things. Um the SBO summit Nicole and I were asked to attend was so much fun to see all our high school SBOs's in one room. Um they did a fun >> I guess it was kind of fun. We ran through the building. Um little treasure hunt type thing. It was fun. >> Who won? >> I mean some teams won and it was so good. But every school actually that participated we had such a fun night and these students are amazing. I mean, we just watched Granger High right here.
008These SPOS's, they're our students are phenomenal and we have such great leaders and so that SBO summit was really fun and thanks to those who put that on. Um, I also have been in a few of my schools of Cypress more than others right now. Um, we opened on the first day of school. Um it was it's a bumpy road when you open a new school and um we're we're working on a lot of things to make sure that that we continue to run smoothly at Cypress High. Um but if you talk to the students, they're excited to be there. They love that school already. Like you can see the pride in that school. And so we did a ribbon cutting for the field and we'll be doing an open house coming up shortly. T
009TVA and um I'm just so proud of everyone who worked so hard to get that building ready. When you walk in, it's such um a neat place to be and it's it's a lot of work to open a building that you don't know all the people behind the scenes. So, um just be patient because it's it's a it it gets better, right, Julie? Julie told me, she reminded me, when you open buildings, it's hard. Um, and it's a lot of work. And so now I know it and I've lived it. But I am so appreciative to our custodians and our teachers and our um admin at Cypress High for all the hard work they've done. That's it. >> All right. Uh, I was able to go to the red carpet on the first day of
010school also at Eisenhower. and what fun it was to see these um young teenagers come into school and not know where the classes were and kind of direct them around and it was just wonderful to be there. Also, thank you to those involved in the sports, the coaches as well as the parents who participate in the snack bar and everything to keep everyone there having a lot of fun. Um, I've enjoyed I love football, so I enjoyed going to the game and um being part of it. It's a good experience. Thanks. >> Thanks, Kim. just to reiterate a little bit about um Cyprus. Um I was able to walk through the building the day before school started and just hearing about how all the different individuals were jumping in to help with things that were
011not their job description, but just everybody doing everything they could to try to get everything ready. And I think that was um amazing show of teamwork. Yes, not everything is 100% but they did a great job to get it to where it is. and we'll walk work through the little finishing touches and get that all done in not too long. Um, also just you know was able to go to some orientations. Some schools have experienced new grade configurations starting this this year and definitely not all smooth. Definitely challenges happened but I was very impressed with the way that challenges have been worked through. um and in person experience administrators and council has all been very responsive and just helped to to get things ironed out. So great job to everybody there. Finally, Constitution Month again.
012Um looking forward to hearing stories and um information about lessons and events and activities that are going on in our district. Thank you. >> Thanks, Julie. I'm excited that um on Thursday is uh Church Hill is celebrating its 60th birthday and they are going to have a big celebration and Church Hill throws a good party. So I you should show up for sure. But I'm really proud of that heritage that we have in Granite that our schools have this long-standing heritage. Um and um I also just wanted to speak to um Cypress. One of the things when I tooured through Cypress that was really good news to me is that it's it's a really big building. It has so many students in it. And as I walked around, none of them were in the halls.
013They were all in class. I was so impressed. Um because that is a very hard feat, especially on the high school level and when you have so much square footage. And so I I really wanted to make a point of congratulating Cypress's staff for um helping our kids really attend class. Um, the last thing I want to say is I had another good meeting this month with the building committee at Skyline and um, it's really exciting to see us putting the finishing touches on all of that and then to go to Cyprus and see um, you know, get a bit better picture of what our theater is looking like as it's built and will be able to be used next year. So, um, last thing I wanted to say was I just want to congratulate
014I feel like there is so much going on in this district right now. I mean, between all the things going on in Magna reconfiguration, buildings being built, um, you know, the population analysis, boost schools, we are not slowing down. And I I really appreciate all the hard work and I I recognize that. I I see you and um and I I think that we should be seeing some really great things come of all this effort. >> Thanks, Julie. Um, for mine, I just wanted to highlight I I was invited to the back to school night at Calvin Smith and um, so I half my schools have new principles and so it's a little a little crazy, but um, it's fun to see how this new fresh blood comes into these schools and and kind of
015uh, has a different perspective and really has um has kind of just the excitement that of that and and it was fun to be at Kelvin Smith and see that. Uh we also attended we were able to attend Taylorville United which was before the football game and it was not we're we're still not there to where Cottonwood High School is but uh we're getting there. But it was fun to see um you know the community come out and the the all of the schools had something there and they were amazing and and so friendly and so welcoming to the to the community as a whole. And then I just wanted to give a shout out. I think um we have two new positions in the district and it's Taylor Ker and Jen Bodell who have
016been doing a phenomenal job and I don't know if they both knew what they were signing up for but I just want to tell both of them how much I appreciate I've seen um Taylor at work and and really what he's doing and Jen as well. Um I think they're doing some amazing things for our district and uh I'm so excited that they we have them in that position and and what they're doing for us. So um that is my good news minute and um that will conclude it. We're gonna move on to recognitions and for that we're going to invite uh who are you inviting >> Bell and Representative Lub where is right there. >> Good evening President McDermott, board and superintendent Horsley. I'm excited to announce and recognize a student today from Cypress
017High School. His name is Jordan Melendez. Jordan, will you come up? [Music] Let me tell you a little bit about Jordan. Jordan's from Cypress High School and he was selected to receive a full scholarship, $3,000 to participate in the Ronald Reagan Great American Leadership Program. Jordan served us as Cypress as a Cypress ambassador and elected um um excuse me excelled in speech and debate. He was nominated by his teacher Gio Hunter. Jordan is known for his maturity, patriotism, and strong leadership qualities. The Great American Leadership Program is a 4-day summer leadership institute hosted at Pepperdine University and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. It's designed to be a transformative experience that helps students build their confidence, hone their critical thinking skills, and prepare them to make a positive impact in their communities and beyond. So, some
018key features and goals. Um, there's hands-on interactive learning, leadership action plans, exploring American values, exclusive access to the Ronald Reagan Library, and connecting to peers and mentors. And this program's curriculum and goals are centered around the leadership qualities of Ronald Reagan, which are often cited as being very communicative, optimi optimistic, and having um informed decision-m. So, we'd like to congratulate congratulate Jordan. Let's give him a hand of I mean a round of applause, and then we'll turn the time over to Representative [Music] [Applause] [Music] Thank you. Um, as mentioned, I'm Representative Anthony Lubet, and I just want to thank the Granite School Board for allowing me this opportunity to also share this with you in honoring uh this wonderful student, Jordan. Um, I have an official citation honoring Jordan Melendez, that I will be presenting
019uh to him that he'll be able to to keep. Um, and you know, maybe one day it'll be worth some money with the little signature down there, you know, like five bucks. Um, uh, and so I I I do want to just highlight the when we have this program, this is the first time a student from our district was able to go and serve on the leadership academy. And we got this position pretty close to the deadline. So there wasn't an opportunity to do like a formal nomination process. So, I reached out to Joe Hunter and several of the other teachers, and the name that kept coming up was Jordan Melendez. And so, uh, Jordan, we want to congratulate you. We appreciate your maturity, your patriotism, and leadership. And, uh, we're grateful to be able
020to give you this honor. [Applause] [Music] We invite Mr. Hunter to join us up on the stand. Come on up and shake your hands first. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay, you guys have to stand close enough that you can't see me. Fill in. Fill in. >> All right, everybody. Smile up right here. [Music] Jordan. Jordan, are your parents here? >> Hey, Jordan, are your parents here? >> Will you Will you guys stand and be recognized? Jordan's parents. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Thanks for raising such an amazing kid. >> All right, we're going to move on. Next on our agenda is granted elected officials participation. If uh Representative Lube wants to address us further or not, it's up to you. Okay. All right. We have patron participation next. We do have four people signed up, but
021we're going to have one of them wait because it is about an agenda item. So, we'll have Oh, never mind. Okay. We're gonna invite um Taylor Kater up first. And then um on deck we'll have Michelle Jones after that. >> Thank you for having me up tonight. I promise this is nothing radical. So all right. Uh the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. In 1937, as the world stumbled towards an increasingly uncertain era of polarization and contention, Franklin Roosevelt used these words in his second of four inaugural addresses to focus the strong work ethic and ingenuity of the American people towards a future in which everyone was engaged in the very
022American dream of lifting each other up in the pursuit of a better life, greater liberty, and widespread happiness. While there are many communities today across our state that embody FDR sentiments, I stand before you as a product of Granite School District and Mil Creek Holiday Community, both of which perpetually embrace and promulgate, lifting up all with whom they are associated. I was an outsider to both of these communities when I first started at Churchill Junior High as a special permit student. As a new seventh grader, I suffered from food insecurity and required dependency on a food pantry. I could not afford to buy new clothes or even afford to participate in activities with friends after school. However, it did not take long before I quickly made extraordinary lifelong friends, met my best friend and future
023wife in President McDermott's 8th grade class, and for the next six years experienced a level of community support, and charity from Granite teachers, and Mil Creek Holiday families that gave me guidance, counsel, and social support, which propelled me to scholarships, leadership opportunities, including uh student body president at Skyline and University of Utah, a governing trustee of the University of Utah, and most importantly, stability for me and my family. In return, we are now in a position in which we have the opportunity to give back via thousands in financial support to Granite Education Foundation, support local causes, and for my part, serve the community as an educator over the past decade. As an adopted son of both Granite and Mil Creek Holiday, I come to you tonight to advocate for the solveny of both the district
024and the Holiday Mil Creek community that invests in and supports people like me. know that I understand the nuances and difficulties in making heavy decisions and ask only that you consider what needs to be done for the health of both Granite District and Holiday Mil Creek communities with thoughtful strategy and a heavy dose of conservation. My wish is that we not only consider capacity and growth rates within the boundary of the schools currently under discussion, but the outsized effect and opportunity they represent to people across our valley. people like me. I hope that whatever the proposal suggests tonight, it will not restrict future opportunities for students who have too little and instead maintain a strong, vibrant, and intact district as well as a Mil Creek Holiday community that can continue to raise up all who
025find their way into their fold. Thank you. >> Thank you, Taylor. Uh Michelle Jones is up and and I forgot to say I I apologize. Please make sure you state your name for the record as well as you have about three minutes for your comments and Ashley Brewer will be on deck. >> Good evening, President McDermott, members of the board, Superintendent Horesley, and district leadership. My name is Michelle Jones. I'm a math teacher at Cypress High and proudly serving as the GA president. Tonight I have two topics to address with you. First, gratitude for the creation and progress of the 8-hour planning task force. And second, growing concerns from our members regarding district communication. First, I truly want to offer sincere thanks to the board and district leadership for supporting the formation of the 8-hour
026planning task force. This committee has already demonstrated a strong commitment to thoughtful and collaborative work. meeting weekly. We've spent time re reviewing practices from other districts, discussing concerns and opportunities, and we're now approaching the critical next step, gathering direct input from employees about their current experiences and hopes for future changes. By taking the time to deliberate, plan, strategize, we are laying the groundwork for meaningful policy that is informed, transparent, and clearly communicated. Thank you for seeing the value in this process. The second topic I want to address is more concerning and it comes directly from the voices of our membership. We recognize and appreciate the district's efforts to be more responsive and transparent. This was evident in the 5:00 meeting when you were discussing salt and the boost schools and the plans to be both
027responsive, strategic, and thoughtful in your planning. However, though we know intention matters, the outcome of these efforts are not always meeting your intention. What we're hearing from across the district is that communication is lacking consistency. Repeated changes in messaging, procedures, and timelines are creating confusion, anxiety, and sometimes a gradual erosion of trust. In trying to respond quickly to the needs of students and staff, the district is sometimes communicating bestase scenarios that cannot be sustained. When follow-through becomes impossible, often due to forces beyond your control or outside legislative decisions or just the nature of this very large district, it leads to disappointment, frustration at the school level. We urge the district to be take a more realistic measured approach in its messaging. This is a large and complex district. Correcting or revising communication once sent takes
028time, coordination, and energy. All of which are already in short supply among educ educators and administrators and even you. Our teachers, school leaders, and support staff are managing enormous responsibilities. When expectations shift, whether around policies, procedures, or timelines, it adds to burnout and destabilizes classrooms. Just as our students need consistency and clarity, so do our educators. Even when an explanations for changes are offered, and they are appreciated, the fact remains unpredictable messaging makes it harder for teachers and administrators to stay focused on what matters most, our students. In closing, I ask the board and the superintendency to continue fostering the spirit of collaboration we've seen in efforts like the 8-hour task force and apply the same spirit to refining how we communicate districtwide. Our educators are committed, capable, and adaptable. But they also need stability,
029clarity, and trust in the systems that support them. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your leadership. And thank you for your willingness to listen. have Ashley and then on deck we've got Amy um for clerk. Sorry if I said that wrong. Uh good evening. My name is Ashley Brewer. Um and I'd like to briefly share three concerns I hope the board will consider. Um I'd like to raise a concern regarding the delay in communication about student bus pass variances. Um, many families are still waiting to hear back and the uncertainty is causing stress uh stress. Sorry. Additionally, I believe it's worth reconsidering the current policy that requires students to find other ways to school even when a bus stop is just a block or two away. Um, for safety and accessibility reasons, I'd
030like to ask the board to re-evaluate the current transportation guidelines and explore more flexible options or solutions. Um, additionally, I'd like to bring attention to the traffic flow issues at Kennedy Junior High. Uh, the school's parking lot has only one entrance and exit, which creates significant congestion, especially in the left turn lane. Um, as the start of the school day approaches, and after school, cars are lined up and down 4,800 West, several blocks, waiting to pick up kids. Um, additionally, the drop off zone often gets backed up because some drivers stop midway and remain there for several minutes, making it difficult for others to merge and navigate safely. Um, could the board consider evaluating alternative flat traffic flow solutions like expanding the entrance or creating a loop around the parking lot that might help improve
031efficiency and safety during peak times. Um, lastly, I recently had an opportunity to visit the special ed classrooms at Cypress High and was surprised to learn that 16 students are expected to be in those classrooms. Um, and this experience left me genuinely concerned that this may be a common situation across the entire district. Um, special education students deserve the district's best not to be placed in cramped classrooms with overwhelmed teachers. Um, this raises important questions like what are the typical class sizes and physical spaces like for special education students districtwide? Are they receiving equitable treatment compared to their general education peers? And are their IEPs being fully supported in these environments? I respectfully ask whether the board has reviewed these conditions recently and if there are plans to ensure these students have safe spaces, staffing,
032and resources they need to succeed. Um, I also had been contacted earlier um, regarding my concerns and it was helpful and the person I spoke with was able to answer some of my questions, but I almost felt dissuaded from coming tonight. So, like nobody said anything like that, but it just kind of felt like, oh, well, I solved your issue, so here you go. Um, is how I felt. Um, so I just wanted to say like maybe approach parents differently, but um, anyway, thank you for your time and considering these important issues. Amy, >> Hi, I'm Amy Berkeler. Uh, this is Winona, my second. Um, I'm here about the grass that just went in at the Skyline High School. I was very concerned. Uh, we have a water crisis in the state and to see
033grass going in, then look at the plans to see that there's plans for even more grass really concerned me. I think this is a great chance with the rebuilding of the school to zerocape, put in native plants, we can save money and watering in the long run, and we can protect the environment and also teach the students to be good stewards of the environment. I don't really know if the district has a plan about reducing water usage, but I hope they do and I would love to hear more about that. Um, maybe you put in drought friendly glass, drought friendly grass. I don't know, but I walk by at 11:00 a.m. on the weekend and it's watering and it's watering the street. The sprinklers are not very well aimed right now. And I don't they
034seem pretty misty. So, I don't know if these are low use. You can get bigger sprinkler drops that are like more efficient so you don't like lose evaporation. Um, so I don't know if those things have been done, but it appears based on the way the sprinklers are spraying in the street and spraying at 11:00 a.m. that not a lot of thought has been put into the watering of this grass. And so I have just come tonight to ask um that we revise plans for Skyline before more grass goes in while we have the chance to actually make a change and not do grass. Thanks. [Applause] Um, thank you so much for our public comment. I wanted to go ahead and respond to a couple of those questions. I I we do actually have somebody
035reach out to uh those who make public requests to see if we can assist with a potential problem and address that. So, we appreciate the feedback on that. Uh we're not trying to dissuade you. We're trying to actually be helpful and responsive to the the questions or concerns because invariably when these come here I'm going to look at a member of our team over here and say we need to fix that or address that. So we are trying to to be responsive to those things. Appreciate Michelle Jones and the concerns with district communications and her and I have had some conversations about that and I appreciate the feedback. Um and we're going to be looking at some other opportunities to enhance uh those communications. Thank you Ashley Brewer. Um, you brought up three items here.
036So, we do have a lot of requests for bus passes. Those uh what those are actually decided at the school level. So, if there's a way to enhance that communication, those should have been dictated by now. And if you've not received a response, we'd encourage you to reach out to your local school. And uh if there's a communication gap there, then we're happy to follow up with our schools to make sure they've notified everybody as appropriate at this point in time. Yes, Kennedy Junior High dropoff zone is like most of our schools, a hot mess. our drop off zones continue to be one of the biggest challenges uh we've seen and as we looked at great configuration in that community a few years ago that was a question that was brought up and uh right
037now the only challenge that we have in terms of enhancing that uh drop off zone because I know we've looked at some plans is the funding of that of those plans. So we do have some um ideas on how to expand and increase and enhance that drop off zone. Please know that's something we're working on and we'll fund it as soon as we're able. Uh with respect to the Cypress High special education classrooms, I've personally been out there and spoken to the teachers. Um and I know Tyler How has been out there as well, and we've already met with uh Lesie Bell and our special education director and the associate director uh to not only find short-term solutions, but we're looking into some long-term solutions. We have another meeting to follow up on our previous
038meeting. So that is a concern that we share with you in terms of of how that works and functions and we'll be sure to update the board as soon as we have some some plausible solutions on that. With respect to uh our final comments, um I did reach out um Justin reached out to our architect with respect to the design phase on Skyline and the amount of sod that is going in into that particular location. And this this poses a challenge for um an entity like a school district with uh such a finite amount of funding and resources because I think for a local homeowner uh flipping your strip or um taking care of taking out some sod to put in some zeroscaping is actually um a cheaper alternative because the maintenance is so few.
039But if you look at some of our sites that we've actually converted to zeroscaping, we struggle. The cost uh for maintenance is actually much greater than it is for for grass and for sod. And so the other piece of that uh we're trying to balance is the notion that uh we are creating tremendous heat zones um with our high schools in particular. Large parking lots, large amounts of cement and square footage. And so, uh, we're actually trying to balance those heat zones, um, it's healthy for kids, right? Um, to not be surrounded by concrete and rocks and and other items. And so, our our design teams work to kind of balance those interests um, to make sure that we're using water-wise tools and resources. If you do see a sprinkler on, it does happen. And
040so we're I'm appreciative that you've let us know and we'll be sure to follow up with our maintenance folks to go check on that system and make sure the custodians utilizing it properly. But I but one thing we have done with the the implementation of those new green spaces that that do have saw is make sure that we're using water-wise um uh sprinkling systems and timers. Um and we're slowly converting the rest of our district over to those types of tools as well. One one challenge that we face as a school district is um we're required under state law to make our facilities available for use for the public when they're not being utilized um as school spaces. And so trying to balance between uh eco-friendly tools and resources and making a welcoming environment that's
041not overly heat burdened. Um you can see some of those challenges and I'd be happy to follow up with you a little bit further. Um, I've got about a two-page email from the architect, um, with some very specific things that we did at Skyline to address that. And I'd be happy to follow up with you, Amy, or anybody else who has specific questions or concerns. And that's all I have unless there's other questions. >> Thank you. All right, we're going to go ahead and move on. Um, we have next on our agenda is our consent items. These are items that we've had for the last few days been able to ask any questions. So, if there are no further questions, I will entertain a motion. I move we accept the consent agenda. >> I'll second
042it. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. Is there any further discussion? Just quick comment. This repeated software contracts that I have voted against in the past will be doing so again tonight. Any other comments? Right. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Nay. Right. Motion carries. Right. We're going to go ahead onto our information item, which is our teacher merit award. Dr. Flanigan. We appreciate as he's coming up. We appreciate Dr. Flanigan being flexible. He was on the schedule for last month and because we had kind of a heavy agenda, we moved him to this month. So, we appreciate you coming back. Good evening. It's a pleasure to be with you, President McDermott, members of the board, uh, President or excuse me,
043Superintendent Morley and his uh, uh, superintendency. Uh I've been asked to come here and just share briefly a bird's eye view uh a similar presentation that was made in in May uh just to go over what's known as excellence in education leadership supplement program also known as Senate Bill 173 or teacher merit award. This is uh administered by center for school uh for school of future at USU and uh just quickly the purpose of the program really is to uh retain effective educators and doing that through uh recognition and so through this pilot program uh we'll be able to recognize the top 25% of teachers in in in Granite School District and And ultimately uh our state will be doing that. So all of the participating LEAs will also be sending their top 25% uh
044to be able to recognize these teachers and the wonderful work they're doing with our students in the schools. Just a quick little timeline here. Uh we've already completed the first two uh bullet points and we're now in that July 25 to May 26 full implementation. Uh and so this school year we'll be looking at uh teachers that uh qualify that are working with students and that data uh which we'll go over in just a second will be sent along uh to the uh to the good folks up at the at USU uh to look at and then uh compare with the other uh teachers are submitted from the other LEAs. We won't see the first awards issued until October of 2026. So we still got a little bit of time for that. Again, this is
045uh the evaluation criteria that was uh looked at and uh ultimately a committee that was made up of uh Grand School District teachers and administrators uh looked at this and so we'll look at student growth or achievement and we've we've selected to go with 75% of what we look at is going to come from that. uh and then professional evaluations uh that'll take up 20% of it and then student surveys at 5%. There are some leas that elected to have a fourth uh measure which a lot of them are collaboration but we already look at that through our PG or evaluations of teachers and we felt like it was a little redundant and uh we felt like by having just those three uh bullet points that we look at we'd actually give our teachers a
046greater chance of succeeding in this. What are the eligibility criteria? Well, it needs to be a licensed teacher who has an active classroom assignment. Uh these are teachers from tested subject areas. Uh so that' be a cadence math, cadence reading, rise or Utah Aspire Plus. Uh so those that are in the top 25% will be sent along and based on the teacher rankings on the performance uh that'd be from the student performance on those assessments uh their principal evaluations and then the uh the student surveys. Those three scores will be put together and the top 5% in the state uh will be given a $10,000 award. If they happen to be in a high poverty school, uh then it'll be double that at $20,000. And then uh you can see top six to 10 and
047then top 11 to 25%. There are some wonderful opportunities here. Uh we again we hope to be able to retain some of our wonderful teachers. Uh we also hope to be able to recruit and and have others that maybe are in LEAs that aren't participating being willing to look at at Granite School District. Uh we think that uh this will help as well focus our uh data informed evaluation practices. And again, we're always talking about wanting to be able to elevate teacher pay and professionalism. Just a reminder, uh this is an opportunity that our superintendent uh felt strongly as well as his leadership team that we engage in the pilot. Uh we feel strongly that by uh jumping in and participating that we can help uh shape the implementation of it. Uh I uh finally
048just wanted to before we get to the questions talked with uh Dr. Joan Bramble who's director of organizational effectiveness and we had her pull the data from the 23 24 school year and run a model as though we were uh taking that data from this current year. Uh and she ran that model. Of course, we didn't have the student surveys, but we did have the evaluation scores as well as the student scores on those state uh tests. Uh and we were actually pretty excited by the results of this model. Uh using the model, the top 25% of teachers in Grand School District come from virtually every school across the district, east to west, north to south. It's pretty impressive when you look at that plotted out. I know there's real concern about well is it
049only going to be certain schools that will see that top top 25% granite and uh and it was really neat to see at least uh based off 23 24 scores that virtually every school will have representation. >> Could you go back really quick before we move on to questions to the compensation slide? One of the main uh impetus for a bill like this is this bill is meant to replace HB212, which was an incentive bill that would try to reward teachers who are doing a bangup job in highly impoverished schools. Um, highly impoverished schools means 70% or more of the students in that building are are qualify for free or reduced lunch. There are not very many of those. Somewhere in the 70 to 80 schools in the whole state of Utah have that. We
050have at least 25% of those in the granite school district. We have an overabundance of highly impoverished schools. And this bill uh really is structured to incentivize highly effective teachers to stay working in highly impoverished schools or to come and work in a highly impoverished school. As you can see there, the awards which could go to anybody at any school are 2,000 5,000 or 10,000 but they double if you're in a highly impoverished school. And like I said, we have so many of those schools and we want to participate in this because our teachers that work in those schools and achieve at these levels deserve massive recognition because they're doing a fantastic job and we want to keep them there. Um, in in our efforts uh throughout the process of HB212 and into this bill,
051we've actually stemmed the the tide of teachers leaving hard schools. They've stayed in those schools and they've really buckled down and helped um stabilize some some really rough um experiences in the past to some of the most high high achieving schools given the poverty in these in that we have in some of our schools. So, it's been a real success in our school district and we're optimistic that it will continue through this bill. >> Any questions? I believe that the last time uh we heard about this that we had made some we had done something to make sure that it was not just testable subjects that were eligible for the merit schol or not scholarship the merit pay um and so that you know our performing arts teachers and you know all of our teachers
052could can you refresh my memory of where we're at on that? I believe that that subject came up. Uh but we have not committed to doing that be largely because Utah State University said if Granite School District or any other LEA that's going to do that were to approach it, we would then need to develop uh a way to test those subjects that they would approve and say, "Yep, uh you've got it right on." and uh and and as we met as a committee, we recognized a we didn't uh have the expertise nor the time to get all that ready before the start of this pilot. >> Uh that is something that's been brought up and and even in the monthly uh Zoom meetings that I attend, we've brought that up and and at least
053voiced the fact that we were desirous to be able to eventually get there. But in this pilot right now uh is just the the test of both subjects. >> So in this current situation, most of our elementary teachers um qualify or you know are in the running for this and then um it's the the secondary where there are teachers who are not. So it still sounds to me like it's the overwhelming majority of our teachers. Would you agree? >> Yes. And and it's far from perfect as a pilot. uh it's us getting in there. >> Um but yeah, that that would be one of the areas that I know that we voiced saying, hey, there's desire to recognize not just those in the testable areas uh but those outside. But again, to be able to
054do that, uh we just at this point don't have the expertise or time to be able to put those uh assessments together that >> so it could be a future possibility. Um and also thank you for gathering that data. I was concerned about the geography of where those teachers were that could be recognized. So that that helps me feel better about it. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So as far as the what do we call it? The big check the the big check program that we do currently this is replacing that. Correct. >> Is that funded through this year? Because this won't happen until next year. When is what is the funding like that looking like for that? >> Superintendent, do you want to answer that? Uh what are we doing with HP212 through this year?
055>> Um so Todd, I'm looking at Todd peripherilally. I believe that we got an allocation to maintain um 212 bonus through the end of this cycle so that we have a bridge carryover till the TMA comes into effect. >> So there's there's two parts to the TMA. First part is shine which replaces the old uh teacher supplement program. So that so we have up to five titles that we can provide that that money went into effect this year. TSSP ended last year. So the goal is we're trying to bridge um that gap because we know that there are a number of teachers that the 212 program we studied and did some research on our own to see how that effective that was at retention and attraction to our high poverty schools and we've seen a
056vast reduction in turnover in some of our highly impoverished schools as a result of that. Um, and we heard from our own employees. One of the reasons we decided to participate in this was because we didn't have a way to fill this gap otherwise without some additional state resources. So, uh, we do have some employees who are amazing and they're doing some incredible things in terms of growth of their students in some of our most impoverished schools and, uh, have not having a bridge to carry over, uh, to a new program was an important factor to us. And so we wanted to make sure our employees were taken care of and they continue to want to serve in some of these more challenging environments. >> Any other questions? >> All right, thanks Dr. Flanigan. All
057right, we are going to move on to um our action item which is our population analysis committee and invite uh our director of planning and boundaries Steve Hogan up. I thought everyone was going to leave after Patrick finished. >> Apparently not. >> There you go. >> Thank you. Thank you. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Uh, these guys were buying had free donuts. If you follow them out, they want this for free >> in Haramman, >> board president, vice president, board, superintendent, superintendency, patrons, all of those joining tonight. And uh and I mean sincerely actually those behind me that are uh joining tonight to be fully engaged in this process. Um it's difficult and it is can be done without everyone's participation and it is as we always know uh a tough process. Again my name is Steve
058Hogan. I'm the director of planning and boundaries here for Granite School District. I'll just say quickly again, thanks to the board. In the last couple of months, as I as I've um worked to talk to other districts around the country and even consult with some of these districts, I can tell you that there's just no perfect way to do this, to have this process. More and more districts across the country, from Florida to Atlanta, Colorado, California, for some of those that I've become close with over the last year. um it's just tough. There is sometimes there there are no easy solutions and it typically is a series of tradeoffs that we have to consider when looking at these. And so I just I just use that as our overarching theme as we go forward tonight
059and remind everyone that tonight is is I represent the pack. This is our recommendation to get to this point and um and then of course this is not a of course a final action or close to it. So, so let's jump in our process. I won't spend time on this. The board's very familiar and most everyone watching is pretty darn familiar with this process. We started this back in February. Um, and like I mentioned, this goes for a few more months after tonight, after this recommendation. Uh we will have two large public meetings that I'll show you again in the end and I'm sure multiple smaller meetings until we get to a first reading or an initial approval by the board perhaps in November and then a um if something does happen or a final
060action in December with implementation for a following fall. So, just a reminder, we are at the um I guess you could call it the home stretch there uh the bottom there in September as uh we get closer to the end of the process. This is our map that we've been working with from the beginning. This is I'll go through all three, but just to highlight because really this is where the focus is, the 10 elementary schools. Um, again, let me remind everyone I I know very very aware and even as I visited with Immigration City Council last week in person. Um, they were good-natured about it, but they understand why we can't always put their area on a map because it makes it so large it's hard to see everything else. And so that's just
061kind of the nature of geography sometimes. But they were fine with it. And if they can be fine with it, I feel like I could be fine with it. But uh, we're very aware that Immigration Canyon is not on this map. but they are very much a part of this study and it's part of that Eastwood boundary. So this is the area this is the same area of course with the junior high boundaries and then our high school boundaries and quite frankly the emphasis here is largely in Olympus and skyline networks. A reminder, you've seen most of this before, but I wanted to make sure to remind everyone uh this is um this is a pretty exhaustive process. And perhaps that's a fraudian slip to use the word exhaustive, but but it's a it's a
062very involved process. We started back again in February. We had many mass emails and texts and postcards and public meetings. We've held staff only meetings, community council, large community council open house, posters and yard signs. two large public meetings with hundreds in attendance at each one back in March. Um I visited with each of the um city or or county councils at least once and several of them twice already. In fact, that's why I was late tonight rushing down from meeting with Mil Creek, one of the Mil Creek councils to give them the latest update. And do not worry, I did not uh tell them anything before I got here. They asked, but I did not. Um um again, five joint school community council subcommittee meetings. That's a new process that we have this year
063and and um admittedly for some it's a little bit controversial but I'll remind everyone that that involved um school two school community council members and a teacher from uh uh appointed by the principal um and and also city council persons. Any city council people from this area were invited to attend. they were important as far as input, but I I keep reemphasizing that there's not an outsized influence in that process. I don't know if I can convince some of that, but I can only try to tell you over and over that uh it was important and it's not easy, but we continue to get input as we will over the next couple of months. Mount Olympus Community Council. We had this town hall with the superintendent. Many, many follow-ups, phone calls, video recordings, and I'll
064say finally over I think it's I think I checked today 1,040 individual pieces of feedback. Um, so which is impressive. We haven't had that much feedback in quite some time. We have categorized that you received some of that board and it it will eventually probably in the next week all be posted on the website and two versions. One is kind of a word for word version and we try to redact names and specifics. Sometimes people put things in there that perhaps their own name and children's names and teachers names and things like that. We do our best to take those out. Then we'll also have just what I call an AI summary version. A lot shorter, but it's we've looked through it. It's pretty dang accurate. And so we'll post both of those so you
065don't have to spend the next two weeks going through all of that feedback. A reminder of some of the main factors that are considered have been for years current and future enrollment, school programs, their impacts, the FCI or facility condition, contiguous boundaries, transportation, efficient use of resources, and so on and so on. Each study is slightly different. Each area just has a different flavor and therefore um each study is just simply that its own unique study. Next, let's jump into some data. This is some data that I've shared recently and I want to I'll keep sharing it over the next couple of months. Um this is just what we call school utilization. We haven't talked about this too much. It's not the end all beall. Uh, like I said, nothing rarely is one piece of
066data everything, but it it's something. In fact, in in my conversations around the country, many districts use this as their their main piece of data. So, in other words, how are buildings utilized? Just simply, how full or not full are those buildings? And it goes back to efficient use of resources and public uh public dollars. Pretty simple. The name of the school, the approximate capacity. Now we start with this one there. There are several columns here but we'll start with the number of students living in the boundary and then uh simply a percentage. So based on that number of students living in the boundary, how does that utilize that building? It's a it's baseline enrollment data. Again, not everything, but it's interesting as you look at next number of students living in the boundary and
067also attending the school and that is almost always in fact pretty much all the time a little smaller number because I don't think I've ever seen a boundary where all students living there attend that school. Sometimes we get close, but in this case, um it's something to consider just to remind everyone that not everyone that lives in a boundary attends that school. That doesn't mean that school's bad. Um there there are many many reasons parents and children choose other places to go to school, but it does start to tell the story. The final piece is then when you look at the total enrollment, current regular education. In this case, I did not count our special classes or sped units, which are a smaller percentage, but um at least you can see how our buildings are
068utilized and the utilization rate um for the the schools in this study. Any questions on that? Okay, I want to jump into the deep end with both feet and just just start with our first recommendation. The pack is currently proposing the closure of Eastwood Elementary. those boundaries, those meaning Eastwood and Oakidge boundaries would be combined. Some of the reasons, some of the main reasons Oakidge is more centrally located in the combined boundary that that can be significant in some boundaries I've seen in the past and this one seems to be a little more significant. um which makes it closer to Churchill which also enhances our uh what we consider vertical articulation or or those opportunities with PC's our learning communities our IB program and others when students um want to take advanced classes they can
069al always do that uh by uh especially we see this in math where some of the upper grade students want to take advanced and they don't have that the elementaryaries and they can go to the junior high among many others. I'm going to come back to this IB piece in just a moment on the next slide in fact. But um the proximity here is not lost on us. Larger building capacity at Oakidge. Um I'm not including reloads or property size here. I'm just sticking strictly at this point to number of classrooms and building capacity. Um I'm not overlooking those things. I'll be glad to talk about those things, but we have to have a baseline and typically that's where we're at. Uh there are about four more available classrooms currently at Oakidge. The pickup and
070drop off um we've we've in talking to many people that live in the area, principles past um and and observations have just we know that the pickup and drop off can be more of a challenge at Eastwood, especially as enrollment is increased. It's it's um I I'll remind everyone again and I think superintendent you mentioned this earlier about some pickup and drop off. There's no pick perfect pickup and drop off area at any school. Um even if it's huge, people just don't think clearly when it comes to pickup and drop off and they do crazy things. But it's it but when it's smaller now in this case it's not even so much about um or as much about just right on the school and it's a small loop like a lot of places are but
071it compounds it here because of the intersection um just below the school and that intersection if and when it does get backed up um can can create a challenge at that location. uh the lack of ADA access, specifically in the cafeteria. Many schools have ADA concerns. Um but most of them don't have a concern where a student goes every day in a in a cafeteria. We have classrooms, we have other areas where ADA access is a concern. And um these are some of the highlights. Again, I will there is almost always a yeah but about any of these and and I'll be glad to continue to discuss those. We are talking about a situation where we have two amazing high-erforming valued schools which make again this this decision and process difficult. Um, I wish and
072it is makes it easier for me and you as the board when we see one glaring obvious issue that just makes it a no-brainer. Um, this this is tough. There's not uh perhaps one there are a combination of things here um but enough to where when we see two schools so close to each other um FCI was discussed that um could be combined. We're very aware of course as many are behind me of the of the um conversation of and and plan for another school in this area. Many people have already renamed that school East Ridge. Um, fantastic. And that that that didn't even start, by the way, in this last few months. Um, I think it's interesting that I'll tell you I've heard that all the way back to 2018, not long after the
073bond was passed and people started to look at the FCI and started to speculate and and these ideas and rumors and and projections have been uh bubbling up since then. quite frankly. And so it's it's not a not a new concept that one of these schools would be considered for closure. I'll jump to a a program. I'll talk a bit about programs in a couple of slides tonight, but I wanted to make sure I did not forget this one especially because this program is already happening, if you will. Many people are aware of IB at Skyline High School, the international balora program. We have already begun teacher administrative training and other things to initiate a IB network if if you will. And by the way, um I did not misspell those uh the name program
074that comes directly off of the website. I don't know why it's a fancy spelling, but it is, but I figured we would just leave it. Um EYP and my wanted to put that up there because there are terms we hear a lot and we sometimes get them confused. I did too at the beginning. EP, early years program, elementary years, primary years, and and you and you hear all of those. And so I I went ahead and put them there. My middle years program. Um this is very much going to be um a foundational philosophy. It's not something you test into or or have a lottery for and it's for all students. It's it's an approach. It's a philosophy. We'll hear more about it at our community meetings. Many people are already familiar with it. We've
075had many people reach out to us already about what does this mean and how it will work. We anticipate it will be a draw to this community and um and it will help solidify schools in that area. Wanted to make sure that we did not uh forget that. Steve, could I clarify? I just kind of knowing while I'm not a participant in pack um I know that the feedback we received in particular from our community is that we needed more programs to attract not to rob Peter to pay Paul but especially on the periphery. This was a program we had actually looked at prior to the study and we're looking at investing in uh in this network. Um, I just wanted to clarify that the feedback that we did get from our community was uh
076to provide additional programming. So, you're going to explain that a little bit more, I assume. >> Thank you. >> We are we have several slides about programs. >> I just want to clarify. Um, so community members who are interested in learning more about this program, they should come to the community meetings on September 23rd and 25th. Is that when you'll discuss this? I'll have more information there. I will work with Dr. Noel Converse, our director of curriculum to try to get out and and and uh find ways to communicate that information. Whether we spend a lot of time on that at the public meetings, uh we can discuss how much um I'm guessing there will be specific meetings at those schools to really discuss it and I think is probably the most appropriate way so
077that we can spend that time efficiently. I I think that's an appropriate response and I just remind the board that uh these meetings that are coming up are scheduled to address uh and provide uh opportunities for public feedback on these recommendations. Specifically, we anticipate that the board would need to approve these recommendations, make these decisions about uh boundary adjustments andor closures before we are able to fully implement um some of these proposals, if that makes sense. So he's going to go into some additional slides and uh my expectation is that we would start communicating those once some decisions are finalized. >> So parents should certainly watch emails from their principal. Is that where they will get that information? >> All the above. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Principal district. Yes. >> Just to clarify that
078is being considered for Oakidge. >> This is the skyline network. So somewhere in the network >> which in this case if this recommendation happens specifically at Oakidge then Churchill in fact I think Churchill technically is beginning already ramping up for that. >> We we started this before the pack process to try and attract folks from out of boundary to Church Hill and uh it it seemed appropriate to start trying to seed this into our feeder schools as well. And as we studied this further, that's what our community told us they would like. And so it makes sense to to plant that out throughout the feeder system. >> Could I just say uh couple of things about IB International Balariat? This is a worldwide program. It is uh celebrated as a a really robust and uh
079meaningful way to learn. Um there are three there are actually four excuse me very distinct IB programs. Two of them happen at high school and one happens at elementary and one happens at junior high. One does not match the other. These programs in elementary and middle school are for all students. It is accessible by all high achieving to students with IEPs to everybody. It is a program for all. The diploma program at Skyline High School, while we're trying to make efforts to provide more opportunities so more kids can access it, it is very very different. That is not for all. you you must select it and it is especially the way it's been implemented pretty rigorous and hard and and and and some somewhat inaccessible for all. We're trying to bridge that gap. Um the
080the fourth program is is around CTE programming and we're not recommending that right at this moment. Thank you. We're going to leave that and go to the next slide um for some boundary changes. Boundary changes to Rose Elementary you can see at the top of the map. Um to us it makes sense for this non-ontiguous portion of Morningside to become boundary to Rose Elementary. Approximately 40 students um that that live in that area. Um we again I'll repeat many times as I have before um how many live in an area and how many come on the first day and how many come two to three years later we know is is different. It can be more it can be less. There are many factors there at play. We're aware of that. Um this area would
081continue. It will not change their feeder pattern beyond that. It will continue to feed into u to Wasach and Skyline from there. Also on the left side, it's kind of small, but I'll show you another map in a moment. Part of the Wilson boundary, um, approximately 15 to 20 students that we want to serve two purposes. To help bolster Rose a little bit, but also to clean up a feeder. These students, these 15 or 20, um, are part of a split feeder where they would be at Wilson and then go to Evergreen in Memphis. We want to have them come to Rosest and continue with their large group and not be a few that are part of a split feeder to go to Evergreen and Olympus from there. In addition questions, >> should I be
082holding my questions for the end? >> Okay, >> I can go back to slides as needed. U this map again is the same. It's just a blown up a zoomed in view of that Wilson area. Some people can't quite place where that is but it's this is and and again all this would be on the website u and we can discuss it and we'll discuss it in more detail as we go next still staying with Rosest there's been discussion we've already had a couple of um at least one perhaps a couple of meetings at the school I have not but I believe Dr. Converse our director of curriculum and others have and that is a a proposal to um do something special and unique at Roserrest. It would remain like it says there um retain
083its fundamentals of a traditional school but integrate drama, music, visual and performing arts across the curriculum. What that name is I don't know for sure but an integrated arts arts academy slash these are my words not an official term but emphasis at Roserestress. So uh this kind of came back to I'm I'm throwing you a question here because I just like some clarification for the board because we heard a lot of feedback from um our respective community members that again we weren't offering enough additional programming. I would like to highlight here that Canyon Rim Academy has done an excellent job of propping up a reading program that is not as good as some of our schools and yet uh they're we need to be bringing some of those students back. So, the goal here is
084to do a better job of marketing schools that are outperforming our competition in the area and bring those students home to where we think that those students will have a better chance for improving their success. Is that fair to say? >> Perfect. And and I'll add, superintendent, is this is we're aware when we have specialized or different programs at schools, the one thing we don't want to do is is cannibalize our other schools or take too many students away from our current district schools. Trying to do something unique enough and and uh pointed enough to market it towards those that are not currently in our district. And we believe we're doing that uh in both in that either with charter schools or with other districts. And our research we've we see also this works perfectly
085because it just seems to be part of this community's culture already and that schools the teachers there is such a natural fit for that community. And this would continue, by the way, some emphasis at Evergreen and then on to Olympus High where we already have strong arts programs. I think the key thing here is that Rose Crush is in a unique spot of being on the periphery of the district that we could uh while we don't want to be cannibalizing from our other school locations, we do want to be stealing as much from Salt Lake School District and I'll talk to Dr. grant later, but uh and and other school districts because we do feel like we can offer kids some and families a lot more. >> We will own it. We will uh absolutely
086own that and that's our effort just like all districts are. We have a responsibility to um not just our students but any student that wants a program that they think is a great fit for them and uh uh we we believe this will be a great fit in that community. How many students >> just to clarify Dr. Dr. Noah Converse is of our our director for those in the public. She's been out and visited a couple of schools to uh kind of listen to some of the feedback that we've already gotten from our patrons and discuss what options might be available. She leads our subcommittee on pack. Is that correct? That's over programming. And >> yes, she she's uh takes a >> you name dropped her a couple times. I wanted to be able to
087>> Yes. An amazing resource we have in our district with with her. So, We're going to jump to the next slide and and um switch gears. So, we're leaving Rose Crest on this issue. ALC advanced learning centers also sometimes synonymously used as gifted. The pack is recommending the consolidation of East Side of East Side ALC's into one school and that one school would be Woodstock where the other ALC program currently resides. Um, let me I if I need to I'll come back to this slide, but and and well, let me just make this point. Woodstock may or could see an increase in ALC students for one to two years because the natural question is, does that mean Woodstock will have twice as many ALC students? I don't think so, and I'll I'll cover that in
088a second. But in a I'll call it not worst case, but best case scenario where all of those students come, uh, we could handle that for a couple of years. And if we have to um to have a couple of reos there for a year or two um then then we'll do that. But let me let me explain why. Not sure if that would be a concern. Understand and and this is not a new idea. Again, this is not something we just thought of in the last couple of months and said, you know what, um we've had two AL schools in on the east side only for the last I think it's eight years. Approximately 75% of the Granite Elementary students are served by two AO schools on the west side. That's Fox Hills and
089West Valley. While at the same time, the remaining 25% are also served by two schools, ALC schools, Woodstock and Morningside. So, I'm no mathematician, but I do the quick math and and it makes me go, hm, what is happening there? Um, another way of viewing that and looking at that is not just the number of students, but the number of schools feeding into those. And so if you of course add Morningside and Woodstock, those two schools um 15 that feed into um that draw from I should say not feed into but draw from into ALC versus 41 areas boundary schools that feed into the two on the um west side if you will. uh the the the thing that is um I think and for some people sensitive but but important to understand very quickly
090is just how we how students come into AOC. What's happening currently is we have students that um are fantastic students, high achieving, responsible, come from um backgrounds that are are very u um supportive and allows them to um do well in school, but yet they really don't qualify technically according to the standards for the AOC program. And to make sure we keep fidelity on the program, we need to keep the program to AOC students, those that are quote truly gifted according to the standard. So understand this without I'm not the expert. Um but I I can tell you basically this with ALC scores. Um it's not just a score. You don't just hit a mark and once you hit that mark, you are in ALC. Uh because some people assume, well, does this just simply
091mean that we have more students that qualify in those fewer schools than we do? Um or at least just as many or equal number that qualify from 15 schools as we do from 41 schools. from um just just know that from Granite Districts and quite frankly most other districts policy and how AOCC works or gifted works is when academically gifted and talented students are those with outstanding academic ability or those who show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of academic accomplishment quote when compared with others of their age experience or environment. So quite frankly, there's a comparison for those in in the surrounding areas. And so that means that only a percent are going to qualify. If you have fewer students, you would therefore have fewer schools or need fewer schools to accommodate
092those students. We can if we need to again go into more detail, but the the pack again believes that we can accomplish more effectively um and and help those that are in this gifted program at one location uh better than we can the two locations. After losing part of the Morningside area, after losing the ALC, we are recommending the closure of Morningside Elementary as a boundared school. I'll come back to that point in just a moment, but the closure of Morningside as a boundary school. All Morningside students from this area that you see here would become boundaried to Driggs Elementary. Driggs would become a split feeder. No junior high boundaries change. All those that currently attend Church Hill will continue to attend Church Hill and to Olympus Jr. um and so on. So the only
093place um that we have a change in secondary feeders is those 15 to 20 students from Wilson. Everyone else keep their secondary feeders as is. This is inc this increases of course uh the driggs enrollment um by approximately 150. Now that's how many are boundaried there. This is where we have to consider how many are in that ALC program. We know that people attend ALC and other programs like French DLI sometimes based on proximity or in other words if they live close to that school. if a program moves, how many of those students will move with the program? So, we're we look at that. We've done this before and and we're aware that not all students will go. However, sometimes you pick up more students when you move a program. So, we have to weigh
094that. And even going circling back to IB, we've talked to quite a few people that are very excited and interested in IB and will remain in this area and not move to another program because they want to be part of the IB programs there. So our next the boundary changes of Driggs to Cottonwood Elementary. These two areas of Driggs would become boundary to Cottonwood in this proposal. Approximately 70 students west of Holiday Boulevard and then approximately 30 students south of that Murray Holiday. Um and it turns into I believe Apple Blossom if I have that correct there. In fact, I have a a blown up same map or the same area just with street names that uh people that are interested can see which areas we're talking about. There is currently some um busing for
095the area uh on the left the left side there west of Murray Holiday there. Um and it would still qualify for busing. I will put those busing maps out and make them part of our presentation so we can talk in detail about what that looks like. The other area does not qualify for busing, but um I believe at least part of that area will qualify for busing. Then we will have to see who would qualify for quote courtesy wrership from there to Cottonwood. sticking with the Cottonwood um theme just like we talked about um special programming or emphasis um I this is again my verbiage here we don't have this verbiage worked out exactly but the whole child projectbased focus at Cottonwood Elementary we've had a couple of conversations we don't know all the details
096there again I'm going to defer a bit to Dr. controversy on this and we'll have more meetings to go over this but but it is a projectbased focus and there's a technology uh commitment that um uh we we've seen in other districts and and Dr. Converse is very familiar with where we absolutely use uh all digital resources available but just um not in a way that's um um not attached or enhanced in the curriculum. And so but we we we know we have a great school there in Cottonwood. It is it is a fantastic school like Rose. It is close to the southern border of our boundary which we believe will help us attract from other districts as we develop this program in Conwood. Finally, again, like I mentioned, the Morningside closure as a boundary
097school. However, we're proposing that the French DLI program becomes a standalone magnet school, if you will. Again, we'll work on naming if that becomes a reality. But that program would become a standalone program at that building. Um, it would be a K5, so starting kindergarten. It would have an emphasis on attracting students from outside of the district. Again, you notice the theme there um in our um research and and and looking into this, we feel like we can do that. This is a great spot for this uh that we can it's it's nice location and feel like it the culture fits this program at this location. So again, it's it's a uh it's a closure much similar to uh what happened last year at Valley Crest Elementary, which was closed, no longer has a boundary.
098It is currently a magnet. We were we are excited currently about the results we are seeing from that school. We quite frankly, I'll be honest, uh we did not know. I mean, would we have 200, 250, 300 students show up? I think we're around 450 currently and a lot of those are coming back out from charters and and other schools that are returning to our district. We believe we could have some excellent results here especially when we can get students starting in kindergarten and with a real emphasis um at one location. So that that is uh part of the proposal. These are some of the benefits. I won't spend too much time on that. We're kind of familiar with that. I've talked about those. But um having a focus on one thing at a school
099we think can be a very effective. This is simply a table showing what we would project new enrollment looks like at those schools. Again, we know we're a year away. We know there's anytime we make projections on enrollment there uh we're not projecting numbers. What we're projecting a lot in a lot of ways is behavior, human behavior. Where will people attend? Where will they go? Um, will they look exactly like this if this goes through next um next fall? Probably not. Some will be higher, some will be lower. But we do know that we do see an evening out over time. And we feel pretty good about these percentages. Now, percentages, I go back to the table we had earlier. This is what our utilization percentage looks like with those forecasts at those schools. And
100I'll remind everyone, a good goal for most schools is the 80 to 90% utilization. You really don't want 100% all the time because that leaves no flexibility for programming or or changes at all. 80 to 90% is a good place to be. So we go from some of these uh you can to see the differences there and what the projections would be and getting us a higher utilization with uh with these changes and these two closures. Just a reminder, we do have these two large meetings coming up and and if and there is a change. We have already publicized and there is a change from that email that went out um once or twice and I've mentioned many times. We have a meeting um instead of Tuesday night and Thursday night, it's Monday and Tuesday.
101So, these are accurate. The accurate dates and locations will be sent out tonight or tomorrow morning, but at Olympus High on Monday the 22nd and at Skyline High on the 23rd. This is um my fault. I I just we we had something um and we realized it was just a bad day. So um I I'll own that. And we >> Well, we'll admit it. It was we were as a board we want to be able to attend those. In both of those dates, we had a district community council meeting and we had also our USBA leadership meeting that so we couldn't attend. Some of us couldn't attend either of those and so we felt very strongly. So, thank you for arranging that so that we can be able to attend those >> questions. Just real
102quick, the presentation that you have up here is different to the one that's in the agenda that I have up. Will you be sending out an updated version? >> I can I can absolutely send you this. There were some tweaks and updates today, but uh there shouldn't be significant I mean >> there's an additional slide at least in just some right what we were doing was trying to especially the programs trying to get those slides updated and um um just minor errors but if you see anything you're concerned about let me know but it's basically the same info >> and we plan on sending that email out. I'm looking at Luke later this evening as soon as we can. with the updated slide deck to all 10 schools patronage as well. >> And Luke, I'll
103I'll before we hit send, let me talk to you and make sure we have all the slides that we need. There are a couple of others, but to make sure we have it all. >> So, this is an action item. Just so that um you're aware, we do have a recommended motion that we accept the recommendation and continue the study with um with the focus as presented. That is our recommended. That's the recommended motion. Um but we do if you have questions, this is the time to ask questions or I will entertain a motion. >> You first. >> Well, I have six questions. >> Well, I have seven. >> Who are So please, Julie, go ahead. >> I bet some of these are yours. Knock them off. Um the Wilson kids, are those kids who
104were moved um to Wilson because of other boundary studies? Like were they formerly Mil Creek kids >> or Lincoln? Yeah, that's right. >> Roosevelt. >> I think they were, but I I'll need to double check that. which was I think Porsche was actually Rose >> and it would be four. That's what I don't remember. We had >> Oh, you mean Roosevelt? >> We had Roosevelt there in that area and then then Mil Creek closure. So, I need to see where a move was made. >> I just want to make sure that we know uh I think that it would be maybe just the fourth the fifth grade next year's fifth grade >> that would have had to have moved and now we would be moving them again. So, I just want to make sure we
105know what that situation is. I I >> I thought about this and I apologize I forgot to look it up, but I I will say this. We had this question last year with one of the changes and when we did look it up, we were able to narrow it down to about 40 students that were in the original move. And we look it up um just through attrition and uh mobility, there were I think five students still at that school that if they were there would have been that were affected. um and then after another year one because of just aging out. So for better or worse the mobility in some of these areas makes that uh um it's not as if a 100 students removed twice in a couple of years. >> Um >>
106it's not a perfect answer and I don't like it anytime we have to do it but that's that's our reality. >> Would you look into that though and and get us that data? I please I'd appreciate that. Um I just wanted to clarify. So Rose Crest under your recommendation becomes a dual feeder. Is that correct? >> Yes. Yes. Because we have evergreen and and was there. So they remain as they are. Whatever boundary they're in now, they continue in. Correct. >> Okay. And um I just want to clarify too that with the idea of doing an arts academy at um Rose if that seemed to be something that was positive in that community that's also something that we would try to push into Evergreen and Olympus to try to also I mean Olympus kind of
107already has that but Evergreen doesn't and it would be a way that we could also enhance Evergreen right? Is that right? is absolutely the plan is to make that a network culture program as it as it goes up. >> And I wanted to also just make sure and say to our community that we went and talked, not me, Dr. Converse went and talked with the teachers at Rose who she reports were really excited about the idea of that. Um, and so I'm anxious to see what the community thinks about that recommendation. um the ALC, uh every kid that is currently in the ALC, if this recommendation were moved forward and it was moved to Woodstock, would every kid currently in the ALC program be offered a position at Woodstock? >> Thank you for clarifying that.
108Yes, I failed to mention, but absolutely currently in ALC, if they're tested in, they will have a spot guaranteed. Now, of course, you know that there are a couple of spots where they have to test in going um and somebody correct me, Leslie, if I get this wrong, but of course going into kindergarten and then going into third. Is that right? You know, everyone has to test at those places, but if you're in, you're in. You have a place. um with the French DLI situation. Um when we go out to talk with the community and as part of your recommendation, I think it would be important for us to understand um things like what will be the the word isn't availability, but how does this work for the neighbors? Um, do the neighbors get first
109priority if they want to go to the French DLI program? You know, I I think that I don't I don't think you have that answer right now. >> We don't. >> Um, and it's I know it's not in your purview to make that decision. Um, but I think that that would be helpful to understand as we approach a vote on a on a final recommendation. >> We knew we didn't have the answer yet. We acknowledge that that will need to be discussed and come up with a priority order, if you will, like we've done for other programs and other schools. I think uh we would at least I would imagine we would be looking at the same prioritization that we did with the consolidation of other DI types of programming and what we've done with
110those Mundo formerly known as Valley Crest where we allow those currently in the program to have first priority and then we determine some other prioritization based on the community's needs. >> Okay. >> But but >> I just like to be clear on what it is. >> We we need to make sure that's very clear. The good thing about this recommendation is there's plenty of space at uh Morningside. How many students do we have participating in Morningside's DI? >> Currently approximately 250. 250. >> And obviously our capacity at that school >> 6 to 6. >> Yeah. So determining and prioritization is appropriate, but whether that's needed is remains to be seen. Um, would you mind going back to the final slide that shows capacity? >> No, I'm sorry. This one I wanted. >> I just want
111to remind our community that since we began this study, when when we started this study, you know, the goal is really to get as close to three teachers per grade as we can. And if you had just every single school at three teachers per grade at 27.25 25 kids. That's how many kids it takes to get a teacher. That's about 490 kids that you need for that. But since that time, we have um we have uh increased property tax. And one of the reasons for that was to do a class size reduction, which means that at this point, if you get to if you want to get to three teachers per grade, you need 460 kids. So that so I I just know that my community you guys are very well attuned to looking at
112these numbers and I want to remind you that you got to make that shift the same as I did. You're no longer looking for 500. You're looking for 460 as a healthy mark um for meeting that three teachers per grade. And the exciting thing about that is it means that we we actually created an opportunity to keep our schools a little bit smaller than we could before. Right? So it it kind of gave us an opportunity here and that is all. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. >> Can can you clarify just a little bit better for me why you think the ALC increase in a shift to Woodstock would would subside after one to two years? I need to understand that a little better. If you would please. >> We need to get to abide
113by the testing, the true mark of testing, the threshold of the ALC program. Basically, what we're doing now and have been doing is um because we have two schools, we keep taking students to make sure we fill up the ALC classes for two schools. And perhaps we're getting down to the number 90 or 100 student. In this case, we would not be going down that low. We would be taking those top students um about top 60 if it's two classes at Woodstock. So, we would just get back to where we need to be and taking the just like just like has done again on on at Fox Hills and West Valley. On average, gifted is around your top 3%ish. Um now it depends on who who tests for it and even if you test and
114qualify do you want to attend? So you can't just say what's 3% of all these students and that's you know what your number should be. There are a lot of factors that go into that but it it's really a testing threshold and getting back to the fidelity of the program. Would it be fair to say I'm trying to help answer the question hopefully we're taking if 3% typically would test into this program but because we don't have that many kids participating we've dropped that threshold down to I'm just throwing out a number 10 the top 10% to qualify in this particular area. So the idea is that with the consolidation, we'd actually be treat serving the actual 3 to 5% of top students o over a period of time. It sounds like we would probably
115do something comparable with the DLI that if you're currently in the ALC program, you would get prioritization. I I'm asking I don't know if that's in fact what PAC has discussed or if there's been any discussion on that. Does that make sense what I'm saying? >> Right. I don't know if in detail s >> what uh what he said earlier is that if we're if you're in ALC you stay in ALC until a new a new testing has to happen which means if you're in kindergarten first or second grade and you're in ALC you stay third grade we always test again and then we and so you'd have to test again but if you're in third fourth or fifth grade you're in ALC and then you you would be in ALC even if we move
116it until you're out. But but we would replace with fewer students because we'd be replacing with truly ALC numbers, not ALC plus like we've been doing. Does that make sense, Clark? >> It makes sense. I I think where I'm a little bit conflicted is it's my understanding that I'm not sure we're as good at identifying the ALC students through this means of testing as maybe we should be or that the testing is not necessarily as accurate as it could or should be. And those are obviously more philosophical or fundamental questions, but there's there's a definite tension here in in my mind that we're relying upon maybe some historical numbers and where those ALC uh participation rates, for lack of a better way to describe it, have been or could be or should be. Um, but
117I'm I guess I'm wanting to challenge whether or not those numbers are are appropriate in the first place because it has real implications for >> for this kind of a consolidation. >> I I I welcome that challenge and I think I'll just my answer is I'll bring back up next time that that that has the uh content expertise. um not just Noel, but Kyle Anderson and others in the curriculum department and and Tammy Wright and those that direct those programs, they have explained them to me a lot better and I'm doing probably a poor job of articulating that process. >> That's fair. I appreciate that. Um let me move to split feeders. I feel like in the past we've made an effort to avoid or even >> uh resolve split feeders, but we're creating two
118new split feeders under this uh recommendation. >> Right. >> Um that's conflicting to me as well. Maybe you can help me feel better about >> You bet. Um true. Whenever possible, we like to not have split feeders and if we can remedy that we do. If we had maintained or not had split feeders, let's say with Morningside and Driggs, then we would have gutted Churchill. If all of those or or Olympus Jr., if all of them we kept all that Morningside group and they changed and went to Olympus and Olympus Junior, Olympus High, that would have been an issue. Um or vice versa. So, split theaters, um the the larger the split, the better. So, in other words, we don't want to do what's happening at Wilson and have a handful of kiddos going to
119a different school. But if you can have up to a third to half, even as low as 25%, then you still have a core group of friends and neighbors that you're going to your new school with and not just a handful. In those cases, they're I don't know if they're ever perfect. In a large district like ours, a large suburban school district, I don't see we'll ever not have split feeders. They're just um in a perfect world I wish that we could draw them up that way, but we just don't I think have that option. Answer your question, yes, if I can avoid them, I avoid them. Sometimes we create them with these changes. >> Thanks for your comments. Uh lastly, on French dual immersion, I have two questions in that regard. one is, you
120know, I think we um internally debated greatly the notion of creating the Spanish dual immersion uh dos Mundos that exists now. Um we have very little feedback on that what I would call a pilot still at this point. um tell us why you feel confident in expanding that pilot to to another school and to another language. Um and my other question kind of dovetales with that. Do you have any data statewide on on demand for the French language versus Spanish versus Chinese um in terms of of popularity and and and demand? >> Right. um absolute data, no, but but we did go with um expertise from from people in our district that know the area, a combination of things. So, we there's there were two French DLI schools in the district. Um the one at
121Morningside and the other at Diamond Ridge on the other side of the valley. Uh we felt like the location was good. We've got the people in place that are some very dynamic people as part of that program. Uh we felt like the location of of this geographically in this area will help us attract from surrounding districts also. So, it's do we know for sure? Do we have anything that absolutely says, "Hey, if you have French state, put it there and it's going to be a a rousing success." Um, I I wish I had that crystal ball 100%. Do we know for sure what's going to happen down the road with those Mundos? Wish I knew. Early returns are good. We did not feel like we could wait, though. Obviously, we're doing the study now. We
122feel like we had enough evidence so far to say we like what we're seeing there and we think we can do that here. Um the just as frank and honest and brutal as I can be on this case is if for some reason down the road it does not work, I don't see that. But if it does not um then we could either move a program or change a program and that school boundary is still closed. We don't have to go through another quote closure because the boundary school is considered closed. It would just be a change of program or change of location for a program if it gets smaller um or in those cases. So, um wish we had that crystal ball, but yet we we feel good and we've had this conversation absolutely
123in pack that um it's it's a good fit for the area. So, what I hear you saying, just to clarify on remember Nelson's comment, is that we want to see if the the DLI magnet can stand on its own two feet. Um, and if not, down the road when we do have a rebuild of Oakidge or some other school location, we could potentially consolidate that program to another location and still maintain numbers. I think what we do know in our own experience is after 18 19 years of running DI programs according to the state model that that model doesn't work very well for us. In fact, I've answered probably a half a dozen emails today alone on concerns with FTE allocation and staffing problems at DI schools and what we're doing to address those and
124the impact that they're having on the traditional program. So I I actually do believe we're going to be looking at piloting more of these not not less just to see it is it a better model for our kids is it a better model for our families and I think we can sustain what are their numbers again currently in terms of participation >> at dos mundos >> no at uh >> sorry >> atite about 250 to 260 >> which would be a small school already as it stands but if it does in fact attract some additional families and particularly I don't know Canyons families or uh Murray families or Salt Lake district families where there isn't a French DLI program. Maybe maybe I think we're listening to the the community here in terms of trying to
125provide a variety of options to allow um our families choices to keep and retain them in Granite School District schools. And we'll see how well it does, I guess. >> Yes. Understood. Thank you, Steve, for your cander, especially as always. >> Thank you. >> Um, the Driggs, I think it is also a feeder. Isn't there a small part that feeds to Church Hill? >> Yes, that small part um on east of 2700 there. >> So, that becomes a three feeder school then. >> Um, no, it's still that's still the same when there's a junior high. >> The unifies So Driggs doesn't become a split feeder. It's already a split feeder. I was going to make that correction that >> actually the only school that becomes a split feeder would be Rose Crest. The rest already
126are currently split split feeders, >> but I think um Steve, would it correct a split feeder situation at Wilson? >> Yes. >> Okay. So it fixes this one, but it creates one here. But Driggs is already a split feeder. Okay. I was thinking that you were saying that it turns it into a split feeder and I thought it's already a split feeder. >> You're right. I should probably clarify that it technically is a split feeder. It's just a very small >> it's just small >> portion of it. This makes it more palatable because we have what we try to get that's more going to each each school. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. >> A question about the French DLI. Just I think the answer may be obvious but just for the
127sake of clarity for anyone who may be wondering when we created the Spanish DLI to Mulist Academy we consolidated some Spanish DLI programs we got rid of them at other locations and moved them there. In this case that would not happen. The one at Diamond Ridge would stay and we would just have a standalone dual emergency school there. >> That is correct. That is correct. Th those were yeah each situation is of course unique in in last year's we had four DLI Spanish DI programs in a within a couple mile radius and they were just feeding off of each other cannibalizing each other and and this has proven to be a pretty good solution so far. >> Go ahead. Um would you just clarify? You talked about some programs particularly you talked about a program
128at Oakidge and Eastwood combined um a program at Rose and program at Cottonwood. Are those programs that you would expect the community to adopt or is that something that we vote on up here as a board? Can you just address maybe you don't even know? >> I It's a great question. So, let me try to answer that and tell you the pack's perspective on this. In the end, I believe it's a board vote. So, congratulations. Another hard job for you. But the the pack believes that these programs if validated and if we get the right feedback over the next couple of months, it's our opinion that these should be quote district initiated programs unlike or or you know not like DLI used to be where a community council or or school just says we want
129to do that. The reason we we feel like we would approach it that way is if it has the district um authority, the district's district's blessing, the district's resources, then we take ownership of that as a district. We do everything we can to make sure that program is successful. If there any reason it's not, um then the district can choose. I say the district loosely here, whether that's the board or a a department here, can say for whatever reason that is not working. Therefore, we're going to make some changes to make sure students are being um their needs are being met. So, is that answering your question? We we feel like obviously that's going to be a board decision on that approach, but um we've learned in looking at DI especially in other programs that
130if it's district quote initiated, then we we tend to take ownership of that and provide the resources necessary for its success. >> I appreciate that because I would like that to be something that the district was on the hook for making sure it was successful. like if it's a district initiated, community supported, that is what I'm aiming for when I'm gonna vote, right? Um, okay. Thank you for that. Uh, uh, Clark, I also just wanted to say that I agree with you about the ALC program and I think I'm hoping that maybe that's something that we can study in the next couple of years, like how effective are we with that? what you know how could we improve etc. Um I think you already expressed I just wanted to support that idea. Um board president
131would you accept a >> what's that called? >> Motion. Um I move that we uh support and approve the pack recommendation. >> Okay we have a motion. >> Just to clarify the recommendation is to continue to study. We're not accepting this proposal tonight. This is a recommendation to continue studying these specific proposals. >> They may change. There may be modifications. This is a a proposal to continue. >> So the motion is to accept the recommendation to continue to study the as >> as Okay. So we have a motion. We have a second. >> Well, I'll second it, of course. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second to accept the recommendation of the pack to continue with the study with the focuses pres presented. Is there any further comment? I'll just say I have
132some concerns and conflicting feelings about some of the programs we're talking about here. Um, but I'm totally fine with continuing to study and see where we go, but just wanted to make you aware of that right now. I probably will have some conversations with you coming up. So, >> I welcome you into the fold of those that have still questions unanswered and and as we try to figure things out going forward. >> So, thank you. >> Can I make a quick comment? I just wanted to uh give a shout out to Steve and the rest of our population analysis committee, but I want to also give a huge shout out because I can see the feedback uh given from our meetings with the public and I can see the voices of our our our parents,
133our families, our community leaders, our teachers um in these recommendations. And what I like about uh this recommendation, I'm just seeing the full version of this tonight. Um, I've I've heard about some other different portions as I've I've briefed with you as board members, but I'm seeing the full recommendation tonight. And what I like about this is that we're not just standing and resting on what we've done in the past. We're trying to find a new way forward to to make things work uh in the best interest of students. So, a huge shout out to that joint uh community committee. They were not decision makers, but um I think they helped us see some things in a different light or review things that we might not have questioned or understood before um and brought those
134attention uh to the attention of of the pact for further analysis. And I think we have a better recommendation and a better process as a result of that. So, a huge shout out to that group and those those individuals who volunteered. I know they met several times um over the over the course of the last several months and we appreciate their their time and service. Um I I I think it will be important. I just want to remind the community as well that this is not a done deal. We need your feedback still and uh if these are acceptable recommendations, is this something we can get some buy in on? That's what we need to know and understand if we're going to be able to proceed and be successful. I think it's important to rec
135recognize that our goal here is to provide as many opportunities for kids as possible uh while utilizing our scarce resources to the best of our ability. So, thank you for your good work and your efforts, Steve, and and to our community members who helped to support you through this process. >> Thank you. I also wanted to um say I I just think that it's been huge the amount of effort that the people who go to these schools have put into making sure that we thought through a million things and believe me Steve there's been a lot I mean this has been through what if but what about this what would this look like you should see the amount of maps that Steve has of different iterations in his room or office um and I know
136that those who are in these schools are seriously exhausted from this boundary study because I am feeling the same exhaustion and it is time for caffeine because it's a moment where you need to we need you to have a renewed energy to now look at these more concrete hypotheticals and I am very anxious to talk about them with you. So, I hope that you will Yeah. go get your caffeine. Okay. Thanks, guys. >> For my part, I really appreciate that we do have this um the joint committee uh having been through this with two schools kind of more at the beginning of this process. I see the value in this and I appreciate that because I think one of the hardest things is to help other schools understand that you're not you're not alone in
137this. But also, you know, when you say, "Well, don't do it to my school, do it to them." it affects everybody else. And so I think this is a very valuable thing and we've talked about adding this into our process as something that is standard from here out. So I think it's a good this is a good part of this process and and um appreciate those those people who have served on that committee. All right, we have a motion and a second on the table. If there's no further comment um in favor, please say I. I. >> Any opposed? Right. Motion carries. >> Thank you. going to suggest that we saunter for three minutes while Doug comes up so we can have a little which is like But I guess that is the thing. I
138don't know where Julie's. Oh, there she is. >> All right. Um, we are going to go ahead with our first readings. We've got two policies up for first readings. And I'm going to go ahead and let Doug turn the time over to Doug to >> Okay, board members, thank you for having me. Um uh we yeah we have two first readings tonight. The first one is article 5C9. This is vehicle use standards. So um this policy is being updated to address safety issues, provide best practices for district employees who are using our district vehicles. This policy indicates that district vehicles are monitored by a global positioning system and clarifies which district employees will be given take-home vehicles. We added a provision to this policy that um uh discusses the um the option of being able
139to uh use district vehicles a with a little bit more flexibility and um uh this was initiated um by the superintendent discussed at law and policy and I am happy to address any questions that you might have. So Doug, can you just kind of summarize? We talked about this a little bit. What what's the purpose of the change or what the changes are? >> Yeah. So the purpose of the change um as I mentioned that um we added a section so that we're that we are um basically giving notice that we are providing a GPS system in our system in our in our district vehicles. Uh the second thing is that we are um clarifying um the use of the vehicles uh as take-home overnight vehicles for some employees. That does a a couple of
140different things for us. That allows us to be able to actually have a little more room here in our own parking lot. And it gives some of our employees who um who use district vehicles to be out at sites um to be a little more effective and efficient so that they can drive directly to their their work sites as opposed to having to come here to pick up a a district own vehicle. So those are the two um provisions that were changed. Um >> I would just add it just to summarize this is to help us spend less money. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> The goal here is to provide additional security when we can provide a benefit to the district and to our employees. >> Absolutely. And we do add a provision as well that
141um we make sure that uh the indiv the um relevant individuals are taking the annual defensive driving course which is required by law and by um by our insurance carrier. Are there any questions? Okay, if there's no questions, I'll entertain a motion. And we we approve article 5C9, vehicle use standards, as a first reading. >> I'll second. >> Okay, we have a motion in a second to approve article 5 C9, vehicle use standards, as a first reading. Are there any comments? >> I have one comment. I I remember two summers ago I was at a school and um one of the project uh managers there was saying how nice it would be if they could have the car on site faster because they could get there earlier in the morning instead of coming all the
142way to the lot to pick up their vehicle and then drive back to the site. They would actually have more time on site that would help them get that project done faster. And so I appreciate that we've added that. Yeah, it's actually pretty inefficient for some of our folks not to be able to do that. So, >> have to go back and forth just to pick up a vehicle to go back to a work site close to their home or whatever. >> And as the superintendent mentioned, efficiency equals cost savings. So, >> yeah. So, I appreciate that. Thanks. >> You're welcome. >> Okay, no other comments. We'll go ahead and take a vote. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed? Right. Motion carries. >> Great. The second policy is article 818.
143This policy uh is our student travel policy and there's um there's a lot of discussion that goes into a student travel policy. This policy is being updated to establish um student travel that teachers and administrators can use to provide students with opportunities for enhancing their educational experience. Updates to this policy clarify issues with travel costs, chaperones, eligible travel destinations, and student fundraising. Some of the um kind of an overview of the changes that were made to this policy are that we are no longer going to limit travel to a geographic region. Instead, uh travel travel will still be limited um but it will be limited based on the cost um rather than the geography. Um we felt like that gave more flexibility to our schools to be able to plan appropriate trips for students. Um
144we also made some modifications in terms of planning our um student travel as we heard from um many of our teachers uh and um uh uh many of the teachers in the schools that travel organizing travel can be very very um uh a huge burden on their time and and so we are looking into ways to uh try to make the ad uh the administrative process of of of planning travel and executing travel um more streamlined. Um we did make some changes with the policy regarding um chaperoons. Uh this was also another um issue that had um been discussed widely and and was not necessarily consistent among schools. And so we are providing some consistency with respect to our rules regarding chaperoons. Um I will mention that we also are uh along with this policy
145we'll be um publishing an administrative memorandum that has more procedural elements to it and uh also some uh more discussion of best practices uh that'll be in memorandum 151. So if you have any I I would also mention with with respect to this policy we did receive a significant amount of feedback. We discussed it in law and policy multiple times. Uh we uh had some um focus groups with uh teachers and administrators. Uh I spoke to administrators in two different locations at their uh meeting and um uh or their morning meeting uh the other day. Um, we've been really trying to get as much feedback as possible on this policy and I think that we're in a pretty good place at this point. So, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to respond. >>
146Um, I actually have one just one question. Um, so when schools are making their or clubs or whoever is going to travel, are they still using our district travel Yeah. >> coordinator? Is that correct? >> Yeah. So, district uh travel coordinator Danielle, she'll continue to to coordinate travel in in every instance. One of the things that we're that we're looking into, though, is um opening up the possibility of using um some third party agents to um uh to assist our teachers in the process of actually planning that travel. So Danielle will continue to be the point person here at the district and continue to do the administrative work here. Um which I'm assured will not be diminished in any way. Um uh but that uh we will be able to get some benefit of using
147um some third party travel agents to help uh plan that travel. Uh so nothing will change really in the administrative process here with Danielle. she'll continue to be the point person and continue to do um the work on arranging flights and that sort of thing. But in terms of planning the travel, planning the the venues, um uh and perhaps even finding some better prices, um we we're hopeful that uh we can actually achieve some cost savings uh and save our um our teachers some valuable time uh in planning and executing their travel. One thing we didn't discuss in law policy is can you describe how um I'm thinking in particular about foreign language classes and then they take like a trip to Spain or a trip to Mexico or something. And under this it says
148credit can be arranged for students participating in pre-approved study programs. Um but the board does not authorize foreign travel in connection with the district schools or employees in their district capacity. So can you just speak to that for a minute? >> Absolutely. So um with respect to foreign travel the district we we don't get involved with with those um with those trips. Now those trips are made available um through uh various vendors that are that are out there. We don't um um partner with those vendors, but we do have some teachers who um who take advantage of those trips and um and even some of the kids in our schools who who who who study foreign language and that sort of thing might might take advantage of those trips. However, that's done completely separate from
149the district. We don't endorse those programs. We don't sponsor those programs. um uh in in fact those teachers if they are going to participate in those programs have to do so in a manner that is um at arms length with the district. They can't recruit kids in the school setting that um they can't recruit kids in their classes. >> So that's a that's a completely separate um uh program. It's not a school sponsored program. >> So we're happy if kids can have that opportunity. We're not in the business of sponsoring those kinds of trips. We're talking about um travel that is within the continuous 48 states and um th these are are um travel arrangements that are that are planned and executed as school sponsored activities. >> I have a question for you after Doug,
150but we'll do it off offline. >> Offline. Okay. >> Sorry. Will you accept a motion? I will accept a motion. >> I move that we approve 8A18 student travel as a first reading. >> Second. We have a motion and a second to approve 8A18 student travel as a first reading. Are there any other comments? I have a comment, but Chris does too. So, go first. >> Mine is just thank you for opening it up because I know there travel outside of those western states is a big deal. Um, I've had several of my high schools in my area that, you know, were invited to different things to participate in Iowa or Florida or wherever and Atlanta and, um, this just opens up that opportunity so much easier to to make sure that they don't have
151to every single time come to the board for approval. So, thank you. You're >> welcome. >> My comment, and I'm just I'm stating this because I've like hammered this in during law and policy, but I need to just state it on the record. Um, I highly, highly, highly approve of a third party being able to be brought into this. It is a huge burden, especially for some of our teachers who this is, you know, their big tour. Um, our our performing arts teachers. This is takes up an inordinate amount of time for them. And so, um, I want to really state that I support that highly and that we need to just because that is such a valuable thing for our teachers and to to take something off of their plate. Um, I do want
152to also make sure that as we move towards this, if Danielle's going to continue, and I I this is nothing to say anything negative about about Danielle, but we need to continue to work on having a faster turnaround for our schools for the approval process because that has hampered uh reservations in the past and we need to make sure that we tighten that up a little bit so that we can um continue to give our kids the best possible um opportunities. And I would like to also state that I think it is important for us to continue to have a committee one of these travel committees with the teachers similar to what we had uh meet. This is important so that we can continue to get the feedback. Uh even if it's just meeting twice
153a year, but to have that feedback, it's valuable feedback. We need to know how this is working for those teachers and it's something that I think is important. So, >> I appreciate that and and uh some of the teachers actually um expressed interest in um continuing that conversation. So, thank you for that. >> Doug, can you point to the moment in the policy where it does discuss bringing in these outside groups to is it in here or is it maybe in the proceed is it in the memorandum? >> It's it it will be in the memorandum. Um we had um there's a long history that goes along with with how >> I remember that discussion in policy >> that process um has has kind of evolved over time. Um the fact of the matter is
154we are not disallowing it any longer. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And can you also make sure that you send that the I >> it just wasn't the memorandum. Will you make sure that the board members get >> I'd be happy to do that. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. You're welcome. >> All right, we have a motion and a second on the table. If there are no further comments, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed. Right. Motion carries. >> Thanks, board. >> Okay, we're going to turn to superintendent and our superintendent report. >> I am cognizant of uh the overunder on tonight's meeting and I'm pretty sure somebody owes me Chick-fil-A if we get done by 9:30, but I'm going to do my
155best anyway. um had a great first day of school um out at Cypress High School. I spent the morning helping students with their schedule and working through some of the challenges we were experiencing out there. I just wanted to give a huge shout out to the staff at Cypress High School and uh also to our friends and uh co-workers at Brock Bank and uh Magnus Steam. There was some other challenges at some of those locations as they worked to finalize some of the construction. You never get a project done in the summer months. It's just not possible, especially as our summer has become shortened. Um, and so, uh, grateful for, uh, Justin and his folks and many of the folks in maintenance and, uh, out of the warehouse and anybody else I might have missed,
156uh, for their tremendous efforts, uh, just to see the miracles that were created over the the last few days prior to the opening of school and that continue uh, to be done over the last few weeks of the start of school. So, um I have been out visiting schools and we took some volunteered schools. I've visited 37 schools since the start of the school year and uh probably about uh 200 classroom spaces and I'm grateful that teachers would allow uh visitors to come and visit their classroom. I know that's stressful uh especially the first few weeks of school, but we had a good time and uh always make sure to go visit a kindergarten classroom so I can get an unsolicited hug. It always fills my cup uh to have a kid on my ankle.
157Yes, those are the students, by the way, not the teachers. So, I wanted to give a shout out also to our our wonderful students at Taylor'sville and Cypress who made me feel so welcome when I officially visited their football games and got to do some fun cheers. I'm happy to lead the board in those a little bit later on >> and wore red to >> It's true. By the way, my wrist still hurts from losing an arm wrestling competition to the strongest student I've ever seen in a costume. Uh, so he was super buff. That thing was stacked from the beginning. I just want to say um >> just to clarify, how badly did you lose? >> So badly. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So I want you to know I saw the kid and
158I just Yeah. He like says, "So I'm going to be the one who's arm wrestling you, but I'm going to have the mascot costume on." I said, "I just want you to know you're really strong and I'm going to cheat." And I did and I still lost. So, uh, he was >> I just wanted him to admit it all. >> Okay. >> My microphone. >> And sorry about the broken table as well. Uh, out of Taylor's film. Uh, started my class at Greenure. Um, 44 students, vast majority of multil- language learners, but we had our very first quiz this last week and the kids are amazing and good attendance. a great group of kids and I'm excited to teach them about our constitution and our government. So, um we have taken a lot this last
159year. We've undertaken a tremendous amount of initiatives and uh I just hope the board along with our administration just can focus on improving instruction at this point in time and really hone in on how we can best support our schools and our teachers. excited about our boo schools initiatives and seeing uh the tremendous efforts of so many great instructional leaders. Um and I'm just very excited about the this upcoming school year and uh thank the board for their support. >> Thanks, Clark. Do you have anything? >> I have nothing further. Thanks, >> Chris. I just have one. We had our budget and finance committee meeting today. Um board members, if you'll go in and look at that, um Todd put together a fantastic slide about our capital projects and how they're going to prioritize them.
160And if you have any questions, please um look it over and talk to him about um all the different a lot of things go into that uh group and he's going to present next Tuesday. Am I correct? Or next week you meet with the group, the capital committee group. So >> yeah, so we we'll have a kickoff meeting with our new capital committee group next week. >> So if you have any questions, please look at that and and direct them to Todd before that meeting so you can um get your questions answered about what their um I think we've called it our top 10 um priorities for capital projects next year. So thanks. That's all I have. Connie. >> Um, USBA has their fall schedule the meeting on September 17th at 6:00 and they do
161provide dinner and I haven't seen the agenda. I don't know. they usually talk about priorities for the upcoming um legislative session. So, and um that's we talked a lot about SB37 and what's going on with that and um so we voted to oppose it as it's written. Isn't that what we did, Todd? So, um, they're trying hard to get a group united and be able to talk about it and see if we can just get things, you know, more in our favor, I guess, or do away with it. I don't know exactly what happened. >> What is SP37? SP37 is >> it's the one where they were proposing to take the the all of our property tax and funnel it through the general fund and then give it to us >> I didn't say that.
162I did not say that. >> Okay. Thanks, Connie. Kim, >> I have nothing to report this month. The evaluation committee is alive and well. We are making huge progress. So, be ready for exciting things. Um, and the uh district community council, we've kind of had some discussions about um we're going to be sending out a survey to our district community councils the first week asking them what issues they would like us to address. We're going to be spending um each time we have a council meeting, we're going to have a theme. The first theme is going to be um proficiency based learning. We'll talk about that for 30 minutes. Then we'll talk about whatever issues are coming up and then we'll have 30 minutes of Q&A. We're also toying with sending out a video invitation
163from the board um for their first um which would be me because I'm the chair of the committee and it would um invite community councils and talk and kind of encourage them. This is where we get feedback from our parents. This is a really big place to get a voice so that they would show that at their first community council meeting in October. Um and I think that is all. >> Thank you. and we have started back up with our lawn policy. You guys heard the two policies that we we have been talking exhaustively about the travel policy. So, it's good to see that come to fruition and that we have moved so far on that. Um, but that's the only update for me. So, if there is nothing further without objection, having reached the
164end of our agenda, we stand adjourned.