SLCSD Board Meeting, May 19, 2026 5:30 PM

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening everybody. We're going to go ahead and reconvene for the public portion of the Salt Lake City School District Board of Education. Uh today is May 19th, 2026. We are here for the purposes of a Salt Lake City School District Board of Education business meeting. Um we are reconvening after a study session that we had at 4:00 p.m. with sustainability as the topic. Um before I get started, I want to just uh welcome everybody and um introduce a few folks who are representing our association groups. For classified associations, we have building and buildings and grounds, Sam Gilchrist. For child nutrition, President Tonya Slaughter. For SLEA, um the Salt Lake Education Association, we have President Mike Harmon and Vice President Chelsea Acosta. And then for SLAS the Salt Lake Association of

002School Administrators, they're represented by Tom Luthi and East High Principal Ryan Oaks is joining us this evening as their representative tonight. Next we will move on to the Pledge of Allegiance and I have asked Slick City Principal Britney Powell to lead us in the pledge tonight. I I pledge 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. All right. Now we will move on to our recognitions. Our first recognition this evening is Bonneville Elementary platinum level STEM school in 2026 NAESP National Gold Star School. Dr. Grant. We get to celebrate Bonneville for a couple of wonderful achievements that recognize their strength in teaching and learning and Principal Karen Holman is going to come up with

003her binder of evidence to show what they have accomplished this year. Um if you'll introduce your teachers and your assistant principal, too, that'll be great. Hi, I'm Karen and this is Laura Cheney, our assistant principal. Amy Bell is our third through sixth grade science specialist and Laura Kennedy is our K2 science specialist. And thank you for allowing this recognition to happen at board meeting tonight. Our school and staff has worked really hard on this. Um these recognitions reflect a shared commitment to our high quality of instruction, our strong systems, and our culture where every student thrives. The platinum STEM designation, this is something that took a very long time. It we had systems in place and everything else before we started the application process last year. This was one year of gathering data from what

004we do in our school systems um and these two lovely ladies took the lead on working with our staff and doing that, but it's not just about our science specialist, but it's embedding the STEM across all of our classrooms as part of daily instruction and engaging students in that hands-on learning. So, students explain their work thinking um collaboratively and applying that to authentic challenges. And then the national Gold Star was something that was new this year. It's replacing the Blue Ribbon School um award that happened and it's built on the three pillars of principalship, which is established culture, so making sure that our students feel valued, safe, and supported and that our families are engaged in their education, empowered people. I think we doesn't demonstrated that through the STEM designation where our staff and students

005are empowered through shared leadership and opportunities and students taking ownership of their own learning. And then optimal systems. Um we have to have our systems in place to ensure that our instruction and our data-informed decisions are effective uses of our resources. And all of this together, we have a strong academic outcome at Bonneville and high levels of engagement and it's just the best school ever. So, thank you, Miss >> [laughter] >> It's nice to have a good leader there, too. Um Principal Holman, can you give us some examples of what you're doing in the classrooms that are a little different that led particularly to the Platinum STEM designation? I'm going to let my science specialist speak to that. That'd be great. I'm Amy Bell. Um so, let's see, in 20 2012, I with uh the

006faculty at Bonneville, um I mean, obviously, there's a lot of people that have changed changed places over the years, but it started where we tried to build a science extension program, so kids will have additional science than what they get in the classroom um from myself and from Laura and we split the grade levels and we they they have release time like they would for art or music or computer lab and they come to us for the hands-on portion, the messy stuff and the stuff that's really hard for teachers to set up and clean up while they're trying to teach so many different things and so that's our yeah, that yeah, so this this year we I I collaborate a lot with the with people in the community as well and so does Laura and

007we this year we were able to team up with um a cardiolo- cardiology researcher at the Sarah Franklin Lab at the U and we were able to do a sheep heart dissection with our sixth graders. Just lots of cool hands-on things that we try and bring to the school that are maybe out of the ordinary for an elementary school. Try and get them using microscopes. The goal of making them scientific learners and trusting themselves as scientific thinkers and I don't know, do you want to add anything Laura? Um maybe just that our just our strong system of support that if we when our PTO, you know, raises some extra money that this we put it into something academic and meaningful for students. Um so we have their strong support in administration. You know, administration has

008changed and it's really nice that incoming administration has been so supportive of that science um science school concept that we've been developing over all of these years. I think you've taken a great school and made it better. Thank you. I want to share one fun comment that we got from our kindergarten students at a recent field trip experience that we had up at Park City at the This one or the other one here? Yes, and they were doing their tour and they got asked what a scientist looks like and every single kindergarten student responded with she looks like this. So we're teaching our kids that girls can be scientists. Success. >> [laughter] >> Thank you so much and congratulations. Let's get a picture. You want the board do you want to come in? Do I

009want to stand here? Okay, yeah. You can just stand right there in front of that stuff. Should we hold the binder? Yes, [laughter] hold the binder. A lot of work, y'all. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> I should say do the window actually superintendent only four move over this way and we'll kind of get them in the center and then we'll have them. The board members and there we go. Sorry, Alan. Makes for a wider picture, but there we go. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Nice work. >> [applause] >> All right. Congratulations again, Bonneville. And our next recognition is for our student board member Foss Goodwin. Foss, it's been an awesome year. Thank you for joining us and representing Salt Lake City School District students and West High students. You've been absolute charm

010to be with us and very thoughtful. Everything you bring to the discussions has been really meaningful and been taking a part in in some action, too, which is also really exciting. I have a little thing that I want to read out loud and then board members can also um say any comments that they want to say about you, too, and and your tenure with us and also just wishing you good luck, right? Because you're off on your next grand adventure, which is really, really exciting. So, tonight, we are honored to recognize an exceptional student leader, Foss Goodwin, as he concludes his service as our student board member and prepares to graduate from West High School. Over the past year, Foss has represented the voice of students with thoughtfulness, integrity, and courage. He has consistently advocated

011for issues that matter deeply to his peers, ensuring that student perspectives remain at the forefront of our work. His leadership has not only informed our decisions, but has strengthened our commitment to listening, learning, and leading together. Foss's impact is already lasting. His contributions to the proposal to reinstate the student advisory council reflect his strong belief in student voice and shared leadership. Because of his efforts, future students will have expanded opportunities to engage, collaborate, and help shape the direction of our district. As he looks ahead to Dartmouth, that is awesome. >> [laughter] >> Like, let's be real, one of our nation's most prestigious institutions, we all know he will continue to thrive in a vibrant and inclusive learning environment that values research and innovation in addressing the most pressing challenges of our time. Foss already embodies

012these ideals through his curiosity, purpose, and commitment to making a difference. Foss, we're super proud of you. Thank you for your leadership, your voice, and your service. Uh you leave this board and this district better than you found it. I think we all can say that confidently and we wish you a lot of success in your future endeavors at Dartmouth and beyond. Congratulations. WELL DONE, FOSS. >> [applause] >> BUT, NOW WE'RE GOING TO DO THE LIKE THE REAL embarrassing thing. We're going to invite your mom to come up to participate in this. Emily, if I know you're out there and Foss, we have a gift for you from the district and from the board. Um, it's full of fun stuff, West High gear and Dartmouth gear, um, because you're going to need it. >> [laughter]

013>> Number one. So, and if other board members have anything they'd like to say to Foss and and congratulate him, Amanda. Um, well, do we want mom to say something first? >> You can You can come up here if you want. Can I bring my mom? Yeah, come on. Um, Foss, I just wanted to say it has been a pure pleasure and honor to serve beside you. You're such a mature soul and you're also very thoughtful and kind in your advocacy and the thoughts and the statements and the points that you make. They're so well thought out and uh, forward forward thinking that it's been quite impressive and I've thoroughly enjoyed every time you've contributed to conversations because it's always been a very helpful and insightful way. So, I'm excited to see what you do

014with your life. You've got a You've got a lot um, ahead of you. Um, so just keep working hard and keep like that positive innovative advocacy advocacy side towards you like moving ahead. Thanks, Foss. Yeah, Foss, it's been uh, absolute pleasure to have you up here with us. Um, Nate kind of said it in the statement that was read with the the word that came to mind when I thought of you was integrity. And so, I'm glad Nate read that in the statement. Um, I think one of the things I've appreciated and noticed um, about you, um, cuz we've had a couple of different student board student board members since I've been on the board, um, is that you're not just advocating for West High, you're advocating for all students and I I've noticed that

015from the very beginning. So, good luck and thank you for all your work. I've had the good fortune of knowing Foss since he was in the sixth grade, um, and seeing a lot of his dance performances and having him be a chauffeur for one of my kids. So, I've known for a very long time that Foss is responsible and an incredible contributor to the district community. So, good luck at Dartmouth. Thanks. Anybody on this? Oh, Brian. Yeah, just my buddy. Foss, it's really been a pleasure to sit next to you and >> [laughter] >> I have observed you and you're taking notes. You are paying attention and making significant contributions and I think that this evening is kind of the perfect finish because we get to hear from you in part tonight. There's a portion

016of our agenda that reflects your work. All the best. I'm really excited for you. Anyone else in? Sure, Foss. Enjoy New Hampshire. Um, and thank you for being such an advocate. I admire advocates, particularly those that are so thoughtful. So, thank you for bringing that with with you to the board. Go, Foss. >> [laughter] >> Thank you for all of your work and, um, we can sense how much you care and, um, you have a sharp, brilliant mind and a kind soul and I think that's the best combination. So, you'll do great things. Yeah, I just want to echo what what my fellow board members said that you know how to be bold and courageous in advocacy, but with a very respectful and caring tone. You know, and that's that's a you know, the dignity

017index. Like you followed it impeccably and, um, you're an inspiration to me as a board member. Um, and I am really proud of your advocacy regarding fine arts. That's something that is dear to me as well, and I think it's an important part of our education system. So, I know that, uh, just know that your words are being considered by all of us, um, seriously. And, thank you for everything you've done. Good luck. All right, Donald, you got anything? I know [clears throat] you're a numbers guy, but Thank you, Foss, and I I say ditto to everything that's been said, and best of luck. Foss, anything you'd like to say? Yeah. Um, I have really enjoyed being on the board for this year. Um, like what said, I'm always taking notes. I've found, um, that,

018you know, the stats on everything is a lot of what makes up these meetings, and they're really important to make educated decisions. So, I'll take that with me. Um, I really value the opportunity to have this experience and see what it's like to be on a board to help make these decisions, and I think that'll be really valuable for the next student that comes along. So, thanks for making it great. All right. Foss, congratulations. Now we get to go take a picture. Let's stand up. >> [clears throat] >> Should we all come around for a picture? Yeah, let's do it. Donald, Dr. Lewis. For the picture. What do you think? Where should we go, Jason? I think you're doing well all by yourself. >> [clears throat] >> That was great. Okay, we ready? >> [clears

019throat] >> 1 2 3 Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, we will move along. Congratulations again to Bonneville and to Foss for all your work and service to the the district and to the board. Uh next up is our consent agenda. Um I will entertain a motion from the board. I move that we accept the consent agenda as posted. Second. Second. Second. Second. Okay, we got a motion and a second. Discussion? Yeah, so there needs to be a correction to the consent on item uh B 2 uh B, the minutes for May 1st should read May 1st, 2026, not 2025. So, if that can be added to the motion, that'd be great. Um Substitute motion to accept the minutes as posted with the minutes date corrected. Second. Any further discussion? Amanda? >> need a

020second? I already have a second. Um I wanted to uh point out the gifted and talented handbook. A community member um brought some questions to me and I was able to flush them out with Garrett and Tiffany Hall. Um but basically one of the um magnet programs is at Edison, which generally is a K through 5, not a K through 6, so we have not technically, but kind of a hole there. Uh but right now it houses a 5-6 combination for the magnet. Um and they clarified that starting next year um it will be a standalone 6th grade magnet, so they're working on um mitigating that 6th grade challenge, so I want the community to be aware that um that is known and that is being addressed. Um and then as far as the commun-

021the handbook itself, what was explained to me was that um Uh sorry, hold on a second. That the it's usually done annually. Um and a report kind of aligns with this in the fall, and with that report um a further clarification and questions can be addressed at that point in time. So, um for the community that is um monitoring and curious about what's happening with our magnet and programs, just um it is being worked on and we're going to be bringing this back in the fall. Thank you, ma'am. Any other comments? All right, seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with board member Williams. Brent Jones, Charlotte Fife Jefferson, yes. Ashley Anderson, yes. Mickey Salas Rodriguez, Annie Uramono, yes. Ryan Chatson, yes. Brenda Longoria, yes. Thank you, board. That motion passes. We'll now

022move on to the next portion of our meeting, which is our request to speak. Uh the board has asked me to read a statement governing your comments this evening. The board enjoys the opportunity to hear from the public during the comment portion of its meetings. Before we begin, I would like to take a moment to remind you of our board rules governing your comments. One, the total time reserved for public comment is not to exceed 15 minutes with all speakers or groups limited to three. Two, the board will not allow public comments during board meetings that are slanderous, obscene, or otherwise violate state or federal law. Three, employees and or their representatives may not use the public comment period to address issues that should be raised through existing formal communication channels or established grievance or

023negotiation process procedures. I'd also like to explain that unless the speaker's topic is already on the agenda, state law prohibits the board from taking action on items raised during the public comment period. However, if this seems appropriate to the circumstances, I may direct district staff to follow up with the speaker on the topic discussed. Our first speaker this evening is Dane Hess, the one and only Dane. Thank you, Dane. Hey, Dane. Woohoo. Students come to school school social workers carrying more than they should have to. Grief, trauma, anxiety, instability, and crisis. And still, they show up. They show up to school, they sit down in classrooms and offices. They stay in the room. Some students arrive believing life will never feel different. And still, they return the next day and the next. Over time, through

024relationship and support, something begins to shift. Not all at once, but slowly. A student stays in class a little longer, stays in school more consistently, stays connected instead of pulling away. We support students after behavioral incidents, students rebuilding stability after mental health challenges, and students navigating grief, family disruption, and loss. We also support the adults around them, helping parents understand what their children are carrying, supporting teachers responding to complex needs, partnering with administrators to build safer schools, helping families navigate systems in unfamiliar languages, connecting them with food, resources, and support, and making sure children get to stay children a little longer. And often what we hear when students and families are ready is something simple but powerful. I want help doing things differently. Or I want to stay in school. >> [clears throat] >> I

025want to stay out of trouble. I want to stay alive. And what makes that possible is not one intervention, not one conversation. It is consistent relationships over time. It is someone staying long enough for a student to believe they matter. And if you look closely at this work, at every student who keeps showing up, keeps trying, keeps reconnecting, what you're really seeing is this. They are staying in school, they are staying in relationships, they are staying in their lives. And they are still hoping. >> [clears throat] >> This is why school social work matters. Not because we eliminate every challenge, but because we help create the conditions where students can stay in classrooms, in relationships, in connection, and sometimes alive long enough for things to change. When these roles are reduced, it is not just

026a staffing decision. It is a reduction in the systems of support that help students stay engaged, regulated, connected, and safe. I appreciate the care and complexity involved in decisions before the board. I just ask that we hold on to what we know from students and families themselves. They are staying and they are still hoping. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you, Dane. Our next speaker this evening is Grace Humenik Humenik. I'm so sorry, Grace. >> [laughter] >> It was close. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Hi, [clears throat] my name is Grace Humenik. I work at East High School and have been there for the past 5 years and this is my first year as a high school counselor. Um I'm speaking today because I am deeply concerned about the cuts to school social workers in Salt

027Lake City School District schools. Um I would consider myself very lucky to work closely with high school students every day and right now students in our community are dealing with a lot more than many people realize. Um they're dealing with anxiety, depression, housing instability, family problems, grief, substance abuse in the homes, and violence, loneliness, and pressure about the future. For some students, school is the only stable place that they have and often the reason they stay connected to school is because there's one trusted adult who sees them, checks in on them, and makes them feel safe. For many students who need that support and extra support, that person has been our school social worker. Um at East High School, we are lucky enough to have Dane and I've had the privilege to get to know

028him and work alongside him. Dane has become far more than just our school social worker. He brings people together. He has helped create connection and community in a way that's hard to fully describe unless you see it every day. I believe everyone who works with us can attest to that. Students know him, families trust him, and staff relies on him. That kind of relationship simply cannot be replaced. I worry about these positions being cut. Um I worry about how this impacts each individual school as I I how it will impact ours. Um being told that there will still be resources there then students and families being referred to outside resources is concerning. Um where outside resources absolutely matter, these resources only help when students and families can realistically access them. Many of our families face

029barriers like transportation, insurance, language, scheduling, not knowing how to navigate systems during already stressful situations, and most importantly trust. And the reality is that most students and families who need these supports most will not seek help outside their child's school. This is what makes school social workers so important is they remove those barriers. Students can walk down the hall, see a familiar face, and receive support immediately from someone they already know and trust. Families trust those within the school and those that they already know. That type of accessibility and relationship cannot be replicated by handing someone a pamphlet or referral list. I truly cannot express how important this role is in our schools and that these relationships are not temporary services and they are part of the foundation of our school community. I'm genuinely worried

030about the loss of our school social workers at our school specifically and across the district um and what it's going to result in for students and students is the reason that we are all here. Um as my first year as a school counselor, I can see that we are already stretched incredibly thin. Our school is a school of 1,700 students, roughly 300 students per counselor. Um where we manage academic planning, schedules, graduation requirements, college and career readiness, crisis response, and mental health support often all at once. I know that I and the rest of my team simply do not have the time or resources to take on the work of our social workers and what they're doing every day. Um and while I know that I may seem young and newer to this role, being

031able to work closely with students every day is exactly why I can see how critical this support truly is. Um I would love to respectfully ask the board to reconsider and revisit this decision. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is Elise Arrington. I can't come for after school help today, Ms. Arrington. I watch my nieces and nephews every day now that my aunt was taken by ICE. No, you don't need to call home. They already know about these bruises. My stepdad gave them to me. I'm not distracted. I'm looking around the room for something I can use to hurt myself. Ms. Arrington, can I come to parent-teacher conference for myself? It's just me at home. My whole family moved to another country out of political fear. They are all counting on me now.

032My weekend was fine, I guess. It got better after Mom's funeral. I'm sorry I'm not paying much attention. My dad was picked up by ICE this morning. I'm speaking to you today as a community member, a concerned parent, and an employee. I know you have received copious emails and public outcry over the proposed decision to eliminate certain social worker positions across our district. I wholeheartedly oppose these proposi- this proposition and implore this board and the district to find an alternative solution to the financial struggles. Within the last month, my school community lost two students. One currently enrolled uh in a car crash and a recent alumnus for the same reason. And my daughter's elementary school community tragically lost a student in an accident, too. This all happened in the span of 1 week. While some

033might attribute this to coin- coincidence, these losses reflect a harsh reality. Our young people are navigating an increasingly unstable world. >> [snorts] >> Our students need social workers, I would argue more than just one per school as the School Social Worker Association of America recommends one for every 250 students who are qualified and trained to work with young people as they process the fallout of tragedies and the day-to-day struggles of life in 2026 America. As a classroom teacher, I cannot be that person to 160 students while tackling my content objectives. Maslow's hierarchy of needs confirms that students must have their fundamental physiological and emotional needs met before they can fully engage in higher-level learning and cognitive growth. I count on people like Dane to help me be a better, more grounded teacher because I know

034he is doing the difficult but necessary work with many of my students. I have seen and felt the direct impact consistent efforts. I recognize the financial strain on public education and schools as funding has been cut at both local and federal levels. I also recognize the bond that was recently passed to rebuild two comprehensive high schools totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But this is the very definition of house poor. We cannot afford to build structures we cannot adequately staff or support. In addition, the recent talks about charging students more for their school meals that they already struggle to afford only complicates the scenario further. We have press release photos of board members and district leaders wearing custom logo hard hats and wielding gold shovels at the groundbreaking of the new West High

035School. But we can't help with student lunch debt. It's not a good look for us. Um the board, this body, can't end childhood hunger. This body can't abolish ICE. This body can't cure mental health disorders and this body can't put a stop to domestic abuse, but it can offer its beloved students the humane and necessary support of a school social worker who is consistently there on staff at its schools. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU, ELISE. OUR NEXT SPEAKER THIS evening is Brisa Arias. Good evening. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Brisa and I am a social worker and community member with experience working within school systems. I want to speak tonight about the importance of comprehensive mental health support within our schools and the gaps students experience when those supports

036are reduced. I understand some of these needs are met with contracts with community partners, but it's important to understand that community partners services are not the same thing as having full-time district school social workers embedded in the building. These are responsibilities school social workers carry that outside providers are not able to fully replace. Community providers do not provide school-wide crisis response throughout the day, coordinate emergency mental health assessments, or respond building-wide when students are in immediate emotional distress. They are also not able to consistently provide classroom prevention presentations, school assemblies focused on mental health resources, suicide prevention education, coping skill instruction, or the kind of universal outreach that reaches students before they they are identified for therapy. Those preventative and relationship-based services matter deeply. Sometimes support starts long before a referral is made. It starts

037with a student hearing about resources during a classroom presentation, seeing a trusted adult speak at an assembly, or knowing that there is some someone visible and available during difficult moments in the day. Without the broader school-wide presence, support becomes more reactive and less preventative. Students who might have access help through relationships, education, or early intervention can become easier to miss. Schools today are navigating increasing mental health needs and students benefit most when therapeutic relationship when therapeutic partnerships and district-based school mental health staff work together, not when one is expected to fully replace the other. Currently, the National Association of Social Workers for School Social Work Services recommends a ratio of one social worker to every 250 students. For example, East High has a student body of approximately 1,700. Based on NASW recommendations, they would need

038at least six school social workers to address the needs of students. Currently, they have two. I hope the district continues to prioritize accessible preventative relationship-centered mental health support for all students. Thank you for your time and commitment to student well-being. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Brisa. Our last speaker this evening is Kathleen Curry-Griffin. Before I start my public comments, I wanted to apologize to the board. My name was on here the last board meeting, and I sent an email to Nate and Helen, and I don't think it got there on time. But, I was on a flight coming back. Um I do have goals outside of writing letters to the board and coming to board meetings. My husband can't retire until he gets all of his ballparks in. Um so, we were getting that done,

039and I was watching Yamamoto pitch and Ohtani hit a home run, and um flying back. So, my apologies. >> Sounds like you needed it. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> My name is Kathleen Curry-Griffin. Um I've written every board member and the board, as well as the district administration, regarding my frustration after my comments last April and in in April, um which I believe after that there was a narrative designed that um sort of had a predetermined message that, um, I don't feel was accurate. Because I don't want to spend all of my time here in public comment reviewing all of that, the letter, the documentation. I've asked for my written comments to and supporting documents to be added to the public record for review. If the district wants to create trust, trust with employees, past employees,

040community members, patrons, taxpayers, the district needs to do better. It's really important that I understand that district administrators do have difficult decisions to make. I do understand that the budget our budget is diff- every single district is having issues with their budget. But best practices require transparency, stakeholder input, collaboration, consideration of alternative alternative perspectives, and a genuine explanation or exploration, excuse me, of possible solutions. If administration chooses to move forward without this process, they also need to own that process, including the lack of process, rather than framing information in a way that supports a preferred narrative. I would like to at this time talk about collaborative path forward instead of looking at my issues with how things have been coming out. I really think it's important that the district look towards ideas and solutions, and

041that they look at these, um, things and how that they can collaborate, things like dual capacity framework for buildings, family and school partnerships. Since the FTD FTEs for community center supervisors and their programs are already in the budget, were- and those budgets weren't cut, it's really important to look at those job descriptions. They are not just a adult classes at night. It says in their job description, community center supervisor plays a role, a vital role in shaping out of school programs supporting the goals of administration, teachers, and students. This dynamic role is a bridge between the school and the community offering impactful programs for students, adults, and the community and additional learning opportunities. The supervisor also plays a valuable performing information referrals to eligible students and families. This is important because the collaboration we had

042at Highland for an example when I was there, we worked seamlessly with family support. They we extended their services in the evening. That's just something that would cost an additional cost for the district. We did referrals. We helped them we we kept vouchers for food. We opened the food pantry. So some of these items are kind of getting neglected. So I just want to say as we look through these that there are a lot of other options. Working with partners to bring in services. One other thing I want to mention in my letter is that the programs at Title 1 schools also don't have to be free. When I was at Glendow, we brought in 15 to 20,000 dollars a year. All of that money can help provide these programs and sustain these programs for

043what the district needs. Thank you. >> [applause] >> And Kathleen, just so you know, I just sent your email that you sent prior to the board meeting to the rest of the board members just now and we'll make sure that your comments and written comments are attached to the the minutes as well. And my Yamma Moto comment I have. It will it'll be there for sure. Yeah. >> to make sure they're important and thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you everybody who spoke this evening. We really appreciate your advocacy and everything that you do on behalf of students in Salt Lake and in our greater community. Our next section of the agenda is the reports agenda. Item number one is budget development, final budget review. B. Akersloot, turn over to you. Okay, thank

044you. So, this is the We started this process back in February of um the budget development for the 2026-2027 year. And what we have in today's presentation is kind of a final summary presentation and time for any further questions knowing that in our June 2nd meeting we are scheduled to have a a public hearing on the budget and then a potential vote from the board to approve the budget for the 2026-2027 year. So, uh what I'm showing in today's presentation is you know, we talked about general fund and other special revenue funds and debt service fund. This brings all those together into one presentation. So, if anybody asks how how big is the budget of the district, these are the schedules that we go to, but I just want to note that they're made up

045of those little building blocks that we've been covering over the last several months. >> [snorts] >> Uh so, 2026-2027 revenue budget highlights, again, we're we are proposing to adopt the certified tax rate, which is no tax increase. Um there is a 4.2% increase of the weighted people unit funding by the legislature. Uh but even with that, with our decrease estimated decrease in enrollment, that'll bring in six We'll have a $643,000 decrease in minimum school revenue uh projected for next year. Uh in addition, the um schools will get $400,000 more of land trust money and and we have additional $1 million of at-risk money um that will be adjusted based on our October 1 counts. Yeah. Again, um I don't expect you to read these, but this these these are the numbers that are going to

046develop the next few charts. Uh I want to note that the full budget book, the draft budget book is posted on our our webpage underneath the If you go to the Board of Education, there's a spot for budget and this this draft budget is presented there. So, here we see our total government rates with the blue being the revenue, uh orange being expenditure, and then the gray being the fund balance. Since we're bringing in all of our governmental funds, including the the the the um capital. So, you see these big jumps when we issue bonds, that brings in a lot of money. So, if you were just looking at the general fund, those those trend lines are a lot more steady, but when we bring all the governmental funds together, we have those big influxes

047of bond money, and then we have big influxes of spending when we when we build our buildings. Uh a pie chart showing where the where the money comes from. 49% comes local funding, that's generally property tax, interest, so forth. Um 27% comes from our bond proceeds, 19% comes from the state, and then 5% from the federal government. Again, these are the whole budget, not just the one particular fund. Uh where does the money go? 28.9% to instruction, 33.8 capital outlay. Again, those are our two big capital projects, uh largely the two high school rebuilds. And you see there's several other small categories through that pie chart. Uh we do have it when you're looking in the budget book, we have what's called internal service funds. Internal service funds charge the the government for their service,

048like one of them is a printing department. Uh a school or department can go to the printing department, make copies, and then um charge that out. They kind of run like a mini business. Um we we have three internal service funds, the distribution service or the warehouse uh fund, printing and graphics, and employee benefits. We used to have a fourth technical service fund, but we we ended that reporting as a separate fund this year, and those activities are included in the general fund now. Um to avoid duplication of of reporting since they charge the other government, uh when we roll everything up, those the effect of the internal service um funds gets eliminated. Otherwise, we'd be reporting the same expenditure twice. And for that reason on the elimination, they don't really they're not required to

049have a budget. We're not going to really discuss them. I just want you to know when you see them in the budget book what they are and and what their purpose is. Uh our following steps, uh I've met with a few of you with small group meetings. Uh still hoping if anybody wants to um reach out, we can either meet electronically or in person and kind of go over some final questions you may have. Uh the goal is that the board members feel confident, comfortable voting on the budget in our June 2nd meeting following our public hearing. Um so again, if you have any questions or want to go over some stuff, please reach out. Uh and then we'll there's questions, and then I've attached all of our other presentations that we've done throughout the

050last several months, but we're not going to cover them cuz we've already covered them in previous board meetings. Questions, Ash? Yeah, I have a few questions about this presentation more generally, but I also wanted um to check that this is the time in the agenda you wanted to go over our discussion in finance committee about the budget. Correct. Um so instead of using my question time, if I could just speak on behalf of the Finance Committee, we talked about the the issue being presented with social workers. And again, that it wasn't a decision the board made to RIF social workers or eliminate social worker roles. They were covered by a federal grant, and the grant had concluded. And the you know, the argument is where would the money come from? So, as a committee, we

051talked about a couple of things. And that there are six open FTE right now in the district budget. And three of them are the community education coordinators at the comprehensive high school. And three of them are family school collaboration specialists, which were not re-staffed. So, we had a discussion about the reduction of social workers by six, and if that six FTE was equivalent to the six FTE being lost in social work. It was determined that social workers are actually on a higher pay scale. That's probably slightly inaccurate way to say it. The FTE is not like because they're different contracts and they're not different different salaries. So, that's a little more clear way to say it. And because they're not like, essentially reallocating all six of those positions would cover one social worker at each

052of the comprehensive high schools. And it was the recommendation of the Finance Committee that the board consider doing that. Because one of the value social workers provide, which has been amply shared. And two, because it was a controversial decision originally to use grant money on personnel because as we know, personnel require ongoing money. And when we use one-time money on personnel, we we come into the situation a lot. So, it also makes a strong commitment from the district that in our actual budget, in ongoing revenue, we commit to having one social worker at each comprehensive high school. And so, that was the recommendation of the committee, which hopefully we could also discuss at this time. Thank you, Ashley. The request to have your time as a report is recognized and won't be taken away from

053your question time. Thank you. You're welcome. Opening up to questions based on our recommendation, Annie. Yeah, so could you just give an overview? Um as Ashley stated, the board doesn't make these decisions. The the budget is presented to us and then we can vote on it. So, if some someone was proposed a budget cut, it wasn't necessarily cuz the board decided that that was a district decision that we are now discussing to try to correct if there's something that we disagree with. So, for the social work positions, I'm wondering and as well as the McKinney-Vento specialists, it does not seem like there's a lack of need. It's a lack of funding, which relates to the SR funding. Um but we were talking about kind of right-sizing student support spec services because as we know, funding

054is decreasing as enrollment decreases. That doesn't necessarily mean we should cut some of these student supports because that's not right-sized. As they as public comments explained, it should be 1 to 250. We're obviously way above that. So, cutting doesn't make sense in that ratio. So, do we have any sort of ratios we can use or guidelines we can use as enrollment declines to make sure we're keeping proper staffing for student support? And as enrollment declines, we have teacher ratio numbers, which we follow very rigidly, but we don't have numbers like that for student support. You're correct. We do have We We have that automated way that when student enrollment goes down that the number of classroom teachers also goes down. We do not have an automatic calculation for the rest of the system. That's something

055we're we're discussing and looking at and um we need to come up with a plan so that the rest of the system also reflects the enrollment while still meeting the needs of the students that we that we have. So, we do not have that formula, um but we are discussing it and looking at it. So, my my question for that would be I understand that we're looking at that, but what about now? Because if we're cutting things now, and then like down the line we're like, "Oh, you know, we shouldn't have cut that or that ratio wasn't good." I I You know, I'm new to the board. This is something It just seems like it should have been established long ago, but obviously the establishment of that is very thoughtful. It's not just based on

056you know, I mean, there are multiple professional organizations like they were saying a social worker organization, and then there's also what kind of is the norm within school districts, what what assessment we can actually make sense of like it's not maybe possible for us to do 1 to 250. Anyway, I just I would really encourage us to look at these way before we're starting cuts because it seems like we need those ratios to guide the cuts. That's my thought. Okay, thank you. We have Brian and then Ashley. Okay, so >> [clears throat] >> I was looking at I'm I'm not on the planet that you're sitting here. I'm going to rely on your background knowledge and your expertise. So, in that could you go back and pull up the balance sheet for lack of a

057better term? Um I just want to make sure that I'm understanding it correctly. So, when I am looking at this, it shows under total revenue, um so in 2025-26, we had 399 um million. Okay? Okay. Yeah. And then for our budget this year that's being proposed, we have 300 383 million. Am I reading that Okay, that is correct. So that [clears throat] means that we have lost million dollars in revenue. Am I reading this correctly? Yeah. Okay. So then I go down and I look at expenditures. And in expenditures, it says there's 174 million this year. And then the proposed, it's going to be 164 million. Is that Am I reading that correctly? If you look across there about mid-page, there's a total expenditures line. For this year, it's 577 million. That was just the

058instruction line you were reading there. Okay. So for the >> And yes, I I understand that. Okay, but what I was getting at because when I look at these things, because when you go down to the total expenditures, it looks like, okay, 577 million, then the 567, like you said. So it's gone down 10 million. Okay? But it looked to me like a lot of it was going down in instruction. That's where we're taking a lot, trying to reduce in instruction. And to me, that's a little worrisome because instruction is what we're tasked with. So, what I am just trying to emphasize here is the challenge that to me, we are grappling with here because revenue went down um 16 million. But, we've only got expenditures going down 10 million. So, then when I look

059at that, like the general like the fund when you go down there, Fund balances, yeah. >> The fund balance? I mean, this is dropping precipitously. I mean, if I go back to [clears throat] 2024, we were at 295 million. Then in 2025-26, we're now down to 117 million. That's a lot of money. Yeah, I do want to know again, these are all funds together. So, last year you're going to see we did a bond sale at the end of the year and didn't spend it. So, that's going to be down in that fund balance and then um so, I think your analysis I mean, it's all true, but to get more trends, you look at maybe just the general fund so you get those bond and big expenditures out of the equation. What I'm trying

060to get at is as I look at this, I mean, then it drops down to 2026, 79 million. We're [clears throat] running out of money if we, you know, keep it this pace. Am I No, that's that's exactly So, that's the conversation we had when we just cuz last board meeting we discussed general fund. Um and yeah, if we don't solve the issue in the next couple years, we We're going to be out of money. Exactly. Out of our general fund will be um depleted. Correct. Our fund balance will Our fund balance, right. Ashley. Um yeah, so first I would just quickly respond to Annie's comment. The committee did discuss that we had to have a two-part dialogue. So first we said we needed to receive board support for reallocating those six roles to three

061dedicated social workers. The reason we needed that support first is we can't make a ratio until we know the final amount that we are you know, paying for in the current budget. So the second part we discussed was that if the board provided support for that reallocation of funding for social work, then we would continue our discussion and at the same time we need to have the same dialogue for the zero-based budgeting activity that we directed to the superintendent. We've only heard briefly from two departments and we need all the details on what positions we could expect could reduce from the central office and what ratios would also align with those reductions. So those are important um just to point out it needs to be a two-parter. Um and the second I understand what Brian

062is saying because if you do the math, I said this in the last meeting, the district will be bankrupt in five years. We will be bankrupt in five years if we keep spending at the same pace we're spending without adjusting our budgets. I don't think that means, you know, only cutting things where grants have concluded is also not going to save us. So it's important that we make budgeting decisions with values in mind of what the district needs to offer and what is the most critical. Um I think that's what the commenters are additionally suggesting. And with that in mind, I'm wondering how we can in the future break down the budget shortfall by department or area and also better allocate where our property tax growth is going because I know that right now all

063of our property tax growth is going into the general fund, right? It's going into fund balance. Well, the growth comes in on the different levies. So, the capital levy will generate its own growth and since it's the capital levy that has to go into the capital fund, but the the balance of it does go into the general fund. And so, when it's going into the general fund, what it's saying is we need to fill the budget hole that Ryan is identifying and that the hole is getting large and larger and larger. So, we're putting all the money into it knowing that it is there. And what I'm suggesting and what I think finance committee has suggested is the more that we do zero-based budgeting by department, the more we can see which departments have shortfalls

064and why and then focus on what Annie is talking about, which is ensuring that as the hole gets bigger, we continue to allocate the majority of our services to people who directly serve students face-to-face. And that when we don't make decisions that way and it just goes into, you know, the the fund balance, the overall deficit, we're not then no longer having stewardship over the budget. We're just putting a band-aid over what is a jugular wound. And so, but again, I would ask, what is the best method by which in the next year's budget or as we go through this and revise this budget because you know we approve it, but we also have to approve multiple revisions to it to reconcile it at the end of the budget cycle, how could we determine the

065budget shortfalls by department or area? I think maybe if you remember earlier in the year or possibly it was last year, we had that document that showed all of our departments and programs and kind of gave a narrative of what is what is its purpose, how many FTE are in here and what's its its budget. I think we use that as our starting document so we have a good understanding of what each department and program does. Uh and then we can look again, when we do programs they're all self-balancing. So, I always put enough money into a program to balance it. So, just from that [clears throat] standpoint, it's hard to say, oh, you you spent more money than you brought in cuz they're not bringing in money, per se." Um but we can also

066look at those historical budgets by program and department say, "What's maybe increased more than the average overall budget? Where Where is our growth been, and why has that growth existed?" And have those discussions over the next several months. I think that'd be very helpful. And then what I'm hearing you say is that perhaps recognizing that we can't act on a reports agenda, we can still direct the business administrator and finance committee, um to take up ongoing conversations. And the first part would be is there consent for approving reallocation? The second would be then what are the ratios for the central office? And then the third would be uh year-long plan for sort of evaluating by department or area, so we can respond to what Annie is raising. Would you agree that we heard the same

067thing? Yes. Okay. >> repeat those three things? Uh-huh. Sure. >> Please. Yeah. That Um first, we need to understand as a finance committee if we have board support for reallocating those roles in this upcoming budget. The second would be if if we do, then we need to continue having a conversation about the ratios for some of those roles that are more centralized, and determining that when we commit to fund three for the I don't know. Okay. When we commit to fund three for the high schools, then what are we also committing to in terms of long-term ratio as enrollment declines? And then the last would be continuing this kind of zero-based budgeting exercise, extending it to talking department by department and area by area as Alan has shared. Yeah, and I want to add to

068that. So, on our social workers, we have five that are currently paid for a federal grant on a federal grant that also expires in four years. And so, I I like the idea of having a plan ahead of time, so when we hit that that end of the grant, we're not having this discussion again. We've We already have a plan in place. Yes. Um that's very helpful. And then the last thing I'll say, because I think I have just a little bit of time left, is um I'm going to beat the drum that I continue to beat, which is we are losing $36 million of our property tax growth to development under the policy of tax increment financing. If we had $36 million in ongoing property tax revenue, this conversation would not be happening. We

069would not be having this conversation about social work. We wouldn't be having it about community ed. We wouldn't have been having it about family school collaboration if we had $36 million in flexible ongoing dollars. The The issues that we are debating right now would not be McKinney-Vento would not be debated. Um the FTE reductions would be easier to address. You're welcome. Uh We would be able to talk more readily about revising the ratio to fund the size of schools we have if we were retaining those $36 million. So I'd just like to say I know that coming and giving a public comment is great, and I really like to hear from everybody, but staying engaged in the budget cycle and the other policies that impact the budget cycle will make the biggest difference to the

070programs that matter to the public. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you. Um okay, I saw Annie and then Amanda. Oh, and Annie you already spoke. So Amanda and then Charlotte was second. Okay. Um Ashley covered that quite well. Um and I just have to say that, you know, I agree with everything that you said. Parl, and I'm just going to repeat a few things that you already covered. Um but basically and Brian pointed out that I just have to re-emphasize it. We are going in the negative. Well, we're heading towards that direction. We're not negative now, um but where we have that 30 37.7 fund decrease at our fund balance. Um at the 36 million that's going to the city through TIF. Um But, some of the things we need to be looking at, and I

071quite redundant on this, but we're going through the process of the um school closures, the ones that are already in existence, future ones, and that's going to be part of this budget reallocation issue as well. Um and but re-emphasizing without going into a lot of conversation cuz again, Ashley covered it so well, but the finance committee um did discuss keeping three of the um social worker positions so that we maintain those in our comprehensive high schools. We We've all received a lot of emails and information about the necessity of these positions. Um personally, I've experienced stuff with um my children and other friends of my children and uh have experienced just um as was stated, how important these positions are for our students as they're trying to get through um and accomplish all that we

072want them to accomplish. So, just adding an extra plug and support as to what we discussed in the finance committee that we do feel that with the reductions that we've had in other areas, um reallocating and maintaining these three um in the comprehensive high schools, we feel is important to do. So, that's my piece. Thank you, Amanda Charlotte. Um thank you for the enlightenment of from the finance committee and and Annie for um asking the question about how we can ensure that as our enrollment drops, that we can still maintain adequate uh uh like necessary services for our students to >> [clears throat] >> um be educated. I mean, they can't they cannot learn if their mental health is not if they're in crisis mode. And um So, and also people students experiencing homelessness, you

073know, it's the same thing. It's it's just a it's a crisis thing. So, I feel like we're in in a state of triage. Like, what do we what do we need to fund right now and protect in order to to make sure to ensure that our students are having excellence and equity every student, every classroom, every day. Um and that we are meeting our goals with absenteeism, you know, and literacy rates. We we This is This is at the top, I believe, that are the mental health supports for for our students are very crucial. So, they should have be funded not on a bunch of piecemeal grants. Um Our times have are changing. It's a lot different from when we were in school, I think. Our our young our younger generation is faced with so

074I mean, unbelievable amounts of of stress, but also in our Title 1 schools, the needs are great. Like So, we need to I just whatever we do, I want to make sure I would like to not lose any social work positions at all. And the McKinney-Vento specialist. And I was there are a few of those positions that I but even the refugee um support. I I just And I hope that in the future we can I mean, if we're if we are valuing these positions as as essential and necessary to our to our district's budget um that we won't have to just announce that that six positions are being cut and and have this I mean, I think it caused a lot of stress because for teachers, for admin not just students. People can't do

075their jobs without the support of social workers in our schools. So, um thank you for working hard to find the three comprehensive the positions for the three comprehensive high schools. But I I hope we can go further. Thank you, Shari. I'll go ahead and use my time as well. Um one I am right with where all the other board members are that these two have spoken about the importance and significance of social workers in schools. I know I'm biased cuz I am an MSW myself and spent a lot of time working in schools with families um bringing all the wrap-around supports and services um you know, that a lot of the speakers and that I know a lot of social workers in our schools do on very regular if not everyday basis. And so, I

076say that also knowing that we've talked a lot about the budget and about where we're going and you know, bankruptcy and in the red and all that stuff. And I really want to re-emphasize a couple of things that I think are really important that I've talked about in the past, which is our strategic plan. And making sure that our budget is also being reconciled with this the goals of our strategic plan and that the programs that are identified in the strategic plan are being assessed for um their efficacy and that the outcomes that we're looking for are being met. And I would really encourage this board to to continue to have that lens as we navigate this. Um and also the reality of the lens that says we're going to make some really difficult decisions

077moving forward. Um especially when it comes to budgets and tax increases. Um it's just the the current era that we're living. And you know, the idea of raising taxes is never fun. Um it comes with a lot of stress and it comes with a lot of pressure on the community at large. Um and so I I want us all to be very mindful of what these conversations look like in the future and how we allocate and prioritize um the funds necessary to make these possible. Um and I say that also knowing that I'm not going to be around with you all to have those tough and difficult conversations and pressures. I'm not trying to escape goat the responsibility, but just kind of frame the reality of of what's to come. Um with all the other

078pressures, declining enrollment, political unrest, um the ever-changing times that you mentioned, Charlotte. Um and I think it's just really important for us to be comprehensive about how we approach and think about the budget based on the goals and priorities that we've already agreed upon and set. Um with the the needs and the realities of the needs that exist um amongst our students and families and our community and in our district. Um so I just wanted to frame that. Um and also just a question for Alan. Um one, I'm in support of this reallocation, but for your budgetary purposes and for transparency with the community, how does this board move that forward? I know I've done this before, but I just think it's really important for the community to hear what the steps and the process

079is. Um and also important for the board as we navigate this over the next couple of weeks. All right. So, the budget book itself is very it's it's very rolled up. Um so, you're not seeing all the details. So, with board direction tonight, we would take the funds that have been discussed, the school collaboration specialist funds and the high school community ed uh coordinator funds, and we would move them from their the programs they're at to a social worker program and dedicate um those those three FTE to be paid for. Those are both property taxes funded. That so, um not not relying on grants going away. They they'd be be permanent unless Um it would it would take board action to change that. So, um we would the budget book itself, you wouldn't see that

080reflection because it's so rolled up, but we would make that uh change at the programmatic level. But, I I would I would just like a clear yes, that's the board's will to adjust that in the budget for next year. Um I just got one question. Uh how much time do I have left, Brian? 28 seconds. Okay. Um and my last question is for Bryce. I know you and I have been really passionate about family school collaboration specialists, and we've had some discussions about what this means and the trade-off that we're talking about now. Um I also know that in most recent study sessions we've had on the topic of family school collaboration specialists, a lot of the feedback we got from schools were about wrap-around services and supports, social and emotional well-being, and so on.

081So, is this something that you're comfortable with as somebody that's been very passionate in advocating for family school collaboration specialists? Yeah, thanks for that question. Um Also, I have biases as a someone who has a BSW. Um I'm 100% supportive of moving forward with this. Okay. Thank you, Brent. That means a lot to me. Moving to round two, Anne. Yeah, so before we we talk about those three positions, I'd just like an overview of the other three positions. Like if we're retaining three social worker positions that are allocated specifically for each comprehensive high school, what are we losing with the other three physicians positions, and how does that shift the caseload throughout the existing social workers? And then also like the McKinney-Vento Uh how does that shift the caseload because that seems like we're not

082It's not like we have a significant decrease in the number of students experiencing homelessness. It just seems like we're just going to add to their caseload. So, could you clarify that? Yes, so right now this year we have 19 social workers on staff. Um the original reduction was six to go down to 13. Uh with adding three back, that leaves us at 16. So, we're still three less. So, we'll have the dedicated social worker at each of the comprehensive high schools, and the others um will have to spread instead of spreading um So, they'll have to allocate across the schools, which they're already allocating across the schools. So, like maybe they'll have to take on a half a school uh additional. So, it will increase caseload. I don't know what their caseload numbers currently are.

083Um but it will increase the caseload of those that are are allocated across the rest of the schools in the district. So, currently do we only have one full-time social worker at each comprehensive high school? That the district is paying for. One of the commenters said that East had two, but it might be that the school is using their discretionary money to pay for one. I'm unaware of that. >> partner, like a contracted service. Potentially. I know I know from the the funds that we manage, uh there's only one per per comprehensive high school. And then the nods in the audience, it sounds like East High is funding the second one. No. The community partner, Odyssey House, yeah. Um so just a little So basically that would just decrease the general pool that is serving

084middle schools and elementary schools. Correct. Okay. So that would increase their caseload. I just am wondering if if we are in this tricky spot in the budget, um do we want to like I don't I don't know. I don't want to fund with grants. Obviously, we know that soft money funding is not wise. But I do know that there still is a huge need for social workers. I mean, like obviously if you talk to a lot of students, staff, or whatever, they're like, "We should be increasing social workers, not decreasing." So I in my mind I'm thinking how can we supplement this? Are we going to if we're saying we're decreasing three social workers, are we going to start a new partnership with the University of Utah Health? Like what are we going to do?

085Because just decreasing it and then saying, "Good luck, everyone." is not a good idea. Yeah, and part of that's the long-term solution. I mean, just kind of an overall, we need to prioritize what we can't be everything to everybody. Um so what is it that we need to be, and then we work on a long-term funding plan for that. Um maybe Aldine director of uh our school uh our student support is always looking for grant opportunities. Again, we don't want to we we want to maybe move away from that model, but we wouldn't turn it away if an opportunity presented itself uh while we figure out a long-term plan. And do you know the piece about McKinney-Vento? Right. So, the McKinney-Vento specialists that are are ending at the end of this year were added with

086ESSER funds with the idea that they would always end when the ESSER funds ran out. We used some strategic plan some strategic funding um we used we covered some ongoing district costs with ESSER funds that we then put in a savings account and then extended those two for a couple of years with those savings so we could get a little more couple years out of them at even after ESSER funded ESSER funds ended. So, their intent from the very beginning was these are temporary because they're ESSER funds to get us through the crisis of created by the pandemic and that they would end when the money ended. So, that we're we're just completing the plan that was laid out at the beginning back in 2020. Yeah, but I'm saying the number their case load I

087mean, maybe they have a a cup you know, a slight decrease in the number of students experiencing homelessness. But now all we're doing is in eliminating a position two positions and leaving a person with like way more. Yeah, so we're basically putting the case load [clears throat] back to what it was pre-pandemic. I mean, there may be more homeless students but we also have less students in total so Mike can say if it's same getting We we had a full-time had a we did have to have a good part of the pandemic. Then we added one for the pandemic. We added two. We have We have No, we didn't have a full-time person prior. They weren't getting any benefits though. So, we had a part-time sorry. Yeah, part-time person. I think that part-time person still

088there. Okay. I've got Brian and then Ashley. After. Okay. So, you still have the financial statement out there and I have additional questions but I wanted to save that for the second round. Okay, so I want to go back to my instruction piece there. Okay, so if you look at instruction Can I Can I Can I move to the general fund slide and that might help Okay, but before you Before you do, I want to because there's something else that I'm going to want to look at here. >> Okay. So, you've got the instruction line and it goes from 174 million to 164 million. Okay, then you go down to instructional staff and it goes from 33 million to 29 million. So, another 4 million cut there. What I'm trying to suggest here, and I

089am not in any way questioning the need for social workers and the need for McKinney-Vento and school lunches and all of those things, but what I am trying to suggest is we are going to end up having really hard and uncomfortable conversations because for me correct me if I'm wrong, but instruction is that teaching the children? Yes, so the instruction functions activities that happen in the classroom. So, teachers, paraprofessionals field trips >> Okay, so all of the stuff that goes in the classroom. Correct. And I understand that, you know, the enrollment is declining, but what I want us to think about here is we haven't gotten any letters about that. We haven't had anyone come and speak, but I bet you there are some people out there kind of ringing their hands going, "Oh, wow.

090There went 10 million in the classroom." Then you go down and you look at instructional staff. What's instructional staff? So, instructional staff are those supports for teachers to professional development, academic coaches, etc. Okay. So, again, things that go on in the classroom. I Now, I've got my teacher hat on, okay? Um what I'm trying to have us think about, and maybe we are all doing that, but yes, it's really hard to hear that we um need social workers, but we also really need the classroom. I mean, that's I thought our charge was educating, and I understand that educating requires these other things. I will certainly acknowledge that, having been in the classroom, and recognizing the need for social workers, and the need for counselors, and all of those other things, but I just think this

091is not going to if we try and separate these things out, and well, we can't do that to this one, what are we going to do it to? That's my question. Well, we have a well-established ratios for teachers. You Our next speaker is Ashley, and then we have Amanda and Charlotte. Um so, first, it sounds like generally there's some consent for this budgeting and financing conversation to progress. Although, Brian's pointing out, you know, yes to this, but please consider the long-term ratios of other things. Um and with that in mind, I just wanted to take my second um round to respond to Annie's comment about partnership, and about the need to advance um some of the feedback to a an agenda item that comes a little bit later. Um we did talk about partnerships in

092the finance committee as well, and we talked about what SLF currently does and what SLF can do. We also talked, I mean, a lot of people have emailed us about underutilizing um, partners that Granite School District, for example, utilizes for family-school collaboration, and that some of these tradeoffs don't have to exist if we more strategically use partnerships as some of our neighbors do. Um, and so that is part of the dialogue as well, just as an aside. But I think one thing we should consider is in two reports from now we're going to be talking about reorganization. And a majority of the board approved a recent reorganization of the district, and we're being asked to reconsider some aspects of that. So I think we've shifted a little bit beyond the scope of the budget, and

093now we're talking about instructional models and organization of the district, because ultimately that part of the conversation, in my opinion, should be directed to the superintendent rather than only our business administrator, because it's the organization of our district and schools which is creating this unstable framework to fund long-term. And we need to actually shift some of this conversation two reports from now, I think, in how are we actually creating an organized structure that then we can budget for and have the building blocks of the budget aligning with the organization, rather than continually trying to toggle back and forth between them. So I think it seems like we have some agreement about where we need to proceed with the budget, but I think now we've moved a little bit beyond the budget and into organization, and

094it would behoove us to sort of um, move through our strategic plan and reorganization and then pick up some of the threads there. Thanks, Ashley. Amanda and then Charlotte. Yeah, Ashley hit on what I was going to hit on is our conversation with SLF regarding the uh, staffing for social workers for the long haul. So, for the individuals that kind of brought up that point, know that we also are working on that piece as well. It's in its infancy in that discussion. So, but we are looking at different ways, um, beyond just the money, um but to also emphasize I support the reallocation of the three um two the three social workers in the three comprehensive high schools as well. So, that would be my request that that be worked into the budget book for

095next year as well. Thank you, Charlotte. Yeah, I'm also in favor of the reallocation. Um but I don't want to um Yeah, I want to make sure that we continue to plan and um whether it is through a study session or you know, about more sustained to bring in more funding for for um the staff that we need so that we're we're better serving our students in a right-sized way, right? Um So, I mean, other districts are using Medicaid reimbursements. And we are, too? Okay. Well, we could do more of that, couldn't we? Um maybe not. I hope so. But and then there's uh national grants. I guess it's called AWARE grant. Um But anyway, there's a lot of I mean, hopefully there's there's some opportunities to have grants that could maybe do some I

096don't know, um supplemental services where where it's really needed. Um where the greatest need is. Um there was one other thing I was going to say. No. But I forget, okay? I get my signs Dr. Graham. I just wanted In fact, following on your remarks for member five, Jefferson, you asked for a report on how we're supposed supporting student mental health. That is on our June 2nd agenda. So, our next agenda item or our next board meeting will have that and Mindy Homdal, who oversees social workers and counselors, will bring information to the board on that. Our partnerships that we currently earn, which is a number of them, as well as issues like Medicaid Medicare funding and some of the challenges we have with partnerships where some of the partners will only serve those who

097have insurance. And so many of our students don't. And so, how do we bring in partners that actually serve all of our kids rather than some of our kids? So, those sort of challenges that we have at the funding. I also one of our goals and one of the things I like about shifting the funding from a couple of programs that we aren't going to continue is that it's ongoing funny funding out of tax dollars so that we don't have this problem of every few years coming up with soft money in order to fund this. We've grown social workers over the as you know, Alan showed you a chart of how that's varied and we hit a high this current year of 19. Mhm. The year before I think we were 13 even or something.

098Couple of years ago even just 13. So, a lot of that as he mentioned, Mindy had gotten a federal grant to have five more and that will run out again. So, it's thinking about how do we fund these things that aren't on soft money if we want the service to continue in our schools. Because that's unsustainable over time, these grants come and go. So, thinking that way over the long run as we're looking at, how do we fund, if we find these positions important, how do we fund them through ongoing funds? And use soft money for other things, pilot programs or additional services that might be able to come and go a little bit more. It's a tough challenge that way and we're always looking for additional grants. Mhm. But Mindy will be here to

099provide more context. I think that will be a good follow-on from this conversation. Great. Thank you, Dr. Grant. Bryce, did you have anything you wanted to add? Okay. I'll go ahead and and finish this up and thank you, Ashley, for working to kind of keep us on track with the budget discussion that we're here for tonight. Um knowing that there was this request with um social workers and reallocation with um you know, coming from the finance committee. That's a really awesome idea. And thank you. It's one that I think the majority of the board supports as I tallied it up through the the course of the conversation. And and Ashley, I'm going to jump on the bandwagon about these uh these tip monies. All right. Like they're a real big deal in in the context

100of partnership for you, B.A. Kearsley and Dr. Grant, as you continue to engage with the other taxable entities in the various capacities that you do, um to please remind them of the struggles that they're having because of these pass-through funds. Um I know you're probably in talks with the city a lot, uh probably in talks with the county quite a bit, um with uh the city library. Miss Basket, please don't tell my boss about that. >> [laughter] >> But nonetheless, if you could uh please encourage um those partners in those realms to um to be mindful of some of the pressures that we're under because of these pass-through monies and the votes that they do take and the impact that it has on um students in the community who are also constituents that they serve

101as well. Um I think it'd be really beneficial. I know I'm only one board member who's suggesting that, but if it can be um relayed, I would really appreciate it. Um Alan, is there anything else you need being that this is the final budget discussion to get us ready for public hearings and final decisions on these over the next two meetings? Uh nothing else. I just I mean it's been very clear we have hard decisions ahead of us, hard discussions. Um this and and hard prioritizations. Um but we need to continue to have the conversations on a regular basis and not wait for again this time next year that we we have a plan in place um for both you know where do we trim and where do we add revenues? I mean that it's

102a it's a balancing act over between both those items. Thank you, Alan. And thank you, board. Um Alan, I think you have your loose direction out of a report to make the the budget reflect the conversation this evening for the reallocation of those positions. [clears throat] I just want to reiterate if any board member wants to meet individually or in small groups to go over budget items before the second, please reach out. Even if you want a second round, we can we can manage that as well. Thank you very much. >> As many as I can get. Uh we will move on to Oh, Foss. Sorry about that. I missed you. I feel like if I was someone listening in on the meeting right now, my takeaway or one of my takeaways would be that

103these TIF um funds are a limiting factor and I'd be wondering um is there any recommendation that board members know of of a way that the community could be involved in changing the way that TIF is operated in their community. Maybe there's not. It seems like it's it's a big process. Um but to get ahead of any questions, I think that might be in the people's minds. Yeah, Foss, I think one very astute again all the accolades we gave you at the beginning of the meeting are coming true right now. Um I think there's ways that the community could totally to involved with this. Um all of the taxable entities that I mentioned, and I know there's more that are included in the in the group that votes on these TIF arrangements or agreements, have

104public comment periods. You know, the City Council, the Salt Lake County Council, the City Library has a library board that has public comment available to them. And I think it would take some organizing on behalf of the community if they want to rely on experts from this board. I'm sure that we'd be happy to let them know about what all that looks like. But I think engagement is number one, not only with those taxable entities, but with the legislative body as well. Leadership from both the Senate and the House, both the majority leadership and the minority leadership, I think are brilliant places to start. And Ashley, you might have something to add to that as well. I thought you were going to stop at taxing entities, so I was going to say it's a statute-based

105thing where our participation in it occurs because of a committee's vote now. The board used to have a vote in most iterations, but we no longer have a vote. So if I was a citizen wondering who to reach out to, I would reach out to the people who write the law that becomes statute, which would be your state lawmakers, your house representative and your state senator. And as it would follow the interests of the district, is that something we could ask to be placed in communications emails that high schools, elementary schools often send out to their communities? Could we direct them to someone they wanted to participate and support changes? Different places for the district to be involved. I'm happy to say that we did in the last legislative session sort of come to an

106agreement that we would [clears throat] follow the general legislative priorities of the Utah School Boards Association with the exception of TIF, because as an urban public school district, we are more heavily impacted by the practice than our rural and some of our suburban counterparts. And so the next most likely time that would happen would be in a legislative session that we'd have to agree. That's part of our agenda to share with the community cuz right now it's not really up for debate. We're just living with the consequences of it. So, that'd be my suggestion and that I think we should remember in January Foss's suggestion or interim committee when it comes up that these are things that a lot of people don't know about but they impact their classroom. Okay, that's illuminating and I hope

107that if there was anyone out there that was wondering they can also keep that in mind for the future. Thank you, Foss. Anyone with the last comment? Oh, I was just going to say yeah, I think uh the timing in the fall or uh in the new year before uh the legislative session begins but in the meantime um engaging with your representatives couldn't hurt because they're thinking of the bills they're going to be writing next legislative session and there were actually a couple bills in the past legislative session that would have helped us have more of a say but did not make it to vote. So, it I I think it's a conversation to continue to have even when it's not in session. Yeah. Yes, in in lieu of how many things are always happening

108in our world, I would guess that keeping the the work going in any capacity would maintain that focus when they're writing bills but that's my perspective. Thank you, Foss. Thank you, board. We will now move on to item number two of the reports agenda, charter school annual updates. We have the Open Classroom and SLCS the Salt Lake Center for Science Education and Dr. Grant. Let's invite Principal Pitts up to start from Open Classroom and just a reminder to the board every year our charter schools are to report to you. They are doing a data [clears throat] heavy presentation to give you some facts and um we've heard a lot from SLCS lately about the quality of their program and the wonderful things they're doing. Um but we get to start with Open Classroom here. Take

109it away, Craig. All right, [clears throat] is that up? >> [laughter] >> All right, before I um go and get into my presentation, I I wanted to convey a message from our community to you all, and that is thank you. Uh we had some challenges this year, and we are eternally grateful for the support of the school board and for the school district. Um it's no easy task to move a school in a matter of hours overnight and then back again 2 weeks later. So, thank you for all of the support for um the Open Classroom and our mission. Well, the the Open Classroom um is Oh, let me get it. So, to continue um Dr. Grant's introduction, the Board of Education of the Salt Lake City School District serves as the governing board for

110the opening Open Classroom. There are seven elected board members, and their terms of office of and election are governed by Utah code. The Open Classroom is directed by the steering body, and the steering body is composed of parents and faculty of the Open Classroom. One parent represents each classroom on the steering body. We started our journey in 1977 as a program um authorized by Salt Lake City School District and housed in um various elementaries over the years, and we were chartered in 2006 as a charter school. So, we not only will um wrap up our 20th year, but we will also be entering our 50th year in existence next year. So, a big year of celebration for us at Open Classroom in celebrating our 50 years. Um the mission of the Open Classroom is a

111parent cooperative learning community in which teachers and parents collaborate to educate the whole child and empower lifelong learners. Our vision, the Open Classroom inspires authentic learning by engaging everyone in dynamic and evolving practices in a welcoming environment. And I'd like to speak to some of our accomplishments. Um a lot of this data comes from last school year. As I don't we don't have the full spectrum of data for this school year. Um, we're happy to report that that we do have our third grade reading on grade level data and we had 78% of our third graders reading on grade level this year. Um, in RISE we've seen some increases of 2.4% and in science and in math as well. Some big some growth there. We've had an emphasis on science and math instruction over the

112last couple years. We've seen several of our classes score performing higher than the state average that we're excited to acknowledge in language arts our fourth, sixth, and seventh grade and in science our fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade as well. We've seen great things from our teachers. Currently we're not in school improvement status. We are title one school however, I will note that to you. Um, achievement points in some of our demographic populations. Let's look at that. We've We noticed a 2.5% overall increase of with our economically disadvantaged students with a 0.71% increase in English language arts. And our Hispanic students saw an 8.65% overall increase with 4.31% increase in ELA and a 0.84% increase in math. We have been working to close achievement gaps. We have had improvement in our PLC process and data

113driven instruction. We saw 82% of our MLL students meet their target on WIDA this year. We've identified some needs from past evaluations. That's our math instruction, additional supports for identified student groups, students with disabilities, and Hispanic students. Wish the Open Classroom provides the continuum of services in special education. We've worked to increase our interventions and supports and have implemented um those structures to support our ELD, our tier two and tier three supports. And the Open Classroom certainly operates under a culture of continuous improvement, um conducting our annual comprehensive needs assessment which drives our goals and and where we put those emphases, our student student discourse and academic conversations um at 50% in the classroom which mirrors the the board's goal of academic discourse. Um, school wide enhancement of our PLC process, tier two and tier

114three interventions and supports, science curriculum implementation and an attendance focus. Um, operations at the Open Classroom, we um operate a what we call PFOE, Parents for Open Education, a fund I guess similar to PTA in in neighborhood schools. Our we have a robust um group of parents that love to see opportunities for their students and so they um contribute um to reflect that. We have seen increasing enrollment at the Open Classroom through um outreach and program growth. Our furthest student north comes from Ogden, our furthest student south comes from Goshen and then in between Tooele and Park City and in between, so we have a uh committed um parent population that choose the Open Classroom and choose the excellence in the program that we offer. We were excited that we filled our um preschool program

115a couple weeks ago. This time last year we still had 15 spots, but we We we're full we're full and building a third classroom wait list. We have we are able to accommodate 40 students in our preschool program and we're we're full there. Um facility and maintenance and safety we are in compliance with risk management and again we appreciate our um our partnership with the district and the facilities and and the support that we receive there. Governance and compliance we are in full legal and regulatory compliance as well. Um to highlight some of our family and community partnerships we can we partnership with Bosque Garden with our OC Community Garden. Our our parents I think is our biggest asset who co-op during the day throughout the week serve on committees and help make all of

116our operations function smoothly. We partner with University of Utah Reading Clinic who provide reading tutors for us every day. We partnered with University of Utah Engineering Honor Society who have helped with events at school and with our STEM night and other activities. We have a robust after school program after care which is fully staffed and available to all students who desire that service in our school. Which kindergarten through eighth grade with our preschool program so we have three-year-olds to 14-year-olds on campus and all students have access to that program as well. Ultimate frisbee archery >> [clears throat] >> soccer basketball theater and also partnership with Bryant to participate on sports teams in the district. Future focus we'd love to be around another 50 years for sure and we are committed to our blended classroom model

117our middle school program and our preschool program um with enrollment increase projected um It's a lot of work to market a program, let me tell you. Um but we we are committed to um increasing. We are um authorized to up to 400 students in our school. Um we will be looking forward to re-chartering at applying to re-charter next year, our 50th anniversary year. Um we are we have an inclusion and equity emphasis at our school. We have sped support in all our classrooms um and a a hefty differentiation um from our teachers for all students as well. Questions and discussion. Ann and then Charlotte. So, how many students do you currently have? We have preschool through eighth grade. We have 305. Okay. And do you have a work question as well? No. It sounds like

118you're trying to increase to 400 and you said marketing is tricky. Can you tell us what your plans are? Sounds like you're pretty far-reaching, but Right. We Well, what we find our three biggest um referrals come from community word of mouth um through social media and through other media. Newspaper, radio, those types of media. Thanks, Charlotte. Charlotte, was that your question? >> Yeah, that was my question. Like, do you do you spend money on is that part of your budget to do the marketing? I do um have budget um allocated for marketing to run ads in newspapers, yeah. Thank you, Charlotte. Ashley? Yeah, I don't want to take up a lot of time. I just want to say if people have not been able to go to open classroom, they have a lot a lot

119programs and projects that are always underway. Um some of us were there with the foundation last Thursday to congratulate Lena Foster, um who was recognized as a teacher who's working with um [clears throat] the upper grades and she's one of the people who coordinates a lot of the outdoor events like outdoor not just field trips but like overnight camping trips that open classroom students get to do. There's a lot of um you know, performances that are unique in the district in that students play in like full bands, you know, with vocalists, guitarists, drummers. There's a lot of really exciting programs that happen at Open Classroom. So if you've never been able to go, it is a nice um place to visit and see what they're offering and I understand also that you were recognized with

120the charter award recently. If you wanted to speak about that. Sure. We um as part of the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, we're recognized and um we won't know until June the outcome but have been placed in the top two to be named as the top charter in the state and we are proud of that as well. We'll find out in June. So we'll let you know. Great. I'm glad I could give that a plug and thank you for um the report. Thank you. Amanda? I was diving through my notes from the last year whenever you did your report um and then looking at it compared to here. Um and obviously we all know that I talk about special education. Um so last year uh you mentioned that you were mostly disturbing uh mild

121moderate students. Is that still the same or are you Yes, but we do are we we are equipped to offer the full spec the full continuum of service special ed services should the need arise. Do you uh find individuals with more complex disabilities applying to your school at all and if not, like what the barriers may be that you could work through or Um I could you maybe define more complex disabilities or What's sorry? Uh, can you repeat that question? I Well, I just Have you had students with more complex disabilities like intellectual delays, like more severe brackets than mild moderate apply. Um, and if they have why maybe they haven't chosen to participate in the open enrollment classroom or if they have not, what the might barriers might be that could be um, broken

122down so that that is an option for all students. Um, I feel I mean, I I don't know. I couldn't speak to people that I don't know that haven't applied or um, I don't know. I don't know how to answer that question. I know that every family that has come to us, we've been able to address their concerns, meet the needs of the students that do ultimately enroll. Um, I I I I have had limited feedback from from parents who ultimately didn't enroll. Um, that maybe they just felt that the the open classroom wasn't a right fit based on their child's needs and I couldn't get any further information than that. So. And then you might have said it while I was kind of digging, but you you said your future focus is inclusion and

123equity initiatives and you specifically talked about special education support in classrooms. So, what do you envision that to look like? Yeah, so we've had um, some presenters from the state come. We recently went through our um, three-year comprehensive program review with special education which um, we came out exceptionally well um, complimented from the state with our program and the the the increases that our students with disabilities make at Open Classroom. We um receive a lot of referrals from the Parent Advocacy Center and from a providers around the city um with from parents who are at their wits end that they're saying they don't know what to do. They're the traditional public school isn't working for their kid. Um we've had training from the state regarding LRE or or LRE least restrictive environment and our our

124goal is to be able to include our students who are receiving special ed services as much as we can in the gen ed population and whether that's through our we have two full-time special education teachers, we have paraprofessionals that support in the classroom as well, but we find in including our students with IEPs as much as we can in the general um operations and the general classroom is to their benefit. Thank you. Okay, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate the time and I'm just going to say again, I say it every almost every year you come, but the the parent participation model that exists at the OC is really really fascinating and thank you for managing that the way you do. >> [cough and clears throat] >> I want to give a

125shout out of thanks to Principal Pitts for your leadership and for um the collaborative work your teachers do together and the engagement and enrichment in the classroom for our students. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thanks. All right. And now we get to invite SLIC C up who partners with SLIC but isn't SLIC. They are actually SLIC C. So, Principal Britney Powell, welcome back. We've missed you. It's like four meetings in a row. >> I know. Not sick of me yet. >> [laughter] >> All right, I'm fine on it. We may or may not ask you to do the pledge, though. Twice already. I'm I'm down to do it again. All right. Uh well, good evening, board members and Superintendent Grant. Uh thank you for inviting me back once again to spend some time here

126this evening sharing our work with you. Uh I have been told I have a hard stop at 10 minutes. Alan, I feel like I almost need that long time up there because I don't know if I've told this to you before, but the thing I consistently got marked down in student teaching was my inability to like my over-planning and inability to finish a lesson in the time constraints provided. And Yeah, I actually would love that because it I still struggle with it. I I don't know. It's just a mountain I'm never going to overcome, maybe. So Um but I will say you have already heard from me plenty of times throughout this year. So I do plan to just hit on some key points. Um and then you also have the full um all the

127slides to go through at your at your leisure. At your spare time. Um okay, over the past month though, I have been thinking about SLIC C and its origination. And the superintendent at the time approached the district science specialist to see if they would be interested in working um together to design and launch a Westside STEM Charter School. SLIC C was born from a bold vision within Salt Lake City School District that public education could serve as a laboratory for innovation, equity, and possibility. From the beginning, this work has never was never intended to exist apart from the school district, but in partnership with it. I'm I'm sorry. I Is it my voice? There's a lot of feedback in my ears. >> [laughter] >> I could use my teacher voice. Would that be better? Uh

128a mutually beneficial relationship where new ideas can be developed, tested, and shared in service of students across Salt Lake City. Over the years, that partnership has strengthened both SLCC and the district, reminding us that when schools are empowered to innovate within a strong public system, the result is greater opportunity for all students. The spirit That spirit of partnership remains central to SLCC's identity today. A relationship where both the district and the school are strengthened through shared learning, shared commitment, and shared success. Okay, I'm going to skip the next one cuz I think you're very familiar with this, and I'm going to skip this one, too. Um but you have access to this Those are our key tenants. Um I will share though that we were recently recognized as the top-performing high school in Salt Lake

129City School District for the 2024-2025 year. It's kind of delayed, but we were delayed in getting data around that. Um so we're thrilled to have our work recognized. That's a lot of fun. So some of the new things I want to share with you is um this year, Promise Student Advocates. This is a new initiative um that we've designed and implemented in partnership with Promise Partnership Utah. Um they're working on this with us and East High, Cottonwood High, and Hillcrest High School. Um I think each school was kind of given a little bit of um autonomy in what that could look like, but we had uh similar goals, which was um that every student would have a trusted adult in the school um and to improve the on how on track students are for graduation.

130And schools went about that in lots of different ways. At Slauson, we talked specifically with our ninth grade teachers to see who was interested in piloting this specifically with ninth grade. We actually wanted to do it with all of our freshmen. And so and teachers were actually really excited about it. Um, each of our ninth grade teachers who opted into this initiative, they have a case load of about 15 ninth graders. So every ninth grade student at Slauson has an advocate, which is pretty awesome. And like I mentioned before, the goal is that students have a trusted adult and that we increase their indicators for being on track for graduation. How we've designed this is that teachers meet with their students twice a month. And you would think kids maybe don't like this, but actually

131when teachers go to pull kids to talk to them, they often are like, "Oh, are you here for me? Or am I next?" Um, it's really great for teachers to get to connect with these students in this one-on-one capacity. Um, this has been a really powerful tool for teachers to get to know their students better, um, build stronger relationships, and provide in-the-moment interventions when needed. It's been pretty awesome. We had a teacher checking in with a student and just I think she opened it up with something really heavy like, "How are things going lately?" And the kid immediately shared like, "Actually things are really hard right now." And they shared a specific problem with their advocate that we could then work to have other pieces of our system address. When the parent was reaching out,

132they came to the school. I thought this was awesome. They came to the school and they were like, "I need to see my child's advocate." Like they knew they had this person to go to. Um, in general, our advocates monitor the students' grades and attendance and their overall behavior. All of our advocates outside of their typical PLCs, um, and department meetings, the advocates have a monthly advocate meeting where they plan the interviews that they're going to do with students. So, they get together and plan what questions they're going to ask. They look at data, they make plans. They also plan quarterly celebratory team-building activities and quarterly experiential learning opportunities for students. I can say that this format and this focus of this work has breathed new life into collaboration for our ninth-grade team, which has

133been really awesome. Teachers are excited. They're coming to the table very solutions-oriented, and they're seeing the impact of their efforts in the classrooms. Um that in addition to those pieces directly with students, advocates provide ongoing family outreach. Each month they they work together to plan what communication's going to look like. They did handwritten postcards one month, and families and kids loved that so much they did it again another month. Um but they'll plan what they're going to send out like in Parent Square. Uh they each sent individualized invites to families um to come to spring parent-teacher conferences. That was our best-ever attended spring conferences. Um and then in addition to that um individualized communication, they send out a team-level newsletter to families every month, which is pretty awesome. Um something else cool, they've been working

134on this and we've been building it. So, it's not like this thing that we like totally understand. We're like creating it. Um but they recently shared their work with our faculty, and that was so beautiful to witness because the faculty the rest of the faculty just listened with such intention and focus. They asked really great questions, and then they were basically like, "So, how do we scale this out?" cuz it sounds pretty awesome. Um so, this has been a really powerful pilot for our freshmen. Another area I just want to take a few minutes to share with you. I'm down to three Oh, this is this is stressful. Okay, I'm going to talk faster. Cross-curricular integrated projects. Okay, so we've had some awesome projects and I'm focused in on 10th grade. Um we hold a

135sci-fi fest where Godzilla really comes to life for students through an integrated unit in language arts, social studies, and science. Um students also in 10th grade visited the local water reclamation plant. It's a little bit stinky, but you could totally join them. Um it's a fun one. And then some of the students uh then become ambassadors, lab ambassadors, and they go up to the U and they run water samples up there. Um in the chemistry unit that this involves culminates with the down the drain symposium. A lot of our work weaves science and policy. Our 10th graders have had a number of opportunities to visit the capital, talk with lawmakers, and better understand processes of change. Um and then our 10th grade social studies classes also visit the Museum of Fine Arts throughout the year,

136and that work influences their own representation of learning. Um I'm really excited to share this with you cuz I think this is such an amazing um initiative that you all have really championed. Um all of our 11th graders participated in civics projects um at Sliks this year, and 70% of our 11th graders presented projects um at the Seal of Civic Readiness Showcase. All were awarded the seal, which we're super proud of, and 18 were awarded special recognitions. And I just want to share with you that this was such an incredible opportunity for students because as an educator um something that I think is challenging I I deeply believe in the power of education, and I also know that sometimes the way our system structures things, it doesn't always allow every kid the opportunity to shine

137in in these really rich ways in the classroom. But to me, something that's incredibly powerful about impact projects is they typically actually do let kids who struggle to shine in the classroom really do amazing work beyond the the traditional classroom. We had students receive awards who classroom um work or even being at school is incredibly challenging for them. It was amazing to witness them share their projects with pride and to understand their topics deeply. And so I just truly want to say thank you for championing um meaningful opportunities like this for students where they really do get to grow in their ability to impact their communities. To me, that's incredibly powerful. Okay, 1 minute 15 seconds. I'm on slide like five. Okay, no stress. Senior Capstone, all seniors participate in senior Capstone project. The purpose

138of this project is for students to engage in meaningful work that either gives back to the school, local, or global community in some way or allows them to pursue a passion project or deeply extends their learning in a personally meaningful and academically challenging way. Every year it is truly such a gift to see these projects come together. They're unique, inspiring, authentic representations of our students, their interests, and their growth. Um these are just a couple of examples of projects. I won't go into depth, but I will talk about that um that little guy up there uh gosh, what's the creature? It was welded by one of our students. And I'll say this, um this particular student came to me was like, "I've been working on a welding project and learning how to weld and I

139would like to donate my statue to the school." Oh, wow. And I was like, "Oh, awesome. Let's pick out a really great showcase for it to go in." And he looked at me was like, "It that's not going to fit in a showcase, Ms. Powell." And it doesn't, but it is gorgeous in our atrium. Um yeah, so it's just pretty amazing. Dang it, I'm terrible at this. Look at this. I'm like not even close. Okay. Anyways, I am going to take a few more minutes to just hit on a couple of highlights and then I really will cut it off. Okay. I want to share some exciting outdoor adventures with you. Um some highlights. Nine students who had never ridden a bike learn to ride a bike this year. That is awesome. And our outdoor

140PE classes, each student in those classes averaged 130 miles biked this school year. And what was really particularly cool about this is students weren't doing it like to get healthy or they weren't even doing it cuz the teacher was making them. The kids were really excited for the urban exploration, to go and explore right around their own backyard and adventure around the city was awesome. Kids were excited. They found joy, challenge, and connection all around them, which was amazing. Um kids also participated in hot springs trips, hiking. I know we didn't actually seem to have snow, but we did get these humans to snow. So they did some snowshoeing and skiing. And the cross-country skiing was a completely new experience for all of our students except for eight. So that was pretty awesome um for

141kids to try stuff outside of their comfort zone. And the last couple of highlights are um our peer leadership students planned and facilitated an annual day of service. I love this day. The entire school engages in community um meaningful community service projects, which is awesome. Um another great event for us was Jerusha Hess, writer of Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, and Austinland visited Slickrock. And she spoke about story, finding characters in those around us, and the importance and power of collaboration. Uh we also have continued our partnership with the University of Utah through our BEES program, which stands for Boosting Engagement Through Experiences in Science. And through this partnership, uh, university staff support students in developing long-term science projects. Um, and additionally, four students are selected each summer to participate in paid summer internships in research

142labs. Um, and this is our I think it's our third year. Someone could correct me back there if I'm wrong. Okay, I'm not going to keep dragging this on, but I will send you my notes if you'll just um, be bear with me, but I did share some of the really great things that families have shared with us. There are some beautiful sentiment here. What students say about us, I always think these are like the most important things. They are the lived experiences of the people that we have the privilege of interacting with, um, each and every day. These ones are familiar because I've shared them with you before, but really high growth, um, particularly for uh, at-risk groups. You can see our demographics there. I wanted to just hit this briefly cuz it's even

143higher than last year, which I was pretty stoked about. We're in the 80s across the board, and I think when you have like 88% of your kids are saying they're experiencing joy at school, that is something for the entire community to celebrate. Um, this talks about experience experiential learning growth, and again, I'll send you some notes on these. Then one thing I did want to just draw your attention to briefly was for ACT, we did have drops in our scores for last year, um, which we have revised our ACT prep program that we did this past school year. But something to note is that our students at risk continue to outperform, um, in lots of dynamic ways, and I think that's something to be celebrated while we continue to work on school-wide, um, achievement in

144that area. So, I'll let you peruse those at your uh, at at whenever. Whenever you have spare time, which you I'm sure you have loads of. Do you have questions for me this evening? I'm sorry, you guys. I don't have a question, I have a comment. I just wanted to personally thank you for the work that you do. I just really appreciate the community at Sliksih. Um, I love spending time in the school. I love coming to the school community council meetings. Um, I just think you all have really created something special there and I'm very um, fortunate to feel part of the community there as well when I'm I'm there. Um, I did want to and I think you might have tried to get to this, but time didn't allow. Um, the senior showcase

145is tomorrow night. >> is. Uh, 4:30 to 6:00. It is my favorite event that I get to attend every year. And if board members are available, I would encourage you to come and join me. I'll be there right at 4:30. Awesome. >> But, thank you again for the work that you do. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions, Charlotte? I am wondering, um, with your new initiative, the advocate student advocates, how do your Well, first of all, it takes more planning time for your teachers. So, how are you able to offer, you know, adequate planning time for your teachers? Do they feel stretched or They all feel stretched. We all feel stretched, but I will say, so um, the that particular initiative, we partnered with Promise um, partnership and they provided funding Mhm. where um,

146we've been able to compensate >> United Way? Uh-huh. >> Yeah. Yep. And so, actually teachers do those pieces that we talked about, not the not the student interviews, but the meetings outside. Um, they do outside of contract time and so we're able to compensate them for that and then they were paid a stipend for developing the program. So, they receive minor compensation throughout the year because I know I know education has no money, really, but also we are asking teachers to do duties that are slightly beyond the typical expectations, but I will say um they have all talked about the benefits that they've been able to directly see in the classroom. And so, uh I think it is powerful if there can be even just seed funding because as a teacher uh we might not

147have this funding forever, but I think the value that teachers have gotten out of um and seeing the impact that it's had, I think that can go a long way in helping something continue. Although, I am a huge advocate for finding fund funds People know I will like hunt money down in all the places I can. Um because I do think educators should be fairly compensated for additional duties outside of their contract time. Thanks. Amanda? The similar questions as others. I was kind of again looking back at last year's presentation compared to this year. Um and so, one, do you have Are you only serving mild moderate students? Do you also serve significant cognitive disabilities? And like if so, what percentage of both are you serving? I don't have the percentages broken into the subgroups,

148but we are prepared to provide the full range of services. Um we do implement a slightly different model where um we're predominantly co-taught and so most of our classrooms have either two teach a special education teacher and general education teacher or general education teacher and a paraprofessional. And I think I'd have to double-check the demographics, but it was around 23% of our population is our students with disabilities. And that leads me into my my next question or just a future ask for both principals. Um whenever we're looking at the standardized testing data, if you're actually serving a student that might be more complex disability, intellectual delay, different challenges, they may not be able to take the standardized testing. So, actually separating out for this data, you know, it might talk about some of our students

149with disabilities, it may not talk about all of our students with disabilities. So, also being able to present the data on the students that aren't encompassed in the standardized testing pieces and their growth Thank you. and their, you know, progress elements so that we're also intentionally seeing how they're doing and ensuring that they're showing gains as well. So, just for both of you, um next time that would be great to see that. Yes. Thanks, Amanda. All right, Brittany. Thank you so much. Um I do just want to dovetail on what Bryce said. An amazing program um at SLIC C and um the person you were pointing to in the back, Dr. Nikki Hack, who um was probably at the SLIC C inception back in the the the the calendar timeline that you presented, Brittany. Um

150I think it's just also a testament to how much support and how just like awesome SLIC C is that you have folks who've retired who are still back here with you advocating for SLIC C and the work that you do. Um I've always been impressed and um you know, in in other realms of the work that we do, It's been suggested about how do we replicate awesome things that happen throughout the school district, including our charters and um anything that this board can do and the superintendent and Britney to replicate a lot of the awesome pieces that you do with your school and similarly with the open classroom, like bring it on, you know, because um you're getting awesome results. Um and it's just been such a joy to see what you are doing and

151what you've accomplished over all these years. Um I won't get to to hear your annual report next year, but thank you so much for everything. >> Can tune in? I could totally tune in. Yeah, I'm sure >> to want to come. they would love me to show up and sit in the back, but nonetheless, um thank you for all that you do and it's been awesome working with you all these years. Thank you. Right back at you all. Thank you for all of your efforts. All right. Open classroom and Suxie. >> [applause] >> All right, our third report agenda item is strategic plan pillar four review. Dr. Grant. Associate Superintendent Ruiz will come up to lead this and is joined by HR Sloan Hall and buildings and facilities Isaac Gastel and um We're low on

152time, I understand. We're late and we have a lot, but I don't know if that matters or not. I think we're okay for now. These guys will try and go quickly and okay. Thank you. So, tonight we have the opportunity to learn from pillar four, which is about educating our students in safe learning environments, as well as hiring and retaining the best teachers. So, we'll have Mr. Astel and Mr. Hall um walk you through each of the objectives. >> Is it up? Sorry. It's hard to see. Or we can go to the next one, Sam. I had to start off, you know, goal number one, safe and efficient facilities. Um our goal is to provide ensure that each of our facilities is safe, clean, um sustainable, and um meets all the state and uh school

153criteria to be a place of learning. Um our goals uh have been clear. You can go to the next one, please. Uh goals of of this uh are set by 2029, but we're far ahead of these uh timelines right now, but um our focus is uh life and safety first and foremost, building integrity, and then instructional needs, which includes the sustainability efforts in uh the second and third of of those uh points. Um our objectives uh of of this are to do an annual facility condi- condition assessment. Uh we're looking at long-term maintenance planning, and uh continue reducing deferred maintenance. Um we have a pretty good idea of what that is at this point, and we've shared that with you guys. Um Our deferred maintenance is tracking. Um we've provided budget and expectations of what

154we think we'll be able to do this next year to continue to de- decrease that. Um and I'm most excited to share about this of what we're doing next uh to expand predictive maintenance systems. Um we're actually uh looking at two different programs right now to replace our current facilities maintenance system. Uh we're excited for the technology and the tools that that's going to provide us to if either we go. Um they both have AI options and tools within them that will help us better predict both maintenance needs and costs. Um that's under review right now and it won't take effect until this fall, but that will [snorts] be one more tool to ensure that we're successful and provide you guys the data you need to make decisions. Um our capital project schedules and budgets,

155um we base all of off of our annual facility condition walk-throughs and figure out what the needs are. Um and then what we're seeing right now obviously are the new builds that we're doing to make sure that we're building the most safe and efficient facility as possible. A couple of those highlights is with the new state's safety requirements, we will be meeting the highest expectations of safety for both buildings um including um ballistic rating. Um preventive maintenance completion rates, we're working on this. Uh we are lower than we were last year, but we're our challenge is that um we're short several key key uh positions that we're recruiting for currently. A couple of them have been open for quite some time and we haven't been able to uh find people, but um on the uh

156objective on the next slide, Sam. Sorry, I'm just going without providing any input. Our current resources uh capital maintenance fund uh again this has been working with Alan and Dr. Grant to uh show you guys what the needs are, provide uh input and our goal's to re- reduce that. Um the bond supported construction projects will obviously offset a lot of the costs that we were expecting in those two older high schools. Um and then the and condition assessments, I do want to reiterate that this isn't just a facility thing. This is input with the school administrators and the area directors and those that are in those buildings every day to see what their needs are and and things and we appreciate their input. Um and then we also have our building automation systems that we

157work internally and with McKinstry to uh uh highlight areas of concern and make make changes and conditions better for that. And then obviously it's better to prevent maintenance than have to put out fires, which we do a lot around here right now. But we're working to reduce that and we've had rather good success over the last year and a half. Um the resources needed and considerations as always are continued capital investment, life cycle replacement funding, and that will come with our 50-year plan that we've talked about to help you better plan and and make decisions on that. Um our utility infrastructure with the new buildings will increase. I will mention the power lines at West will be coming down over this weekend, so you'll see some big changes there for infrastructure. Um and then obviously

158planning for escalation in materials and cost especially right now in the condition things are. Uh continuing on with objectives, how we measure progress, we're checking and we're watching our renewable energy offset tracking. We mentioned previously that we're we've cut that tremendously. We're watching our utility consumption on a monthly basis. Um and not just utilities, but water um and all of our other resources that we utilize including uh trash and recycling. Um and then I will highlight on in our in your discussion earlier, I told you guys that there were five schools that had indoor air, and I apologize, there's actually nine sites that have indoor air quality, and those are through partnerships with the University of Utah and other agencies to provide that information. And then, uh last and uh on this is that we

159do we have integrated learning at the schools with teachers and students to uh learn about sustainability, to look and see what we're doing for what they can do and how we can improve the environment around us. Um we've had great success with that, and uh McKinistry's helped us out with that, uh along with your guys's approval last year for them to come in and provide some of that, which was the uh solar robotics that they've got to learn about in the classrooms. Um resource considerations are the uh similar as as before, but sustainability action plan that we've talked about, um uh you know, focusing on where the biggest bang for our buck is and how we can continue to make those reductions. Uh utility and university partnerships, which help us identify uh you know, new

160technologies and better ways to operate and maintain our facilities. Capital improvement funding and then the building automation systems are all the current resources that we have that are getting us to where we need to go. Um I feel like I'm going through this really fast, sorry. Uh the summary overall for for pillar four on safe and efficient facilities, uh we're focusing on safe secure educational facilities, long-term infrastructure sustainability, reduced deferred maintenance, improved operational efficiency, and future-ready learning environments. That's good stuff. So, I'm going to move on to goal two, uh which involves human resource services um and my objective all along the way is really to make the connection between what we're doing behind the scenes in human resources directly into the classrooms and so this I thank you for the opportunity to be here

161to share some of the good work that's happening behind the scenes. With gold two and our highly qualified staff that first picture I'm going to come back to that in a minute cuz I want to brag a little bit about some of the good things going on with our teachers as a professional pathway. So it's a real big highlight for me but as we move on to this next slide our gold two really is divided into three main categories. Number one are growing your own educator program which is just been growing and growing year over year. The second component being our teaching as a professions pathway for our students in our current schools who have a pathway through CTE to grow up and be a teacher and third is our efforts to increase our hiring

162efficiency to make sure that we have the right people in the right spots in our classrooms to be able to provide all of the services that we need to make sure that school is running efficiently. So I want to go to the next slide and talk about how we're measure progress in each of these areas and highlight some really cool things that are happening. In terms of our growing on educator program that like I said has been growing and growing the first three cohorts that we had over the last four years have had 67 participants. 35 of those have already graduated with licensure from Utah State Board of Education and so this is a huge accomplishment where we have employees currently working for us in non licensed positions we're able to provide them with scholarship

163funding and support to get them through secondary post secondary education to receive educational licensure either in school counseling or in school teaching. One really cool thing this year is that the state legislature has modified the funds to be available through this grant to be specifically targeted towards special education teachers. And so I'm really happy to report that we continue to be one of the highest award receivers in the state among all districts of all sizes. And so we're doing a really good job in that area thanks to the efforts of Kelly May and others in the human resource offices that work work alongside with me. So it's a really good thing. Our goal specific in this area is related to make sure that we get people through the program, but we want them to come

164back and work in our district. Of the 35 participants that I told you that have already graduated, 35 they were all working for us at one point in time. As you know, we're declining and it's hard to retain staff as we're declining in enrollment and don't always have openings. But 21 of those graduates still work for us in in licensed capacity either as a counselor or a school classroom teacher. So those are really good and promising numbers. This upcoming year we have 47 people in this year's cohort with a projection next year to have even more. So I'm really excited that we're just continuing to grow and grow. The next component I spoke about was our teaching as a professions pathway through CTE. Our goal was to increase the enrollment by 200%. Over a 5-year

165span. We were able to do that in 1 year and that's a really important thing. The numbers weren't very high. We only had 18 students enrolled in 2024-2025 school year. But through the efforts of our school counselors encouraging students to look at multiple options for career pathways, teaching is a real viable option. The Department of Workforce Services listed as a five-star rated They rate one to five stars much like you would as an Amazon review of the qualifications of a job in terms of its viability and prospects, starting pay, lifetime earnings and things like that. So, measuring all of those categories, it receives a five out of five for public school teachers in both elementary and secondary education. And so, having that on the table as an option for our students to grow up and

166come back and serve in the community that they grew up in is just a pet project of mine, but I believe it's the right thing to do. And so, Dr. Grant and I talk often about how very, very high percentage of teachers end up teaching within 50 miles of where they grew up. 70% within 30 miles. It's a huge number. >> [laughter] >> Thank you, Dr. Grant. Yeah. Yeah, that's a national average. And so, it's just that's what people do. And it's a great thing that we now have a program in place that supports this with our students and encourages them to go through college with our local universities and come right back into the classrooms that they previously sat out. So, as I mentioned earlier, that picture that started this portion of the of

167the slides was the signing event for our first 10 teacher apprentices. And so, this is a huge milestone because this is a official track scholarship track sponsored apprenticeship in the state of Utah. So, as you know, we this is our the second one in the state and we're responsible for both of those as as a district. And I'm just really excited that we have 10 participants. I was I was hoping that we'd be able to get five and doubling those expectations the very first round is a great start. So, excited for that and excited to be able to give opportunities for these young people to start working alongside of teachers in excellent teachers in our classrooms to be able to learn the craft, the skill and the science behind teaching just right off the bat

168while they're in in high school. It's just a unheard of kind of experiment. So, I'm excited to be part of that. And the other component to this goal about increasing the efficiency in our office in terms of time it takes to process hiring documents. Um a couple years ago, we started in like the mid-70s and you know, like a 70 percentile for being able to turn over hiring paperwork within 48 hours. I'm happy to report this year, we're showing 95% of all of the hiring requests that come in despite 50% of them no joke, 50% of them have errors of some sort or another, we're still able to process them within 48 hours. And so, that means we're working directly with candidates and direct working directly with uh the hiring managers more and more rapidly

169so that we can get through the process and we're not always sitting around waiting on a hiring manager to finish a uh paperwork component or a candidate to get back to us about an offer or something like that. So, it's a nice thing to be able to say we're we're moving at a much speedier pace. And I threw in an extra little tidbit in regard to hiring because this speaks to the ability This last year, we have been last 2 years, we've increased the rate of pay for substitute teachers. But in my office, we've also increased the efforts in hiring substitute teachers. And so, we have a sufficient enough uh pool of substitute teachers so that our substitute teacher fill rate this year averaged 94.9%. That was as of last Tuesday. So, this is a

170huge increase from a few years ago when we're in the middle of COVID and we're looking in the mid-70s. Um so, it's it's my favorite story to say that whenever I get a telemarketing call from a agency who wants to sell us a program on how to better staff our schools with substitutes, I say, "Can you match our substitute rates?" And they say, "Well, how did you do that?" I say, "Thanks for your service. I don't don't need it very much." And it gets telemarketers off the phone call really easily. Um so, that's a that's a nice thing. I can even brag to outside people in that way. As we move on, um I want to look at the resource considerations. Um so far, uh like I said, for the Grow Grow Your Own GYOE

171grant funds, our district alone has received $1.9 million in grant funds. This is out of a total of about 7 million statewide. And so, this is a huge effort that our district is putting forth um far and above other districts around us. Um also, the Track Apprenticeship Award grant that was just received this last couple weeks. Um and also, just dedicated HRIS staff. Like I said, myself and Kelly May and uh Nathan Elkins, we're working together always to uh support our Grow Your Own Grow Your Own Educator efforts. Um things that we need, we need to maintain our our current level of staffing for human resources so that we can continue the services that we're providing at at the rates that we're able to at the moment. Um and also, we need to look for

172potential additional funding for our ongoing uh teacher youth apprenticeship. Cuz I'm hoping that can grow and have, you know, 10 to 15 students every single year as we move forward to help replace um teachers as we move forward cuz we're always always hiring teachers year over year. So, in summary, um the things that pillar four, the at least this objective, helps with pillar four is really helping improve the hiring experience for both managers and our candidates. The first chance many people have to experience any kind of interaction with our district is applying for a job. And so, I want to make sure that's a positive one to better represent the district as being the best district in the state and make sure that it's a place that our employees want to come back to and

173continue to work. Um also um we've increased the number of students enrolling in our teacher teaching as a professions pathway um as as well as what I said about the opportunity for the teacher youth apprenticeship scholarships. Um and also we are showing year-over-year record number of grow your own educator candidates supported with grant scholarships. And so this last year um the exact number of the grant that we were awarded last year was 647,000 um specifically for 42 new candidates. So we're going to continue those efforts and we're waiting to see what our grant is going to be what our grant award might be for next year. So I'm hoping it's going to be even bigger. So with that that's all we have. Do you have any questions for Mr. Asbell or I? Just Logan. Well,

174me I guess. Amanda. Sorry. I don't know if my hearing's getting worse as the night's going on or if everybody's speaking quieter. What was that? Um Isaac, you mentioned that you're uh currently short several key positions um in your department. Will you share um what those positions are? The the Sorry. The ones we're struggling with right now are plumbers and HVAC techs. Um but it's not it's not a district only thing. It's a industry standard right now challenge right now. So anything that requires a state license with an apprenticeship, we're struggling to find qualified people. Note that superintendent for the trades and CTE. Yeah, we do want to build out construction pathways which would be pre-apprenticeship work for our kids that would then enter registered apprenticeships in those kind of fields. There's definitely a lot

175of opportunity there. Um and then Logan, on yours, you mentioned that your substitute fill rate is 94.9% like write that right? That's right. >> fabulous. You know where I'm going to go with this. So, what is the special education teacher substitute fill rate? I do not have that So, >> distributed. >> Okay. Last year um it was noted that there or identified at some point that their fill rate is substantially lower. Um and where it's such a um it's an area that really is important that we get that fill rate up. So, I would ask in the future that one that number is also brought to this conversation. And then um kind of a a targeted plan on how to improve that fill rate for that those classrooms because um it's pretty it's pretty detrimental

176whenever we don't have um staff in those classrooms basically. Um and then another piece I don't think it's on here but just to throw out there um I know you don't have direct control over this but I think if look at somehow um digging into our retention rates um through the HR lens and what can be done to support um like our our retention on all staff, teachers, and parents basically. You know, what what what how many what who are we losing? What's the Who who are we losing the most? The why's behind it and all of that so then we can in turn know if we're targeting the right um solutions and um really narrowing down where we need to focus our energies and ensuring we're retaining these qualified staff that you work so

177hard to acquire. So, but thank you for both of your hard work. I know it's it's hard. Thanks. Thanks, Charlotte, and then Annie. Okay. Yeah, I would just echo work on both ends, right? The recruiting and the retaining. So, I like that. Um let's see. I was going to ask you I should write these down. Um Okay, go on to the next person and I'll Um This isn't necessarily directly related, but somewhat related based on Amanda's question about retention. Um I'm just curious about a grow-your-own program and a retention rate for administrators. We've seen a lot of administrative turnover, especially at the high school level, and I'm wondering what HR is doing for growing people in those roles and and how we're going to retain. Good question. Uh just this last year we started a

178administrative internship position thanks to the approval of the board this last school year. That That was successful, and the person that we had in the administrative intern position, it was housed at West High School last year. That person has now been given a ongoing contract with the district. So, we're looking to use that program and potentially expand to see how do we grow administrators and give them the right kind of experience because it it's difficult. Classrooms and schools are are challenging places to work with increasing demands. And so, I think more opportunities where we can adequately prepare people to fill those roles and have the experience on just hands-on experience in those in those roles is going to help out. So, I would like to see more efforts in in of expanding our internship opportunities

179for administrators um and also um it's something that we're continuously looking at to see like, you know, are rates our pay rates competitive? Are our working conditions uh such that it's a great place to work and, you know, by and large schools are an awesome place to work, but it's also challenging. And so it's a it's balance that we're going to have to evaluate over and over. Okay, I remembered my question. When did the grow your own educator um grow Is it grow your own? Yes. >> Okay, grow your own. >> [snorts] >> Or grow our own. Never mind. Anyway, grow your own educator program start. And that was not That was in college, wasn't it? Or how Can you tell me how it started and what It's not high school students. >> Yeah, those

180are two different programs, so I don't want to confuse the two. So the grow your own educator program um my involvement started with that 13 years ago, but it looked very different back then where there was no state funding um and no public support for it. And so it was really a matter of myself and another staff member just working with individuals who were interested. Just looking anywhere we could to find scholarships and to um help provide them a pathway to say like, "Oh, we're glad you're here. I know you want to obtain the college degree one day and get a teacher license." And so we would provide them, you know, moral support and hand-holding in trying to get them uh through uh the rigors of college and trying to pay for it all um

181on a paraeducator salary. Um and that's thankfully morphed over time where the last 5 years, so in 2020 it was in 2020 for the '21-'22 school year that the state legislature actually provided grant funds available statewide and there was about $6 million statewide. Um, and so that No, it wasn't that much that year. I think it was $3 million statewide um for districts to start a grow your own program. And so what was good for us was that we already had something in place. We had people that were interested and a shell of a system. We just didn't have any money to pay for it. So we were able to apply for a grant and received the largest grant award in the state of that in the 21-22 school year. And with over 500,000 um

182in grant funds, we were able to get 30 candidates into the program that that year in 2021. So. So it's a multifaceted component there, but also to elaborate on your >> the population that we that grow your own Yeah, who who who's present? The participants, yeah. That's exactly where I was going to go next because I wanted to separate the two. The teacher apprenticeship I was talking about is specifically for our high school students to to start that pathway early on as a a high school students. The grow your own pathway is for current employees and so you need to be currently employed in a classroom setting um is the way that the the grant funds are awarded. And so someone who serves as a classroom assistant, a paraprofessional, a student support assistant, um and

183even um in our aftercare programs, those positions all qualify to be eligible for these grow your own educator scholarship funds. Okay. So that sounds like there's a pipeline. I mean, you have paraprofessionals who it's not really a sustainable or living enough to live on, I guess. If they did that for a long time, but they could do that and then if they wanted to go into possibly go into the grow your own educator program. That's exactly the program. >> mobility. Yep, that's the >> Okay. Providing opportunities for for everybody. Thank you. Of course. Um yeah, so as with the budget discussion earlier, I'm just curious how we will plan to keep pace with the capital expenditures talked about in this report when we're hearing about ongoing declining revenue. So, Alan, other than retaining our property

184tax growth, which you talked about a portion of that levy is dedicated to capital, what strategies are we using to stay out of capital debt excluding the known debt of the bond? Right, so excluding that, we have a couple challenges right now as we are maintaining buildings that we don't that don't have students, uh which is kind of a a drag on the budget, uh but we're continuing looking at ways to um where where we can maybe say, "Okay, our level of service can drop down a little bit. We maybe we don't need the A+ uh squeaky clean floor, but maybe a a B+ will be sufficient." So, we're looking at the ways we can do that, maybe reduce the amount of hours that are at the schools. As far as the buildings go, it

185it's tough cuz as long as we own the buildings, we have to keep them in functional functioning properly. Um you had mentioned earlier in a conversation about property tax growth. In June, we'll have that number from the state tax commission. Uh there is a portion of that that goes into the capital fund, so that'll go in there uh when we discuss um potential property tax increases in the future, this will definitely be one of the things we'll be talking about. How do we maintain the buildings we have at a proper level? Um And you know, how do we get more funding for that? Uh and one of the bigger issues, which we haven't been able to solve yet, is all of the unfunded safety mandates that we're going to have to retrofit our schools with.

186For the two new high schools, it's built into the budget. So, we're we're taking care of the two new high schools. It's all the retrofitting that is going to have to take place that we uh as of yet don't have a financing plan for. So, with that in mind, I think it's just useful, again knowing this is a report, that some of this would have to happen offline before we discuss it. But, when we agreed to move forward with G5, we also simultaneously directed a comprehensive needs assessment, what the needs are for our district buildings. I think it's important we determine the date at which we'll have that report, but also that that report would require the next layer of what, you know, Isaac has presented from auxiliary services with the long-term facilities plan, and

187we've seen some of the scoring. So, I just think it would be useful offline before the summer's through to establish the date at which we're looking more at those things, knowing that it it seems critical for budgetary reasons, as well as you know, ideas. Okay, just to clarify. For my own benefit, earlier in our uh previous session, you had mentioned a 100-year plan, which was kind of a change from a 50-year plan. That it was >> I just pretend that >> [laughter] >> I knew that it was an kind of big unreasonably like a distant plan. That we know we think about facilities in the immediate sense and in the longer-term sense. So, what I really meant was the long-term plan. Which 50 years is sufficient. I don't need I hopefully I was just a

188little worried there for a minute. >> I'll be gone before we fulfill the 100-year plan. I believe it was in January when when we and Isaac presented the 50-year plan, and we talked about kind of a summarized what is, you know, what does this mean? How do we get our arms around it, and then what's the plan going forward? So, I think that's kind of what you're looking at is Okay, we have this all this data that Isaac put together. Now, how does that help us make decisions? And how does that help us make decisions in alignment with now also the educational needs and the institutional needs that they are the buildings. What needs are they serving? Cuz we can talk about what a perfect facility would be like, but we can't talk about that

189in a vacuum without talking about who's in the facility and what they're doing. Cuz right now, I mean, our 50-year plan was largely about building. Exactly. >> There's this other piece of a plan that talks about what are our instructional needs now, 5 years, 10, 20 down the road. >> Inside of the building. And if we establish the date at which those two things will converge, that will help us meaningfully act on, you know, the great information from the report. Thank you. And um we're still Let me just check to see Does anybody else want to speak in the first round? All right. Seeing none, Annie, we'll start round two with you. Oh, I just wanted a clarification. So, just so we're all on the same page, what Ashley's talking about is there's the 50-year

190long-term facilities plan or even just short-term facilities assessment that we got earlier this year, and you're currently building out the long-term facilities plan, right? Yeah. I mean, that included a projection of the 50 years, but it's not laid out including these other uh pieces that have to be included in that to decide what locations and things like that. >> Okay. And then, the other layer that we still are waiting for is the needs assessment, which is more of a qualitative report in or uh instructional needs, community needs, student needs that the building will have to or the facilities will have to accommodate, So, those are two separate things. I just want to clarify because I think in past sessions there's been some confusion around that. Right. So, some of the information that board member Ashley

191shared out last summer kind of distinguished There's these two kind of needs assessments. One's the physical building, which facilities, which is largely included in this 50-year plan. And the others, you know, what does instruction look like? What what programs do we do we want or what we need in 5, 10, 15 years? And And that's the piece that we need to develop and then bring those two together. Thank you, Logan. Any other questions for Logan or Isaac from the board? Seeing none, thank you guys for for bringing this information to Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. All right, our next item is the inclusion resolution. And before we get started, I want to send a a thank you to Amanda. Amanda, thank you for keeping this on the radar, number one. It's an annual review

192that we do with this resolution. Um but it's If my memory serves me right, you also played a role in this inclusion resolution before you became a board member in partnership with board members so at the time. So, thank you for bringing this important work to us. And it's And we'll turn it over to Dr. Grant and Dr. Hall. And Aaron Adams, and our special ed director, will share with you the impressive things they're doing around inclusion efforts Maybe. across our schools. All right, while I deal with um this falling apart over here. Um I Oh, there. No. Just No. Just No. Hang on. Okay. Sorry, you never know what this is going to do. But I'll just uh begin by saying that What am I doing, Sam? Extending? Mhm. Okay, getting there. Never know

193what this is going to do. I haven't been to many docking stations. Almost there. Thank you. Okay, then. Now you're showing. Okay. All right, beautiful. Nope, now you're not showing. It's okay, go ahead and just Push your play? Yeah, start the slideshow. Okay. There we go. There we go. Okay, we're there. Hey, good times. All right, um we are very excited to be here tonight to talk about the inclusive schools resolution. I would like to just begin by recognizing that there are a lot of different groups that we want to feel included and seen and recognized in our school, and the inclusive school resolution does talk about many of those. Tonight, we are focused on our special education students, our students with disabilities who are in our schools, and the things that we are doing

194to help them feel seen and included. I put a map behind the slide because this is a journey. It's a journey that we probably may never hit a final destination. We'll continue to work on this, but we want to recognize some of the things that have been wins for us this year and also indicate to you some of the areas that we're continuing to work on, and we're excited to see things happen in next year and in the coming years. Just to uh remind people in perhaps in the audience um that are not familiar with the inclusive schools resolution, it is on the board's website, but there are a couple of key tenants that I'll just briefly summarize that um will reflect in what we cover tonight. And that is that this resolution states that

195our schools in our district should be a place where students can learn, belong, and participate, that we demonstrate our best practices academically, socially, and physically and including them in all of our schools. That we support this through professional learning, through resources, and through collaborative systems, and that we are going to continuously review our policies and procedures to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support this. Tiffany Yes. >> speaking to the microphone, please? Sorry, she's super echoy. Yeah, I know it's echoy. Okay, let's hear you go. You speak though. Oh. Is that really not resonating? Down low will Okay, cuz it's echoing back at us. Okay. Um so just some quick data. We have approximately 17,650 students. Um of those students in Salt Lake, uh approximately 16% have been identified and um

196as having a a disability per IDEA with an IEP. Um of that we have Oh, sorry. Yeah, so that's the 2,800 students. And then um there's always questions about sort of where these students located in in our service model on that continuum. Um 80% of our students have a resource placement, which means that we'd just be in their home school. Um 20% of we I have a special class placement, which could be their home school or um another school as identified. So we've worked really hard um in building culture of inclusion in all schools. Um we do that for a number of things and um if you ever have the opportunity to to come to um DLC, I I um invite you because it's it's fun to watch um the principals work on these topics.

197Um but this idea and and they hear this soapbox for me often, the belief of all students are gen ed students first. Um this is definitely something that they hear a lot from me. Um we also want to make sure that um our gen ed stu our gen ed teachers, excuse me, um um and special ed teachers are planning together. So, we've worked really hard this year with SLE, with HR, and principals to identify opportunities for them to have to plan and make sure that that instruction's happening um together. Um, and then we also want to make sure that any child, no matter what school they're in, whether it's their home school or school they've chosen to attend, um, is feeling welcomed um in those buildings and that they're having um high success rates. And

198so, again, that idea that all students can learn, no matter who they are. All right. Um, Okay. We're going to talk first about um inclusive education and what that looks like and the ways that we are working with students in classrooms. This is going to talk about some of our things with co-teaching, our instructional models, and the research-based and collaborative problem-solving uh approaches that we are taking to really deal with this. So, first, just very briefly, um I'd like to talk about co-teaching models. And this looks a little bit like a petri dish and I apologize for that, but as you look at it, you know, we think about the history of inclusion in classrooms. And we have sort of moved through periods of time where we would consider that our students with disabilities were

199in other classrooms and they were not with their general ed peers. And then we have classrooms where perhaps they're in the classroom, but they're in a small group and they are different or away from their peers. And we are really moving for an inclusion model where we see all of our students in their classrooms and did it not work? Oh, it did. Yeah, it did. Mhm. Um, where our students are in their classrooms and we are able to see them learning appropriately with their peers and with support from teachers. So, as we look at co-teaching at inclusive model, all of our hub schools have implemented co-teaching. We have 13 elementary schools that are currently doing push-in models, and we have three more schools prepared to implement co-teaching in 2026-2027. Seven of our secondary schools have

200implemented co-teaching, and one of the things that's really wonderful about it, I just wanted to share a couple of classroom experiences. The first one, left to right, is a classroom of co-teaching at Franklin Elementary. I couldn't tell you, Aaron could, but I couldn't tell you which one of those teachers is the uh gen ed teacher and the special ed teacher, and you wouldn't be able to identify in that classroom who had an IEP and who did not. Um the second one, on the right at the top, is a similar class at Glendale Middle School. Again, um I actually walked out and said to the principal, Dr. McKinney, um you know, the special education teacher that I was standing by was doing a great job, and she said, uh wasn't the special education teacher. And I

201said, that is fantastic. Um so, the bottom picture is one of our um inclusion opportunities. This is a classroom at West, where our students are um in the theater class, and they are using assistive technologies and other supports to be able to participate fully in that classroom. Another thing that we are doing this year and have been working on, I've been um able to work with um April Reynolds, as you know, has been with us this year, and we have been working with our hub school principals, Bachman, Emerson, and Franklin. We have been collaborating with those principals to review common practices, to look at things that they are doing in a different way, or things that they are doing the same way, and to see what things are really being effective, and developing metrics for

202measuring their ongoing growth and their success, and then um we'll be coming up with ways that we are going to be able to replicate and expand those practices that are that are working and that are showing um great effects for schools. We've been working with our assessment and evaluation team to be able to look at some very specific data and um be able to see how those things are reflected as we move forward. We've also been doing a lot of professional learning and support. Um we have three schools that are participating in what is called an I3 grant. I don't know let um Director Anderson talk a little bit about that first. >> Sure. So, um these three schools had to apply. Um it's it's three eyes. It's the innovation grant. It's actually a federal

203grant that USBE offered to us. Um we all, and I say we cuz the schools, myself, um and two area directors went to to St. George with a number of other schools from across the state and did a three-day training in St. George with USBE um around the grant. We did a ton of work about being innovative. The whole idea of the grant is to be innovative in our way that we educate students, specifically students with disabilities, and um it was amazing takeaways. The work that we're seeing in these three schools is is truly fantastic. We've also had schools participating with USBE in a co-teaching cohort. You can see them there. We're beginning uh year two with this, and I'd really like to uh express my appreciation to Area Director Dallen Miller and again April

204Reynolds for helping us manage and organize all of these events. They have done eight days of training throughout the year together as school teams to work on co-teaching. Also, April Reynolds has been running this year um a Salt Lake City School District co-teaching cohort, and that has been um a an introduction to all of the models and the research, and then going out to our schools where we have excellent models of co-teaching and observing and then debriefing with the teachers or the administrators to talk about scheduling, planning, teaching, all of the things that they are able to do to make that effective. She has also developed, and we are using an observation tool that we can um that administrators can use as a conversation starter or to give positive effective feedback to co-teaching partners about

205the way they are setting up their classroom, um sharing their instruction, responding and giving feedback to students and assessing things that are happening. So, we're really excited. We've now been using this for several months. She's made several revisions and we're excited to be able to move forward with this in our district as one of the tools that we use on a regular basis. Again, for observation and feedback. I was going to let you talk about this, but teachers first. Oh, perfect. So, we we being myself, my department, as well as Dr. Hall's department have done a ton of different um professional learning. Um I'm actually going to tie them all together quick cuz we've done PD for special education teachers um every month, that's my department. But, we actually did a cohort at the beginning

206of the year for all the gen ed teachers um with the math department. So, Holly um uh thank you, McIntosh, and myself, and a bunch of her coaches, and um all of my team got together and created professional development at the beginning of the year for all of our teachers um that talked about uh instruction, inclusion, and differentiation, and way to um remediate for any student, but also extend for any student um in our August PD. But, as far as our special ed teachers go, we have had monthly PDs um that we've offered a whole ton of different um options. We've tailored um you heard um Logan Hall talk about um grow your own. Um what he didn't talk about was like our Apple S teachers who are an alternate route to licensure in special

207education. Um with that, we have provided them their very own set of professional development um series as well as um our first year teachers. So, those could be grow your own or they could be straight from the university. Um but anyway, so we taught we did all of this stuff um through a a variety of of models. We also have a Canvas course that our teachers can access, but we've talked about all of these different topics. And then um at the school level, for example, West was mentioned previously, um I've done a lot of work with them, their administration, and their um consultant around co-teaching. So, that's kind of been some fun work that we've done with professional learning this year. Thanks. Um with our content area specialists, those are our academic coaches. As um

208Ms. Anderson said, we've been working with differentiation strategies around math. We are also this year we have geared up to provide specific support to resource classes, to resource teachers. And next year um our priorities will be K-3 literacy and supporting our special education teachers in schools. They'll be ready to spend 75% of their time doing that. They will also be working on tier one behavior support. We're going to provide them some additional training so that they are able to help support some of those high um often mentioned needs for uh behavior support assistance or classroom management support assistance uh to help with things. We'll continue to work with general education teachers. We see that as a real area for growth with differentiation strategies and ways of addressing accommodations and modifications. Awesome. So, in preschool, cuz

209this starts before, you know, our kiddos are even in kindergarten, we have done a lot of work with um the EC, the early childhood department, in expanding those inclusive opportunities. We've expanded our opportunities for students to be in the general education classroom, which is EC, um with special education support, whether it's through para educators or teachers. Um Um and we've added next year, we're super excited, we're adding Franklin into our collaborative classroom model, um but also extending those opportunities for any student to um get services um alongside their gen ed peers, which is always the best way to start our educational opportunity. Another cute picture. Um this is at uh Hillside. Um they're in the comments. It's super cute. Okay. Um so this year I already kind of quickly talked about PD for um admin

210at DLC. Um Dr. Hall and I created a whole series of professional learning opportunities um for our administrators. This is um a kind of a bare-bones look cuz we spent an hour um about five times throughout the year. So they have about five hours of professional learning this year. And then um we're actually going to continue this next year. Dr. Hall has um been able to acquire one week a month or one day a month, I should say, cuz it's a Thursday, um that her entire department can provide professional development. And so I'm going to work with them to make sure that we're providing those opportunities um for our administrators. And getting feedback from parents, this has been something that we've heard a lot about both from parents individually, but also um communities. Um we

211want to make sure that uh growth area for next year is that we're strengthening that communication from schools to home. So one of the things we've talked a lot about is um welcoming letters, both from administration, but also from um school teachers or service providers. So this could be your SLP, your your speech language pathologist, but this also could be your resource teacher. And then again, that idea of sharing continued updates. So we get proper supports, but they're only every quarter with grades. And so really making sure parents are well educated and informed on how their student is is doing in real time. And then, um we are going to work to find additional experts um um or panel presentations for parents. So, offering parent night opportunities. Um we can do this with the Utah

212Parent Center, but also within our own district of finding these opportunities for our parents to feel like they can come ask questions and learn some more about um whatever they're not sure about with IDA. Um something that um has come just statewide that we wanted to just quickly touch on and that has been something we've worked on significantly since I've started in this position more than 5 years ago. Um we have this this term. It's called most significantly cognitive disability, most significant cognitive disability. Um these are students that have been identified as learning or being um able to be accessing the alternative core. We have a core that is through the Dynamic Learning Map um that is you statewide. It's used statewide. It's also used throughout the country. Um and these students um are taught

213in a in a essentially an aligned core to our core standards. Um right now, we are at 1.08%, which is more than 1% for those of us who are really good with decimals. And um we we need to be at or below 1%. So, technically we need to be at 0.99. Um the feds um audited USBE last year is 18 months ago and have come out with this. And so, we I when I first took over this position uh started to reduce the number just because um and now it's been a directive from USBE. Um we must be reduced by 2000 um 28. Our goal is we'll be there because we've already reduced every year so far. So, this is a big deal, meaning that these students are accessing More students are accessing Gen Ed

214curriculum and core curriculum versus an alternative curriculum. All right. All right, we're going to talk a little bit about our peer inclusion and what that looks like. Um academic inclusion is wonderful, but we also want to make sure we have those social experiences. Okay. Um I want to take this cuz I I have I feel this with my own kiddos um cuz I have students who are in a grade to do this. But, um So, in peer tutoring, these are some numbers we got from um schools. I want to note that Northwest only has one class. It's a brand new class this year. And to have seven peer tutors already supporting 14 classes, I think is a huge call out to that teacher. Like, he's done an amazing job. Unfortunately, he's moving to some live

215somewhere cheaper, and so we will not have him next year, but I think that's amazing. And then obviously, we have some work that we can do um in some of our schools. And so, what we want to do is um we've talked and when I say we, um Nick Roley who works with um these teachers as a consultant, he is working to um create um programming to help make this more um thoughtful. Um So, implementing formal preparation program, so in another district where my kiddos go, um when my daughter's a peer tutor, she actually took um a canvas course along with her peer tutoring where she learned about different things and earned um credit for that. And so, we're going to work on um those areas with our students. All right. This is a beautiful

216quote from our Highland teacher, one of our Highland teachers. Um largely due to our peer tutor program, my students never walk down the hall during passing time without being greeted by name, with a hug, fist bump, or bro hug by several of their peers. Um again, never eat lunch alone. Many attend school dances, school sporting events outside of school hours, and have made those lasting friendships, which is absolutely amazing. You missed one thing. Mhm. Um, just a little bit about unified sports. We've covered that a lot in previous years as it has gotten started. Um, we do have every one of our schools with at least three sports. I put a little clip here from a spreadsheet. Our schools have invested both time and money in providing equipment, coaches, uniforms, and we are seeing those

217numbers increase, and our goal for next year is, of course, to see those numbers continue to increase. Um, we just we appreciate the way that these inclusive practices have helped. Here's another lovely quotation from our teacher at West High School. So, we're going to continue to support those kinds of activities. Um, the last area that we would like to think about or talk about is our continuous improvement. One of the things as a learning organization that we always want to be doing is always want to be doing is improving. And to help a system improve, we have to create clear expectations, and we have to be able to illustrate those expectations to create consistent vision and understanding. So, April Reynolds and I have been collaborating on this. Um, we are almost ready to begin a

218focus group process, but it is a framework for inclusion in schools wrapped around three main domains, instructional inclusion as we've talked about tonight, peer access and belonging, and then continuous inclu- uh improvement cycles. And the format of this, and this is just a again a clip because we're in draft, is to structure within these areas um to identify key inclusion moves. Um, the use of multiple co-teaching models, for instance. And then to give schools a way to chart where they are and where they are growing. If they are an emerging, a developing, an establishing, or a model site. And as we identify model sites, we'll be able to use those sites in the future as examples for other schools, classrooms, or teachers. This has been a great thing with our co-teaching cohorts this year as

219some of our schools the principals came back and were so excited. They then sent their teacher teams to watch other teachers so that they could come back and replicate those practices. This is a way that we can strengthen all of our schools. Um it isn't evaluative. It is a strengthening and supporting model. What questions do you have? Any? I have a few questions. Um thanks so much for this present presentation. Uh the last slide you had was a framework and one of my questions was how you are evaluating um the performance of, you know, like integrated classrooms and um gen ed teachers implementing. It seems like most of that is through observation. Is that right? >> That is correct. Okay. And so it's members of the special education or district office going around and observing?

220No, not at this time. Administrators would be doing that as part of their E-CAP process. Okay. Um what we are trying to do is create um with our observation and feedback form opportunities for them to know what they're looking for in a highly effective co-teaching classroom and be able to have those conversations with their teachers. So for instance, one of the things that we know is a high effective practice when you're co-teaching. It's a very simple thing, but having both teachers' names up in the room. Having both teachers um you know, circling and and contributing equally. So that would be something that if you didn't see that, you might start with how how could we make sure that both of you look like uh fully established teachers in this classroom? Okay. Um and another question

221is how how is the um curriculum for um you know, special classroom model, you know, like a contained environment, how are you um measuring or evaluating that that curriculum is being taught? Um In the 1% or just in general? >> Yeah, just generally. So, it's at the beginning you were saying 20% of students are in special environments, right? So, in those special environments, which are often times at hub schools like Emerson, how are you evaluating that the curriculum is being followed by the teacher or the paraprofessionals in those classrooms? So, most of those are co-taught, and so they're being taught with their gen ed teacher and special ed teacher together. So, they're prepping together, and then they're following the pacing guides as laid out by Salt Lake. So, it would be through eCap again. They

222would be observed, they would be given feedback of you've not hit these things, or you're not getting to tier two, or you're not getting to tier three. So, all of that would be through the through the observation and um uh feedback cycle of the of the administrator. And same with contained classrooms? Yes. Okay. Uh and then the other question I had was when we go back to the peer support slide, um it looks like really low numbers at East and West. Mhm. Highland is pretty high, 20 peer tutors. Correct. I'm just wondering what the programs are at East and West and why they're so low. They're nothing's different. Like they all have the same programming. Well, it says two peer tutors. Right, but they all have the same class offerings. Like they all have the

223same special classes. Development. We need to develop the program. Correct. That is why as we say you know in green those are the things that we need to do moving forward. So pure tutoring hasn't been something that we have actively supported. It's something that we are going to actively support in the future. Highland has has taken this on and they are our model demonstration school for this at this time. And then we would expect when we came to this report next year to see all of those numbers higher. So students just aren't signing up for that class. They may not have It's not being offered. >> Yeah, it's not being offered or publicized in the same way that it is at Highland. Okay. And then my last thing is do you have examples of the

224I3? Like some of the things that those I3 Sure. So do you want to start? I'll go ahead and let her go. Um so in the innovation grant they have um hired a coach with their grant money at the each of the schools that is working with their teachers who are co-teaching to help them plan together and be able to accomplish those modifications and accommodations. So that's one of the things that they're really looking at. How do they make that more effective? So that coaching process they've they've decided is a very important part of that. Um Glendale is doing some other things. Well so Glendale has two coaches. They have a gen ed coach and a special ed coach. So one is a special ed licensed educator and one is a gen ed licensed educator

225and they're working with the teams together to talk about what would it look like from this lens and what would it look like from this lens. And just at our last DLC they were awarded like some growth award for middle school. So we're seeing that this is this is truly a a work that is impactful. Great. Thanks. I had Amanda and then Charlotte. I'll go ahead Charlotte. I just had a quick question. You said at your last C DLC. Yep. Can you tell me what that is? The district leadership. I don't know the >> Dr. Taylor's going to We don't know what the C is. District leadership council, maybe? Council? >> Okay. That was an acronym I was not familiar with. It's when all the principals get together. Yeah. Oh. get together every 2 weeks

226under Dr. Taylor's leadership with the area directors. And part of it's information sharing and part of it's professional development, usually in those sessions. So, that happens every other Thursday. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you, Amanda. Um Uh I'm going to try and be clear but maybe succinct. So, to answer, I guess, some of the Annie's questions, I'm going to chime in here. Um Different schools approach peer tutoring differently. And Highland High has had uh parents kind of jumped in and helped uh motivate and advocate for that. And they also had a the vice principal that's really worked hard on developing the peer tutor program. I'm surprised it solely says 20 cuz my understanding is it's a lot more than that. Um so, they've done a phenomenal job there. And the others,

227like Tiffany was saying, they're they're working on building them up to be comparable in their supports and other things like Hillside's got a really good program um where they actually have elementary students sign up for being a peer tutor. Um and not all middle schools, from my understanding, do that. So, I've spoken to the vice principal over at um Glendale. And the more that we implement good practices, like we've talked about before, um Hillside's really stood out in that um context. Um One thing that I was curious about and I I have my assumptions, but I want to make sure that um I'm not assuming wrong. A lot of the schools that you're talking about that are participating in the um Get to this slide here. Um the co-teaching cohort. So, you have the I3

228grant, North Star Washington, Glendale, USBE co-teaching cohort, and the SLCSD co-teaching cohort. Um other than the high schools, a lot of the elementaries are um more on the west side and it looked like just giving very quickly and you can correct me if I'm wrong, more most of them are title one schools. Um what was it that drove you to I presume that you selected them unless I didn't catch if they applied for it. >> They they volunteered. >> Opted in. >> They opted in. So, I So, I3 is an application, um but the SLCSD was an opt-in, as was the USBE. So, those were opted in by either administrator or the entire school team that said we want to participate. >> Awesome. And then I3 we had actually I want to say seven schools

229apply, but only three got the grant. So, we actually quite a few schools apply, but because they tried to spread out the love, um I think we had the most schools though that got accepted in in Utah. That's awesome. Um and obviously between all three of those it shows the interest in the schools in wanting to learn better practices, which is great to see. Um I have a note. Sorry, I don't have all my notes. I was trying to take pictures of your slides since I didn't have them here. Um I think that you had said early on that um I'm going to go back to Annie's question, cuz Annie was asking something on whether something was also in the the self-contained classrooms. What was that, Annie? How you're evaluating if the curriculum is taught?

230Yeah, and I guess the the the confusing part to the answers to that is in the self-contained classrooms, especially if you're in essential elements, a lot of these kids students have uh pretty complex disabilities, and they have IEPs that are driving a lot of their education, but they also should be getting access to the um general curriculum as well, and obviously that's typically done through the DLM. Um but since it is structured differently than the typical general education classroom, um the part that I'm I'm curious about as well, and maybe that's kind of what you were saying there, but how are they able to assess that these students, especially in the more complex classrooms, are accessing um all the curriculum they should be accessing beyond their IEPs, because their IEPs should not be their sole

231education. Does that make sense? So, it's just a continuation of Annie's question, that's where uh my curiosity would lie is how we're trying to make sure that's occurring. I think that's one of the things that we're really doing to make sure that our administrators know and understand what those good practices would look like, because um those teachers aren't district employees, they're not special education employees, they're evaluated and overseen by the principals at their school. And so, you know, that that's one of the things as we go on and we say, I mean, I've heard Ms. Anderson say several times, the IEP doesn't frame what students should be learning and getting, and so I think those are our conversations that administrators would be having with teachers. Um also the eCAP looks slightly different, and so the

232eCAP for in those specific rooms, for those specific educate special education teachers actually looks slightly different to address exactly what you're asking is, are we doing more than just giving whole group instruction, but are we truly diversifying? Are we truly getting to the things that they need, but also getting um through the curriculum as it's supposed to be? Um I don't have it all memorized off the top of my head, but um I've worked with again Logan, um Mr. Logan Hall, and Mr. Nathan Elkins in HR to really frame out that, and that was changed I want to say three or four years ago. It's been since I've been in this position that we really changed e-cap to be what is this teacher do? What is this teacher do? And really frame that out, and

233then we've done some workshopping as has been indicated by um Dr. Hall that um what does this look like when you're evaluating an educator. And then one last question, I know this conversation could go on for days if not weeks. Um but um what is being done to share best practices throughout the whole district cuz we know that we do have um amazing things happening throughout our district, but not consistently throughout our district. So what is being done to share all the good to develop those consistent practices universally? So one of the things we did at with the teachers, when I say we my department, um so we had the monthly PDs, and at one of them we actually did a make and take where they shared out their ideas together, created things, and then

234left with ideas, topics, etc. So it was truly teacher driven. We'd intended to do a second one. We didn't get um there in the year, um but that is also something we planned again for next year of the um it was vertically aligned, so there was an elementary a preschool elementary middle school and high school teacher in every group, and they talked about what this looks like. Um they could have been from um any school or any sort of classroom situation, but then they made and took and talked about what this looks like within their system, but that's planned for next year as well. So, that's one of the one of the ways that that is being tackled. We'll also um be using our framework as that moves out, then we'll be able to identify

235more model practices and feature those schools, teachers, and administrators in conversations very much like this. Mhm. Awesome. Thank you for your work. Mhm. Thanks, Tiffany. Any other questions? Fabulous. I just um I want to highlight the work that went into that inclusion framework and how game-changing it's going to be for our district. Um I know the special education team under Tiffany's leadership here on this and with April Reynolds spending a lot of time on that. I mean, really, they're setting out what our ambitions are for inclusion across our schools. And then naming the things that we ought to see in schools that are doing it well. And like Tiffany showed, it goes from emerging to developing all the way up to a model performance. Um it's not going to be an evaluative tool right now.

236We're not going to hold schools accountable for it, but we're beginning to introduce the expectation that our schools move in this direction toward doing inclusion really well. And this is a brand-new tool. It's well thought out. It's well conceived. And I think it'll shape the structure of education under inclusion for years to come because it's starting a movement that way in terms of highlighting the different aspects that need to be seen in the schools. So, I just wanted to that was just one of the slides, but I really think as you roll that out, it would be great if you send it to the board um once that tool's completed and and show them what schools are looking at and what we're expecting over time as we get better and better at this. So, I

237just want to say thanks for all of the work that went into that. And how impressive it is. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you both. All right. Thank you, board. We will now move on to the discussion of you on the item items. Um and please keep in mind that we have hit our 3-hour marker about 15 minutes ago. Um so, if we could be as quick as we possibly can while also being mindful and being having integrity to these topics, that would be awesome. Um the first topic on our discussion agenda is item number one, student advisory council. After that, does Dr. Ruiz going to come up? Yes, she is. And I think she'll be joined by our A student board member in the discussion. All right. Yes, so student board member Faust Goodwin and

238I are bringing back the student advisory council for further conversation and consideration. Um last time, the board uh provided feedback on four major areas. And so, I want to list them to make sure that we address them and then um student board member Goodwin can add um more details to that. Those areas were transportation, and we confirmed that the time and date where we are requesting these services are outside of blackout times and dates. Um the second one is to make sure that uh input, feedback, or agenda items are aligned with board agenda items, so then it is in the same conversation and uh facilitate that back-and-forth kind of input from students. The third one is to make sure that our selection process is transparent and that the group that is chosen represent a broad

239range of experiences, backgrounds, lived experiences, and so forth. Um And then the last one is that there are some tangible deliverables, whether it's short summaries or that somehow their input has impacted a decision made by the board. So, those are kind of the four major areas based on your feedback. Um and then I'll let student board member Foss Goodwine to add more to that. Yeah, I'd say that's a good summary of what was adjusted or clarified since last time. I think I placed some emphasis again on the fact that considering the discussion we just had in the previous presentation, there will be flexible support where needed for any students that are involved in the program. And of course, that transport accessibility makes sure that anyone who wants to be involved is not only supported by

240perhaps a person in the room, but uh they'll have access to be able to attend uh in person. Um also, currently it's set up to be for juniors and seniors. That could change in the future, but the idea is that those people would be going on um and perhaps having more um experience and information going into the student board member role. So, not only will we be having two student board members, but ideally over time they'll be coming from that advisory council population, and they'll just have more experience to be able to provide a better service to the district, to the board um as their representatives. Awesome. Thank you, Foss. Thank you, Dr. Louise. Are there any questions from the board? Ashley and then Amanda. I just wanted to clarify um when we're looking to

241approve this item because we've talked about it you know several times. As you look at that transportation component, it says there's a hybrid option where we would acknowledge that like at times when transportation is thin, are you asking that we'd specifically approve a hybrid option as compared to another option or is it assumed that this would be implemented in a hybrid way to be flexible should transportation find that they are stretched thin for example? Correct, the latter. So approving it means we're acknowledging we're approving some hybrid format. Correct. >> Okay. That we will we will start with the proposed uh service from transportation services, but in the event that um that is no longer an option, we will pivot to have a virtual meeting and that will become our hybrid option. Okay, thank you so

242Mhm. Thank you Ashley. Amanda and then Annie. Uh just as like well and I can tell that you've put a lot of thought into it and I'm excited for the concept. Um and then to just um is there anything else we need to think about or wrap in that might have been missed that when we presumably believe we've been to emotions to be moved to the the whatever the end. That word. Action. Yes. Action. >> [laughter] >> Yes, we Good with the formalities you can tell. Yes, one piece I don't want it to get lost is that we also as part of the action item is not just to approve this um the student advisory council, but also appoint a board member or two uh to mentor um our student board members throughout this process

243next year. So I don't want that to get lost in the conversation. That was part of our original um proposal. Yeah, I would say it's been very valuable for me to sort of have Ashley because we know each other personally and she's from my district area. Um and that'll be valuable for other students as well. So, oh, sorry Amanda, were you done? Oh, so the mentor piece is not currently written in here. It's at the bottom. Yeah, it's there. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Oh, it is it is in the requested board action paragraph. So, as long as that's what's being stated, then we've got it covered. Okay. Mhm. And just a quick question, I can't find on either of these presentations the number of students you're expecting to be on these student advisory council.

244So, in the original proposal, sorry, I linked it here, but I didn't add it to the second conversation. Um I Uh Now I have to go back and look. Now I can't remember. I looked I looked through the link and I couldn't see it, but just curious like per school, how many members you're expecting and then combined with that would look like. I want to say that we said two to three per um per school, but now I can't remember. That's what I recall, but Is it here? I can't remember, but Each comprehensive high school, East High and West will select three students Okay. >> on the student advisory council, while Horizonte High School and Salt Lake Center for Science Education will select two students. >> Two stu Okay. All members must be enrolled full-time

245in district schools. Thank you. So, three for each of the comprehensive high schools and then two for our alternative. 13 total, right? Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Just curious about that. Also, uh for the mentorship piece, um if there are two board members on that, I'm guessing that would be split evenly by like area or something. I think it depends on a lot of different Okay. Um if I could take my time, I'd say I'll start by My thinking with the mentors is that ideally the board should select two board members who will most certainly be in their seats next year. Um myself, I will be moving off of the board and we have two other board members who are in election cycle three. They are in election cycles right now, so I think that leaves

246Amanda, Bryce, and Charlotte as folks who are certainly going to be here next year. I don't want to put any bad energy out there, but nonetheless, [laughter] I think that would be that would be wise of us to consider that. You all know where I live, so. >> [laughter] >> Sorry. Brian? Uh yes, just a couple of questions. As I was looking through this, when you were talking about transportation, so they are going to be meeting or they going to be meeting at the district office? Is that where it is or are we going to rotate through schools? >> Yes, we're going to rotate. >> to make sure. >> Yes. Because I think that's a really valuable piece in this, that they're experiencing the different schools. Yes. >> So, that's built into this. Correct. Yeah,

247that was in the original in the original proposal as well. Then, when you were talking about student voices, I thought that maybe it would be good to think about peer court because students that are um participating in that bring another perspective to this group and I think it's a valuable perspective. What do you think, Ross? Um I think maybe we looked over that um partly because we were looking to find students who aren't already in leadership roles Right. and that might be considered as such, but they would also be an interesting perspective. I just think it would be valuable to hear that voice. Certainly they wouldn't be excluded. Right. Okay. And the second proposal expands that definition a little bit more to include those kind of backgrounds or experiences. >> Okay, so pure core and

248I I was thinking of Native Americans and those sorts. I mean we have that program and I think that that's a valuable Yeah. piece to consider. Um Let's see. Yep, the other questions have been answered. Thanks. Um let's see. Ashley, uh let me just check to make sure that in the first round um Charlotte you haven't gone in the first round. Actually, we'll start you in the second. I was just going to move to send it to action. Oh. I just had one question. Um I didn't see it in there. Is is there going to be uh leadership like a uh president or a chair of the council or did did you think of that? No, I mean this of the students. No, on the board We did not think of that, but I just

249wondered. My my imagining is that the the one or two or the two board representatives alongside the two student board members would be facilitating the meeting. So they're you know not by word president. >> Okay, they're just sharing the meeting. Correct. They're the chairs. >> Mhm. Okay. Mhm. Got it. But not any other sort of like yeah, organization. Right. Um I move that we place student advisory council as attached in exhibit 3 E1 onto the action agenda. Second. You got a motion and a second on the table. Is there any further discussion? We seconded it earlier. >> I think I agree with Danny sorry Bryce. Any further discussion? Seeing none we'll do a roll call vote starting with board member 5 Jefferson. Charlotte Fife Jefferson, yes. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. Nick Salazar, yes. Yania Romalo,

250yes. Ryan Chetson, yes. Amanda Longway, yes. Bryce Williams, yes. All right, that motion passes. Thank you, board. Uh we'll now move on to the board retreat um draft agenda and the board self-evaluation. While we're handing out the draft agendas, um I'll go ahead and touch base really quickly on the board self-evaluation. As you know, um and as Brian and I put in some recent um correspondences to you via email, um last year the board decided that we would take the same evaluation, the same criteria, um because last year we set a baseline basically with the first evaluation that we did through USBA. Um and this year we'd like to do the similar process or at least uphold the decision that we made last year so we can kind of compare and contrast um the results

251from this year to last year to look for marked improvements and of course areas that we still need to work on. Um Richard Stoll has let Brian and me know that um he is certainly capable of helping us again this year. Um we just need to give him the green light ideally within the next few days. Um he can send the tool out to us to take independently. Um we were thinking to be done by the end of the month and that would give him enough time before the board retreat to um calculate all the results and bring everything together. Again, this is could all be done differently to the timeline wise. This is just kind of what we'd loosely talked about um so that he can present to the board um at our retreat

252um later in June. Um so nonetheless, that's kind of where we find ourselves with the board self-evaluation and the legwork that Brian and I have been able to do with Richard Stoll. Um are there any questions, concerns, worries about that process or timeline, Amanda? I would humbly request giving us at least one more week beyond the end of the month because for at least those of us with families, we are in the last month of joy. Mhm. Trying to wrap it all up. So adding another task. Okay. I I you know. Yeah, I can talk with Richard and I personally think that'd be an issue, but I want to get confirmation with him and I can follow up with when we talk with him. Does that work for you? Yeah. Okay, perfect. Other questions, comments,

253concerns about that piece of the process? No, I was just going to say that that it takes about an hour, the presentation. That's what we had allotted last time last year. And he said um Is that the same >> 45 minutes. Oh, 45 minutes. What did he say again? Okay. My thought would be asking him to streamline it as much as possible cuz I would like to focus as much on like board work gearing up for the next academic year as possible. And you know, we can definitely review ourselves and see how we need to improve and such, but I would prefer the majority of our retreat is towards Okay. future projects and the focuses, priorities, yada yada. Cool. I can I can certainly ask them that and follow up. Um we can now move

254on to just kind of some of the draft agenda items that Bryce and Charlotte put together, um knowing that we are short on time. Um we can certainly [snorts] spend a few minutes on this, um but I know in previous years where we've had retreats, a lot of this work has kind of been done offline or in small groups. Um Bryce has left. Um Brian and I know that because of other personal um commitments that he has that he'll have to step away from the planning committee. Um so Brian and I and Charlotte we can work together on any changes that need to be made uh before the the retreat. Um so if there's any really specific feedback about the topics that are here tonight, we can certainly talk about them or you could work

255with Brian and um Charlotte and I offline um so that we can get a more finalized agenda for at least approval or consideration at the next board meeting on the 2nd. Amanda? Um so that all people are aware some interested items that we have not circled back to that I would like to bring this up whether or not it's the agenda or the retreat or not would be the military leave policy that um we had spoken about before um and then Should be talking about other notes. So we have a couple that came out of um today's conversation as well or yesterday's. So we have the safe schools process, we already talked about that uh but the with the stable stabilization special education support, I would say adding clarification support to parents, funding, etc. It's

256not just uh a state the way that it was stated was um wasn't quite representative of the intention. Um and then of special education the stabilization of special education like how we support the parents the funding just to help do what we can to support to better support what's happening in special education to help accomplish the things that Tiffany and Aaron were talking about. And then Also another topic that I don't think would take a lot of time but I would like to revisit is we had spoken about changing only takes two people to bring an item to an agenda or study session. I'd like to revisit that that conversation around having three to agree for that to happen. I think that um Anyway, so three total on that one. And then Let's see. And

257then along with earlier in our conversation where we were talking about ensuring that we're doing aligns with the strategic plan that could potentially be a retreat discussion is maybe a broad overview of our programs and staffing or what not and seeing if they get it at a 500 mile view down kind of like we were talking about with the budget book if there's anything that looks out of whack when you're looking at our strategic plan and the board goals and priorities. We have two more apologies. Um I'll stick to one actually so the ratios for our guidance. Then the conversation earlier on if we have any kind of so we have the FTE ratios so we know what the planning of all of our FTEs going to be but we're also talking about how we

258need to actually we should dive into what our student population is and how that should correlate to our support staff, to our district staff and such. So, that could potentially be a discussion item whether at the retreat or not. So, I was kind of taking notes and extracting pieces or um that would be good topics. So, throwing those out there for you to consider. Can you restate the last one, Ms. So, the last one was um the conversation around how we have a formula for our FTE allocations um and our for our teachers in our school buildings that we really don't have a formula for our social workers, for our support staff, our you know, a whole list of titles. So, working on what that potentially could look like as we're dealing with this financial

259constraint topic and such, you know, all the things that were talked about earlier in tonight's meeting. Perfect. Thank you, Amanda. I'm done. Okay. For now. Appreciate it. Charlotte and then Annie. I was just going to mention that um I was able to to attend a retreat um breakout session. Um so, that's what and and a lot of that was about um maybe doing a year-end review or debrief, um reviewing reviewing different things. We So, some of the things that we listed were from those, but also about team building and and so, I offered that maybe we could work on um creating or inspiring or developing a culture of trust and I have this book this work I took a workshop and it's a workbook and it's got cards for for conversations and like activities you

260can do in groups and I think it's it would be great. I I and I'm happy to show everybody what it looks like. Thank you, Charlotte. Mhm. And? Um do we have to move this to the action agenda or is it only discussion? Okay, just discussion. Okay, thanks. That's all I have to ask. Right. And then I have a suggestion for like moving forward. Actually, just knowing time and um so there are quite a few topics um on this list and the reality is we probably can only get to three or four of them, maybe only two or three. I don't really know. Um but I'm wondering if it would be helpful if we each send like our top two or three or suggested two or three to board leadership and then you all can

261tally them up and then we kind of go from there. I just know that we could spend all night talking through all of these. >> that suggestion, Bryson. I was going to suggest something similar. So, thank you for that. We were on the same page. >> [laughter] >> All right, let's plan on that. So, why don't you send it to board leadership and Charlotte because Charlotte's up there. Okay. Um yeah, I was last time we did we had a 5-hour retreat and we had five items on our agenda and the let's see, the I think we had an hour for our board board evaluation >> Board evaluation, thank you. So, I think we'll have room for four. Okay. If we'll plan on everybody doing giving us their four top. That'd be awesome. Would that be

262good? Does it Does it make sense to send four or should we send two or three just to Some of those could be combined though. When I was looking at it, a lot of them were Yes, true. So, it's relative. Maybe we summarize kind of the general thought. Okay. And maybe some of those do condense to each other. >> Or combine. Yeah, combine. Excuse me. Sounds good. Yeah. Reach out to board leadership and Charlotte we'll come up with a a new draft agenda uh prior to the next board meeting. And I'll follow up um after we've talked with Richard Stoll from USBA, about extending that into the first week of June, Amanda, and seeing if he can streamline his discussion a little bit more in presentation with the board on the evaluation. Nate, could you

263also ask Richard if they have any any um like board cohesive cohesion or cult like trust, that type of thing? Yeah, that's fine. >> Building trust. >> Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Cuz maybe they have something already. Okay. Excellent. Thank you, team. We'll now move on to the next agenda item, which is the NSBA Council of Urban Schools of Education Conference Attendance, or CUBE Attendance. Per board direction from last year, it was decided that we would bring this back with some more kind of firm numbers about what it would take financially and then of course participation-wise to send a couple of board members to the CUBE Conference to have a better understanding of what CUBE could offer us, and so on. So, we that's the the context of why this agenda item is with us tonight.

264I'll open it up for discussion to see if there is any interest from the board to attend, and Um I would be comfortable with zero to two members attending. Because of our deficit and budget tight budget, I'm feeling that sending more than two people would be irresponsible, and I would also be open to not sending anyone. Ashley? Yeah, in the agenda setting we talked about whether I'll defer to Bryce because I was just going to inquire if anyone had talked to him about the item. So, you can go ahead. Well, maybe do your part first and then I can say that part. I was just going to say based on my understanding of where USBA is in relationship to NSBA, it doesn't make sense to make a short-term registration investment when there may be long-term

265changes to the organization. And in addition, the I understand the financing of this could not pay for a substantive thing in a school. It's not, you know, apples for apples and it doesn't come from the same funding bucket, but we have heard an ample amount of concern about what we spend our money on. There's a lot of public scrutiny about what people are spending their money on in terms of traveling for professional development. We know these things are helpful. I just I've been very supportive of going to Cube, but in light of USBA's potential changes, I'm curious to hear from Bryce if that would change my perspective on whether we should further delay. Although that's unfortunate to talk about something for a long time and then delay. It seems like it might be the most

266reasonable. Yeah, what I was going to say is that um and President Salazar, I think you know this, I've been advocating that we explore Cube for a number of years and something I've personally been uh interested in attending. Um in our um finance committee, we did um discuss, you know, sending potentially up to two folks. Um there are some potential conversations happening within USBA whether or not Um and this hasn't fully been decided, so I want to be very clear about that, but there will be a discussion at the USBA board meeting in June. That's like what is our next month? June. Uh whether or not USBA continues to participate in NSBA. Um there's a strong desire for many um boards to um remove ourselves from that um organization. And so with that, um that

267would impact our eligibility with Cube. Um and the same thing that Ashley said as well, um I know that the funds come from different pots, but I think um it's some bad optics and um it feels a little gross to We have other professional development opportunities that we're part of and I think maybe we hold off for a year. Thank you, Bryce. Amanda. I Even if USBA pulls from NSBA, that actually is even more reason that we look at alternate solutions for our professional development. And a lot of the repeat statements have been around that Q is more on urban um boards and how different urban settings are serving their similar um similarly situated districts. So, um despite in my opinion, despite what's happening with USBA and NSBA, and especially if they separate from NSBA,

268we need to be looking at alternative solutions so that we can be uh learning from districts that are comparable to us, not staying in a in a limited scope. So, um I I still think it's um relevant and important for us to explore it um and you know, zero to two, find one to two, it doesn't need to be very many, but at least start assessing what and whether or not other options are viable and to ensure that we are serving our student population as best as we can. Thank you, ma'am. I've got Brian, and if nobody else actually will start you, Brian. My question to that would be if USBA is not a member of NSBA, I don't know the ability that we would have being full participants in Q. So, for me, and

269several different points have been raised. I think that we're in a situate this is board member Jensen. I think that we're in a situation where we're really looking at financial um decisions. >> [clears throat] >> I think that that's something to be considered here. I think that when we're presented with what the potential is with USBA and NSBA, we need to have an answer to that because that most likely will impact how we would be able to participate in Cube, and we may need to look at other options. So, for me, I think I would agree with the others that have said we need to push pause on this. Anybody in round one? Ashley, round one number one, and then Bryce number two. Um I wanted to chime in similar to Brian that it's the

270question is not whether we would need to replace it with additional professional development, it's whether we would even be able to be members of NSBA. And then the cost would not be what is outlined here. The cost would now become a longer-term conversation of what our membership would be. And so, I think it is prudent not to sit I I would rather not move it to action and have it fail to advance, and then we don't talk about it again as opposed to delay until we have a response from USBA from Bryce in June. That would be my preference. The other piece I was going to say, similar I think Ashley was kind of getting there, is that I have an agenda for our June board USBA board meeting has not been developed yet, so

271I don't my understanding is that's what we're going to be talking about, but it hasn't been agendaed yet. Um just so in transparency, so people know how that would work, is that the board of directors would take a vote whether or not to remove ourselves from NSBA. Then it would go to the full membership. If it passes through USBA, it would go to the full membership at our January meeting to determine uh whether or not as a collective body we remove ourselves from NSBA. So, I wanted just to provide some transparency in process. If that changes thoughts, decisions, things of that nature. I think after hearing the discussion and >> [clears throat] >> knowing that there's still some unknowns out there, Bryson Board and Ashley, I I think uh that I would also suggest that

272we kind of put pause and wait till we have a more clear understanding next year what USBA and our participation within NSBA might look like. Is everybody good with that? Okay. We'll move on to the final discussion agenda item, which is district supervisory changes. Diane, that. Um I am asking to make two supervisory changes within the district to move reporting structures um for a couple of teams. This was presented before. Um one is to move the assessment team from the IT office and put them under the leadership of our assessment supervisor, Patrick Jeffries, in the assessment and evaluation team. Um and then the second one is to move supervisory responsibilities for Brian Conley as chief of administrative administrator and school safety and security director for the district from Sam Potts again, we're lightening Sam's load,

273um to associate superintendent Annelise Ruiz, and I'm happy to take any questions on this as I remember last time there weren't too many, but just we needed to put this on the agenda again, so glad to respond to anything as needed. Any questions for the superintendent? Ashley? It's not really a question. Well, it's a longer-term question because I had hoped we had had time to talk about it as I alluded in the reports about the budget, but here we are and we do not. So, it's not a surprise that I support this because one of these changes was originally made in the reorganization and that's why I opposed the reorganization. So, I'm of course happy to see that it's being re-reorganized in a way that I think was effective. Um but my my question, which

274we do not have to discuss tonight, but which I want to put out there, is that we've seen a lot of retirements, we've seen positions that are vacating and not being filled, and I think it's important that we put reorganization on when we do have time to have a longer discussion because we've already reviewed these changes. I think most people are ready to approve the changes. We've talked about them several times at this point. But it is a curiosity what other supervisory pathways could change as we see positions vacate, and as also we talk about the needs of financing and the central office's role in it. So, I don't we obviously don't have time to talk about that tonight in full, but I'd like to consider that we put that on a future agenda. Just

275more broadly as how are we keeping pace with attrition, and what are our strategies that are helping us be financially responsible, but also do we understand as the governing board how that's reorganizing the supervisory pathways at times. If you'd use the mic. I can give a short answer, and then we can talk about it more, which is with each of those retirements or movements out of particularly district level roles, we're taking two to three long looks at that before thinking about refilling any of them. So, that we're looking at can the roles underneath a particular person be moved to other people? Are there other ways to arrange the work that way as we've often talked about as a district shrinks. I mean, Ashley alluded to this the other day suggesting that the superintendent get her

276CDA license so she can drive buses. Which they do in small districts. That kind of thing that we all are going to have to wear multiple hats, so that kind of work, consolidating it. Um we're not ready to present any finding or any exact changes on those sorts of things, but can share with the board um in the coming weeks as those get solidified how we're thinking about moving the work around and um working again and consciously and and particularly with the board's um attention to it and being careful about any any filling of vacancies to um look instead first can we get the work done without filling the vacancies. So we're in the process of doing that now um and can report on that to the board. Do you have any other questions for

277the superintendent? Ashley? Um I move that we place district supervisory changes as posted in exhibit 3E4 to the action agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion to the motion? Um all I would add to the discussion is Ashley uh when or if you get the second for the discussion that you the agenda item that you mentioned in your comments tonight, please let board leadership know and we'll get it agenda'd at the next uh agenda setting meeting. I'll second that. Okay. We will bring it to the next agenda setting meeting. Thank you Ashley and Charlotte. Um any other questions, comments, discussion? All right. Seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with board member Ramona. Annie Ramona, yes. Brian Jensen, yes. Manda Lovell, yes. >> Chris Williams, yes. Charlotte Fife Jefferson,

278yes. Ashley Anderson, yes. Nick Salazar, yes. That motion passes. We will now move on to the action agenda item We have two items. Um the first being the student advisory council, the second district supervisory changes. I'll entertain a motion for um the first item which is the student advisory council. I move that we accept the proposal for our student advisory council as attached in exhibit 3E1 and that we would further direct board leadership to appoint two board members to serve after polling the group for their availability. I'll second. Okay, we got a motion and a second. Any discussion to the motion? Okay, seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with Vice President Johnson. Brian Johnson, yes. Amanda Longwell, yes. Bryce Williams, yes. Charlotte Fife-Jefferson, yes. Ashley Anderson, yes. Nate Saunders, yes. Annie Romano,

279yes. All right, that motion passes. Congratulations, Foss. That's awesome. Thank you. Uh our next um item here is district supervisory changes. Is there a motion on the table? I move that we approve district supervisory changes as attached in exhibit 3E4. First, to move the assessment team overseeing testing support and data collection from the IT office under CIO Sam Quants to school leadership and support reporting to assessment supervisor Patrick Jeffries in assessment and evaluation. And two, shift supervisory reporting for the G5 administrator Brian Connolly from CIO Sam Quants to associate superintendent Analisa Torres. Second. Okay, we got a motion [laughter] and a second. We're just dishing it out. Um any discussion to the motion? All right, seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with board member Longwell. Amanda Longwell, yes. Bryce Williams, yes. Charlotte

280Fife-Jefferson, yes. Ashley Anderson, yes. Nate Saunders, yes. Annie Romano, yes. Brian Johnson, yes. All right, that motion passes. We will now move on to the superintendent's report. Great. I'm going to be quick in naming a lot of wonderful things that have happened. First, the Rosa Parks Street Festival. Um under Bryce's encouragement, we were there on Saturday for the event. I want to call out our comms team under Yondri Chatwin that put all that together for us. Nicely done. And then stayed there for the 6 hours. Um Yondri did and Analisa and Bryce was there for a chunk and we also had an I've got to give a shout out to some group leaders from our after school programs who were cycling in um there and connecting with the community at Rose Park and then also

281there was a slick-city tent there, too. So, Salt Lake District it was well represented and I just wanted to say thanks to everybody for the work on that. Um Ensign Elementary was one of 32 schools in the nation recently called a kind school. Oh. Um because they have built kindness into a daily practice for students and staff. Um so, they got the kind school award um for the 2025 26 school year. Northwest Hold on. I've got a couple things here. I want to call out first um I Our student athletes had an incredible weekend. I'm going to name a few of these things. At the 5A meet, West High's Adelaide Latu won the discus and took third place in the shot put. West High's Jillian Petty placed second in javelin. Highland High's Griffin Backman won

282the 4A 400 meters. And Highland's boys 4 by 400 relay team took first. Um on the girls side, Highland's Lena Bukambosa Bukambuso, sorry. Uh finished second in the 4A 3200 meters and Highland's girls 4 by 800 relay team won gold. Um East High's, this is a great one. Demetrius Taylor not only won the 4A state championships in the 110 meter hurdles, but he broke the state record. Nice. Congratulations, Demetrius, for owning a state record. East High's boys soccer team just advanced today to the 4A state finals. They'll be playing on Friday at 4:00 p.m. at Zions Bank Stadium. And East High boys lacrosse team advanced to the 5A state semi-finals. They'll play that semi-final game tomorrow at Westminster. It's great time to be in Salt Lake District student athlete and congrats to all those uh

283students on their remarkable work. Uh couple teachers to shout out. One, um East High's photography teacher, Annie Austendar Ferguson, is gracing the cover of Salt Lake City Salt Lake magazine in May. She is a scuba diving certified mermaid instructor trainer. I'm not quite sure what a mermaid instructor trainer is, but it sounds cool. And um she's a really uniquely credentialed photography teacher, so that the students at West High learn underwater photography from her. Um so, she's highlighted on the magazine for her unique expertise that way. Uh Elise Pale, you'll see her on huge billboards on I-15 if you drive south. She is the Siegfried & Jensen Teacher of the Month. Oh, nice. Um she's a health teacher at North We- Northwest Middle School. And so, you'll have to salute the billboard as you go by

284and give a shout out to Salt Lake District for that. Um one of the things that I'm so impressed with is how often our teachers are hailed for their excellence. It happens all the time because we have some terrific teachers. Um next week we have six graduation events. East, West, Highland, Horizonte, and Skyline are all on Thursday. You could try and attend them all, but you might have to choose. Um and then Innovations will be on Wednesday evening. So, >> Exciting times with the graduation events and Skyview. And Skyview. And Skyview's the next Monday. June 8th. Or June Two mon- I'd have to look. Skyview, you're right. Skyview is um Monday June 8th. June 8th. Thank you very much. Um do you need the times on those sent to you as board members? We have

285them. You have them? Okay. >> Thanks, everybody. And um thanks for the votes tonight. Move this forward on a couple of things. Thank you, Dr. Grant. Alan, do you have a BA report? No. We're going to start with Charlotte tonight first for the board report. >> Um I have been enjoying some end-of-year festivities. The Parkview fair carnival. I went to that on Friday and boy, they had tacos and bubbles and the PTO was out making doing some fundraisers and they planted plants. Anyway, it was a great great time. Good celebration and uh I also attended um a heritage presentation um event uh family heritage presentation for fourth graders at Mountain View Elementary School. And they all got together and learned about their own family heritage and their their ancestors and their culture and I had

286a great time. I spent several hours there and then got to speak um with the students. They got to talk to me about what they would like to see in the you know, improvements in their school and and also what they learned, what they loved learning and um the teacher is Laleh Gotbi. So um these students were so amazing. She's teaching them to have a voice and to advocate for themselves and and to um be proud of who they are and where they come from. Um let's see, I went to Glendale Middle School's end-of-year band and orchestra concerts and and uh uh Sam Noise, the new band this was his first year. He ended the year strong by incorporating um Christian Tongan band that came and played with the students. And then uh violinist from

287the community who came and she arranged a piece for the orchestra. They played and the orchestra played Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana and it was so good. I I It was fun. He had a lot of spunk in that program. Um I'm gearing up for the for the graduations. I will be speaking at Skyview's graduation and I think Dr. Caratini Cat- Catarina Caratini Ruiz. Caratini. Caratini Ruiz. Yes, we will be there together, right? And I'm looking forward to that and going to all of the several other graduations. Um I had a bunch of great end-of-year celebrations. Just uh shout-out to Liberty Elementary Slim Night, Emerson's PTA Carnival. Um was able to attend the Bryant Portrait of a Graduate um meeting with the SCC and Charlotte was there as well. Um Then had the JAL

288and budget meetings. Um shout-out to East soccer. East has been a soccer powerhouse for so long and I'm so proud of them for making it to the finals again. Um and a shout-out to East AP US Government students who have been writing me endless emails about all the things we can improve in the district. Um and also just wanted to shout-out to all of the students who are graduating and also to the students who didn't quite meet their graduation requirements. I just want to say uh we see you and you still have opportunities to graduate. Horizonte is an amazing school and you will have opportunities to get your GED and still go ahead and do great things. So, we understand there are challenges in life inside and outside of your control, um most of which

289are outside of your control, but we want to support learning that is lifelong learning. So, um shout out to all the students and families who have made it this far and hopefully we can have a great graduation next week. Thank you. Brenda. First of all, I just wanted to give an update on the policy subcommittee and let you know that we are scheduling extra meetings. We will be having our regular meeting on the 27th of this month and then we scheduled another meeting for June 5th because we have several policies that have been um presented. Of course, the one that I am focused on is my community engagement, but then there's the overdose and that um extreme heat and several other policies. Um in the May 27th meeting, we will be looking at those um

290policies that are calendar because the public is watching and we are doing our annual review. That will be scored school board meetings, interpretation of translation services, student progress and academic achievement, overnight and extended trips, administrator and teacher stipends, personal evaluations and surveys. Hopefully, we'll be able to get through those and then move forward on some of those others. And I think we've also agreed that if we need to schedule other additional policy meetings, we'll do that. Am I correct there? Okay, great. Uh next we've talked about all sorts of end of school festivities. There have been some incredible art nights in my precinct and I just want to not going to go through all of them, but it was so fun to see the art those children are creating and the support that they get

291from their parents and teachers. Then I thought it was wonderful to be good to be able to attend that teacher apprenticeship program. We were getting that report today. I thought that's another um well, we're at the forefront of any another program. >> [clears throat] >> And I want to recognize that. Thank you. All right. You're welcome. And then I will be attending the Slef board meeting tomorrow. There's one scheduled and I got that on my phone. Thank you very much. Thanks. Um similarly, I would like to touch on the West High Art Show. It went off wonderfully and it was also a joint graduation celebration celebration recognition for Evan Smith, our art teacher. I had him in sophomore year. He was a wonderful, funny guy, very dedicated, very skilled, and we all appreciated him very

292much and wish him the best going forwards. Um and then also I just like to say again, you know, I really value the opportunity to be on the board. I enjoyed working with every single one of the people up here, around. It It a fantastic experience and I'm excited to see a couple people at graduation. That's awesome. Ashley? Uh yes, one of my assignments is to serve on the Salt Lake County Parks and Rec Advisory Committee, and after our monthly committee meetings, I always like to promote the My County Rec Pass, which provides all kids from birth through their 19th birthday with free access to any Salt Lake County Rec facility. I would love us to explore if we could add an opt-in on our registration forms next year, if that's possible. Um the rec

293centers are also a great place for summer jobs for students. And County Parks and Rec leaders did say they would reach out to districts to talk about how they could better promote summer jobs. A lot of the swimming pools, for instance, limit their hours or close early because the community doesn't have enough lifeguards. And I'd love to see our teens better serving the community while gaining work experience. And if our districts could partner with them even better to share those jobs, that would be great. Um outside of committee service, there is no shortage of exciting ways to celebrate the end of the year. There's our showcase of bonsai, there's stickling at Gallery Stroll at Ensign. There's tug-of-war at Field Day with Washington, if that's a thing you enjoy. And then the final choir concerts, musical

294auditions for next year, visual art shows, and spring playoff runs for West. And Dr. Grant already shared my track highlights. Um there are countless other academic accolades to share, but I will wait until after graduation. Thank you, Ashley Price. Yes, um wanted to again uh thank the district for participating in the Rose Park Community Festival. I've heard a lot of positive uh feedback that having the district there really meant meant a lot. So, thank you for everyone who was there and made it happen. Um I had mentioned that the Slick 60 seniors uh showcase is tomorrow from 4:30 to 6:00 at Slick 60. I hope some of you will join me there. Uh tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m., I will be participating with Rose Park Elementary in the Raptor Ride. It's going to be a

295rough morning. Um but I will be there. Um I wanted to remind folks um that on Tuesday the 26th at 5:30 is the Title VI honoring ceremony at Horizonte. I would hope that the board would prioritize being there and showing support of our indigenous community. Um it's a really great ceremony to be a part of. Um the 28th obviously is a very big day of graduations. I will be attending uh Horizonte where my brother will be getting his GED and I'm very excited. It's been almost 20 years and I'm just really proud of him. So I'm excited to be there. Sorry I get emotional thinking about that one. Um Um also attend as much as West as I can and then jump over to Slick City to give a speech there. Uh one other thing

296I just wanted to um we'll have a board meeting before this but I wanted it to be on people's radars. Um is that we have the pre-delegate and delegate assembly for Utah School Boards Association. Um Charlotte is our voting member um in that particular uh particular role um but other members of the board and superintendents here welcome to come in um participate in that as well. And then I do have a USBA Board of Directors meeting on the it's actually pretty much a full day thing on Friday the 5th so right before the pre-delegate assembly. So things are going to be busy but it's an exciting time. Ross, could you name it again the date for the Native American It is the 26th at 5:30 at Horizonte. Thank you. Oh yes. I mean All right.

297Finally this fast. So last week I was able to attend the um tour at Stadler Rail. Um that was really fun to be able to see the apprenticeship like program and the magnitude of the size. Dr. Graham was there. Um Hong Nguyen was there and uh House Representative uh Mike Schultz was there. Had a great opportunity to speak with him. Um Let's see. Yeah, SLAB has a Thank You Thursday at Hadley Park that I've kind of been participating in. So, it'll be fun to share it to celebrate another teacher that way. Um April Reynolds, who was our administrator on special assignment, she's officially retiring and her retirement is this Thursday. Um so, 3:30 to 5:00 for those who can make it. Um I believe SLAB is having a scholarship banquet on Thursday evening. Yeah. That's

298something familiar, so I've got to get some more details on that. I've got it on my calendar. Um and then we've got the Finance Committee meeting on the 26th. Um I believe but I've also got it on the 27th, so I've got it duplicated. It's one of those two. And all the graduation ceremonies and then Stadler actually said at the um tour that we had that they have a big open house um for just in general but they have a lot of kids games and activities and stuff, so that's on um the 30th. So, for those who didn't make it before being able to see one of the businesses that we partner with and just see the amazing stuff that they do there. It's a great opportunity, so let's leave it at that. Public Thank

299you, Amanda. Mhm. You're you're Okay, real quick because we got to Just that Glendale has their multicultural um assembly tomorrow and it's um it's always incredible, so if you want to come and see it, it's pretty amazing. Thank you, Charlotte. Um my first remarks I want first wanted to say thank you to the board. Um a number of board meetings ago I um requested a second um from the board um to re-look at the resolution for the protection of children um that was passed a number of years ago, probably seven or so years ago at this time. Um which we got a number of seconds, which is great. Um I will take just a couple moments and more briefly than I had planned on, but I think the resolution is still very relevant to our

300current times. Um and I would like to make suggested changes to potentially three out of the last four um statements of the whereas statements and would like to also make suggestions to the policy committee in the resolution section to be more up-to-date and current about what families are experiencing currently under federal ICE initiatives. And also what that would include is more clear processes for the district, for educators and principals, if ICE is to show up at their schools, and also what kinds of supports or services we provide for students when there is family separation. I think those things are very relevant. My goal is that the committee can review this, bring it back to the board for consideration. Ideally for approval before registration so that we can create a little more comfort or at least

301resolution, so to speak, no pun intended, to try to boost up our free and reduced lunch numbers and have folks feel a little more comfortable being present in our communities and our schools. I'll make sure to get those changes to the policy subcommittee prior to the meeting they have on I also want to give a huge shout out to all of our graduates. Certainly dovetail on Annie said, you know, if you didn't make it, there's still opportunity. If you did make it, congratulations. Whether you were a shining like A+ student or whether you kind of had to scrape by to get it done, well done for the initiative and please keep doing everything that you can to further your education or your engagement with your communities. We do have the need for a closed session.

302I will entertain a motion to enter that. I move that on May 18th, 2026, the board enter closed session to discuss collective bargaining and the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual, and that the board adjourns immediately upon the conclusion of closed session. Second. is given. And you could you restate your motion to be May 19th? Oh, sorry. I was reading too literally. Okay. I move that on May 19th, 2026, the board enter closed session to discuss collective bargaining and the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual, and that the board adjourns immediately upon the conclusion of closed session. Second. Motion second, any discussion? Seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with board member Feck Jefferson. Charlotte Feck Jefferson, yes. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. Nita

303Alzer, yes. Annie Romano, yes. Brian Jefferson, yes. Anna Longoria, yes. Bryce Williams, yes. The motion passes. Thank you everybody for joining us today. Sorry.