001And thanks to all who are coming out to those town halls. Last, I just want to speak to um I've had the opportunity to go to several track meets and uh and this kind of goes to all of our sports is some of my favorite things about attending these track meets at the high school level is you see kids who are literally competing to qualify for state. You know, they are the top of the top and they're working so hard. And I think we have a lot of athletes in the room because we're recognizing you in a little bit, right? But um and then you have those that may not even be clearing the hurdles. So there's a girl um that I've been that I know and she's she's a freshman and she's starting out
002the hurdles. And her knees were just bloody because she she was hitting them. And I went up to her after she goes, "That's okay. I'm going to clear them. I'm going to keep trying. I'm going to keep trying." And this last track meet I attended, she cleared them. She had she had she'd wise up a little bit and put those socks over her knees so she could prevent the blood coming down from them. But you know what? I just kind of thought in a big broader viewpoint, it's awesome to provide these opportunities for kids, whether you're barely crossing the finish line or learning how to get over a hurdle for the first time or learning how to dive off a block or whatever sport you can interject there. I love that we are a public
003education system providing those opportunities that many of our kids would not be able to afford otherwise. And so it always warms my heart to be able to go to these um variety of sports throughout the year and support the kids who are just they're they're they're making the best of their opportunity. Thanks Karen. Um Chris and I had an opportunity to come down here. the art show was was being displayed, the junior high one was being displayed down here in this room um after we had a meeting. And it was so much fun to see our junior high, the talent that those kids have. And it was fun to be able to also walk around and you could scan a QR code and then you could give immediate feedback to the kids and tell them
004what you liked about their picture, which I loved. And I was amazed. Every single junior high was represented. I was astounded by the the amount and the number and the quality of the work. So, um way to go on that. Um, I also want to um recognize that we have a lot of our high schoolers that also competed in the um the one music event that is sanctioned by the Utah High School um activities association is the Solen Ensemble and that was last weekend and it's a pretty prestigious event. And so for any of those kids and those teachers who participated in that, I know the state um the large ensembles are going to be this week. Um so uh a lot of work from those teachers and from those students and just want to
005give them um a recognition for the hard work that they've done there. And then finally um we do Chris was it Chris mentioned the bus driver appreciation. We've also had in the past month um administrative professionals day, principal day and of course teacher appreciation I believe um any cafe workers uh was also that was a a day that was recognized earlier this year. um pair professionals, but I just want to recognize anybody who works in the education. Um my thanks to you uh and and on behalf of the board, I think we all appreciate and understand the hard work that it is that goes into that. I appreciate on a personal note, thank you for putting up with my own children. Um but uh we appreciate the the work that you do, whether it's a
006bus driver, uh making sure our kids get fed, that they are taught, and we have also our recognition for our school crossing guards here today. So um if you are in education, would you please stand and be recognized? We want to give you a round of applause. Please stand up. Okay. Thank you so much for all your hard work. Um, you absolutely we need to recognize you for more than a week or a day. Um, but we we really appreciate the hard work that goes into making our our students successful. Karen has one thing to add. Okay, I can't read my list because I I just got off on sports, but I have one thing that I would be remiss at the open house today where we toured the GTI and had a lot of
007our elected officials to be able to educate them and show them the cool things that are happening here. Um, it was very evident that a lot of our kids are coming from Taylorville High. So, I just have to give a quick shout out to my sister who is the CTE director at Taylorville High and is retiring this year. So, she has worked so hard and I think a lot of the reasons some of the kids are taking the opportunity is because there has been such a push at Taylor'sville High to educate those kids on the opportunities that await them if they take those pathways. Okay, thanks for indulging me. Thanks Karen. All right, we're going to go ahead and move on to our recognitions. We're going to invite up first Erin Whitehead for our recognitions
008for our academic allstates. Thank you, President McDermott, members of the board, Superintendent Horsley. It's always a pleasure to be here and to recognize these students. Um, tonight we're going to uh recognize the fine art academic all stators to start and we've asked our fine arts specialist Noami Hernandez Balazar and Tim Jackie Beck to read those and then we'll do the athletes right after. Good evening board, parents, family, and students. Congratulations to every single one of you by the way. All right, let's get this going. perform instrumental music from Cypress High School. Ella Andreasen going down. Could we could we have you just name out those individual students? Thank come up here and shake hands with our board members and then we'll get a picture at the end and we can save our applause to the
009end if that would be okay. Sounds good. Next student for speech and debate from Cypress High School, Haley Whitney. who is not here. Hello everybody. No Hernandez from MU music from Cypress High School. Andrew Pollson. Andrew instrument and theater from Hunter High School, Tatum Castro. All right. The following students, student athletes have been awarded academic all state. Um, if we miss any of you, please come punch me in the arm, but not hard. And, uh, we'll make sure your name is listed. For girls track and field from Cypress High School, Brenn Pollson from Granger High School, Paige Meters. for boys track and field from Cypress High School. Andrew Pollson from Taylor's Taylorville High School, Kai Macowski for baseball coming from Cypress, Cody Densley. Softball from Granger, Danielle Armstrong. Daniela, thank you. Taylor'sville, Megan Sterszer. Boys
010soccer from Olympus, Andrew Norton from Olympus, Jonathan Danzy. Boys volleyball from Taylor'sville. Radley Johnson. Girls golf from Cottonwood. Sunonny Ivans from Hunter. Teryn Peterson. Boys tennis from Cypress. Aaron Johnson from Granger. Spencer Bentley from Hunter. Alex Sylvester from Olympus. My guy. Eli Pingri from Skyline. Llo Otis Patternark. Ladies and gentlemen, please give these outstanding students a round of applause. to achieve academic all state. Basically, you need a 4.0 cumulative unless you get like extremely high on the ACT, then they allow for a 3.9. So, great job. When you guys are done getting your pictures taken for all of you, there's a there's a little gift bag out here in the hallway. Good job, Cypress. Closer. [Music] Closer. Any other parents? Superintendent. Apparently, there was a couple that I missed. Uh Jackson Dans from Skyline, Jax
011Jameson from Skyline, Ty Jensen from Skyline. Anyone else? Okay, come on up. Tell me your name. We'll get you from where? Oh, there you go. Carson Stewart. Okay. Warner Wilson and Carson Stewart from Skyline. Go Eagles. [Applause] practice. You guys have awesome. [Applause] [Music] Can we have their parents stand also and be recognized? And families. Thank you for the hours of supporting them in their chosen activity as well as in their academic pursuits. We appreciate the high the high level of performance that these these uh students go to for this. We're going to go ahead and invite Chief Porter up. Where is she? Oh, there he is. Okay. Sorry. Like, where is he? And we have crossing guard recognition. Superintendency and members of the board, Granite School District is honored to recognize the crossing guards
012who are devoted to ensuring our students are safe as they travel to and from school. There are more than 250 individuals across six police agencies who work every school day in Granite School District. They place their lives and their own personal safety on the line when they go to work. They work in harsh weather from rain and blizzards to the desert heat. They battle distracted and sometimes dangerous drivers. And they do it all to protect our students. On behalf of Granite School District, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of our crossing guards. I will call each agency up individually and ask that any agency or city administrators present join me at the podium. I will then read the names of our crossing guards who are able to make it tonight and
013ask them to come up to the stage and meet the superintendency and the board after which a group photo will be taken with each agency. audience, please hold your applause until after all the names from each agency uh is read. To start, if I could have Murray uh Murray leadership come up, Sergeant Chaston Smith, if you're here, or any leaders from Murray, the crossing guards uh for Murray that we have on our list, and keep in mind this is not everyone, just uh the people who were able to make it tonight. Amanda Goldsbury, Debbie Arvesth, Lauri Thatcher, Don Baris, and Joan Cutler. Please come up to the to the stage. [Applause] How are you? Oh my goodness. Get really close so we can't he can't Say don't worry. Next we'll recognize South Salt Lake. If
014Chief Daniel Croyle and any city administration could please come up to the podium. By the way, we have a treat for you outside as well. So, don't leave without taking a big giant cookie that will raise your heart rate and sugar intake. Hi, thank you for being here. The South Lake crossing guards who could be with us tonight. Bob Anderson, Lorie Thompson, Roland Stanford, Tanya Gonzalez, Helen Singer, Matthew Stanford, and Sherry Walsh. Please come to the stage. and also Mark Jagger. Thanks, Mark. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you for asking. [Music] body. Thank you. We did, but that's okay. I'll shake your hand again. That's dedication. [Music] wear that. I see a lot of people walking [Music] on 45 years since she a little bit right here. All right, look at me. That's right. Next,
015we'll recognize Yes. Thank you. Thanks, Chief. Next, we'll recognize uh crossing guards from Taylor'sville. Any city admin administration or please come up to the dis Charelle Fowers if you're present. We have Mayor Mayor. Thank you, Mayor from Taylor'sville. Crystal Narris, Janine Ley, Laura Ericson, Roland Brousette, Wendy Azine, George Hastings, Kylie Jones, Natalie Murphy, Victoria Forester. Please come to the stage. [Music] Thank you so much. Thank you. Think about Thank you. [Music] Okay, people. She's trying to hide. Okay, I'm gonna do it on the on the cell phone first and then I'll do it on Okay, ready. [Music] And by the way, Kylie Jones is also here representing region PTA. [Applause] Next, we will recognize the uh various cities within the Unified Police Department. Jenny Peterson, if you're here, if you could come up. [Applause] When
016I read your name, please come up to the stage and and meet the board and the superintendency. Alicia Stevens, Amy Sackett, Anne Visser, Arthur Leighton, Birdie Miller, Sarah Salazar, Crystal Person, Amy Hernandez, Angela Huffiness, April Powell, Betty English, Bob Bllelock, Shante Baker, Cynthia Chadwick, Sarel Goss, Duana an Anderson, Gayla Anderson, Heidi Eaton, Holly Holly Misa, Jackie Derbis, Janet Calvert, David Johnson, Eddie Wagers, Gayen Derby, Heidi Josie, Holly North, Jackie Martin, Jen Reading, Jenny Diamond, Joanne Hawkins, Josie Glenn, Karen Mson, Kayla Hoover, Kim Woodward, Lanni Springer, Jennifer Filillmore, Joanne Moss, Kabri Elegante, Karen Morardi, Kim Walden, Kirsten Phillips, Leanne Wcha Chowski, Lesie Miller, Maggie Redmond, Melinda Leighton, Marily Smith, Nina Roberts, Randall Peterson, Rita Hansen, Lisa Christensen, Megan Ross, Meliss Melissa Mortensson, Misty Levit, Patty Hessian, Rebecca Burus, Robert Darby, Samantha Batty, Sean Hessian, Shayla Fairclaw,
017Starlinin Lester, Sarah Bone, Shadia FTH, Shirley Parker, Wendy Hill. Please forgive any mispronouncements. [Applause] and also Ray and Lynn Weber even when it's freezing and snowing. Thank you so much. [Music] Thank you so much. It's more than I could do, right? [Applause] Well, thank you so much. That's an education. We're going to create another world. [Music] Yeah. 16th, the Friday. Yeah. [Applause] [Music] How are you? Thanks so much. Where's your Thank you so much. Thanks for my pleasure. Sarah as much as everyone can everybody [Laughter] I mean seriously always do that and it's so Close your eyes. Hey, [Music] [Applause] thank you. Next, we'll recognize the West Jordan Police Department, Patty Jones, and any city administrators, if you could come to the front. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Patty Jones from West Jordan. Janice
018Riley, Mickey, Jen Patrell, are you in the audience? [Applause] Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. One more. [Applause] Next, we'll recognize our crossing guards from West Valley City. Detective Mike Miller, if you could come to the [Applause] front. from West Valley. Alvin Crown, Amy Rose, Brittany Sely, Clay Anderson, Diana Harmon, Irene Adolf, Jesse Garcia, Allison Wilston Holm, Andrea Brown, Carolyn Deare, Courtney Madson, Heather Faucet, James Garland, Julie Anderson, K. Wells, Lindseay Kilpac, Mark Noble, Melissa Fairmont, Renee Wilson, Stephanie Crier, Wendy Husband, Lynette Nudson, Maria Hernandez, Mary Katon, Michelle Gardner, Roxanne Soler, Trisha Morrison from West Valley, please come up. [Music] Any other West Valley guards? If I didn't call your name, please please come up. Thank you. Thank you. We'll get it in a second. You can just set it there. Nice
019to see you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you so much. [Music] Thank you so much. You best for last, right? Thank you. You're awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. middle row here. Squeeze everybody in. I don't need a chair for the door. We'll squeeze in just a tiny bit more. You guys can do it. Say West Valley. West Valley. [Laughter] Again, thank you to all of our crossing guards who have a very tough job and who keep our kids safe. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Porter, and all our crossing guards. Thank you so much for being here tonight, and we appreciate once again all that you do for us. We're going to go ahead and go on to the Excellence in Education Governor's
020Award and invite Rob McDaniel to come on up. Have a good night. One of your GA folks was just texting me and saying the streets are not safe right now because all the crossing guards are here. So, thank you for pulling them away. It was Sarina. Uh, it's an honor to be here. Uh, Luca Dalcanto took home the Pho T. Farnsworth Governor's Award, which is awarded to one Utah student for innovation. Luca developed an app about chess, works as a web master, runs his own math tutoring business, and self-published a 300page science fiction novel called Solola. and I'm waiting for my copy, just so you know. His friends call him Mr. Skyline. I know why, but I won't go into that story right now. His favorite genre of music is jazz, and he has been
021studying jazz improvisation for seven years. Luca's future plans include an engineering degree at Perurdue University. He attributes all of his success to his caring family and extremely supportive friends and teachers at Skyline who have motivated him to be the best version of himself that he can be. If you want to hear him speak before he is officially famous, he will be speaking at the Skyline graduation in three weeks. So, get your tickets. They're selling out fast. With all of that being said, I will say Luca is one of the most humble young men I have had the opportunity to to meet this year at Skyline. I was able to sit with him at the Sterling Scholar Dinner and he he's funny, he's charming, he just gets along with everyone there. He's just just a wonderful
022young man. So, it's my honor to introduce an amazing young man, Luca Dalcanto. [Applause] [Music] Good job. Congratulations. Can we have their parents come up? Come on up, you guys. [Music] I already have my autograph copy. You guys want to take two steps and get close so we don't can't see us in the background. [Applause] You don't have to stick around. He Rob, what are you doing? Rude. Okay. Uh we're gonna go on to friends of education and have superintendent Horsley present these Karen. I think that's you step down here while Senator Quan makes her way up to the front here. We we normally have a plaque for this but it has not arrived yet. So, I do apologize, but we wanted to take some time to after the legislative session to recognize a handful
023of legislators who kind of went above and beyond uh for Granite School District and supported uh Granite School District. In particular, over the last few years, as I've gotten to know Senator Quan, first as a representative and now in the state senate, she has always been uh carefully attendant to the needs of Granite School District, particularly in funding issues. uh she's been on the forefront of helping us work to obtain funding for some of the security measures that we had hoped to implement and uh helps bring some of those issues to the forefront. In particular, she has care and attention to the uh mental health needs of our students and that's something that's particularly close to her heart. Um I'm sure we text each other way too much during the legislative session, but the fact
024that you're so responsive uh definitely makes you a friend of of Granite School District and a friend of of of education. And so we're very pleased to recognize you this evening. You did help us out in particular on one piece of legislation which helped codify some transportation pieces um and and make sure that we were in compliance. So we appreciate your help and support with that. Can we give a huge round of applause to Senator Karen [Applause] Kwan? Thank you. I should come down to the Thank you, Senator Quen. We really appreciate you. All right. and we have our granite education foundation making their way up. So, we're going to invite you guys up to come and um recognize we've got some amazing partners with our foundation and we want to take the time to
025recognize them and what they do. Yes. Thank you so much, President McDermott, Grant Education F or education foundation board there. I'm off to a good start. School board, thank you so much. Superintendent Superintendency. We are honored tonight, so blessed to have a couple of amazing partners with us tonight and I want to invite them up right now. Uh we have Rich Simon and Danny Warl from Discover. They are from our some of our longest standing partners that have made the most impact here in Granite. Uh we do a lot of really fun and cool stuff with partners with the foundation and these two uh lead for us in in the things we get to do. and and and we'll just highlight a little bit of of of the partnership. Um most of you, if not
026all of you, have had the opportunity to come to the Discover Shopathon, which is an incredible opportunity for 400 plus of our kids every single year to get treated like royalty as they as they first rock the red carpet and then go on a shopping spree. they bring partners together and and I always say my favorite part of events is the the work that other people do, right? Um but in this case, I really appreciate the work they do, but that that's not the best part of that event. The best part of that event is those that experience that those kids get to have that day. Uh it's humbling in in in new and different ways every single year and super awesome. But Discover does so much more for us. Um they they do discover
027meal kits. So they give us a thousand meal kits a month which is no small chore that we that we distribute out. But then they also do a lot for our Santaac program. And Kathy and Sandy made sure to be branded tonight so you didn't forget what they did for us here in the foundation. But I'm going to let Kathy highlight a little bit of that. I did a little research today and I found an email exchange between me and Zadeie. Oh yeah. 2013 about Discover running a toy drive for Santa. They gave us hundreds of toys. The next year, the following year, they got really smart and they gave us money. It was a lot more efficient and it worked really well. That check has been tripled through the years. They are our toy
028ambassador. Santa Sachs would not happen without our donation from Discover. It's as simple as that. They make those toys happen. They trust Sandy and me to take their money and spread it as far as we can. So, the money they give us, we're we're finding things on sale for half price and a third price so we can we can stretch their dollars as far as as we can do them. So, Rich, Danny, you're the reason that Santa Sax exists and we are so grateful for you. Thank you. So nice to meet you. Thank you so much. [Music] Hi. Where do we need to be? Right about there. Y. Okay. I'll have you scoot in a little bit more because you guys look very far away. Okay. Perfect. [Applause] [Music] All right. Thank you. Thank you
029foundation for being here. Um we're going to go ahead and move on to our elected officials. Um mayor, would you like to say anything? Good evening. Christy Overson, mayor of Taylor'sville. What a delight it is to be with you tonight. Thank you so much. I I just wanted to uh say thank you for the delightful couple of hours that we spent this afternoon um touring the GTI and also the budget lunch. Um first I had no idea uh what exists right here on this campus. So thank you for that opportunity and touring the facility was delightful and eyeopening. Um the budget lunch um budgets are difficult. They are difficult whether you're a municipality or a school district, but I I honestly look forward to the yearly invitation where we can talk about budget and you
030can explain yours uh to me and I was uh delighted to have some of our council members uh with me today to the lunch. So, thank you for doing that yearly event and and uh you know, this was really fun. City council meetings are really boring and we don't clap. we don't applaud. So, I just love being here to see how other people do do a um a council meeting or a board meeting. So, this was really fun. But also, I just I genuinely appreciate the partnership that we share. Thank you for um helping to shape and mold the young residents in Taylor'sville. Thank you for the partnership that we share and I feel like we are good friends and uh we appreciate and respect each other and um Granite School District, you are amazing.
031Delighted to to be to have Granite School District in the Taylor'sville boundary and beyond. But but appreciate the friendships and the the respect that we have for each other and and what we each try to do in our own little sphere and together. So, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for a delightful two hours this afternoon and for this this was really fun. I'm going to stick around just a little bit longer, but thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Senator Quan, I just wanted to um thank you once again. Um I I feel wholly undeserving of this honor because you do so much work. Um, and I wanted to just say how much I appreciate the work that you do and our teachers. You know, my husband's a teacher in Granite
032School District, and so I know that the um the passion and the expertise that you bring uh to the kids and um and to the district. I I want to echo what Mayor Overson said, the the uh uh tour this afternoon was amazing. I learned so much and we need to make sure that uh we get the word out, right? I I want to do my part to get the word out and do all I can to get more money to you guys because you deserve it and we need it here to take care of our kids. [Music] Thank you, Senator. We're going to turn this time over to Ben. I apologize. Uh we were so excited to hear from our elected officials that we neglected one of our recognitions. And uh during the course
033of this time of the year, we usually recognize employees who have been with Granite School District for a certain period of time. And um it's my pleasure to go out and personally recognize employees who've been with Granite School District for 30 years. This employee has not been with Granite for 30 years. She's only been with us for 15 years. And tonight, we'd like to recognize Nicole McDermott, our board of education president. So, we're hoping to have her around for another 15 years so that we can do this again. But can we stand and recognize her for her service? [Applause] down. [Music] We have your family here. Come on down. Let's get the picture. [Applause] over this way. Good. I got a pin here. You get the gift card at 25. Go for the gift card.
034Go for the gift card. The retirement. The worst part is she has to stay. She can't go get ice cream. It's like the worst. We always tell our recognition people to go get ice cream after. Can I I can't leave then. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, now I'm all flustered. Okay, citizen participation time. We have two people that have been sign that have signed up for citizen participation. We have Robin Ivans and Michelle Jones. So, we'll go ahead and start with Robin. Come on. Go ahead and come up and um have three minutes. Did you want me to say my address and all that or is that not a thing anymore? We we know. Well, I mean, okay. My name is Robin Ivans and I live in Cottonwood High's backyard. The baseball field of
035Cottonwood is my backyard, literally. And we've watched um I'm going to get emotional. Some really great home runs have come into our driveway. Um it's really fun. For the past 24 years, gosh, why is this so hard? My husband and I have had at least one child enrolled at either Woodstock Elementary, Bonavville Jr., or Cottonwood High. And um I believe those are three of the most amazing schools in Granite District. Our youngest of five was just honored tonight as an academic all-state athlete and will graduate in just a few weeks. And that's why I'm an emotional wreck. Maybe Julie for we both have our babies. And you might know I can't see my notes. Um I've seen it all in the past two and a half decades. I've been in this very room to plead
036with the board to keep our school open. I've served seven terms as PTA president in the Cottonwood network and I've sat on every community council there is. I founded the Cottonwood High School food pantry. I established the Christmas extravaganza and the Cottonwood neighborhood day of service and I was instrumental in bringing bringing the first teen center thank you to Granite School District. Um, in addition, my oldest daughter was a health teacher at Olympus High and only left because her husband got into medical school out of state. And then my second daughter currently teaches first grade at Oakwood. Um, my children are products of this district. I'm not here to draw attention to the volunteer hours I've given over the years. Rather, tonight I would like to express public gratitude to the Granite This is so
037dumb. to the Granite Board of Education, the current and former superintendent, the many principles, and most importantly, the excellent teachers who have given my children a stellar education from preschool through their graduations. My children have all graduated from, are currently attending, or in the case of Sunny, will soon attend top universities in the state. I credit Granite School District for preparing them for this post high school success. I want to honor each of you for giving your time, energy, and passion to this wonderfully diverse school district. You and those before you have made difficult decisions. Even though you technically did sign up for this, you spent well-earned money to get elected. Um, you probably haven't gotten very many pats on the back. In fact, my guilty pleasure is reading the KSL comments, and so I
038know what the general public feels about school boards. So, at the end, I just want to thank you, Granite School Board, for all that you do for our students and their families in Granite District. Thank you. Thank you. I'm take personal privilege and say thank you on behalf of the board as well, Robin. We know the amount of work that you have put into our schools and they are the way they are because of people like you. So, we really appreciate you. And by the way, you don't have to have a student in the school to volunteer. And we really appreciate it, Michelle. I love that I'm coming after that. That's so beautiful. Um, you guys work really hard. It should be acknowledged. Good evening, President McDermott, Vice President Wyn, members of the board, and
039Superintendent Horsesley. On behalf of the Granite Education Association, I'd like to take a few minutes to recognize and celebrate the anticipated ratification of the 2025 2026 professional agreement, just finalized, barely before the May 7th deadline imposed by HB267 before any of us knew that we'd be gathering over 240,000 validated signatures, roughly 100,000 more than required, and surpassed the 8% threshold in 25 Senate districts when we only needed 15. This deadline held significant weight. It may still prove critical as Utah voters now hold the power to decide whether this anti-UN legislation will stand or fall. GA wants to express our appreciation for the move toward interestbased bargaining these last few years. Though time-intensive, this collaborative approach yields deeper, more meaningful outcomes that benefit not just the district, not just educators, but most importantly our students and
040families. One such example is the agreement to reduce the K2 FTE from 27.25 to 24. This change in calculation benefits teacher work experience and student learning experience by providing more time for teachers to meet individual student needs, provide more individualized instruction and feedback and develop more supportive learning environments. This was not an easy negotiations largely due to the broader political climate. The legislature has placed the district in a difficult financial position as was just mentioned. reducing revenue from state income tax by millions while simultaneously imposing unfunded mandates. This has left the district with an impossible equation. I'm a math teacher. To do more with less. We want to acknowledge that challenge and express our understanding. Our ratification of this agreement reflects GA's continued commitment to a collaborative relationship with this board, one composed of members
041who value public education, respect the professionalism of educators, and strive to meet the complex and varied needs of Granite students and families. Thank you for your ongoing willingness to engage in critical dialogue. We know it's not always easy. We have hard conversations to have to collaborate with GA across many important issues. We also want to thank you for keeping our shared interest where it belongs on our students and families. So, thank [Applause] [Music] you. Thanks, Michelle. All right. We have up next on our agenda are consent items. These are things that have been out. The board has been able to ask questions or um or get answers to to things on here. So, if there's no further questions, I will entertain a motion for the consent items. I move we accept the consent items. Consent
042agenda. I'll second it. We have a motion and a second to accept the consent agenda. Or is there any discussion? I have something. So, um, Whoops, just a second. So, before I vote, one of the items on the consent agenda is the tenative agreement just spoken of with the GA. And I want to bring attention to the last miscellaneous item in the agreement, which speaks about a study look at lengthening the teacher contract date. I highlight this because the study mentioned is a big deal to me. It's really, really important. Um, I hope this study is done with the intentionality to open the doors to bring our contract in line with other districts. Um, I hope there is sincerity from the GA in this and that this time next year, the study isn't simply swept
043under the rug and discarded. And this is a concern for me. So, I just want to speak to that that I'm grateful that we're going to be studying this this year as it's a big deal to me and I just want to publicly voice my support and bring that study to everybody's attention as it's at the very very very very very end of the tenative agreement. So, I will be voting to support this. Um, but I just wanted to explain that little piece and why it's important to me. Thanks, Karen. Kim, thanks. You have a comment as well. Um so the consent agenda as we're all aware has multiple items on it that we vote on um as a lump sum a group. Um so there are multiple things in this consent agenda. Couple of
044things for me there are software licenses on the agenda that I've made my position known on in the past. In addition though, I have had a technology issue over the last several days um last week or so as I've been trying to um vet one portion of our consent agenda which also includes or the specific part that I'm referring to is approval of land trust plans um from each community council across our district. And I just have not been able to get into that website. um been working with tech, but I've just kind of run out of time. I think we may be close to figuring it out, but we're voting right now. And so, um I don't feel I can vote on something I've not been able to vet. Again, this is a lump
045vote on a variety of things, but because I have a chunk of it that I have not been able to vet, I feel I need to abstain from this vote tonight. So, I want to be transparent about that. I also at the same time want to recognize the collaborative efforts that have been made um you know that gone into that particular consent agenda item um ratification of our agreement with the GA and thank those who have worked so hard to get it to that point um from both sides um and for all like I said the collaboration and just the willingness to work together and partner. So um with that I will end my comment. Thank you. Thanks Kim. Any other comments? All right. All in favor, please say I. I. I. I. Any opposed?
046All right. And Kim abstains. All right. Motion passes. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and move on. We have an action item, one separate action item, which is an administrative appointment. Um, if there's any questions about that, otherwise I will entertain a motion. I move that we accept the action item of a of an administrative appointment. I'll second. We have a motion and a second to approve our administrative appointment. Is there any further discussion? Administrative appointments. Plural. Sorry. Appointments. All we already got a second. All right. All in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? All right, motion passes. And while Dr. Day is making his way up here, I did want to acknowledge that our consent agenda included ratification of both uh negotiated agreements with GA and GESPA. So if you were
047waiting for that vote, it has been successful. [Applause] Okay. Uh, President McDermad, members of the board, superintendent. Um, I am here tonight to announce uh the appointment of Miss uh or doctor, I should say, Michelle Surl. Will you stand up? Uh, she has been selected as our uh principal for Granite Transition Services. She comes to us from Grand County School District where she's currently serving as an elementary principal. She has served as uh principal for primary children's behavioral health residential and day treatment facility. Uh she worked as director of special education for early light academy. She taught in Canyon's school district as a special education teacher as well as department head and has taught uh at West Ada School District in Idaho. She received a bachelor's degree in special education and a master's degree in
048educational leadership. She holds an educational specialist degree in emotion, emotional, and behavioral disorders and is currently finishing and will be shortly awarded her doctorate in educational leadership. Uh, who have you brought with you today, Michelle? Uh, my husband, Darren. Wonderful. Stand up. [Applause] Thank you so much. Thank you. And then we're gonna invite John Wellelburn up to introduce our other one board of education and superintendent, members of the executive leadership team. It's my honor tonight to um introduce to you the new principal of excuse me, assistant principal at Benyan and Crestview elementaryaries for next year. It's Briana Collie. We have Brianna [Applause] stand. Briana has um she's been a teacher with us here in Granite for over 13 years. She's also taught she's taught at Karns Junior High, South Karns Elementary, and West Karns elementary
049schools. And she's currently serving as an an intern administrative assistant at Benyan and Calvin Smith elementary schools. So, it's kind of a nice fit because she's already there at Benyan. So, who do you have here with you tonight? I have my husband Brian and my four daughters and then my [Music] principalis retired. That's awesome. And they have been so supportive because they stuck around this entire time. So you you probably need to take your kids out to to some kind of I don't know dinner or ice cream or something to thank them for sticking around. But we've told her that she can kind of sneak out now. So, thanks so much for being here. Congratulations. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Congratulations to both of you. We're so We're thrilled. And I forgot to mention that her
050mom, Allison Banks, is currently administrator with us, too. So, that runs in the family. That's right. So, that's awesome. Thank you. We promise that board meetings are usually not this long. It doesn't take us this long usually to get to these. No, this part board meetings like there. Our board meetings are, but this part we usually don't get this this late presentation. I know. Yeah. Why does no one stick around for you guys? I know. Okay. All right. This part should go super fast, right? The over and under was 8:30. So, okay, Doug, you're up. Okay, we have two first readings. We have our parental and postpartum recovery leave and we have our electronic devices and acceptable use of technology. And then we have a second reading for the guardians and schools. Great board members.
051Thank you. Um we do have three policies to to discuss tonight. The first one is parental and postpartum recovery leave. This is a new policy that is necessitated by a state law that requires a new state law that requires employees to provide parental and postpartum recovery leave to employees. Parental leave will be available to new uh to families uh in the event of a new birth, adoptions or um assuming the care of an incapacitated adult. Postpartum leave will be available for um mothers following child birth. This change in policy will ensure the district will follow state law and provide an important benefit to employees and their children. Um this policy as you can see is um created whole cloth and if you have any questions uh I'd be happy to respond. Any questions? Right. I
052will entertain a motion. I move that we approve as a first reading article 9A1P parental and postpartum recovery leave as a first reading. I'll second it. We have a motion and a second to approve article 9A1P parental and postpartum recovery leave as a first reading. Is there any further discussion on this? I had one question and it's not anything specific to policy, but Todd or Ben maybe you can speak to this. What is the what is the fiscal note that comes with this required policy? 500,000. Yeah. So the the leave policy itself doesn't generate a cost because it's leave that is already within the it's the substitutes that we'll have to cover the cost for. So about half million of our budget. Okay. So that was from 24 legislative session. Was it funded? Is this
053an unfunded? It's this was an unfunded. Yeah. I will I will say that this basically puts um the uh school section of code in line with um the state employee section of code. So correct. We we're essentially providing the same benefits that have been provided to other state employees as required by law by the new state law. Okay. But with no funding. But with no funding. Okay. Got it. Any other? All right. All in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. We'll move on to the electronics device and accept the use technology. Okay. Um this policy uh board members um we have discussed at length a uh a change to policy that was brought to the board um in June of last year. And um this policy has been um
054has been very successful. It is it has been the policy that has driven uh uh the use of cell phones in our schools. Um we did um the law and policy committee discussed at length adding another section to the to to this policy. uh as you can see there in sections C5 and six um it's updating uh the policy to include language regarding the proper role of screens and screen time in classrooms. This change um uh arose from continuing discussions about appropriate role of technology and the both the positive and uh sometimes negative effects of screen time. This change in policy emphasizes that screen time in the classroom should be used for planned learning and not to keep students passively occupied. If you have any questions about that section, I'd be happy to respond and
055um we'll allow members of the policy or the law and policy committee to to weigh in as well. There any questions? No questions. But I do have a couple comments. I do you were ready. Did you want to go ahead? Let's wait for comments after we have a motion. Okay. Well, I move that we accept 8A24 electronic devices and acceptable use of technology 2025. I'll second. As a first reading. As a first reading. I'll second. All right. We have a motion and a second to approve 8A24 electronic devices and acceptable use of technology. Do we need to put 2025 on the end of it? Yeah, we do. In fact, I just Sorry. It's a first reading. Okay. Now, are there comments on this, Julie? Go ahead. Thank you. Um, I just wanted to say that
056I think that um this policy we really changed last year and included cell phones and um I think that the changes we made uh have been appreciated and um I think that we can still continue to do a better job implementing um especially on the high school level. And I I think that we will make some efforts in that area. Um it's a really hard thing to do and I I understand that and um we think we're going to see great outcomes when this is applied appropriately. Um and also, you know, one of the things that we've talked about is uh going out and and finding out how people feel about uh how electronics is being used in our schools. And so this year we're hoping to go out and get some feedback about that
057so that we can make sure that we're using them in appropriate ways and strategic ways. Um, and this statement here is kind of a vision statement. Um, and I think we're looking at how does the procedure follow the vision? What what procedures should we use? And so while procedure is out of the realm of the board, we're policy makers um really encourage that conversation to be to happen this year. Let me mention um just so you know, thank you for mentioning that, Julie. And for the rest of the board, we've actually created a survey that is going to be going out to community councils. In fact, that what that got sent out today. Um we'll be we will be um gathering data from community councils regarding their um view of this particular provision of the
058of the um of the policy and we'll be discussing it next week in district community council as well. We might even have some preliminary results from our um our survey that we'll be discussing. And then Rick will also be doing um some more uh providing some more information regarding um kind of the the nuts and bolts, the technology itself, the Chromebooks and how students uh the the the statistics regarding student use of those Chromebooks. So, it should be an interesting conversation in district community council and we'll we'll keep you apprised as to what those conversations are like um before the next reading of this policy as well. And I I just you didn't say this, but it's also something we're strategizing is how to also get feedback from teachers about it. So, can go ahead.
059Um board president, may I ask Stacy notate my comments in the minutes? Yeah. Thank you. Um I just quick comment because I wanted to put on the record when we passed this policy initially. I did voted against it. I have concerns. I had concerns and I still have those same concerns. Um tonight I feel like I'm voting simply on this uh addition that we're adding. And to me it's it's surrounds what Julie just described and our um intention to kind of study our use of technology in schools. and I'm very supportive of that. So, I will be supporting the changes to this policy tonight. But just wanted to be clear, I still do have the same concerns I had in the past with this policy. So, thank you. Thanks, Kim. Any other comments? All right.
060All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. And move on to our second reading. Um, yes, board members, this is the guardians and schools policy. Um you'll notice that we did make some adjustments since our last excuse me the first reading. Uh this is a short policy um but it uh lays out the district's required um uh policy provisions for for um implementing and maintaining a guardian guardian program in our schools. Uh, the school guardian is this individual that has been um essentially created by state statute um to be a a first responder and a and a um uh an individual in each school that can um uh respond to uh threats of violence in the schools. And based on our conversations both in board meeting last month and in law and
061policy, we did make some adjustments to the definitions. Um, if you have any additional questions or or thoughts or concerns about that policy, I'd be happy to respond. Any questions? I'll entertain a motion. Move that we accept article 5A6, Guardians and Schools, as a second and final reading. I'll second. We have a motion and a second to approve article 5 A6 guardians and schools as a second and final reading. Is there any further discussion on this? All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Thanks, board. Superintendent, you have 30 seconds. Thank you, mayor. 30 seconds. Um, teacher appreciation, they're awesome. I've been doing a lot of 30-year recognitions which has been incredibly enjoyable. If you think about 30 years of career in education and how significant that time and dedication
062and the thousands of students whose lives are influenced by the life of one educator, it's pretty profound. So, very appreciative of those teachers in particular. Um we did have some town hall meetings and we've scheduled another one um later on uh this month and uh look forward to having some additional conversations with our taxpayers especially as approach our budget um cycle. And uh we did hold our budget our annual budget lunchon today. I thought that was quite successful to be able to take some of our legislators and other key elected officials around the GTI and show them some of the programs that we have to offer here. It's not well known despite our fact that we try to publicize that information far and wide. So, we're putting the CEO kid kids to work on the
063marketing uh to help us with that. Um, I wanted to give a shout out to South Kern's uh elementary PTA. Um, they did a box top uh won some $30,000 grant to get some new soccer goals, portable soccer goals at their school and they invited me out for a ribbon cutting and then they expected me to play soccer. I just want you to know that I fell down really hard and I'm still a little bit sore. So, if I'm limping off the stage, that's why. Um I had to rush over to another recognition was tell Sharief uh from Harvixson who received an incredible recognition uh one of a handful of teachers from across the entire nation part of the discover discovery channel uh teacher of the year national recognition and I also found out that
064he received a recognition as the uh public teacher of the year award from the University of Utah. So, what an incredible uh teacher and we're so pleased to have him uh continue to rack up the hardware out there at Harson and represent Granite School District in such a fine fashion. My last uh thought, um I've been teaching out at Granger Height this semester and I've been struggling to help my students engage and share their thoughts on the Constitution and uh uh government. Uh so I've tried different ways uh to utilize technology to get them to share their thoughts cuz some of them don't speak English very well and they don't feel very confident expressing themselves uh publicly. I did have a student uh who didn't show up till just the very few days before the
065fourth uh fourth term started and we were getting ready to take a quiz. I had not seen this student since the start of the semester. Didn't even know who he was. Um so I introduced myself. I welcomed him to class. He's never said a word to me. Um, and uh, I said, "You're not going to take the quiz today because you'll flunk. So, let's get you working on your starter so we can help you get a passing grade." So, I said, "Use the Googler and uh, work through the answers on on these solutions and these assignments." And he did it. And, uh, he got a C minus for third term because he turned in a bunch of work. Um, and he has shown up for class every single day since then. And, um, but still
066has never said a word to me. We do hand signals to remember the Bill of Rights, right? Like so freedom of speech, freedom of religion, second amendment, pew, pew, because it can't be a real gun, right? Cuz we're in schools. Um housing and quartering soldiers, right? We have hand signals the kids made up in my class uh to remember the first 10 amendments to the Bill of Rights, and he refuses to do it. He's clearly too cool uh to be able to do that. Um, I know he speaks English, but he's never spoken to me until I was walking into Granger High this afternoon, uh, to go to do another 30-year recognition, and he was out on the plaza, and I waved at him, and he said hello to me. He was not embarrassed to
067say hi to me today. So, that was my my teacher recognition and all that I ever needed uh to to fill my cup and the good work that we get to do. And I just wanted to share that. Thanks, Ben. Um Julie um my reports on my committees are that we had um evaluation committee uh successfully did Todd's evaluation. We're so glad that we get the opportunity to have such good people work for us. Um and uh we will now begin working on our superintendent evaluation. So send feedback about what you kinds of things you would like to see on that evaluation. Thanks Julie Kim. So, my parks and wreck meeting was scheduled right in the middle of spring break and therefore was cancelled. We did not have one. Um, but I did want to
068just point out, I think we all got the email, but for those listening as well, um, the grand opening at Loadstone Regional Park for their new mountain bike trails is happening this Friday, uh, 3:30 p.m. I believe. So, if anyone's interested in being there, I actually will be there. So just if anyone else wants to attend. Are they still doing the youth pass for the the kids for the rec centers? I believe they are. Yes, they are still. Okay. But yeah, that is all I have this month. Thanks, Kim. Connie. Um, we went to USBA. Um, so that's the one committee I'm on and we're working on building better boards and shortening that. It's 80 pages now and making it like no more than 40 pages. 44. So, um, that's something new. Talked about the
069delegate assembly June 6th and 7th. Um, and what else? I think we talked about how to advocate at the legislature and um, how to well, a lot of things about how to we talked about the difference between a nonprofit board and a school board, which is very different and how those things. Yeah. I I just want to give some credit like we drove down to St. George for two days. This wasn't just a meeting. It took you two days to drive down. down back and and I didn't drive. So it was it was I did get a ticket. I'll say it on public record. Beaver. He get me every time. You think you learn Chief Porter? Now I just lost respect. Thank you for driving, Julie. Maybe Chris, go ahead. Um, we have budget committee
070meeting in June because we do not meet monthly now. So, I just want to give Connie and Clark a heads up. Um, and then PTA, just so you guys are aware, they've changed um how regions are set up now. And so, it's we won't have a region. I don't know if it's the name of the person, but we don't actually technically will have a regent director. So, it's made up of some multiple um districts combined and so it'll be different leadership. But I just want to take a second and thank Kimberly Swinson. She's been our region director. She's not here tonight. Um for several two terms, I want to say and then she was she's been on the board for a long time serving our district. She'll she'll be a different director. So, it's a
071area director. So, but our current our new I it's not our director. I'm trying to think of the name. Stephanie, help me out if you know. Okay, it's Liz Shelum. If you guys know Liz, she will be over our um our regional setup now. Region, it's region five, but I don't even know if it's called region five anymore. So, we will we'll get the new verbiage for everybody so we can know what we're talking about. Um we still will be region five. Thank you. Thank you. PTA in the audience. Um and also they're at they have state convention tomorrow and the next day which is some of them are there setting up today. So that's why we don't have a lot of PTA but we have a couple. So thanks guys. And then um that's
072it. That's all I have. Thanks. Thanks. There was no benefits meeting in April. Um but there will be one coming up on Monday. Um so I'll report that out uh next month. Um, real quick, uh, earlier, Julie, we we were missing Julie earlier. So, can I expound a little bit on the evaluation committee? Um, so earlier we, um, had an executive session when we're discussing somebody's character and competence. That's a closed session for obvious reasons, but just so the public knows, um, the board actually hires only two employees. We have our superintendent and our business administrator. Those are our two employees that work for us and everyone else in the district works for them. And so it's our job to oversee and hold accountable our two employees. And that's why we do the yearly review
073for um Todd and Ben. And we held Todd's earlier this evening in a close session. And but I I want the public to know that how well he's doing as our business administrator. And I think the board came to a really good consensus of um appreciating Todd and his role. Um when he came into this position, he had a big task of putting in um better processes and procedures and being able to work with his direct reports and bring them along to kind of a new culture um of you know just those expectations following processes and procedures. Todd is an awesome advocate on the hill. um he's well respected and he can make sense of any legislative jargon and actually make it make sense to me. So that's good because there are so many different
074especially school finance. School finance is so nuanced and way more complex than people realize. There's above the line spending below the line, there's capital, there's m and on and on and on. And so he helps not only our board but our constituency, you know, if we have questions with property tax or anything like that, we know we can rely on Todd to put it in very simple terms so everybody can understand. So um I think what am I forgetting? The highlights are big advocate on the hill. He knows his stuff. He's bringing all of his directors in line to processes and procedures. He's organizing and serving uh on committees um the finance the audit committee he he he's on obviously budget and a whole bunch of others and so we just want to publicly say
075thanks Todd um for joining our team and we're happy to have you here. We hope you stay with us for quite a while and I just wanted the public to know that we do evaluate our two employees. We take that seriously as a board. We fill out evaluations. We have good discussions and just wanted the public to know that that kind of stuff happens and Ben's will be in six months. We offset them purposely. Thanks. And thanks to the evaluation committee for putting that together. Really appreciate it. Um all right, lawn policy. You saw most of what we have um tonight when we did our first readings um and what we talked about there as well as the second readings. Um the other thing is um just a quick district community council's coming up which
076is next week. Next week at Westlake West Lake. Thank you. Like it's on my calendar. Um so let's make six. Yeah. At Westlake. So, um, so just a reminder about that and, um, because Clark isn't here, just to let you know, we did have an audit committee meeting. Um, and, uh, talked about wrapping up a few things they are doing. They're in the midst of audits of all of our schools. Well, the schools that they're going to do, um, and we'll get a report on that. They're kind of finishing them up and and circling them about and then giving us the report. So, if you guys have any specific questions or uh schools that you're concerned about, please let the audit committee know. And with that, we have reached the end of our agenda. So,
077I will go ahead and adjourn. Thank you. s like