SLCSD Board Meeting, May 5, 2026 6:00 PM

001money Come on. >> [music] >> superhero. You can just go back. Congratulations. >> [music] >> It's clear. >> [music] >> Yes. Right here. Sorry, >> I'm actually We should all [music] Instagram. Ice cream. >> [music] [music] >> That's like giving money to the [music] >> [music] [music] >> That was going to You guys can walk through the window. >> [music] [music] >> All right. Thank you everybody for joining us this evening. Uh we're going to go ahead and get started with our public meeting. Today is May 5th, 2026. We are here for the purposes of a Salt Lake City School District Board of Education public board business meeting. Thank you everyone for joining us. Uh before I get started, I do want to make some some welcoming announcements of our classified association groups and their

002presidents who are with us this evening. For buildings and grounds, we have Sam Gilchrist. For child nutrition, we have President Tanya Slaughter. There you go, Tanya. Getting some shout outs. Um, for the Salt Lake Education Association, we have the everpresent President Mike Harmon and Vice President Chelsea A Costa all the way back from DC. Thank you. And for Slassa, the Salt Lake Association of School Administrators, they're represented by Tom Luthie. And principal Nicole Palmer is here in person or virtually. I haven't seen her yet. There. Hi, Nicole. Thank you for joining us tonight. Uh we'll go ahead and move on to the pledge of allegiance and I have asked um Salt Lake City Mayor's uh representative uh Jennifer Newell to our education work here to lead us in the pledge. Thanks Jen. >> I aliance

003to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation [singing] indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Jen, for stepping up and doing that for us tonight. Um, well, this is really exciting. This is probably one of my favorite, um, performances that we have in our school district and at schoolboard meetings. Uh, we're really excited to have the Glendel Mariachi band with us tonight. >> There you go. As you know, uh, today is Cinco de Mayo, which is a really, really important day for Mexicans and Mexican-Americans alike. Um, this is when, uh, peasants who fought the French uh, in the Battle of Pueblo in 1862. Um, they actually won that war. So, you know, when you think things are really, really hard, think about those

004really, really cool folks who stood up to the French and fought a really, really valiant effort and that's why we celebrate today. Um, so I'm really excited. I don't know Dr. Grant, if we have anybody that's presenting our Gu Mariachi van tonight or if we're just inviting them up to get started. Yes, please come on up. >> Glendale Glendale Middle School. We Good evening. We are uh Glendale Middle School's um mariachi loss linces de Glendale um a a beginner group of of mariachi just started this year. This is an afterchool club. They they meet once per week to rehearse. Um and we're very excited that our that that um that our mariachi will carry as a as a class next year um at our at OUR MIDDLE SCHOOL. [applause] WE'RE VERY EXCITED to perform for

005you. >> Thank you. And board members, if you want to go down to the front, that'd be awesome. >> Sure. >> [music] [music] >> God knows [screaming] [screaming] Where are [screaming] me? me down. Thank you. [screaming] Blue is in Cesar. [music] >> [music] [music] >> import is your is no immortal. Got you. [screaming] Got you. [screaming] [music] [cheering] >> [applause] >> Hello. Hello. We are Mayil Glenda. And the and the part you just played was Ko. And our next part is um El Pito. YEAH. [applause] [music] HEAT. >> [music] [music] >> HEAT. HEAT. [music] HEAT. [music] HEAT. [music] >> [music] [music] >> HEAT. HEAT. HEAT. HEAT. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Let's go. [cheering] >> [applause] >> for a picture. [music] >> I'll stand tall guys. I'm proud of that. I needed the up on

006your shoulders. All right, we're gonna look at Jason first. >> Thank you. You guys are celebrities. All right, let's give one more round of applause for our Glendel students. [applause] You deserve your nuggets. You get your nuggets >> and your fries. >> Thanks for coming. All right, we will now move on to our next item of business. Um, we do have the consent agenda on our agenda at this m point and I will entertain a motion. >> I move that we accept the consent agenda with the amendments um sent to attach public comment to the minutes that was provided by um Helen. >> Is there a second? >> Any further discussion? Ashley, >> I just wanted to um clarify something with our business administrator. I had a constituent question about um lunch debt and about

007raising the lunch fees and that if debt non-repayment is the issue and we raise the price and people don't pay, we've in fact grown the size of our debt rather than solved the deficit. So, I wanted to give him a chance to speak to that question before we vote on consent. >> Yeah, I'll just note. So the reason we're looking at [clears throat] that price increase um isn't related to the lunch debt. So lunch debts when people eat but um they don't pay. So these are people that not not afraid reduce or it could be a second lunch, third lunch, etc. Um so yes, in theory would if if you're charging more and they don't pay, that debt increases, but um the child nutrition program doesn't take on that debt anyway. By by law, they

008can't. So when we're looking at balancing the program, that debt's not a factor in in this increased discussion. >> Thank you for clarifying that. >> Brian, >> I just wanted to have a clarification on the board minutes where we were talking in the prior study session that was in April. I just wanted to make sure that I was understanding correctly. Um the board um asked the policy subcommittee to look at and develop policy around a community engagement um committee and then bring that back for board review. Am I understanding that correctly? >> Thank you. Thank you, Brian. And the only thing that I would add is um under the topic that Ashley brought up with um school lunch fees um I did get some outreach from Gina Cornneia with Utah's Against Hunger um and she

009is really interested in supporting the district in any way that she can through her organization if that's data or brainstorming. So she she might be reaching out to us. Any other discussion? Okay, seeing none, we'll go ahead and do a roll call vote starting with board member Williams. >> Rice Williams. Yes. Charlotte Fe Jefferson, yes. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Nick Salad, yes. >> Annie Romano, yes. >> Brian Jensen, yes. >> Longbow, yes. >> All right, that motion passes. Thank you, board. Uh, we'll now move on to the next portion of our agenda, which is our request to speak uh portion of the agenda. Um, I do have some speaker guidelines for public comment that I do want to read and that the board has asked me to read before each public comment. The board

010enjoys the opportunity to hear from the public during the comment portion of its meetings. Before we begin, I'd 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 3 minutes. 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 establish grievance or negotiation 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,

011if it seems appropriate to the circumstances, I may direct district staff to follow up with a speaker on the topic discussed. Uh we have a full um signup sheet here. Um we may not get to everybody's comment. Once we hit 15 minutes, we can ask the board if we want to continue or extend that time. Our first speaker this evening is Nicole Wilbur. >> Good evening, members of the board. My name is Nicole Wilbur and I am a district social worker. With me in attendance are other social workers and many supporters. We want to thank you for the time and care you put into making decisions for our schools. We acknowledge that funding decisions are not easy and that many factors must be considered. We are also sensitive to the fact that staffing cuts have

012been made across the district. However, we are here tonight to advocate for school-based mental health services provided by social workers because they are foundational to student success and safety. In our role, we sit with students who are struggling in ways that aren't always visible in the classroom, experiencing things like anxiety, depression, family instability, and trauma. Students who are trying to focus on learning while also carrying things no child should have to carry alone. For many of our students, the support they receive at school is the only mental health care they have access to. Their families may not have access to therapy outside of school due to cost, transportation, language barriers, or long wait lists. When school-based services are reduced, those students often go without support entirely. School social workers also directly support the district's core

013priorities. When students are struggling, they are not able to fully engage in learning. By addressing these concerns, we improve attendance, support literacy and academic growth, and help students stay on track for graduation, college, and career readiness. Mental health support is not separate from academic success. It helps make academic success possible. And most importantly, social workers save lives. Often in our role, there are moments when students sit across from us and tell us that they don't want to be here anymore. And in those moments, we are the ones completing safety assessments, making sure they're not alone, and connecting them to the support they need. School social workers are part of the safety net that catches students in their most vulnerable moments. When that safety net is stretched thinner, there is less capacity to respond quickly, thoroughly,

014and consistently. Fewer positions means increased case loads, slower response times, and reduced ability to provide the care that students need, which has real consequences for student safety and well-being. We recognize that there are no easy choices when there are funding pressures. But we urge you to consider moving forward that investing in school social workers is not an added support, but a necessary one. It is an investment in student safety, academic success, and the overall health of our school communities. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker this evening is Blair Hodes. Thank you, Blair. Hi, I'm Blair Hodgeges. I'm a parent of a child in this district who's directly benefited from school social workers at Emerson Elementary. And I know from firsthand experience that the help my child received had huge

015ripple effects. Good behavioral health is the foundation of effective education. And because of my son, I'm a lot more familiar with the system than I thought I would ever be. And I want to talk about how cutting services will damage our district on several levels. First, consider the impact on individual students like my son. without repeated behavior behavioral health assistance, his academic performance plummeted. He had more absences. And by the way, he's a pretty privileged white middle-class kid with two really involved parents, and he still struggled so much. So, I can only imagine what less advantaged kids face without what my son already had. Second, consider the impact on the entire classroom. We're not just talking about individual students. before my family tapped into school resources. My son disrupted class a lot more often. I

016saw a lot of myself in him. Uh he he got along with peers less. Uh and he became miserable. He didn't like school. He didn't want to be there. And other children struggled in his class. His teacher struggled. And that's the third point I want you to consider is the impact on teachers. Their primary job is to help students reach critical benchmarks in things like literacy and math. We all know that, right? Without the help of social workers though, our teachers are increasingly asked to manage behavioral and emotional problems and most of them aren't really trained to do that. Uh and and that further burdens our teachers who are already stretched really thin. Rates of anxiety and depression are skyrocketing amongst youth. Social workers are on the front lines. They do anxiety screenings and depression

017screenings because we know that early intervention helps students stay regulated and engaged. Neurode divergent kids need this help early and often and so do kids who've experienced trauma. But as I mentioned, it affects every kid in the classroom as well. The case loads are already huge and social workers are going to be more stretched if we cut these services. More students will reach crisis points and we can expect schools to be confronting emergencies more often rather than proactively building strong academic pathways upfront. What other priorities should come before these things? I would argue none of them because good behavioral health is the foundation of effective education. When our district invests in student behavioral health, we're not taking resources away from other more important academic priorities. We're making academic success and growth possible for everybody. It

018is the foundation. So, we shouldn't be talking we or we should be talking about expanding the services, not cutting them if anything. Gosh, I I getting Okay, calm down, Blair. Uh what [laughter] what I want to say in conclusion is when students are supported early, they do better. Teachers can teach. classrooms can function and outcomes improve for everybody. Again, good behavioral health is the foundation of effective education and you can help us keep that foundation strong. THANKS. [applause] >> All right, our next speaker this evening is Abby Nielsen. Abby, thank you for joining us. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Abby Nielson and I've been with the district for four years and I'm currently in the role of school counselor. Um, during my time as a school counselor, I've partnered closely with

019our school social workers and I've seen firsthand the critical role they play in supporting our students and families. Social workers are often the bridge between school, home, and community. They support students facing some of the most significant challenges. homelessness, food insecurity, trauma, and ongoing mental health needs. They don't just respond to problems, they help prevent them, creating stability so students can actually access their education. In our schools, counselors and social workers work together to proactively identify students in need through mental health screenings. This collaboration allows us to catch concerns early and intervene before they escalate. Without school social workers, that capacity to identify and respond to student needs is significantly reduced. Simply put, fewer students will be seen and more will fall through the cracks. Social workers are also essential in times of crisis. When

020a student is in immediate distress, they are trained, available, and ready to respond. Their presence ensures that crises are handled safely and effectively, allowing the rest of the school to continue functioning while the students receive the care that they need. The loss of six full-time school social work positions is not just a staffing adjustment. It's a direct loss of critical support for our most vulnerable students. As counselors, we depend on our social work colleagues every day. Without them, the gaps will widen and the students who need the most support will be the ones most impacted. I urge you to reconsider these cuts and prioritize maintaining these essential positions. When we support social workers, we are directly supporting student safety, mental health, and academic success. Thank you for your time and your commitment to all students.

021[applause] Thank you, Abby. Our next speaker this evening is Kathleen Curry Griffin. Kathleen, are you with us tonight? All right, we will move on to our fifth speaker, Aaron Torres. and my name is Aaron Torres. I'm a neighbor of the Rosenheight Sports Complex and I share a property line. Let me preface my remarks uh with this. I know that none of the district administration. Uh Dr. Grant, Mr. Ael, none of you probably want to hear another word about this property. All involved may even feel like they did the neighborhood a favor in building this and opening it up to the community use. I'll bet you as a board don't want to spend another penny on this property as well. Let me forewarn you then. Without your deliberate action to remedy the legally defined nuisances this

022property has created, your days of hearing about this mess are just beginning. Approximately one year ago, I was shocked to see multiple acres of plastic grass and multiple semi-truck loads of groundup rubber tires installed a few feet from my garden. I was also shocked to see 80 foot tall stadium height lighting towers being lifted over our properties, spilling fugitive light into our yards, into our family rooms and our bedrooms. I was shocked to see an expensive netting system installed all across the north side of the field that was supposed to contain balls. Anybody could tell you, any soccer player could tell you that that netting was not was not going to work. Hundreds of balls have been have entered my property. uh one striking me in the head. A year ago, I came to this

023meeting. I took three minutes to express my disillusionment with the obvious errors and judgment that were unfolding on the curtage of our properties. [clears throat] Maybe you remember me. I hope so. If not, I tried to be nice, but I was frustrated. I complained, but I have also offered reasonable solutions. Amanda stepped up and was helpful, but this problem is beyond her singular power to address, and that's why I'm here today. Uh, I suspect this problem began with the former representative, uh, Mrs. Sweat, that led the district into this, but left a gap in accountability. Clearly, I'm asking you as the board to open an investigation into this project. who is accountable for the decisions that we're creating that are creating multiple provable legally defined nuisances adjacent to our properties and on our properties. We

024are just shaking we are not just shaking a stick saying this is not we don't want this in our backyard. The complaints so many of us have shared with the district admin are experienced in our homes daily and I believe they are solvable. In a demonstration of arrogance, my neighbors and I were reminded by your administration about their sovereign status. I believe the independence given to schools by the state was to enable education not to build poorly designed, poorly managed sports complexes. All are all of your constituents, I would ask, uh, do they all know what has been spent on this complex? A short list of the additional problems my neighbors and I are witnessing and living with from our private properties are noise ordinances. Just a few more seconds. Fugitive light violations, toxic fumes,

025soil contamination, stifling heat, the heat island effect on our adjacent properties, massive water waste, thousands of gallons being sprayed on plastic to cool it off in our desert climate. constant use of the field by non-sponsored school groups, individuals, seven days a week, 365 days a year from 7 am to 900 pm and sometimes later. And I could go on and on. It's a free-for-all and there's no management. It was poorly poorly thought out. And we'll be back. Thank you. >> Thanks. Our next speaker this evening is Anique Manfrey. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right. I'm so sorry. Thanks for letting me come. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it tonight. My name is Anique Monroy. I am [sighs and gasps] a parent of two young children in the Salt Lake City

026School District. One is nine and she goes to Enzy and one is 13 and she goes to Clayton. Um I am home alone with my kids and most of the time we are experiencing a lot of emotional trauma in our home has affected my kids severely. Their mental health is suffering. I never in a million years. First of all, before I say this, uh I want to thank all these people right here, all these social workers and counselors for going into this profession, for loving our children, and for giving their time and caring for us, parents, [clears throat] and our children. My 9-year-old is suffering so bad right now. She has depression. She has anxiety, OCD tendencies. My children, my two girls have been fighting a lot. It's affected the [clears throat] stability of our

027home. I haven't known where to turn. I haven't been able to get them counseling because of money and different circumstances. So, I turned to the social workers in the schools and [clears throat] I just want to say that they have gone above and beyond what they can do to help. There have been days where I didn't even know what to do because my younger daughter doesn't want to go to school. So, I know you care about attendance, but it's not just what you see on the surface. Our children are suffering. They need help. They don't know where to turn. They don't even know how to communicate their needs of what they need. And the social workers and the counselors are trained to help them. And I don't know where I would have turned if it

028wouldn't have been for the social workers and the counselors. There have been this days where the social workers have reached out to me and got me out of bed and helped me come in and to just call and to make the calls I've needed to to get the help for my children. I had to get my younger daughter who is nine who wants to she tells me almost daily she wants to die. She has such se anxiety. I was able to get her in contact with her pediatrician because of a suggestion from her social worker to get her on medication. She's missed so many school days. It's It's embarrassing to tell you, but we're on a right path now. And I wouldn't have been able to do it without all of these wonderful people. I

029I I can't if she would have missed appointments because we would have been spread thinner. I'm just asking to please preserve their jobs and please don't cut their jobs. It's very important. We can't overlook mental health as a society. We we're comfortable talking about our physical health. No one wants to talk about mental health and we need to and it needs to be talked about and we need to deal with it as a whole and as a society. So please consider this my heartfelt plea. >> Thank you. [applause] >> How are we doing on time? We've got time for one more. Are you good? Okay. Um, our final speaker this evening is Joelle. And I I can't read the writing. I'm so sorry. Joelle, is it >> New Eng? >> Thank you. >> I know.

030I know. >> Good evening. My name is Joel Newwinkle. Um, thanks for hearing me out. I am not only a parent, but I'm also a teacher at Washington Elementary School. Three years ago, I adopted my great niece who was homeless, living in cars, storage units, had moved to Mexico to live with her grandmother, coming back, and I took her in. She has been with three therapists outside of the school. I finally went and begged that my school district let me work with my caseworker. The three prior therapists that my child went to said, "She's fine. She doesn't have any problems. We argue daily. I don't know what to do. She doesn't talk. She just does her things. When I finally went to the case worker, she's opening up. She's communicating. She talks to me about

031her feelings, but she also talks to the case worker and is finding because she takes her anger out on me. I'm a single parent. I took her in at the age of 47 as a single parent, and I don't have family and support here in the state at all. Not only do I get to talk to you as a perspective as a parent, but as a teacher, we are stretched thin. I am not educated in therapy or counseling to deal with all the issues we have within our classrooms. I have to teach writing. I have to teach reading. I have to teach science. I have to do social studies on a 5-hour day. We don't have a lot of time to turn around and figure out what is going on in the home. What is

032going on with their child and where's the problem coming from? So I have two different perspectives not only as a parent but as a teacher and the case workers that are working within our schools are also getting I feel a bigger picture because they get to talk to the teacher they get to talk to the parents they get to see how the kids behave within the school so they get to see firsthand what is happening to this child what is triggering them where do they need to go with them I don't have that opportunity when I have anywhere from 20 to 30 kids in our classrooms Especially with the cuts that we're having as far as teachers as well, they provide so much. I can go to my caseworker, not only for my own child,

033but for the students within my classroom to get ideas of saying, "Okay, you're doing therapies with this student. What can I transition into my classroom that will work to get him a better education to be able to communicate better on their level to understand how their mind works?" because we don't know how to figure that out. I don't have the time to sit with my children in my classroom on a daily basis and figure out what triggers them all the time. I get a picture, a snippet, but they get to talk to the parents, the teachers, the view. So, they can actually give us strategies that will work not with only in the classroom, but at home. I talked to the social worker about my child at home and what can we do and how

034we can get along and better help our child as a whole. So, they're helping us not only with students as a whole, but our children as a whole. Thanks for letting me have the time. Thank you. Thank you everyone who spoke this evening, who showed up, and for your advocacy, for your participation in our process. Uh we do have to move on to the next portion of our agenda, which is our reports agenda. Um the first item um that we have there is item number one, construction update. Um, Via Kersley, do you want to introduce this this evening or just anticipating Isaac coming up? >> Yeah, we'll just have Isaac give us the update. >> Good evening, board members. [clears throat] Um, while I'm hooking this up, I would like to take a minute and

035tonight on the consent agenda, you guys approved several things and I just want to recognize a a few parties that have been involved in getting that done. Um, first of all, the uh the Salt Lake City Public Utilities Department. Um, we've had we've uh had our arguments, but we have a great relationship with them and we appreciate them. Laura Briefer and her team, Christine Bell. Um, we're still working through several difficult situations, but we appreciate their efforts and and their assistance in getting us through these uh challenges at both sites, the West and Highland High School, uh, with utility easements and other challenges. Also, uh, like to thank the owners of Crownberger. Um, they've been very receptive and willing to work with us. Uh, again, thank you for your guys', uh, approval tonight. That's been

036a long drawn out process and it's been a difficult one, but it was one of those things that we had committed to the city to ensure we had an additional exit from our property to mitigate what was coming from Second West. Um, so thank you for those things. Um, [clears throat] just real quick before I dive into the report also, um, I've got I need Sam. Always need Sam. >> I think we all do. [laughter] user error. >> No. >> Okay. It's It's not a huge deal. Um but if Sam can get it to work, I just wanted to show you we are working on a time lapse system to provide updates that we will link to our website. the uh this school district website to show progress over time for both of these projects.

037Uh the cameras were on a delay uh getting here to get get these up. Um but the first one's up at West High School. So, we're really excited. I just want to give you a quick uh look of that. Um and then also uh not to read the the report, but um Highland High School uh we've we've been work making tons of progress. We approve we've gotten all of the payments. I'm sorry. There's the picture of the site. Uh, I will just uh move over a little bit so you can see in the bottom on the bottom or the far left side of it, that yellow area over there, that's actually a temporary area where they're going to be pouring all of the concrete walls. They'll pour those, stand them up as we go. Um,

038so that's the manufacturing area for those on site, which will save us quite a bit of money doing it on site. Um, but that's this is the uh view that hopefully we'll be able to build over time that it'll just get a little couple seconds longer each day so you can see what's going on there. Um, sorry it's not taking that off. Um, Highland High School. Uh, we we are progressing. We again to thank some people is uh the Sugar House Park Authority, the county and the city for their efforts in helping us there. Um there's a lot of things there that uh you move one thing and three other things fall in the way or you find something else underneath. Um but we're working through that. Uh we had talked about the Highland High

039baseball field that uh the contractor felt we had an opportunity to uh if we could get in there really quick, we'd be able to uh finish that and not have to invest at another facility to have a practice facility for them. But as as we went further down that road, uh the south side of the baseball field is actually in a riparian zone uh of the of the creek that comes or the river that comes through. And um that set up several other difficulties. So we're actually having to move some of our um our drill wells for the ground source heat pumps. We're actually going to reduce by about 40 uh holes. And then the other 200 plus holes, we're going to go another 100 feet deep to make up for the loss of those

04040. But that's to ensure that we move out of that riparian zone that the county identified for us. Um, so a lot of moving parts, a lot of uh fun things happening. Um, I've officially lost all my hair. I'm just kidding. [laughter] Um the uh some of the other projects I I mentioned um we've put out to bid and we're we're doing our best to tr try and figure out where we're how we can deal with those now with some uh budget constraints. Um we we try to be pretty generous in our assessment of what we think something's going to cost so we don't ever have to come back and say we don't have enough money for this. Uh but both the Wasatch Tunnel and the Bryant uh projects that we had planned for this

041year came in significantly higher than what we expected. Um I've talked with Allen and I've uh we'll be coming up with some options there to complete one of them this year and then uh try and absorb the other one into next year's budget to ensure that the schools get what we've told them we're trying to get them. Um but that's the reality of of these costs that are coming in. And unfortunately, both of these have to do with concrete and construction which continually uh go up. Um Mr. Torres me talked about Rosland Heights. Um we uh we've secured the contractor to do the uh plantings that we had looked at doing um and also increasing the irrigation around those to absorb to help water those plants that are going in there. Um, also an update

042that we've been working with the contractor who built the facility uh to increase the the height of the netting on the north side. Um, it's been adjusted to 25 ft high. Uh, unfortunately, we have to drill deeper because the the post and the foundation that's there for the existing one that is 15t high, um, it's going to be 10 ft higher and set back about six feet from the existing fence or netting line on the north side. And then we're also extending that. So, it will go all the way to the west corner on an angle to ensure that we don't have anything going in that other corner uh the north west corner. Um and then uh we're also waiting on the metal for the uh ballards that were supposed to be installed originally to

043keep people from driving up onto the sidewalks. And uh it's designed that it'll have a chain around it. The intent was to allow uh teams and activities to have a area where they can either have a caterer or a food truck of some sort to be right next to the tennis courts uh for their activities, their team activities. Um so there there will be a chain there to that can be open to allow those vendor opportunities there for the event. Um but then there will only be two ADA access points for people to walk through. you won't be able to get um utility vehicles and cars through there anymore. Um as far as the others, uh everything else is selfexplanatory. If you guys have any questions or comments and then >> So Isaac, I just

044wanted to follow up on that Roslin Heights and make sure that I understand. So You're telling us that the nets that's still a work in progress. Is that correct? Okay. >> We we put up temporary uh where the major concern was happening. Um which is basically the blue line to the blue line of the of the soccer field um until we could get the the contractor to come back and put these in. Um when they initially assessed it, they said, "We think we could do it." But then the architects reviewed and said, "No, the um pillars aren't deep enough to support a 25 foot 26ft pole for 25T netting to be connected to it." So then they had to redo that and send that back to the contractor to get pricing. Um and now we're

045just waiting on the netting manufacturer to give us a final price on the length of I want to say it's 425 ft or 440 ft, something like that. Uh that'll cover that area. >> So we're still going to complete that. Yes. Get that netting in. And right now there's I guess interim sort of netting. Is that >> just a tempor temporary that we put up on top of the of the existing um but it's only a short section between the blue lines that are just exterior of the go the goal on soccer field. >> I mean when I'm hearing that there are like lacrosse balls and I mean those things are well in some ways lethal. Um flying over. This would be able to handle those when we get it all taken care of. Um,

046yes. Um, >> okay. >> But I was out there last week and I there was a tennis activity going on and there were kids hitting tennis balls like they were baseballs. So there there's a there's an amount of reasonability that we're trying to meet, but there's there's you can't plan for every bad behavior is what I'm trying to get at. So the 25 ft is what our architect is saying they believe will cover that. And it's there's some other challenges there. We have power lines that are very close. Um and we have to stay at least 12 feet away from those so we don't uh interact with that. Um so that's what the uh architects are uh have recommended for us to utilize there. >> Well, I think that [clears throat] explanation's helpful. Just one

047last question and that I have heard that like goals are moved around and things like that. Is that happening? Like >> the the field is set up to have tempor or the the netting systems for all the goals are temporary. So they can exchange from the soccer field to the lacrosse field. >> Okay. >> Um and then on the there's basically two sets of everything that that are there there currently. >> Okay. But the way that it was designed, it's not that the goal is like right next to the neighbor's backyard or >> the goal to the the goal to the north is right on the turf line. Um, and then it's a 12 feet from the turf to the fence line. Um, and that's the the original intent was the a goalpost, you know,

048about 8t high. Then the the temper or the initial fent netting that was there was 15 feet high and that's what they uh recommended thinking that was appropriate. But obviously that's not fixing the issues. >> Okay. And so we're working on increasing that by another 10 feet. >> Okay. >> And the temporary is that the temporary right now is about 24 feet high. So >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Thanks, Brian. Um we have Amanda Ashley. >> Um okay, so you answered one question in that um when was the 25 ft going to be done, but you said you're waiting on pricing. Um is that pricing including that deeper drill or do you have Okay. Yeah, it's so originally we were getting pricing for um the netting to go from where the temporary temporary

049netting is from blue line to blue line. With the additional complaints, we're extending that all the way down the west to the west corner. >> So, >> as close as we can get to the power line, but I don't have it. Um then the So I'm grateful that you're trying to extend you're extending it the entire north section because that field [snorts] they're doing lacrosse and soccer and those balls are going a lot of different directions. >> Um what are you doing to mitigate what's happening on the west side of it? the very end of it because I believe one of the homeowners live on the west side and they're experiencing fall issues as well. Soccer is typically confined to those netting areas. However, lacrosse um is a has a mind of its own sometimes

050those balls. So, if you haven't already, my ask would be let's look at that west section of that field as well because I believe there's some issues there. Um, and then u I was planning on going over to the field tonight after the board meeting to kind of look at things. But one of the things I'm wondering if it's been assessed is at least during practices or just people out there doing whatever they're doing that we are able to move those nets, the the soccer nets, not the big permanent ones. >> Yeah. >> Away from the residential homes and moving them to the south end where um you've got you're not right next to the homes. so that the residences have a little bit of a buffer from the activities and such. So, if we

051could look at potentially doing something like that. Um, another I guess suggestion asked would be um having some kind of on-site security routine because you do have the the policies and the protocols and the gates get locked, but then you're doing some mitigation with like the um chain to prevent vehicles going up on there than the permission. But if there could be some routine security um because of the things that we're hearing coming out of that area when there aren't adults around. Um, and then additionally, another thought would be signs up along all of the fencing that's right next to the homes that basically says, "Please respect the neighbors and at least during on game times, stay away from the the residential homes." So, it's just kind of that curious reminder to the players, to

052the individuals. If you're going to be there just practicing and whatnot, if you can move to the south side of the field and stay away from that northwest side of the field, then those things could help um reduce some of that those issues coming out of that site. So, just some things to throw around out there, but thank you for all your work. I know it's a lot. So, that's it. >> Thank you, Asha. I think my question is probably best directed to our business administrator, it's that we get these updates um and sometimes things change in between our meetings. And so one thing I've noticed that happened, especially with High Lynch Baseball, because we all represent our physical boundary, but the people at our boundaries make all manner of choices about where they go

053to school. And so I'll hear kind of some hub about a thing happening at the baseball field, and I'll say, "No, no, no. In the public meeting, we were told this, right? But in the meantime, things have been learned about the property and why it has had to change. So, I guess my question for a business administrator is um twofold. How can community members expect to hear updates through their school administration or school system so they're not confused about how what we talk about in the public meeting has is different than what might be happening. And the second would be can we make it possible just for the board to receive an informative memo? you know, because I don't I definitely don't need to get in the weeds of a riparian zone and installing geothermal.

054That's certainly not my area of expertise, but it would be nice to know so that when asked a question, I don't give incorrect information. >> Right. So, two things. If it's an athletic item dealing with athletic field, the athletic directors are um almost always involved in those conversations. So, they would have the information. If it's something else with the construction, let's say parking and stuff, the principal will have that information. Um, so they should reach out to to those two people. Um, as far as if if you've been presented something in a board meeting and then we get into it and it changes, absolutely, we can work on um as those changes happen uh to inform the board that hey, we said this, but now there's a repairing zone which maybe I'll have to look

055up and see what it is. >> Um, >> water abuing a river. or land abiding or >> you sure it's not your expertise? >> Yep. Well, I Yes. >> Yeah. So, pretty sure >> we can we can commit to say, you know, not every minor change, but if there's a significant change in direction to send out an email to the board. >> That would be really helpful because we know we've established what the budget is for these projects and the general direction, but we don't have, you know, oversight over exactly where the, you know, geothermal is installed or the date that something will be complete. So, just an informative thing that's really helpful. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thanks. And >> um just a couple questions. So, for the Rosland Heights Sports Complex, do

056we have any cameras installed at that site? >> Yes, I believe there's eight of them that are installed on site. >> And um do we have any signage saying that there are cameras? >> No, we do not. >> Okay. I'm just curious. I think that could be helpful. Amanda mentioned some signage, but as a parent with young boys who throw balls every direction, I'm always like they're watching, you know, like you don't want to be caught on camera. So, I don't know if that could be a deterrent in some way. Um, also like if we if there is a major accident or something, reviewing footage and saying like who was the adult on the field at that time? Who was the coach? Can we talk to them or whatever, you know? Um, obviously you don't

057want to be looking through hours and hours of tape, but if there are certain incidences that are reported, then it's a little bit more um, feasible to go through. The second question I had was with the Wasatch tunnel. Does it currently meet safety standards? Is this just a mitigation for future wear and tear or what's that status? So this that tunnel uh we signed a contract in 1944 with the city to uh take over the ownership of that tunnel. So it's it's old. It's not unsafe. Um the challenge is is over time the the road the road has changed and um any water that seeps through the road into the into the ground to the east of that it's it's coming down and settling against the wall. So it's not making it unsafe. It's just

058it makes the inside of it look really ugly because of the moisture and things that penetrate. We did waterproof it from the from the exterior, but this next measure is to drill holes and inject on the other side to to try and deal with that. The only other option is to dig up South Temple, >> which happens. >> I mean, talk about expensive, right? Um, but that that's the only other way that we can access that and to put up some sort of vapor barrier that they didn't have back in the day. Um the other challenge is is um there was electrical installed afterwards obviously um and there with this water penetration one of the one of the conduits rusted out and shorted the system there. So, there's a whole there's a hole >> Right

059when you walk down the stairs that we haven't been able to dry that out enough to uh cut out, reseal, and pour new concrete in there. So, it's ugly, but it's not unsafe. There's no electrical in there that somebody can reach in and >> Yeah. And does that also include there's no like mold or radon? I mean, has there been radon testing and mold testing to make sure that there's not like the respiratory >> I don't I know there has been I don't remember what the actual date was on the last time that was done. We did not do that during this last project because we we uh sand blasted the entire thing and waterproof the inside. Okay. >> So, there wasn't anything on the surface that that could be um that could be mold.

060>> Yeah, just checking for safety concerns and for parents. So, thank you. >> Yep. >> Are there any other questions for Isaac or Allan? I'll go ahead and go on round one first. Amanda. Um, so first, um, Alan and Isaac, it might be good to look into, and this is just when Annie mentioned the cameras that we have there. Um, there might be new state legislation that would require us to let the public know that there are cameras. Um, I know in [clears throat] the public institution that I work in here in the city, that was a step that we had to take um, at all of our service desks to just put a sign out that we are there are cameras and we're recording. So, it might be something to look into. I don't

061want us to be out of compliance with that. I could be completely wrong. Maybe it's a a library thing where I work, but it might be something to look into. And I also just want to close the loop on some of Amanda's requests and suggestions. Um board, as you know, we're we don't direct um out of the reports agenda. Um but I just want to make sure that Amanda's suggestions get some followup and what that process might look like. Alan, if you want to weigh in on that or if we want to follow up at a later time. Okay. Thank you. Um Charlotte, did you have something? >> Yeah. >> Okay. And Amanda and >> um I was wondering how if the Glendel track it just recently um host didn't they host some regional um

062track meets for the middle schools there? >> So yes. Um >> and how is it [clears throat] being used? >> So the the West track team has been using it Monday through Thursday. Um, some days they don't they're not there. Some days they're at the high school working out in the wait rooms. Um, but they've reserved it Monday through Thursday uh until 6 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. Um, and then uh the the junior high track teams have held two meets there. Their final one is this Thursday at Glendel. And then we also do we have been uh renting that facility uh partially to some groups that have used it in the past. Uh the Majestic being one of them, the rugby team or the the women's rugby. >> Um they've been uh temporary temporarily doing

063that. Um they're really excited for for uh opportunities this summer there, but the bathrooms and the electrical won't be completed until the actual building's done. Um, we had to move the building about 60 feet because of another, uh, abandoned easement that we found. Um, so, uh, but that's all within the budget. There's no changes to you guys or anything on that. Um, but that's stuff we've been dealing with. >> So, when is the building do we have any idea when it will be completed? >> The end of June. >> Oh, >> this fiscal year. >> Okay. >> Thanks, Cheryl. Uh, we'll go ahead and move into round two. Amanda, >> um just a followup to Ashley's question and Alan's response regarding um Is probably should start wearing my hearing aids. Um you mentioned that individuals

064should reach out to athletic directors that they should know when it's regarding athletics and the principles wearing other items. We know that sometimes individuals either don't get a response or they get the I don't know. So what would who would the community go to next or what would be the next steps if they get a a non-response or an I don't know response? >> So on the construction website we have an email address that's is it constructionscchools.org >> questions. they can submit questions on that email and I believe they go to Jason and then he can forward them off to uh the applicable person to respond to. >> Perfect. Thank you for that reminder. >> Thanks Amanda. Any other questions for Isaac or Via Kersley? >> Seeing none, Isaac, thank you so much for appreciate

065it. >> We'll move on to item number two of the reports agenda which is budget development general fund and special revenue fund budgets. be a gearly. >> All right, Sam, if you can make me the presenter. All right, this is the moment everybody always waits for in in the bud board meetings is the budget presentation. So, uh, up to date, we've done debt capital SE ser. Uh, we've done school allocations. We've done preliminary property tax rates. Now, we're moving into the final phase, which is, uh, the general fund, which is the largest fund we have. It's it's kind of the main funding fund. Again, I want to just say what funds are. They're they're like buckets. We have specific revenue sources that go into buckets and then they have to be spent in those buckets.

066And uh the general fund is our big kind of the everything else bucket. If it's not required to be reported somewhere else, it's in the general fund bucket. So some uh budget highlights for next year 26 27. So these slides are going to be uh dealing with the next year's budget. Again, as we talked about in a previous meeting, uh the plan is to adopt the certified tax rate, which again certifies tax rate is the same tax is the tax rate that generates the same amount of revenue for the district as the prior year. Uh there was a 4.2% increase in the value of the weighted pupil unit. Um we discussed this a little bit in our last meeting that even though with that 4.2% 2% increase due to estimated decrease in enrollment. Uh we

067still anticipate a net decrease of $643,000 in the minimum school program. Uh schools will receive an additional 400,000 in their land trust money and that's been built in the budget to distribute out to schools. Uh in addition, we get we're getting uh a million dollars of new uh students at risk funds, add-on funds. Uh potentially that those funds get adjusted based on October one count. So depending on what those at risk factors get reported on October one, uh those funds could go up or they could go down. Um you know, depending if our for reduced counts go up or down. I mean the higher the at risk money at risk factors then the more of the allocation we'll get. Uh that's kind of what hit us this year is we had such a decrease in

068those at risk factors report in October one that our at risk money actually decreased by a million dollars. But the state legislature added statewide $25 million of new money to the at risk add-ons and [clears throat] we're anticipating to get about a million dollars of that. [clears throat] Uh, addition, we we're getting $6.3 million in teacher and student success program funds. Uh, that had previous to this year built in an automatic inflationary increase. Um, not in this legislative session, but the legislative session in 2025. They removed that. So, that those will be stagnant uh dollars going forward. Um, but they are also allocated on an enrollment per student basis. So, we can expect to see those funds continue to decrease as our enrollment decreases. Um, we are getting 826,000 uh dollars of new funds for

069lit literacy interventions from Senate Bill 241. Uh, specifically, those are to be used for uh paraprofessionals and uh teacher coaching uh really directed towards literacy. and we're still having discussions on how to best direct uh those funds to help the goal help meet the goals of literacy. Um they changed the name to one of their their pots of money the legislature did. So we're getting $7.4 million and it's now called teacher and classroom salary support. Previous to this year that was known as flexible allocation. But I just want to note previous to the year before the good chunk of that was known as professional staff cost formula. Um we used to get $9 million of professional staff cost formula. The legislature changed the allocation again to student enrollment factors. That change alone reduced our allocation

070of that by $2 million. So now we get the $7 million. And then they they ended the professional staff cost formula and rolled it into um flexible allocation. And then this in 2026 there was a legis a a bill passed to change the name of it to teacher and classroom salary support. The idea there is it might be helps. I mean flexible allocation when we hit co flexible allocation was the first thing that was cut. It went to zero. So hopefully with the name like teacher and classroom salary support uh it's not such an easy target for future cuts if needed. So our 2627 budget the o overall budget expenditures exceed the budgeted revenue by $17.6 million before any uh fund transfers. Uh the deficit will be reduced by um carryover allocations and under expenditures.

071So, as we know, schools don't always spend their money and they they carry over three to$4 million each year. Uh, but we can't can't plan on that. So, the 17.6 is really worst case scenario if schools carried over no money and every budget was spent fully and that just doesn't happen. So, we anticipate that deficit to be somewhat less than 17.6. Um, but since we can't really pinpoint it, we we budget, as I said, worst case scenario. Uh so special education budget expenditures exceed state and federal federal [clears throat] budgeted revenues by 6.5 million. Uh we're covering this deficit with um $4 million of minimum school program and then we'll have to pull another $2.5 million out of the fund balance and and I received a question because this is is continuing increasing. Um, so

072we've so far this year we have about a million dollars less in Medicaid reimbursement funds than we had the year before. Those Medicaid funds are hard to peg because it depends on how what qualified services we provide uh to our students and then we we submit those for reimbursement and then we get reimbursed from the federal government. Um, so there's still hope that we get more in by the end of the year, but we're nearing the end of the year with that by and down a million dollars year-over-year. So, uh, that's part of that uh that increase there. And again, special education is budgeted as fully staffed and as we know, they don't they don't always have their staff for the full nine months because sometimes there's vacancies that don't get filled at the beginning

073of the year or people leave. So, um, at the actual deficit will be somewhat less than that. But, um, again, this is a significant issue. And I I put this in here just to really point out how underfunded special education is from both the state and the federal government. Um, so some more highlights we've built into the budget step, lane, and cola increases. uh a 5% increase to health and accident insurance premiums and then that gets split half and half between the district and employees. Uh in addition, we've budgeted $2 million for unfunded state security mandates. Uh that's another thing that's putting a lot of pressure on our budget is these requirements we have to meet the this new security rules and there's no funding attached to that. So, we're having to come up with

074that money somehow. uh fund balance is required by state law. It gets budgeted at zero. Um but we still have our fund balance reserve that's committed to economic stabilization and that's set at 5% which is the maximum allowed by law. Um so that's still there. Before we get into the budget, I just want to kind of cover you. We we talk a lot about functions. So we report our expenditures in function. function means what was this expenditure used for? Uh our biggest function is instruction. That's that involves things that happen in the classroom, instructing children. And then we have several support services. We have support services for students, instructional staff. We have district administration, school administration, central services, operation and maintenance, that's custodial, utilities, transportation, child nutrition, community services, and debt service. So I have

075this these definitions in here. So, as we go to the next slide, you can kind of picture what type of expenditures are we talking about. So, yet I these are pretty small. Um, it's here for reference. We're not going to spend a lot of time on these numbers just because they're hard to read. Um, but there in that final column is our 2627 budget with estimated revenues 284 million, estimated expenditures of 302, and there you have that 17.6 million deficit which um will be covered by fund balance. we continue to deplete our fund balance. So, we need to really look at things to um stop the flow of fund balance so we can uh get back to where we're we're not spending that down so much. This slide just shows uh so again we start

076the first column with our with our budget and then just projections going forward. There's not a lot of science put in projections. um just put you know what kind of percentages increase have we seen over the years and just apply that over the next couple years and it just reiterates that um we do have a I don't know if you call it a revenue problem or expenditure problem or both um but those are things that we're going to have to really take a hard look at and figure out how to how to correct for those uh graphically here's a chart you can see back in 2223 um the blue line being revenue is exceeding expenditures. But there between 23 and uh 2425 that trend line has swapped and now we're spending more than we're bringing

077in. And you see that gray line at the bottom is our fund balance. Uh we had a fund balance a high in the 22 23 of 96.3 million uh projected at 2627 to go down to 45.2 million. So um at that rate we don't have very many years until we have a significant we don't have a fund balance to cover these over expenditures. So, those will be conversations we'll continue to have with um both district leadership, finance committee, and the full board. Here's a pie chart showing these those expenditures by functions. Again, if you if you remember the previous slide that had the definition of of functions, you see 52.8% of our our expenditures go into instruction. >> Uh and then we have support services for students, 6.3%. So, that's going to be your school

078nurses, your school counselors, your social workers, your um people that work with the children that aren't necessarily classroom functions. >> So coaches are in the next one over support services for instructional staff. Those so those are academic coaches and expenditures where we do PD and we pay teachers extra to attend that PD that goes into that B that bucket. And you see several other I mean our next biggest one is the operations and maintenance of school buildings at 11.5%. So that includes custodial utility payments um maintenance etc. Uh and you see those other slivers are pretty small. So when we look at how do you balance a budget and you know it's the easy target to say well the district office and I don't want to disagree that we need to look everywhere when we're

079looking at these but some of those slivers are pretty small so cutting them doesn't I mean again needed to look at but it doesn't solve the the issues because that's such a small percentage of our total pie. Uh so on top of functions we also have a reporting tool. It's called objects. So you can see I don't have a a slide definition of the objects but they're pretty self-explanatory. You see 89.2% of our general fund budget uh goes to salaries and benefits. So when we're talking budget cuts, we're talking people. Um it's hard, it's difficult, but that's the the makeup of our budget because those other slivers are pretty small. Um uh now we're going to move in. So that's the end of the general fund. Now we're going to move into um special revenue

080funds. So special revenue funds contain revenue that has to be reported separately. Um so we can't we can't mingle it. So we have to report that separately so we can track hey this money was for and you'll see for child nutrition. So it's reported as a special revenue fund. So we can see all the money generated by child nutrition stays in child nutrition. Uh the purpose of so first of all we are going to talk child nutrition fund. Its purpose is to uh administer school lunch breakfast after school snacks and the fresh fruits fruits and vegetables program. It's uh funded by um meal fees and state and federal reimbursements. Um I've got a spelling error there, but the the meal prices uh so this the mill the mill price increase is not built into this

081budget since we built the budget prior to approval. So when we adjust the budget, we'll adjust for those price increases. And here's the number showing that deficit there kind of in the middle of the page. Uh current year anticipating about a $ 1.5 million deficit which grows to $2 million next year. Um the price increase isn't going to solve that budget. Uh as Kelly Orton, Director Chad Nutrition mentioned, they are I mean a lot of this has to do with talking with the people at the federal government that their reimbursement rates are not keeping up with the expenditures. So um we can always hope that they they look at that and increase it appropriately. There you see um for several for all the years on this chart that expenditures have exceeded revenues in the child

082nutrition fund and they have a a mix. So the bulk of theirs also is salary and benefits but then you have the cost of food sold is another large chunk of this fund. Uh moving into student activities fund. This fund accounts for receipts and dispersements of monies for student activities and organizations at the individual schools. Um revenue sources consist of student fees or fee replacement monies. As you as you remember, we don't charge anymore for um curricular and co-curricular fees. Um but the district puts in money to offset those fees at the school level and we transfer that money over into this fund. Uh they do fundraisers, gates, receipts, and donations also reported in this fund. this fund's a little harder to to budget for because you don't know how how many fundraisers are are

083the kids going to do or how you know if a team that's doing well probably gets more people to pay and buy tickets so their gate receipts go up. Uh so we we just do an average estimate because the goal here is to make sure that whatever we set for our our expenditure budget doesn't get exceeded. Um because against one of those if they have more expenditures it it's probably because they did more fundraisers to cover those. So there there's a correlation there between revenue and expenditure. [clears throat] You see expenditures at the top. Uh revenue. So again these funds carry over. So as schools don't spend all their money it's available for them to spend the next year. There you can see in that revenue you see that blue line trending down. At the

084bottom you see that orange line trending up. That's the fee replacement money. So you see the fees they've been getting in curricular co-curricular is decreased but that's being replaced by that orange line which is a transfer from the general fund into this um into the special revenue fund to account for those lost fees. I just want to also current year we did receive um 500,000 from the legislature to replace those fees. Um, they were kind enough, as you may have seen in the NEMA that was sent out to let us keep the money that they already gave us because there was legislation to take it back even though we had already received it. The initial bill was then going to give us $300, $300,000 next year and 200,000 the year after that. That money is

085gone. They they took that away. So, everything from here on out is is funded by um the district. Uh again our pie chart showing what what they spend on and again they usually spend it on supplies, materials, classroom supplies. Um going on their is where their trips are going to be their their activities, athletic activities. Pass through taxes fund. Um the purpose of this fund is to account for property taxes that are levied by the district but remitted directly to other entities. So we have two pieces that are in this fund. One is the incremental is is uh tax um tax increment financing projects. So incremental taxes are remitted to the appropriate government governmental agency which could be the Salt Lake CRA, Inland Port Authority, etc. Uh and the the amount remitted is determined through

086an agreement, a mandate or sometimes a law. This fund also accounts for charter school local replacement funds which again the the school board levies the the the taxes but that gets remitted to the state board of education and then gets distributed out to charter schools. Just a quick lesson on what tax increment financing is. Um you may remember this from last year. Um so when a project starts so you see the blue line there at zero years a a particular area has a an assessed valuation and then the developer or the city or whoever comes and says look we want to do this project on this land. and it's going to increase the taxable value of this area. Therefore, increasing the amount of taxes available, but we don't have money to do the infrastructure or

087we want incenters to come in and do affordable housing. So, the the tax increment financing is look for a certain amount of years and in this sample is 23 years, we're going to take that additional tax render that comes in due to the higher assist valuation and use it for the development project. And then when when the when it's done, when the 23 years are over, that gets released back to the taxing entities that levy the tax. And that's the orange section there at the end of this chart. Uh, as we budget for this, um, it's really just what was our current year actual and we just set that budget for next year. um when we get the tax settlement it's called which we get in the end of March which is really um again

088tax property taxes go on a calendar year so in December it you get all the taxes that year and then by three months later we get a reconciliation from the county saying here's all the taxes we received and part of that includes and here's the amount that went out to these other entities you can see for um current year which is actual so this is exact this is what happened and when we do our financial statements, you'll see these numbers match. Uh $3 million went out to uh charter schools and $37 million went out to other entities as tax increment financing. You see budget and revenue always always equals each other on this one or revenue and expenditure. So where does tax increment money go? I just want to go through this slide. So those

089first, let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, um, are city. The first seven are Salt Lake City projects. And then that Woodland Avenue is a Mil Creek project. There's a sliver of the district that resides in in Mil Creek. So those are projects that previous boards had agreed on to participate in. Uh, and this is the amount of money that is going out. You can see we also added an end date of when those projects are scheduled to end. You can see there in the granary district that ended in 2025. So in theory we would then get you know that orange piece we showed that that will come to us. The trick with granary is then most of that is now going to be eaten up in an HTRZ project area. And

090so I am I am very interested to watch how this increment works on when they set the new the new base year and how you know we should get some more but I don't know that we're going to get the full increment amount from the first one. So, I'm going to keep an eye on that. Uh, in addition, we have the Utah Inland Port Authority. $14 million is going to that. Um, that was set by the state legislature. And that nice kind of new glass hotel over by the Salt Palace. That's a convention hotel. Um, and I believe that was also a state project. And so, $73,000 is going to help fund that hotel. So, there's your $37 million. The next one we're going to cover is Salt Lake Education uh foundation fund. This fund

091is to account for the financial resources collected and spent by the district's 501c3. Uh revenues are generated through donations from community members, businesses, and are used to augment resources for the educational, physical, and social needs of students. Uh they bring in, you know, about $2 million and they spend out about $2 million. So, I know the foundation right now has um there's some big projects, some big fundraising projects that they're working on because we can't anticipate what those might actually be. We have not built estimates of those into the into the budget. So, this is just kind of showing status quo. Um but as they get more money um and we revise the budget throughout the year, we'll revise those uh revenue expenditure uh numbers. Uh there's just your trend lines for the Salt Lake

092Education Foundation. uh they they actually have the most diversified pie of of all our funds. They're they're spending their money on a lot of different things. >> Uh next steps, small group meetings. I I've sent out some some dates. I've heard from a couple of you. Um if none of those dates work, please reach out and if you want to to meet, we can um spend some time going through detailed budget discussions. Uh happy to uh adjust to your schedule as needed. Uh, and then on May 5th, we'll go over um the executive summary >> today. >> Actually, that's today. So, we're just doing the general fund. Um, May 19th, we'll do a final budget review. Um, f answer any final questions um so that you can feel confident about voting for the budget on

093our June 2nd meeting. Now, >> questions. >> Annie and then Ashley and Brett. Okay, I have two questions. Um, first I would just like to um go back to the pass through. Can you show those projects again? Um, just so the public is aware, we've discussed this in public meetings previously, but these are um tax monies usually through property taxes. Correct. >> That is correct. >> Yeah. That go and a lot of people like myself before joining the board think, "Okay, I'm paying my taxes. it's going to the schools, right? But I don't realize that actually once I pay that, it's really divided out and a lot of that money is going towards city development and state development projects. So, can you explain how the voting works on these projects because some of this um

094obviously was voted on by previous boards. So, we have no choice in this matter at this point because we're locked in till the end dates which are a lot of them are 2040, >> right? So there's there's quite a history on how this has varied over the years. Um I'll go back to when so let's the example we're going to use is the Salt Lake City CRA comes and presents to all the taxing entities in the city. Hey, we want to do this project and they would come and present to this board and they say here's what we want to do. Here's what we think the benefits for the city are. And initially um and I don't know the exact timelines but this is since I've worked here so a while initially if the majority

095of the taxing entities voted yes all the taxing entities were participating it didn't so we could vote no and other taxing entities the majority voted yes so we're in >> we're just forced in >> we're forc forced in >> that legislation changed so that we could vote no and the others vote yes and then we're not participating. >> Now, as far as I remember, we we haven't been in those situations. Our board has voted yes on the ones that were presented. Um, but what was happening I I'm going to just go off my on my soap box a little bit is taxing entities like school districts were voting no. So, what happened? legislation was changed to create what's now called HTRZ's which is >> housing and transit reinvestment zone >> and tiffs >> tiff is

096tax and current financing you mean fh fair reinvestment zone >> and CCRZ community center reinvestment zone >> thank you to our tiff expert >> there's the expert [laughter] >> you always have an expert in the room >> so there's all these new tools that can be used to um use tax increment financing to pay for development. Uh what happens on on I'm going to use HTRZ as as the example there by statute lists how an HTRZ committee is is is made up of. Um it's made up of representatives from some of the taxing entities, representatives from the state legislature, um representatives from the tax commission and these these projects get presented to this committee and then there's a vote. The SI school district gets two votes out of I believe there's 13 total members on

097the committee. It's in that it's in that realm. Um so and then this goes back to the original CRA plan. We can vote no, but if the majority vote yes, our tax increment is still going into the project. >> We're forced in again. >> Yes. Um so in short, that's kind of the history of how how this works. Thank you. Um, my second question is regarding the general fund expenditures. I emailed you a question and I'm not sure if you are able to pull this up, but I asked if you could possibly explain um our general fund expenditures with comparable districts. Um, so that includes instruction, support services, instructional staff. Um, and you sent me a little spreadsheet. I don't know if you're able to pull that up. >> No, >> I'll lose this presentation,

098I'm afraid. But um what what she's talking about is in our financial statements and other districts that prepare full financial statements uh list. So remember we talked about those functions. So they break down what is our expenditure our expenditure by function by student enrollment and it breaks that down. Um, I can I think I've shared it with the finance committee at one point, maybe not this year, but maybe before Bryce was on the finance committee. Um, happy to share that out again if and then we can also since we have technically two more discuss we have one more discussion next board meeting and then we can still have continued discussions on uh our first June meeting when this is up for vote. We can >> [clears throat] >> um also I can be prepared to

099present that. >> Okay. Um, I'll just forward it to the board and then I'll ask my question so that the board can pull it up. >> So, in the second round, I'll ask the question. >> Okay. >> Um, Ashley and then Brett. >> Yeah. Um, again, I would reiterate the thanks that you've addressed tax increment financing every year and added it into this presentation. I do want to be really frank. We would have relatively few budget problems if we were able to retain our property tax increment. It's really difficult that we hear so much advocacy in the public comment period and then the public sort of departs when we talk about the budget and the reason why some of these cuts occur. But if we were not losing $36 million a year to development and

100growing, we'd really not be talking about cutting social workers or raising the price of school lunch or many of the un other unpopular decisions that are coming to the board. And the loss of our property tax to the CRA is without a doubt the largest contributor to our budget issues. If people do have concerns like in the public comment period with those cuts coming down the line, I would always encourage them to also reach out to state lawmakers who about the impact of this statutory practice. Um it's reduced our revenue by the equivalent of 10%. So as we're looking at the decline, this is one very large contributor to our issues. Um but I also want to talk a little bit about that um special education deficit jump. So last year we were told the

101deficit was 4 million and this is 6.5 million. It's my understanding from your presentation the biggest factor there is a decrease in Medicaid reimbursement rates and I want to add that this is frustrating given the actions of our state association leadership to reduce Medicaid advocacy at the federal level. But it's also my understanding from you the presentation that staff expenses may roll back in to cover portions of that deficit. We obviously don't want our classrooms to be understaffed as a funding model. Right. We ideally would like them to be fully staffed. So with these responses in mind, what steps do you feel we could take to make our special education spending more stable acknowledging that the federal and state contribution is not poised to increase? >> Right. And I think there's a what needs if

102if we as a board we have a district accept that this is this is the scenario, this is the lay of the land that the that funding is not going to come. Then as we look at um whether it's property tax increase, additional revenue from whatever source that we commit to put that into special education and and just balance that. >> That's really helpful. And speaking of that, um in finance committee, we did start to talk about some of the outcomes of things like the loss of grants that funded social workers that happens at the same time. you know, Essy concluded and pass boards did however controversially use ESSER money at times to fund personnel and we knew when that money expired, this was the consequence basically and we also knew that funding personnel off

103of grants, this can be the consequence. So one suggestion that I offered in committee was that because we've concluded a few positions like the community education coordinators and family school collaboration specialists. I I'm curious about the option uh and for obviously we don't direct in this meeting. So I'm just sharing it with the group to cut and reallocate those things to social workers that if we said we have approximately 5 FTE in that pot is that one thing that could be transferred to social workers and I think I would share there are two schools of thought on this in light of the budget presentation. The first is that the deficit is so large and growing that all the money should be placed and rolled into the larger deficit to you know fill the hole and

104address any long-term expense. And another would be to deliberately make decisions to cut and reallocate portions of that ongoing money to things we've identified as a clear priority and then roll off positions that are no longer needed in total. And I think not just for social workers, but I would like with that as an example to take a more line by line or bucketby bucket approach as you're navigating a very complicated budget season and we want to be confident about the budget we approve. We know a district with reduced social workers will cause harm, but we also know that, you know, if you do a little back the envelope math on the line going down in five more years, if we keep spending at this pace, the the district is bankrupt basically, right? And so

105we have to stop spending at that pace. So we have to be cautious. But the best balance in my view because a bankrupted district is just as harmful if not more harmful than a district with reduced social workers. Do we go smaller bucket by bucket and line by line about what can be reallocated to those critical needs like social work without neglecting our responsibility to growing the deficit. So with the timeline you presented what do you think is the best option for some decisions like that like going through clear reductions and choosing to reallocate as a board? >> Yeah. Some of the trick is how to go about prioritizing. Um because each I would suspect with seven board members we might have seven different lists of what's top priority and what's second, what's third. Um

106so how do we have those discussions so that all voices are heard? Um and also you know the discussion within the district so that we can come up with our our long-term plan of how do we both get out of the deficit spending plus protect those those things that that are important to to our students. So I think finance committee is a great place to do that but that's still that involves only three um three board members. [clears throat] So, I am open to suggestions on how to continue this conversation. Um, this isn't just a once a year budget conversation. We need because if we wait till next year to have this, I'm going to be back here presenting the same thing with with a worse trend line. Um, so we continue to have these

107conversations as positions turn over uh here in the district office. We review every single one says, can we do without this position? And if we didn't refill it, what are the trade-offs? Because there's always going to be trade-offs. I mean, nobody sitting around doing nothing. Um, but so as we reduce people, we're going to reduce the service, but what what are the services that are non-negotiable and what are those like, all right, that's great, nice to have, but we can do away with that service to protect those higher uh higher need services. >> My timer went off, but may I respond just with one suggestion, please? >> Um, I would say that I think one suggestion, as you point out, the finance committee is only three people. I think it would be helpful if members

108of the board let finance committee members know like their top five staffing priorities and were able to share that with us to talk about in our next meeting as kind of the initial buckets that we go through and maybe specifically if social workers is in your top five because if it's not we don't have to continue that conversation but if it is that one seems like you know kind of critical to discuss now and others could be the next that's just one suggestion. >> Yeah. So, we have a we've actually added during this budget cycle, we've added finance committee meetings every month. We usually only have five a year, but we've added one every month. So, we have one uh the end of May. So, I will send out maybe this reminder tomorrow to of

109this discussion so we can have that stuff prepped and ready for our May finance comm. >> Thank you, Ashley. I've got Brian and then Bryce and then Amanda. >> Sure. As a followup to Ashley, I guess one of the things that I was wondering about because the finance committee is only three board members. I wondered is this something that would be like appropriate for a study session? I know that we can't I mean the social worker thing we need to address that. >> Yeah. I I think some some preliminary work with finance committee or you know if if you have some individual things you want to talk about please come in and let's talk about them and do some preliminary work and schedule for a study session. >> To me that seems like that would

110be a helpful approach for the whole board to be able to have a conversation about this. Um, the second comment that I had, I don't know if you can go back to that slide where it shows the general fund going down. I mean, Ashley referred to that as well, but when I am looking at it, I want to make sure that I'm um Yes. Okay. So when you look over at like 20 22-23 that's when the general funds above >> right >> okay and it continues on for a little while is that when we were getting a whole bunch of co funding >> I I think you'll see where those lines cross >> is basically when the co money went away >> okay that's what I was um hypothesizing, I guess I could say. >>

111So, I guess the reason that I bring this up, it's maybe in a way it's echoing what Ashley is saying that if we continue on like this, I mean, we're going to run out of money. And what I am thinking is in a way, we got to kind of push that off. I mean, we were able to like not make some challenging decisions because we were getting this funding. And what I'm suggesting is we're not going to be able to do that anymore. I mean, we're not going to have that cushion that's in there. So, to me, that's just another piece of >> Yeah, this is stuff we've really got to grapple with. Um, and then the third comment was, okay, you're talking about the state safety mandates. I want to make sure that I'm

112understanding when we're talking about those state set safety mandates, we're talking about like the individuals that need to be in the schools. >> Okay. >> So, the the only mandates we've budgeted for so far are the the armed guardian mandates. >> Okay. So the money that we're seeing is being used for that and for ammunition. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> But there are other mandates that are out. >> Most of the other mandates are capital mandates. >> Okay. >> Um we have not budgeted for them yet. Some of them I mean some of the mandates were are in our in our rebuilds in our high school rebuilds are being built into those projects. >> You know all of that in the new buildings, >> right? But aren't there mandates also for the schools that

113are out there not being rebuilt that I mean we're going to have to figure out that as well. >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> Thanks Brian. I have Bryce, Amanda, and Charlotte. >> Okay. I just wanted to um add on to uh the suggestion that board member Anderson gave about asking the various uh board members maybe what their top three or five or whatever um priorities are. Of course, those will very likely um differ. Um I also think we should be doing our due diligence and asking our employees uh what their priorities would be as well and contributing that to the conversation. >> Thanks, Bryce. Amanda. >> Yes. >> Um kind of a re-emphasis of what's already been stated. Um but basically I was going to comment on you know ensuring that we are uh

114realizing the money that we should not be spending when we have individuals on special assignment retiring and we do have one uh we've received an announcement on that that position was a special assignment. So that should um free up that money allocation there. Um and looking at other ways and then just I don't think we can say it talk about it enough but reemphasizing how $37 million of property taxes that we should be receiving is being diverted elsewhere. And in the meantime, as you pointed out, our our accumulative um excess of our budget is about 17.5 million. So we have had, you know, a good $20 million to be able to do these things that people are desperately asking us for. Um, which would be lovely. Um, I in regard to um questions on how

115to look at this, whether it's a study session or again a board retreat topic. Um, so it's another avenue that we could dissect and really kind of go into. Um and then an emphasis to the community that you know I think it's been stated many different ways that um the excess monies are being eaten up. Um and so it also reflects back to with our declining enrollment and our uh need to go through another round of school closure so we can consolidate what we're expending and decrease our expenditures. So that's that's coming. It's necessary. Um and then um another underfunded mandate that wasn't mentioned was um let's see like think SB241 basically the third grade retention bill. There's money that was allocated towards it for literacy. But if a child's not, correct me if I'm

116wrong, reading proficient by third grade, then with very few exceptions were expected to hold these children back and so penalize the student for a bill that is not properly funded. So we are gearing up to try to um help these as many students as possible to succeed but on a funding mechanism that's really insufficient for the ask and the pressure being put on um for these student populations. So, um, there's a lot going on here. So, I just want to kind of emphasize those points in addition to what you guys have already spoken about. And, um, yeah, that's it. >> Thanks, Amanda. >> Yeah. Um, I just wanted to echo what Bryce said, asking that that I think it would be a good idea to to ask not only our our board but our employees

117and um may maybe parents too, you know, we could have a some a listening I mean, I'm just thinking of some of the community engagement events that Um, uh, what district was it? Durango. It was in Durango, I believe. Anyway, they they had board members, you know, people talking in the middle of the room and board members were listening on the outside and people were voting with sticky, you know, with stickers and on on paper. And so when we're prioritizing what's most important for our students, I think we need to cast a wider net and to hear from everybody. >> Thank you, Charlotte. Um Annie, I'm going to take my time in the first round and I always want to kind of dovetail back to board member Anderson's suggestion about reaching out to the finance

118committee with some priorities. Um I I love that suggestion. I think we could totally do that. Um, but I'd also encourage us to be mindful of our strategic plan. Uh, we have a pillar update three this evening and we often have pillar updates throughout the course of any given year. Um, and I know previous boards and folks who are on this current board, we've often talked about how do we connect our budget to the priorities and goals that we have laid out in our strategic plan. And I would also like us as a board, as a finance committee, as a community um, to be mindful of that as well as we continue to about these budget um struggles, realities that we have in front of us. Um because I also don't want to lose sight

119of of those goals and priorities. I know some of those goals and priorities certainly have staffing and employee connections, right, that we have to fund in order to meet those goals. Um so if the finance committee is open to it, I would I'd love to see that kind of connectivity as well moving forward. Um we'll move into the second round. Annie, if you're ready. >> Yeah. Uh I would echo um community engagement. I think that's a great point. Um I just forwarded the email that Allan had um sent out. I had asked him for comparable um spending per pupil from uh neighboring districts. So I forwarded that to you. um just forformational purposes were the highest um comparing Salt Lake Granite Canyons, Jordan, Davis, Alpine, Washington, Neibo um were highest per people spending at in

120fiscal year 2025 and the others are um 12,000 or lower. So I um we we spend a lot more on instruction which I actually think is great. we are paying our teachers and we're trying to attract the best educators in the state. So great and we have small class sizes. So I think that's great. Um there are a couple buckets um that I think we need to look at including instructional staff. We are um >> just as support services for instruction. >> Yes, support services instructional staff. We're at about 1,500 per student and the other districts are anywhere between 360 and 8 or 09 988. So we're significantly higher in that regard. Um and then operations and maintenance are significantly higher. Now I'm not sure if that's partially because we're rebuilding. we have maybe older

121buildings than a lot of other districts. But I do think it's worth noting that when we're looking at um our budget overall, if we can look at certain areas, specifically those that are not directly student facing, that are more um coaching, administrative type of roles, that we adjust those ratios appropriately rather than cutting essential services to students like social workers that could save lives. That um is something that I feel like I've heard from parents and employees and I know to be true in my own heart and my own life that we're trying to keep the student facing roles and maintain that level of academic instruction and support as needed. Um so I think we can talk about this maybe in a study session or future meetings and I'm sure the finance committee has looked

122at this but I do think it's um worth noting. I also do want to say I'm not um saying that you know we have done such a horrible job like we're spending more. In fact, I am a proponent of spending a lot of money towards education. I mean I lived in New York previously. So all of this to me seems like um reasonable. I'm not necessarily making a major critique of the district. I'm just saying given our $17 million deficit, it does make sense to adjust office or instructional staff as well so that we're not only cutting student facing roles. That's all. >> Thank you, Annie. And Alan, since Annie shared that graph um with the board during the public meeting as part of the conversation, we make sure it's attached to the notes in

123the minutes. Thank you, Ashley. And then Amanda, >> I just wanted to quickly correct an error that I made. Um, I aspirationally referred to FHIZ as fair housing. I thought that sounded like a good a good thing. [laughter] It's actually first home. It's for firsttime home buyers, which I knew. I just had a Freudian experience, I [laughter] guess. >> Thank you, Amanda. >> Um, I wanted to make note of something I think we covered in our finance committee meeting regarding the budget comparisons of other districts. Um, part of that, um, it may not be exactly a a side by side because the way that they allocate their buckets may be different than the way we do. Um, but it still can be a measurement for sure. And then just over another piece I can't overemphasize

124enough, but we're one of the lowest funded states in the nation. Like we compare I think we compete with Idaho and Arizona on who can fun their kids the least. and expect large outcomes. Um, and so, you know, we're we're trying to accomplish great things on a on a shoestring budget. Um, and I'm always impressed by what we do. It's just between the the pass through where the tiff where we've got 37 million we have to hand off and then we are like our WPU funding for our students is like at the bottom of the bucket in this nation. It's um a sad a sad irony that we deal with. So that's it. >> Thanks, Amanda. Um, I will go ahead and take my time as well in the second round. Something that I forgot

125to mention when I was talking about connecting the budget to the strategic plan. Um, and the pillar review and what I forgot to mention is could the pillar reviews, this is more of a question for Dr. Grant, Allen, and Dr. Ruiz. Um, could these pillar reviews have some type of analysis around employee um allocations and budget and what they might need or participate meeting in order to meet the goals that they have. I know a lot of that's kind of embedded in there, but making it a little more pronounced I think in the presentations to the board in the public meeting um could be a benefit as we grapple with these things forward. I don't suggestion um can't direct in the report, but I just wanted to throw it out there as an option. Um

126any other comments or questions for Allen in this portion of our agenda right now? Go for it, Alan. You have your chart. There's your direction that we can't get, but please do your part. [laughter] >> Thank you. We'll move on to our our third and final um item on our reports agenda, which is strategic plan pillar 3 review. Um Dr. Grant and Dr. Ruiz, please introduce. >> Yep. Associate Superintendent Ruiz is directing this one, but there's a whole team of people who are reporting on the different objectives in the pillar. Thank you for being here. >> Come up conversations. >> So, tonight we're reporting on pillar three of the strategic plan for student achievement. And we have Dr. Brie Connley. We also have Dr. Christine Marriott, Mr. James Japas, and Mrs. Yandere Chadwin. Is that

127presentation coming up? >> Okay. So, pillar three is about family engagement, community partnership, and building trust with our community. So, each of the members of our team will report on a particular objective. But I want to mention that let's see, go to the next slide. And one more. Okay. Thank you. I want to mention that all three objectives are really built into what we consider the five essentials for family, school, and community collaboration, which are connecting family partnerships to student learning. First and foremost, um partner with families in decision making, create welcoming and inclusive schools, communicate effectively and develop relationships, as well as engage the community at large. So, you'll see these objectives and all the work that's been done thus far um part of these five essentials that I just mentioned. So, I'll have

128Dr. Bri Connley and Dr. Christine Marius start with objective one. Next, please. >> Sure. >> I don't think so. >> All right. So, our first objective, um, >> you'll have to grab that microphone. >> I shall. >> Good evening, everyone. Can you all hear me now? >> Yeah. >> Great. All right. So, our first objective um under the family partnership and engagement and education is that parents are going to experience meaningful school interactions and increased involvement as a result of improved family and school partnerships. And our goals by 2029 is to have more parent participation, more parent volunteers in our schools, and more consistent attendance at parent teacher conferences. Um, next slide, Sam. So to report on the progress that we have made thus far, um we are looking at volunteer hours in our schools

129and how many new volunteers we have. Originally our um one of our indicators was to measure how many of our parents are assisting PTA meetings. However, we got some feedback from the PTA Salt Lake City Council PTA um Jamie Spencer in collaboration with PTA presidents across our schools who said not all families participate in PTA meetings, but we could get a better idea of how they are connecting with our schools through volunteer hours. So, that's what we have included in the memo for you. So, what we notice is that some of our schools are missing data. That doesn't mean that we don't have volunteers coming to our schools. That just means that we need to uh tighten up our check-in process with our families. So when they come into the school office, they just need

130to check in, say, "Here, I'm here to volunteer." And then check out when they are done um doing that. So what we're going to do next is that we're going to improve that process on how our schools track volunteers check in and check out so that we have accurate data and know what to do next. Um just to preface this, this is our baseline year of how are we doing in our schools with volunteering. Um, the next thing that we are measuring is how often and how many of our families are participating in parent teacher conferences, better known in our district as SEPs, student education plans. Um, and this is across all schools. What we notice is that elementary participation of parent teacher conferences is higher than secondary. Um, but it does drop in the

131spring for everyone except for 10 schools. Um, I made a typo there. I said nine. It's actually 10 elementary schools that have maintained consistent participation in parent teacher conferences. Um, and we're trying to learn from those schools what are those strategies that they put in place for the springtime to maintain that participation with their community. Um, even though the SCP attendance is lower in our secondary schools, that does not mean that families are not engaging with their child's academic progress. They're doing it through the CCRs or the career and college readiness plans that counselors set up with them. So, we are collecting that data as well, but counselors have until the end of the year to submit that information. So, we don't have all the data collected just yet. Our hope is to explore how

132we can connect CCR to our SEPs for secondary to have some alignment there and make the most out of the time that families spend attending those two events. And then we have school events. So we asked all of our schools to give us three events that they wanted to I feel like there's some >> Yes. um three events that they wanted to take attendance on just to see parent participation and in the memo I included a series of events and we have put them by types. So we have literacy nights for example that could fall under um learning and enrichment and then we have family and community connection which could be back to school night things like that and then arts and cultural celebrations which are pretty big in a lot of our schools if

133not in all of them. I did not include athletic events even though those are very well participated but it's really hard to um gather how many families are actually attending those. So what we're doing next is improving how we capture participation in the secondary schools because of their big size and then grow high quality family engagement offerings aligned to school event attendance. So we want to maximize our multicultural nights and also include a little piece of perhaps literacy into that as well so that families can have both aspects of this. And then the last piece of this is the parent involvement overall. So, we're gathering that baseline data, as I said earlier, and we're working with our Salt Lake PTA council um to support PTA growth and support our schools that don't currently have a

134PTA or have an active PTA um to grow that and to have that as another support in their schools so the families can participate more. >> Okay, next slide. >> Are we asking questions? between each of these objectives or clear at the end >> usually at the end but the board can >> there's a lot of stuff >> a lot of stuff I think it would be prudent to get it I think before we move on to the next topic >> I I think in the interest of time we'd probably have to >> keep our first and second round where it's at for the most part but if the board's comfortable kind of setting aside that norm I think we could probably do that >> what do folks think we've done it Keith >> um

135my only comment is on the last slide that you did where you were talking about um support the PTA involvement. Um and you may be using this kind of broadly in term but there's a lot of schools that have converted to PTO's. So I would just stress that as you're looking at that measurement you include the language of PTA and PTO. because then you're excluding inadvertently that organization even though it's intended to include it. So just a comment. >> Thank you. >> Thanks ma'am. >> Okay. >> Oh, one more. Go ahead. >> We're going to do it that way then. I did have one quick question and that was when you were talking about the um volunteer keeping track of how much service they're providing. To me, that seems like that should be tied to

136the safety aspect because I'm thinking about when I was in when I was teaching in the schools, those volunteers needed to be checking in, they needed to be checking out just to ensure that we knew who was in the building. So, to me, it seems like it could be tied that way as well. >> Absolutely. >> Thanks, Charlotte. And then I'm just wondering if you are also cons uh including the school community council, you know, members. >> Oh, that's what you're doing. Okay, >> perfect segue. Thank you. Um, so my part of this is to talk a little bit about what we have been working on to improve the quality of parent engagement, specifically in school community councils or SEC's. um not just this year but going back the previous year as well and um

137for the most part it has involved a lot of ongoing training um for administrators at the schools um and that has been a little bit organic. It's as we go we see a need that some aspects aren't working uh like they should or that we see an area for growth. So that's what we focus on. Um so throughout the year we've focused a lot on those required webpage postings. It's an important way to communicate with all of the families. Um the land trust plan requirements, um the rules of order requirements, all of those technical parts of the law um that are required. And it's um part of SEC. It's also part of how we receive that the land trust funding. And you saw in Allen's report how that's one of our only funds that are

138going up yearbyear, not going down. So it is really important that we engage with that in a quality way and um I mean I was a principal for quite a few years and I will say I wasn't doing everything just right. So it's been really important to have time with principles to help everyone understand the requirements and just get better at it throughout the the year. Um and then in addition we did a training for SEC members um here at the district office on a Saturday. It was um you know the I think the best part about that was the collaboration between our various departments including Dr. Ruiz and Dr. Conley and um communications Yandre. It was just a really nice event for parents. Um and I know our plan going forwards is to do

139more of that and do it earlier in the year. Um the very best scenario is when the principles and the SEC chairs and other parents on SEC just work together and find those really um most meaningful ways to spend the funds and the most meaningful ways to connect the parents with the administration and the teachers. Um and so you can see we have um you know several hundred SEC members. we have 30 or more school administrators all working together on this and and some pretty um dense law around what's required. So I would say what we have done this year is everyone's getting a lot better and we're going to continue that progress uh going forwards next year. Um so if you have questions on SEC's and what we're working on, I'm happy to take

140those. >> Amanda, >> just um thank you for that work. I attended that um I believe what you were talking about the training for the SEC members and it was extremely helpful and you can see attendees gratefulness and that conversation and that communication. So kudos to you for that work to help expand that knowledge to do quality work with the SEC land trust money. >> Thanks. >> Um just a quick note on SEC's. I um would encourage parents and community members even to um be more engaged and aware of what's happening in their SEC's. [clears throat] I think oftentimes we'll get feedback or [snorts] their certain needs at schools and a lot of people don't realize that they have funds oftenimes $100,000 [clears throat] each year for their school to allocate towards those needs. So

141I think it's really important that um people are engaged and they're creative in their process and so it's not just year after year the same thing the same thing but actually looking and saying hey our school actually needs an additional X and so we're going to do that. Um reviewing the plans is really helpful for us. I do think there's a trend that it's uh very similar that there's like an interventionist at every school who's funded every year. Um but it'd be great to see alternative plans as well. >> So as a followup to this um SEC training and correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Grant, but I understood that you also have scheduled meetings throughout the year with the SEC chairs. Is that correct? >> Yeah, I do. I do a quarterly meeting with

142that SEC chairs as the superintendent and it's been a great And I mean to me I think that that's a valuable piece to include in here because I have heard from those SEC chairs >> that that has been a valuable opportunity and I mean they >> they can have exchange with you and with each other. I I think that's really helpful. >> Thanks. >> Okay. >> Well, thank you. Um, community partnerships. I think now more than ever, um, uh, after listening to, and I'm glad I stayed for the full budget presentation, community partnerships are so critical. And as I look into this, uh, it says we Salt Lake City School District will build and nurture relationships with community partners to elevate the student achievement. uh the district values and uh the contributions of community members,

143leaders and business partners in supporting student success. Now by 20 obviously our objective is student and families will be provided with critical resources needed to for students uh to focus on learning. um by 2029 we want to have more partnerships, more students using clinics, more family participation and more health uh health fairs at the CLC's. Now a lot of these efforts cannot be done without obviously I have the our community ed program here uh a great team. They brought in close to 10 million a year. It's significant uh and it's something that we need to talk about. And then we have our community learning centers. Um when we talk about the number of partnerships that we have, you're looking at um next slide please. After school program 36 um these are vendors uh organizations that

144come into uh our district to partner and provide support. And then you have Salt Lake Education Foundation, 91 community learning centers, anywhere from 101 to 116. And um when we bring in these partners, they bring in dollars with them uh many of them really the return on investment is significant to what we're doing in collaborating with uh with these key partners. That is why it's so important that we got to nurture them. we got to protect them uh because they do bring a lot of resources. Um here's an example of that type of resource and then I will also talk about a baseline that we've had just to look at um what we've been able to do the West High Clinic. Um, you look at 4,140 total clinic visits, 2,500 primary care visits, 1,640 behavioral

145health visits, sports physicals at no cost to the students, 1,57 uh patients receive clinic-based primary mental health. And then you it goes on and on. But here's the the one I saw a sign a minute ago. says that uh one in five students are thinking about um dying by suicide, right? Or committing a suicide. But we've gone from 3 to 6 months, cut it down to 14 days wait period to see uh support services for our students. That is significant. But you know who had a lot to do with it? you guys you guys made that decision to put a clinic at West High School and now we're going to have a clinic at Highland High School. And we hope that as we're having conversations to to support the Highland Clinic, we begin uh uh

146understanding what that process is going to be for the next four years and how we can really build a systemic uh and also uh program and support that can be that can be self- sustained really not asking a lot of money from the district more from our partners. Um the other um area that I want to talk regarding um what our baseline what we we've been able to accomplish 2526 is you know we've uh expanded the use of health related support services including site uh uh on-site clinics uh by uh holding additional health fairs. Uh I don't know if you guys ever been to uh a Friends for Sight event. You know, we've had multiple. We've actually doubled this year. Uh and that was incredible. Uh at Rose Park, we had a situation where we

147announced it the week before by the end of the same that day when we open when we launched online the appointments, we had over a hundred individuals who signed up quickly. So that is something that we're working with our partners, Inter Mountain Healthcare, Salt Lake County Healthcare, uh department, uh community health centers. Um ultimately, we want our families to continue to participate. Uh CLC's host these events, but also as we we get new staff, our goal has been to increase by 10%. We can't do that. We constantly have to market and educate administrators in the community because people come and go and and and that takes a lot of time and effort. I think Dr. Ruiz noticed very quick by going to the CLC's how many people how many parents we can easily bring into

148the CLC's in multiple languages. So, um the return on investment that you've made as a as a district board has been significant. I think now we just need to work on um our goals. And let me let me just uh summarize well I wanted to share this one as well before I move on to the next slide. But we've had total 700 with our UTA partner over 700 UTA uh trip counts. Um, and as far as our distinct users, the average has been last year was 30 3,944 and now it's 4,800. At Glendel, I was, you know, one one of our, um, community uh, well, Carrie Tatty informed me that this last year there were so many people riding the bus that they the UTA had to re-evaluate and open up um, additional um, times.

149and also the space where they're even waiting for the buses because our students uh high school students are having to access that which is significant that that just didn't happen yesterday happened three years ago when you decided to fund that project it was incredible so as we bring the contract back just keep that in mind and then last I want to say is that I think we're making progress towards our goals Uh I'm glad that I brought my team here because this is the reason I think you guys want to see outcomes and and we are all about that. Uh the afterchool program does an extensive extensive evaluation of our program. It is tied to our strategic plan. The CLC's we believe in community schools but we're also tied to the strategic plan. Uh we

150want to increase partnerships. We want to expand student use of health resources, increase family participation, and most importantly, increase CLC hosted health fairs by 10%. Um, and we know that that can't happen. So, thank you. >> Thanks, James. Real quick, can you just have your team say hi to us from the back? Absolutely. I see some of them there in Carrie. We'll just give a [laughter] wave. >> CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] THANK YOU, JAMES. >> OH, WAIT. QUESTION. SORRY, FORGOT. >> UM, I saw Amanda and then >> No question. Just a huge, huge expression of gratitude for what all of you are accomplishing. It's a phenomenal feat. I don't know if it's a good term, but it just you're supplementing just so many great things that are occurring and giving the students and the teachers, the staff,

151everybody access to things they wouldn't have most likely otherwise. So, just huge thank you. Yeah, I just wanted to point out um I'm incredibly grateful for these projects and I'm ex super excited about the Westside Clinic. I work for the U of Health and I have colleagues who've been integral in that clinic at West and it's it's become an attractive place for um staff to want to go and serve because they feel like they're really making an impact. So, I feel really excited about the upcoming expansion to a Highland Clinic and I think um that we've heard a lot about mental health and I think that those clinics will ser continue to serve a crucial role in mental health referrals and and all of the needs that students have with health. >> All right. Thank

152you. All right. Goal three, public perception and connection. So our goal is to maintain positive relationships with all our stakeholders, students, family, just general community members, elected officials, etc., etc. And our goal is to elevate the public's trust in us and their perception. Um, our objective is for families and students to feel more connected to the district and to be more informed about district programs, achievements, recognitions, all all the good things. Um so our our three goals by 2029 are to increase that trust and measuring by a community trust survey. Um to increase the number of positive media stories um and to amplify our reach through partnerships. Um in year two here are some of the actions we've completed. I won't go through everything but a few um things of note is uh we we

153changed our our newsletter strategy. So we, my team spent um uh some lovely uh meeting time going over our data, looking at social media analytics, website analytics, parent square analytics, and trying to make sure that we're um making decisions based on that data. So we noticed that our newsletter open rate, I'll talk about this a little later, but I'm uh it's I think it's a good a good thing that we're doing. Um that our open rates were actually quite good, especially for um the industry that we're in, public ed. Um, but our engagement was really low and if you've received a district newsletter, which um, hopefully you have and have looked at. Um, there are a lot of things. It's always so hard to pick what are the things that we're going to share with

154our families because there there are so many good things that we could be including. Um, so one one thing as we discussed and looked at this data is okay, we know our families trust us. They open the email, but then the content is overwhelming. We know a lot of our patrons look at um, communication on their phones. And so now we're thinking, okay, how how are we going to change this format to be um easy to access on a device and to capture the uh evershortening attention of of of people in the digital age, right? So um instead of one longer newsletter, we we've pivoted to some shorter updates um more more quick bites for people and are hoping that we'll see that um engagement rate increase. Um we had a brand refresh this year.

155Um, we have continued to inform our community about our bond and construction projects. That one's really important to us. We want to make sure that our community members know that the district is a good steward of those tax dollars and of the of those bond dollars. We don't take lightly that our Salt Lake community supported the the bond in 2024, and we want to make sure we're we're being transparent and accountable with how those dollars are being spent. Um, we've continued to highlight staff and student recognitions. Um we've created a a community um partners comm's council that I'll tell you a little more about in a minute. Um we've had some good engagement with students through some focus groups as we're working on developing the portrait of a graduate um and and a few other

156things. Uh moving on to some of those analytics I mentioned. So as as you may be familiar with a couple years ago we switched our communications platform to parent square. Um, this allowed us the opportunity to reach out directly to families to have two-way communication in the language of choice of of the individual parents. Um, and we're happy to report that we have almost 100% contactability rate. That first number, 98.9% means we have a good email or phone number for at least one adult, one parent or guardian for every student in our school district. Um, that rate is is pretty small and we we're working to to close that one. Um as we looked at the analytics further we saw that 94% of those can receive email and text. So for 94 we have both.

157That's really great. Um and as of midappril our our reach had been um 19 over 19,000 messages uh sent this year. That's includes the efforts of our schools but and the district too. So that whoa that sounds oh my gosh you're reaching out a lot a lot of times. Just know that that's collectively across the district um and our schools. And then I mentioned that one really good feature of parent square was this ability to direct message with families in in their language of choice. Well, our schools have really taken advantage of that and that feature has been used more than 724,000 times this year. Um we are engaging with our families. Our teachers are leveraging this tool to connect with parents and with students and we hope to see these numbers increase in coming

158years. Um we took a sample. there's uh every every email and or post that you send out has um different analytics and so we took um the March 18th board report. So just so you know these aren't like overall numbers these are two two samples and size of two um but we took an email um in March the board report which um we update our community on what happens at board meetings. Um and then we looked at an email that had slightly higher engagement which was a caucus night email. Every year we encourage our our community to be active in in elections in the in the voting process here in Utah. As you know, civic engagement is really important in our district. So, this is something we do every year. Um, and this is what

159what we saw. We saw that we over 22,700 emails were delivered. That's great. Um, we reached uh one email reached 17,700 over text. The other one 21,400. So, we're reaching a lot of people. Um we saw that we have 9,000 um over 9,000 adults who have downloaded the app, which is great. That means they proactively took a step to be able to engage with us. Um another uh positive feature of Parent Square is that you actually don't need to have the app to receive our messages. So even if you don't have it, we can still engage with you. Um and is if as you look at that open click rate column, you can see that our our rates compared to industry average are doing pretty well. um we're in the you know mid high 40%s

160for open rate um industry average and this is my my best uh online research looking at other public school data that that's available about 28 to 35% open rate is is about the average in in public ed so we're above that um the click-through rate that means that you open the email and then you clicked on the link um 2% is about the industry standard and we're between two 2.6% 6% across these this n size of two. Um uh and then we looked at text and we we're realizing that this is a really big opportunity for us. So we have a two two and a half% click-through rate on emails, but on text it it's almost 10 times higher. So that's something my team is taking into account in terms of how we communicate with

161family. Maybe text is is a tool that we start using more often. Apologies. Um, and of those 9,000 uh people who have downloaded the app, that means that 42% of our parents have it, there's a growth opportunity there for sure. So, we'll you you can look forward to seeing some um sign up for parent square, download the app signs in your in a school near you coming this August. Okay. Now, on our social media reach, um I want to before I get into the information on these slides, I want to provide some context. Last year, uh we had a bond election. It's the first time that Salt Lake has gone out for bond in a couple decades. Um we're we wanted to make sure that we were reaching community members in general, not just our

162families here in the school district, right? This is a citywide thing. Um and so we worked with a marketing agency. They helped us with some paid social media ads. Um we had video ads that ran, you know, when folks are watching YouTube or Hulu or Netflix, whatnot. And so we I do want to just give that context so you know that comparing to last year's numbers, there was an additional outreach um that we don't have this year. This year it's organic only. It's my team of three. We haven't put money behind any of our posts. So So just keep that in the back of your minds. Um so on Facebook, the that number of total views is 1.4 million. It's a lot, but it is a lot lower than last year. It's about a 43%

163drop, but again, we don't have a fancy agency or u money behind those posts. So, a reasonable expectation there. Um, we had about 235,000 views. Um, our watch time, even without that marketing agency, it actually went up 54%. So, um, collectively as of midappril, people had spent about 14 days worth of time watching videos on our on our Facebook page. Um, which yay, people are watching our videos. Um, our interactions have gone down, but not as much as you would anticipate given the big difference in the resources last year versus this year. Um, and our followers, uh, it it's pretty flat. Hasn't changed too much from when we had that big money and now we don't. Um, I do want to highlight Instagram. So, again, uh, lots of resources last year, a lot fewer this

164year, and still like we have increased our total views so much. We have reached um, 23.8% 8% more people this year. Um, our our interactions have tripled this year. Um, our new followers have gone up by 70% and our followers are growing. What we've seen is steady growth. It's slower this year, but it's steady and it's moving in a positive direction. So, Instagram also presents a really big opportunity for us. So, if you if you're not on Instagram, uh, following uschools, uh, encourage your friends to follow too, friends. Um, I mentioned earlier that we want to increase the positive stories that we're putting out about about our school district and what's happening in our schools. Um, we took our baseline last year where we had across the school year 82 positive media stories. Um, and

165as of uh April 24th, we were at 73 positive stories for this school year. So, we are on track to um exceed last year's number. We still have some time left in the school year and we've had some media since April 24th. So looking forward to to sharing that final number for the year when it's when when we have that. Um I also want to add that there are often times when we pitch a story um but then we don't find a link for it. So some stories uh will maybe air during the live newscast but there might not be a link for it afterwards. These are just the stories we have links for. So um it's not a full picture of of what our efforts have been. So know that there are more positive

166stories that have been broadcast live that we just might not have a link for. Um on our website, we're we're also trying to focus on on the data to make sure that it's serving um the community in the best way possible. Um so here's a snapshot of a four-week period between March 23rd and April 19th. Over that four-week period, we had 48,000 individual active users. So 48,000 different people came to the site. 18,000 of those people were new and had never come to the district website before. Um, now we've worked closely with um our IT team and um Sam Quants and his folks um to to make sure that this data is as helpful as possible to us. So what they've done um is filtered out when employees log in or when a student opens

167their their district issued device and the first page is slcschools.org. So this does not include uh me opening my laptop for the day or um a teacher starting up their device or a student logging in in the morning. um this does not take that into account. Um we noticed that 32,000 so about twothirds of those visitors in that 4-week period typed our URL directly. Um so they're they they know it, they were looking for something, they knew what the link was, they're loyal loyal users and 14,000 people got to us through um just an organic Google search. Whether they were looking for a school near them or they're moving to the area and just kind of scoping things out, Google got 14,000 people to us. Um, we also noticed trends that make sense, like the

168the peak usage is during the school day with it's over 6,000 users, an average engagement of 90 seconds on on the site. Um, I mentioned earlier that we created a Salt Lake City Community Partners Comm's Council. That is a mouthful, but [laughter] um, but we wanted to make sure to really capture what this group is. We launched in the fall and it's a partnership with different community organizations. Um, it's just a handful right now. it might grow grow but we wanted to start with the manageable number really get this right and the goal is to extend our messaging reach beyond the district's audience so that's one goal the other goal that we have is to look for feedback um and to work together with these partners so we can better serve the families that all

169of us are working to serve um it's also been interesting um to hear from these partners some of the things that they're hearing on the ground they hear and interact in a different way with families than we do and so there are things that they're seeing on a daily basis that maybe aren't being shared at the school level. And being aware of some of those issues that our community might be facing that wouldn't come to us naturally has been really helpful. Um, and we're hopeful that this will lead to more messaging opportunities and um more accessible communications for s for families across our city. Um really we just want people to be more aware of the opportunities that the district has for their students um as well as the resources that that we offer whether

170it's the district, the foundation or through one of our partners. Um progress and next steps um okay so last year when um we came to present um there were some questions about the baseline and how that was established. So we are taking a new baseline this year. Um survey questions for specifically measuring for the strategic plan were added to the parent survey for this year. So uh I don't have that data quite yet. The year's not over yet and um I know that the assessment team will analyze that data and we will be able to share that at some point but I don't have it today. Um but we will have a good baseline and those questions will repeat every year on that survey so we can compare from year to year and we'll also

171be able to compare in 2029. Um our next step is to create the student survey um obviously following state guidelines. Things have to be ready for parents to view at registration. So we're working um with Dr. Jeffrey's team to make sure that those questions are included um and to be able to repeat those surveys annually. Um I mentioned we've increased our positive media stories. Um and have expanded our reach through the that partners comm's council. Um our Facebook organic reach is down but our Instagram reach is up. So um you know moving ahead at least in the right direction. Parent square stats are looking good and we're looking at data so that we we hone and refine our own communication to reach families better. Um and we're working as well on um further segmenting our

172website data so that um we can make the content on the site um as useful as possible to the different people using it. Um okay, a few resource considerations. Um so this is pie in the sky, right? We we understand the limitations u we're under especially this budget year um and that there are some really tough decisions but down the road these are some things that u my team feels would help amplify our reach and help increase awareness um of our of our opportunities um so Facebook is a business right it's and due to its paid advertising model um what's happening now is that organic reach is decreasing and it will continue to go that way because of the model that they have they want you to pay to um broadcast to a broader audience.

173Um and if you're not paying, then fewer people are seeing your content. That's kind of just how it is. Um a small paid budget could extend our reach, maybe draw in some new followers. Um and there are tools on there to be able to target by zip code, by, you know, different demographics. So, an area that could be explored. Um an outside video vendor. We've noticed this year that our watch time on videos this year is up. Um and um we have a staff member who is dedicated to managing our social media, Emma Dillard, and she has worked to create more video content this year than the previous year. Um the problem though is while my team is very capable and they are very talented in many areas, um videography skills are not it's not

174something we really have in house. So looking at opportunities to work with an outside vendor um strategically we have um some issues that are really important to the board that that are board goals. Uh perhaps there are specific issues that would rise to the level that we might want a professional video created. So that could be another opportunity. Um parent square I mentioned is working really well in expanding our our communication interactions with families. Um there are features that we don't have access to in our current package. Um, so the ability to pull families to um have forms be uh easy to sign in parent square for whether it's for a field trip or giving permission for a different opportunity. Um there's the opportunity to submit uh secure documents over parent square or to make

175payments or recruit volunteers. Um these are features that would be awesome but we don't have right now. though. Um, and as I looked at these features, I also believe that they are features that would help us engage with our parents more and would naturally draw them to Parents Square. If you know you have to sign the the uh field trip permission form on Parent Square, you're more likely to download that app. If you know that, okay, I have a kindergartener for the next however many years I'll be using this app, right? And that just drives parents more to that platform where we can have other opportunities to engage. Um and then another um area where we think our engagement could increase is by implementing it. We're using an AI web support assistant. Um a lot

176of other districts are are doing this across the country. Um where there's a feature where an AI assistant can support families so that the information they're looking for is easier to get to. They can ask the bot a question. um it could give input or give uh responses in the language of the family's choice um and help them in in especially 247 maybe they're off work really late and they really have questions about what they need to bring to registration but they don't know how to find the registration page so they ask the support assistant and then rather than waiting till the next morning to call the school they've got that information at 10 o'clock at night and they're ready to go the next day. Um, so just a few options for consideration. Um, but

177we're continuing to always look for ways to improve our processes um, and to make sure that our families are informed about the great things happening in our schools. >> Ashley Bryce and Ann. >> Um, yes. So, when we started these pillar updates, I recall that the board asked for a few things that I think are helpful to reiterate as we talk about it. And the first is evaluation data and the second is resource allocation information. And I continue to think embedding those in these presentations is very useful so that the staff presenting and the board have mutually clear ideas about the effort that's going into the presentation. As an example, earlier in this presentation, I'm always impressed by our work in health access. The number of things we do is incredible. Um, I love seeing

178the number of student physicals, vaccinations, mental health referrals, but I don't always know um as a non-expert if those numbers are the ceiling. So, it'd be great, um, when we can hear an update that says, you know, X percentage of our student athletes did a physical with us. We'd love to get to Y%, but we need intervention Z or resource A from the board or a partner to make that happen. um because the work is so impressive when we reiterate that when it's a contextual within an ask, we can do a better job of ensuring that we're including that in our budget. And I think Yandre's section is great to end on because it does give those suggestions like now I wouldn't be surprised if I saw some of those vendor updates, you know, in

179our consent agenda for purchase order reports or I would know, you know, that we may need to consider resource allocation if that's where we want to continue to grow. Um, I have two questions while everyone's here while we're talking about those apps. I know we just approved an attendance platform and I know that that's communicating back and forth with parents. I also know as a parent that parent square tries to get me to do the exact same thing to give it a little message to say what the attendance is basically. So as we bring new platforms on board because we think they would be better, how are we making sure that those platforms kind of connect with each other and don't duplicate or confuse efforts. Does that make sense? >> This is a great question

180for Sam Quants to whom I will gladly give my chair. >> It's a lot of tools. >> Just kidding. So um in in this particular instance that you brought up, we believe that the new platform called EDIAL learning functions only over text and so um we will be turning off the attendance features inside of parent square itself. So that system will handle the attendance only and because of the nature of it, it's also going to reduce some of the administrative burden because that system will automatically update our student information system at the same time. So that'll help um because a lot of people just receive those messages over text or email anyway rather than an app. We see that that there won't be a lot of confusion as we turn off one set and just

181enable another. That's really helpful. And knowing that things have to turn off and turn on, I just know there will be a lot of education as we continue to grow these efforts because if I kind of think I'm doing it right one way and then I'm doing it wrong and you know, does the form still exist on the website? It seems like there's a lot of things to toggle on and toggle off to make sure this is very successful. Um, the second is just really philosophical. I don't expect an answer, but I know we're trying to reduce student device use, but then we are also constantly kind of accepting the reality that the device is the way that everyone gets the information. Um, and it becomes very difficult for me to follow, you know, all

182of the school district social media and athletic social media and so forth and then tell my kids basically, you're not allowed to do that, right? You can't have the information about your own school. So I just think philosophically for our consideration it's valuable to consider moving forward how we can on one the one hand meaningfully reduce the screen requirements while simultaneously driving most of the information coming from the district through a device and I it doesn't it's not a criticism in any way that is how people get their information it's just something I'd like us to think about going forward [clears throat] >> thank you for your presentation oh you have something to say about it Yeah. No, we we've discussed that with my team and I feel that conundrum in my own life, right?

183Like, oh, trying to decrease the screen time even for myself as an adult. Um, but I wanted to just kind of put in a plug for um, Student Square here. Um, I mentioned that we have 9,000 parents who've downloaded that app. Um, I don't have an exact count of students who've downloaded the Student Square app, but um, we do have about a fourth of our students. Um, and I should clarify, Student Square is the exact same as parent square. Parent Square just found that students weren't downloading a an app called Parent Square. So they rebranded this exact same app, called it Student Square, and then their download rates went up. So in our district, we only use it to communicate with our secondary students, so middle school and high school. Um we've also this year

184um really worked with um with our schools to make sure that that is the platform for extracurriculars, for athletics, etc., etc. Um and um folks don't have to have um a device. We know that families are making a lot of different choices as far as their their student school um usage and so I mentioned that you don't have to have a device a mobile device to be able to access that information. So we're hoping that that's kind of a bit of an equalizer there. Um and knowing that anything for students will come through there. Um hopefully we'll will decrease like if if a student's family chooses not to have them on social media then we're still reaching them on Student Square. Um, and we know they're logging into their district device, uh, you know, for

185their high school courses, etc. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> thanks Ashley. I've got Bryce, Annie, and then boss. >> Yeah, I don't have a question, but I do have a comment. First of all, um, thank you all of you for the work that you're doing. Um, this particular pillar is something I'm very um, interested and invested in just because of that community connection and the work I do in my professional career. Um, one of the things, um, Yandre did not mention and I want to give some kudos for is around the public perception and connection area. Um, one of the things I've been advocating on the board for over the last five years is actually being physically out in the community. And I've actually seen a lot of, um, increased work in that. Um,

186I wanted to give kudos both to Yandre and the superintendent. Um, in precinct one and um, on the west side, a lot of the feedback I got when I first joined the board is, hey, the district is not out in the community. They're not themselves present. We don't feel like they care. And I've seen that increase over time. Um, couple of examples is Yandre and Dr. Ruiz were both at the Westside Coalition annual meeting and had a booth there, which is really, um, when I talked to community members, they were very excited to see that happen. And then I think it's about 10 11 days from now, uh, we're also going to have a district booth at the Rose Park Community Festival. And I think that's just a great example of getting out, being present,

187and building some trust. So just want to give that and then pause. >> Yeah. Um a couple of questions. I do generally think um the there's room for improvement in kind of the culture of belonging piece and um you know that that reputational culture of the district. Um, I know in previous years there was the use of the dignity index and um, I'm wondering has anything been followed up on that this year or is that kind of like a oneanddone scenario? >> We are currently training all of our administrators um, on the dignity index and we're going to continue the next phase next year. >> Okay. Um, in terms of that, I've heard a lot of complaints um from parents about increased derogatory terms used in our schools, including the n-word. Um, which is, I

188think, a general trend across the state and unfortunately across the country. Um, and I'm just wondering, like I love the dignity index, but I'm wondering like can we simplify it, like put a little bit of teeth in it? I mean, we have policy to support that sort of thing. Um, and I'm just wondering in those trainings, is there guidance given like, okay, you're an administrator, a teacher reports that a student said the N-word in class, that student is automatically suspended or whatever the decision is based on policy. Um, I'm just wondering because I think part of um the culture and the culture of belonging is we're probably the most diverse district in the state, right? We have a huge diverse population, tens maybe hundreds of languages spoken, so many people. And in order for our

189schools to feel safe psychologically and physically for all people, that type of language cannot be tolerated in our schools. So I'm just wondering like in those types of trainings are is that including policy and like actual teeth in that or is it just kind of like this is the dignity index? So this first part um we talked about what the framework is. So the dignity framework and then we talked about deescalation strategies that we can utilize um and then taking perspectives on how people see different situations and then the next phase that we do next year we're going to delve deeper into how do you use the index itself and take further action on that. So, we're still developing that piece for next year, but we can definitely take that into >> Yeah, I think

190um a lot of parents in my precinct and area and across the district, I think, are really interested in this. I think our culture in the district is one of belonging and I know a lot of um families who opt in who are kind of the customers. We're always trying to market the district in a way and attract these families and part of the reason they come is because they want that diversity and that cultural inclusion. And if we can't um make it a respectful environment, then um I think we're really losing a huge portion of that culture. Obviously for moral reasons we all don't want to see that but also just for um retaining students and enrollment and for them to have positive experiences and when they graduate turn into good kind human beings.

191Um and then the second question I had for Yandre, have you ever engaged like student interns in this type of thing? because I feel like there are a lot of students engaged on social media and I'm wondering if the CTE center or other media classes in the high schools particularly would be willing to like help you with kind of marketing campaigns or videos or whatever just in case we don't have the budget to do like a third party. >> Yes, we actually um this semester have our very first high school intern from East High School. Um she's fantastic and she has helped us create social media content and create some videos and we um are really grateful to our CTE uh program for helping us to find that intern. It was through that through the

192high school coordinator that we were able to get this student placed and we will continue to do that. It's been a really positive experience. Um so we have we are exploring ways to be creative with the talent we have in house among our students. So thank you for the suggestion. So far so good. >> Yeah, great. I think that's something we could expand even. >> Yeah. >> Thanks, boss. >> Yeah. I just wanted to sort of touch on your rhetorical question, Ashley, about how um we can think about using technology in education while also acknowledging that there are obvious downsides to emphasizing technology and the use of social media. I think um the fact that you mentioned you're looking for ways to utilize technology to provide access information without using social media is fantastic and

193very important. Um, obviously it's important to still keep these uh ways for students to connect with information without the internet at all. Some students don't have access to that. Um, a small percentage, but that's important. Um, but just having that without social media is great. Then also, you know, technology has positives and negatives. And I think looking at the data when we're deciding what things we can leverage to um run the district better and what things we should avoid for both uh communications and for students using technology in classrooms, all these things. Um, later on I would pinpoint how we're talking about spending $256,000 on renewing the contract with Lexia Core 5, which is a reading program that helps students in schools um improve their comprehension and whatnot. And for that example, I definitely support

194it. Um, obviously it's great to have teachers um, hands-on with students, but in this case, there was a I Idaho study in 2025 that showed how it was the best option for K through three reading support out of multiple um, digital and hybrid products that it looked at. Uh, there was also a study from brand research, which is um, a nonpartisan research organization that showed that 54% of their uh, core five students outperformed a comparison group on spring reading assessments. So, In examples like that, obviously technology has proven itself to be useful and something that we should invest in and there are other areas where certainly we should be wary of the effects it has on students and um the the ways that we should be using it to communicate. But I I appreciate you

195looking at that. >> Yeah. May I share something too? Um this report didn't include uh data on our who our followers are, but it is very very low in the under 18 range. most of our um [laughter] most of our followers tend to be uh millennial women like me. Um so [clears throat] so we know that our our outreach on social media is is not reaching a lot of young people. Um so we we do keep that in mind as well. Thank you. >> Thanks, Amanda. >> Um I guess back to Sam, you were talking about the system that communicates attendance issues. Which system was that? IA learning. >> It's called Edia Learning. >> Is that the same one? So, last year, Highland High School had um an attendance thing where it would let me

196know that my child missed something and then I could text back, please excuse or they totally ditched, just ignore them. [laughter] But that system is no longer there. That's back to the now you've got to contact the attendance person and go through that old way which was a bummer because the last year's access and communicating that attendance piece made life so much easier. >> So what happened? >> Correct. So that was a pilot last year that was run. That pilot ran out. We had to go through a procurement process of an RFP to search for a vendor and EDIL learning won that procurement process and EDIA will provide a lot of the functionality more of the functionality that you're talking about. >> So did you already cover if you did apologize when are those um

197uh components going to be functional? >> They'll be going to place for the 26 27th school year. >> Fabulous. So, we'll be announcing we're working with a couple of schools setting everything up right now. [laughter] >> Thank you. Um and then for Yandre, um just a couple of suggestions. Um one of the things that I've found a little frustrating is the posts aren't always um in a timely manner to when the actual event occurred. I'm sure there's a reason for it, but I find that um even my own excitement overseeing um that event's like marketing or announcement kind of dwindles bec over time because there's this next event, there's another event, there's another. So, um I suspect that the viewership um and that participation in those posts and that excitement would increase if they actually

198or time closer to when they actually occurred so that that engagement and that connection with that event is still there, you know, and people are feeling those emotions still. >> Sure. >> So, kind of a suggestion there. And then um something that and I don't necessarily know the how, but I attended the um Stella Rail apprenticeship signing and then I recently attended the the moon mission project. Is that the right terminology? >> Um, and being there and hearing like for the sad oil apprenticeship and then we're doing the teacher apprenticeship and just hearing the stories from the employers that are offering these apprenticeships and the state um individual who um pointed out that we are the first ones in our entire state that are doing this. And just hearing those words come out of these

199individuals mouths and like these stories of like how excited these businesses are to to um connect with us and how you know [music] it started with SL that where we're at now um with that program and how other districts are now leaning on us to learn how to do similar my point there really is >> also time Amanda sorry >> I'm almost done thank you um figuring out a way to just express [clears throat] it in a way that you're all shouting it from the rooftops because like we as a district get criticized quite a bit but there's so much amazing stuff that's occurring and like really being able to just explode that out there so that that can be seen and heard would just be phenomenal. >> Thanks Um, board member Longwell, would you

200be interested in me responding to about the >> Of course. >> Okay. Um, so, um, my team, I mentioned we're we really try to make decisions that are databased. Um, and we we did a little bit of an experiment. We found that, um, our events and our good news kind of es and flows. So, sometimes we're, you know, out looking for awesome things and then sometimes, my goodness, there's so much. We're like, where do we even start? So we we ran a little experiment um where for a period of time we posted things that day and when they happened and then we did it the over the following couple weeks posting um later to make it easier and more natural with like the workflow for that week. Um there was a not a statistically significant

201difference in the engagement rate for whether a post was timely or [laughter] whether it wasn't. And so we've opted to make um make posts uh when it when it makes sense with the workflow. Uh but recently actually we have been having uh conversations. I was thinking about this with the Highland groundbreaking that day. We did we did not post immediately about that event and I was feeling the same thing you were saying. So we may we may alter that based on like the level of the event. But I appreciate that. That's good feedback because I know that when other people are participating in the event that they are looking for that post. So, we we definitely will take that into account. Um, and I agree with you about shouting it from the rooftop. So, we

202were really lucky this year. We um our our partners at Stoddler Rail um um created a video following one of our apprentices and we were able to share that. So, you know, they have the talent. They were gracious enough to share that asset with us. We were able to share it on our platforms. And then we had our student intern also al also make a day in the life of the comm student intern um this semester and we th those posts got really good engagement. We were just talking with the CTE team yesterday as we announce our new teacher apprentices tomorrow. How can we do the same thing? Like here I am as a classroom assistant in a kindergarten room and then now I'm it's Bday so I'm over here at the college taking some

203classes. So, we we are looking for ways to expand that and thank you for your feedback and we appreciate um how much you're engaged and the other board members too. Um we get excited every time you text us photos or tell us about events you've been at and send us things. So, please please keep doing that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any other questions for this amazing team who's tackling pillar three for us? >> Thank you. We really appreciate it. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT, WE WILL now move to our discussion agenda. Uh we've got three items to review here tonight. Uh the first one is the Salt Lake Center for Science Education Slicky Charter Extension. Uh we're really excited to have you back. This is the the third time I believe uh

204Britney Pal that you were here and I know we gave some direction uh to the district about um an extension of the charter for five years with room for amendment. um in subsequent years or next year. So um is there anybody that wants to start the discussion or present a motion? >> I move that we place the Salt Lake Center for Science Education Slicky Charter Extension as attached in exhibit 3E1 on the action agenda. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yeah. Um I just and I'm kind of skipping ahead, but it's correlated that we're talking about the charter extension and then the building So, as we are discussing both, my request would make to me it makes sense to make sure that the new ones are um set to the same timeline because like the

205current on one is three years and then we're changing it to five years. And so, we presume that we want our lease to correlate with the charter extension and then have the language for a lease as well as a charter extension to have the flexibility for amendments and such. So ensuring that language correlates with each other. >> Thank you. Amanda Bersley, is there anything that you'd want to add to that or >> No, I mean we'll discuss the lease on the next agenda topic. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And we we'll discuss it again on the action agenda, too. any >> um I just wanted to kind of revisit this because this has been something that's um been on my mind and I know it's on a lot of parents' minds in the district um

206is this general idea of kind of pioneering improving our academic programs. um you know allowing things doing additions for example Slickie Middle School right we had tried the partnership with Bryant it didn't work as we thought and now they're asking for Slickie middle grades to be put back in in Slickie um and then at the same time there's this really big friction especially that the board feels in terms of budgets and enrollment ment numbers and demographics. And so it's really a tricky fine line for us to balance in terms of we're wanting to improve programs, but we don't necessarily have a ton of resources to allocate to that. And as we discussed in last board meeting, there's a little bit of a fear that if we were to extend a charter for Slicky to include

207middle grades, that would detract from some of our WPUs from our other middle schools, right? So, I I do want to just acknowledge that tension because I think it's something that a lot of parents have pointed out to me that it's tricky for us because we're trying to kind of catch up and and be smart and fiscally responsible, but at the same time, we want to improve our schools and increase our enrollment so that families want to stay here or families want to come here because it's such a great district, right? So, I'm just pointing out this tension and that because of this the funding re and the, you know, the the limits we have on that, I think we're trying to be creative. Um, but I do want to just acknowledge that I I

208think Slickie has demonstrated a lot of amazing work and they've been a great charter for us to partner with. Um, >> no, that's our time. Oh, I'll just do my >> We've gone three hours. >> I'll just do my last little bit. >> Not over. >> Um, so I just wanted to say that in [clears throat] the memo for this item, it says the board will revisit the request to add six grades six, seven, and eight in April of 2027. And um I feel like if we do do that, they would then discuss it for fall of possibly, right? because they wouldn't have enough time or fall of 2028, excuse me. They wouldn't have enough time to do it in fall of 2027. I'm wondering, it doesn't seem like it's in the actual charter agreement.

209That is not stated, but I'm just encouraging that we may want to look at it sooner um like February or January possibly because there's going to be a different board and we may want to um consider those options. I know we were pairing it kind of with the um possible G5 closure process and trying to do that together, but I do think we can't always pair our innovation and school improvement with our decline. Because if we're doing that, then we're missing out on a lot of opportunities. If we're always just scarcity mindset, we're losing kids, we're gonna have to close schools, then at the same time, we're a self-fulfilling prophecy and we will lo lose kids and we will close schools. So, I know this is kind of philosophical, but I just had to put

210it out there. [laughter] >> Dr. Grant, that's fine. >> Any other comments, questions, discussion? All right, seeing none, um this is to move the Slicky um charter renewal to our action agenda. We'll do a roll call vote starting with board member five Jefferson. >> Charlotte F Jefferson, yes. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Nate Salazar, yes. >> Annie Romano, yes. >> Ryan Johnson, yes. >> Amanda Long, yes. >> Lynn, yes. >> All right, that motion passes. We'll revisit that. On the action agenda, item number two of the discussion agenda is Slickie building lease. Alan. >> All right. So, the attachment to the uh agenda is the current lease that this lease largely has remained unchanged since inception just with um the dates. Uh so, as we look as board member Longwell talked about to line these

211up so that we're renewing the lease and the charter at the same time. So this is the first time we've discussed this lease. So this is probably just more of a discussion versus action today. The lease expires June 30th. So we have a couple more board meetings u before the expiration. Um [clears throat] so the lease is attached largely lays out the responsibilities of Slicky as the tenant, the district as the landlord. Um there there there's no money exchanged in this lease agreement. And guess what? I have problems with that. But I mean, I think I I wasn't involved in conversations when the lease was originally set up, but we had an empty school. That's the old Northwest building. When the new Northwest building was made, uh was built, then the middle school moved it

212up to the new building, and then we had this empty building much like conversations we currently are having. So, it was a good option of, hey, what are we going to do with this building? Hey, we want to start this charter school. Let's let them use that building. And it helped us defer a lot of the day-to-day maintenance. So, because it's laid out in the lease, that is the responsibility of Slickixie. Where the district is on the hook is if the major things go wrong. If the HVAC goes out, if the roof needs replacing, if you know some major, you know, walls fall down, we have to fix that and we have to fix it with our capital funds. So I think the discussion amongst the board is are we okay with that or should

213we build in some sort of monthly rent payment or lease payment that the district in theory could um put in a in a fund and then use those monies when these major things come to then fix them so we're not dipping into the district capital funds. >> I saw Ashley and then Amanda. >> This is something um that we talked about briefly in the finance committee and I will say that we did um ask Allan to please come to us after this discussion hearing what other people had to say with clear recommendations on what he thinks would be ideal in the lease and finance committee members this half of the table we agreed that it would be a good objective to be revenue neutral and we thought it sounded reasonable to say any type of

214fee would be going into a reserve reserve that would then be spent on that building. And we used the example of the plumbing emergency at open classroom. That's something we would need to take up also potentially for that space at lowalt where some of those buildings um when we manage the regular maintenance that is fine. When we end up managing the emergency maintenance, it becomes more problematic in terms of the long-term capital needs of all of our neighborhood schools. So we felt it was reasonable for Allan to pursue determining what would help us be revenue neutral and using the model of recapturing the money for that building. So any fee is not, you know, there's not some idea where a tenant is paying. We're taking the money and we're using it to pay for XYZ

215other program. It's going back into preparation for the needs of that building which is not considered in our capital plan in quite the same way. So that's what finance committee thought. Other people may, you know, agree or disagree, but our suggestion was take that feedback, pursue the bottom line of attempting to be revenue neutral and ask Allan to please come back, you know, that third time with what he thinks the recommendation would be for a lease agreement. >> Ashley, Amanda, and then Brian. >> Yeah, ditto everything Ashley said. Additionally, um, so I had emailed after the finance committee when this agenda came out. I emailed Alan some very specific questions and did you get a chance to dig into them or >> All right, I I I I dug into one I think. Can you

216remind me all the questions? >> So what I asked was and I'll just say this verbatim basically. Um hold on maybe not verbatim. You responded with we charge indirect cost rate which is about 3% of their total expenditure. um which uh roughly covers uh business services, payroll, HR, finance, purchasing etc. which is around 70 to 88,000 a year. So my question was >> that number actually so I'll just was it was 130 for last year. >> Okay. >> It's been a while since I've done that entry. So that was what it was back when I was doing that entry. So it it was it was about 130 last year. >> Okay. Um, and then my followup question is, what is the market rental rate that would be on the property? And my intention in asking

217that isn't anything nefarious. I like Ashley pointed out um our conversation really was about um a revenue neutral approach but covering our cost and buffer in the process instead of potentially another area that we are going in the hole in. Um and so um again what the rental market rental rate is compared to what we're doing um as well as so the comment you had said before is that basically roughly um that's covering certain expenses. And so I was like well what's the reality breaking down what is actually being spent on um that property and everything that we do outside compensated back. Um, so you were going to work on that list. Um, and then again, my reiteration of lease versus contract for dual charter extension, sorry. Um, making sure that the terminology lines up.

218So, if you don't have the answer yet, I mean, we're obviously not making discussion or action today, but breaking that baby down so we can at the end of the day in that um revenue neutral area as we are contemplating locking in this lease agreement. >> Yeah. What I have some of the information. >> Okay. >> Uh after a quick inquiry with um a real estate company JLL that we're using for this other stuff, uh they came back with, you know, similar properties in the area are going for somewhere between 13 and $17 a square foot um for the year. [clears throat] The Slicky building has about 112,000 square feet. So that range is anywhere between 1.4 million and $ 1.9 million a year. >> Wow. >> No, we're not proposing that. [laughter] >> That's

219good because I'd be looking for another job. But what what I don't have yet, what I need to get is, you know, looking at at Isaac's 50, both [clears throat] the five-year plan and the 50-year plan to kind of look forward and say, what are the estimates of the the big expenditures in this building and then what would it take to, you know, so when these things hit that there's money in those reserves accounts to either totally pay for it, offset, you know, so that's something I'm still need to work on. >> Okay. And then aligning with that and your comment Britney, we're honestly not trying to [clears throat] like catch you off guard here, but while I Allan's working on his bit, you probably could be working on kind of a from your perspective

220piece so that we can like take a whole picture into this equation as we're trying to lock into what makes sense in a healthy dynamic. You know, nobody's out to get you so to speak. Just being reasonable. >> Thanks. >> I'm pretty sure like horizontal. [laughter] >> And I will say the 112,000 is the whole building. >> Thank you, Alan. And thank you, Britney, for bringing some light to a meeting that's getting late. So, thank you. I've got Brian and then Annie and then Charlotte. Okay, this was because when I looked at it, [clears throat] excuse me, you asked for us to look at the lease and you know if there were any provisions. Well, in my past life, I looked at lots of leases and things like that. One of the things that I

221wanted to ask about was there is a provision and I don't want to take the time to, you know, reference all of that, but they can ask for the school to do maintenance and stuff like that and then the school does it and you charge them. I have seen in leases where the landlord is also able to if they aren't maintaining, the landlord can go in and maintain and build so that you're certain that you're preserving your building. And I didn't see that provision in there as I was looking through it. So that's my observation. >> Thanks, Brendon. And >> yeah, I think this is an important discussion. Um, and I understand the capital needs. Um, I do want to protect our public charters and want them to feel obviously incentivized to be part of

222the district. Um, and I think they are because they're included in a lot of these things and the lease agreements have been very favorable. I do think though that it would be wise to have it be across the board policy. So knowing the open classrooms lease is not up for renewal at this moment. I I do think that we need to highly consider that because it could be a policy that we use across the board and whatever formula we use to calculate that is used for open classroom as well. That being said, I hope it's low because I want [clears throat] them to do well and I want them to succeed. But I do understand that there are significant costs and we know what our budget is and we know what our expenses are. So

223just saying I do think this is a larger discussion not solely about just this lease. I think it's a discussion about what's our general policy on leasing buildings because honestly in the future we may want to look into it with this JL study and our empty school buildings from G5. And then my I'm wondering what other districts do, you know, have we do you know about that? >> Most other districts don't have charter schools. >> They don't have public charters. >> Correct. >> Well, >> they may they may lease a building, but they're leasing it at at market rate to an independent charter. >> A public charter. >> Yes. >> What do they do? >> I don't know. >> Okay. Um, any other comments, questions? We're not necessarily looking for a decision tonight. So, we

224could >> Thank you, policy comm or Thank you, finance committee. I think that it was really important for us to hear that you are having that conversation and I can understand. Yeah. The revenue neutral aspect of this relying on you. >> Yeah. We'll move on to item number three on our discussion agenda which is ACT/aspire date. Um as you know um the 2627 school calendar year is under development as we speak. Um and there's a request from the superintendent and uh the district um that we adopt March 10th um as a potential date. Um Dr. Taylor, I see you walking up, so I'll let you introduce this more than I already have. Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> Well, I was coming up to see if we had any questions. We've distributed information regarding

225the request. Uh if there are any additional questions, we'll be more than happy to address them. >> Amen. >> Since I was the one that was the most vocal about it, um I mean I don't have anything other to say given we just don't have options. I mean hopefully at some point we can align our uh school calendar to be more friendly to this. We've already locked in the next three years. So that particular piece is a new point. But hopefully future renditions we consider it because I did come go back to Lisan and ask him how um other districts ACT days aligned with their term end and um all but one other um their term ended before they were doing the ACT test. So the kids were dealing with finals and everything else um

226on top of the ACT stress. So, um, that being said, I make a motion to move this, uh, ACT request to the action agenda. >> I second. >> Got a motion in a second. Is there any further discussion? >> All right, seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with board member. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Salazar, yes. >> Annie Romano, yes. >> Brian Jensen, yes. Sorry, [laughter] yes. >> Bryce Williams, yes. >> Charlotte Fe Jefferson, yes. >> All right, so that motion passes. Uh, we will now move on to the action agenda. We have two items here this evening. Uh, we've got the Slicky Charter renewal. Ashley, >> I move I'm trying to incorporate the language as direction, but also move this. Um, we will further Oh, sorry. I move that we approve

227the Salt Lake Center for Science Education Slicky Charter Extension, also called an amendment, as posted in exhibit 3E1. The board would further direct staff to ensure the draft lease agreement aligns with this amendment language. And remember our obligation to place their middle school request on an agenda in April 2027 or sooner if board members request it be placed on the agenda following uh the applicable board policy. >> I second. We got a motion in a second. Is there any discussion to the motion? All right, seeing none, I will do a roll call vote starting with board member Romano. >> Annie Romano, yes. >> Ryan Jensen, yes. >> Amanda Wangle, yes. >> Bryce Williams, yes. >> Charlotte Fe Jefferson, yes. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Nate Salazar, yes. That motion passes. Thank you, Britney and and

228Diane, for being here tonight and all that you do for Slickie. We're excited to see what you do in the future. And um we'll look to see having you back um sooner, but certainly in April and maybe sooner, too. >> We'll be back in two weeks. I hear >> I know that's [laughter] why I had the sooner. Thank you for all you do. Um our next and final um action item this evening is ACT expired date. >> I make a motion to approve the ACD ACT day request for March 10th, 2027. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Thank you, Ashley. Any further discussion? Ashley, >> I just have a question um for Dr. Taylor if this is sufficient or if we need to make an additional motion or amend the motion to include that

229this is an asynchronous learning day which was part of the original um consent memo >> for clarity purposes. That would be perfect. >> Um so I would I don't I think we can vote on >> I take my motion back. You take it over. Um, so I would make a motion that we move to approve the March 10th, 2027 date for the ACT as posted in exhibit 3E3. And this will include creating an asynchronous learning day for grades 9, 10, and 12. Is that accurate? >> Yes. >> Second. >> You got a motion and a second. Any further discussion to the new motion? All right. Seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with Vice President Jensen. >> Ryan Jensen, yes. >> Longway, yes. >> Rice Williams, yes. >> Charlotte Fe Jefferson, yes. >>

230Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Nate Salazar, yes. >> Annie Romano, yes. >> All right, that motion passes. Thank you, board. Uh, we will now move on to the superintendent report if you have one. >> That'd be great. I'd love to call out some wonderful things that have happened. Um, board member Longwell mentioned the moon mission. um event that we had at Riley Elementary. I just want to thank the Salt Lake Education Foundation for funding again, helping us bring in that VR, virtual reality program to all of our middle school students this year. Um really is you I hope you all have had a chance to put on those VR goggles and watch the Mars buggy and moon missions. This was a fun event because um again, this makes you want to go back. This is the

231only reason to go back middle school and that is that the students wrote essays about the moon. Those essays are etched on a small crystal CD like they were last year. They will go up in the next moon mission. >> That's so cool. >> And be left on the moon. So the rest of their lives they will have their written words on the moon. >> Makes me want to cry. And in addition to that, I know it's amazing this project what Uplift Aerospace has done with partners um with Boeing and other partners to provide this for our students. The other thing is each of the middle schools um chose a winner of the essay contest. So five students will be able to go to the Kennedy Space Center and watch a rocket go off. Oh,

232that's so >> not only that, we had an astronaut, a woman who works with Blue Origin who has been up in space speak to the students, as well as um a an aeronautics um and philanthropist and >> movie producer >> and movie producer and a real estate magnet and >> and their display was >> on YouTube. I have just forgotten this >> the whole setup was amazing. >> Anyway, >> I have speak to the students about um their futures that way and what's possible. >> Um thank you Mr. Brandon Fugal who brought with him an artifact from the Apollo 11 school mission um that he had then showed to the students and then um I believe that had gone up with the Artemis and actually Utah um the Artemis mission would not have gone without

233about Utah engineers and what they built into the rocket. So fun that we're growing in aerospace industry in Salt Lake and that these companies want to expose our children to the wonders of that as well as STEM education. And I want to thank um board members for being there and cheering that on. The advanced manufacturing apprenticeship has been mentioned to 30 students apply. 17 were given positions including board member Longwell's daughter. Alexa um as well as Mindy Homedale's son who will be taking that on. Um the only difficulty was the in the evening was that 13 students weren't placed. So we need more partners in that program and actually one of them was there and wants to sign on with us to be another partner and provide opportunity for our students. Tomorrow evening is our

234teacher apprenticeship where Salt Lake City School District is building with Salt Lake Community College and with the help of Logan and Tiffany um in making this happen um and certainly with Laura Dezo who's been working on this in the CTE realm. Um we're we're trying to build with Salt Lake Community College in the University of Utah a an ecosystem this virtuous ecosystem where we provide our talent to the they train them and send them back to us to teach in our schools um some of the best. So over the next years as that cycle goes and our students are able to earn a bachelor's degree without debt and um serve in our classrooms as classroom aids and paraprofessionals and help solve some of our par profofessional struggles as well as our special ed teacher struggles

235because it's got a special ed teacher pipeline too as well as elementary. So, we're excited about that. Um, I am sure we will hear from a couple of people down the road here about West High Robotics, but we need to give a shout out to them. Are you guys taking that on? >> Go for it. >> Um, our West High Robotics team, which has consistently led our district um, and shown up in the state as a robotics leader, now is a robotics leader in the nation. They are the first time >> [applause] >> For the first time, um, we, Salt Lake City School District, sent a robotics team to the national competition where they, with their allies, came in fifth among teams making it to the final Einstein round um, for the first time that

236we've had a team do that. So, congratulations and huge kudos to the teachers who have built that program up the over the years. Those programs don't um pop up out of the blue. They actually come with a lot of work over a lot of years where you're building up interest and skill um with your students. So, thank you for that work. I want to give a shout out to East High School who also celebrated their high school musical gala on Friday night. Um, a thank you to the PTA and the teachers and the students for a successful event there and um, taking advantage of the 20th anniversary of High School Musical as well as just um, providing a wonderful night for their students in the community there. Um, I do want to mention one thing

237because the community is going to be antsy about this. Um sadly and disappointingly, principal uh Ryan Oaks will be leaving for um positions that aren't quite as challenging as high school principal. He um has resigned from his principal there at East High. We are acting on this quickly and uh will work to connect with the community about next steps. But I wanted the people to know that we are responding to that fast and want to bring in such um talent again into East High and appreciate what he has done there in the school. Um and we'll have him until the end of the year and uh end of June, but just want to let the community know as that starts to spread out that we're on it and looking and um we'll work very hard

238to find an exceptional principal for that school. Thank you, Dr. Grant. I'm gonna go ahead and start on this end of the the table. Amanda, you're first. Thank you. >> Okay. First off, happy soon to be happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers in the world or the motherly caregivers. We all work very hard. So, I promise to you. And then, um, teacher appreciation week. Um, I I I wish I had this picture. Yandere got a copy of it. I'm hoping you'll post it. A parent and for my child's uh class did the door for their teacher and he's usually not moved by the door decorations. And this one, he was smiling cheek like ear to ear and just beyond happy. I'll to share it with y'all so you can see it. Um, so

239thank you for all the teachers and all of your hard work. you are what makes this uh everything work. We couldn't do it without you. Um >> and uh overemphasizing the teacher apprenticeship, you mentioned it. It's not just for genet teachers, which are very important, but it's also for special education teachers and their pathway. And we have uh students laraja dashazo my words are not working anymore mentioned how a student is intentionally uh seeking this apprenticeship to go into the special education program a lot of interest in the behavior um specialist realm which is just phenomenal to see that they're they're seeing that that access is there and they're taking they're utilizing it. We talked about the moon symposium. Um Highland High School is having their arts and traditional festival um on Thursday I believe

240from 5 to 7. It's really fun outdoor event whether cooperating and then military appreciation month. I feel like um we need to honor and remember all those who are serving and have served um especially given the current climate of things. Uh so thank you to our veterans and thank you for our our act those in active duty. Um be safe out there. >> Thanks Amanda Brett. >> Yeah I have a couple of things but I'll try to be quick. Um I also wanted to acknowledge teacher appreciation week. Um thank you for all that you do. If it wasn't for uh the teachers in my life I would not be sitting at this board table right now. And I wanted to give a special um shout out to um a teacher who made a big impact

241in my life, Vivian Shell, who is also a current employee of our district. So um she may or may not be listening, but I very much wanted to recognize her and the work and the impact she had on my life. Um I had the opportunity to attend the uh seal of civic readiness um event earlier this was it last week. >> Yeah. >> Um and got to be a judge for that and that was really great to see all the great civics projects um that our students are working on. A couple weeks ago, a couple weekends ago, excuse me, I attended the uh Utah School Boards Association Board of Directors meeting. Um there's some different outcomes that have come out of that that I will share with board members. Uh probably after our next meeting

242in June, but wanted folks to be aware that there is also some changes to the master board certification process and that'll be forthcoming next month or two. Um also, uh wanted to acknowledge the teacher apprenticeship event that's happening tomorrow. I'll be attending that. Very excited to do that. Um both board member uh Anderson and I uh on Saturday afternoon morning afternoon uh attended the Native American Youth Day at Rose Park Elementary. Um it's a great event. It's probably my favorite event that I attend as a board member every year. And I wanted to know that there wanted folks to know that there is an additional opportunity to se celebrate our native students at the title six honoring ceremony on March 26. Um if you have not been to that before, I highly encourage um >>

243me You didn't >> May 26. >> 26. Did I say May 8th? >> Said March. >> Oh, wow. [laughter] May Okay. May Sorry, May 26th. Um, >> yeah. Thank you. >> Thanks, Bryce. Action. >> Um, yes. I will defer the update on the quarter quarterly city leadership meeting to board leadership who are also in attendance. But I'll give a quick update um from my other committee service acknowledging some of these items were addressed elsewhere in the meeting because we're actively in the budget cycle. So, in the finance committee, we've long been directed to determine the uh cost of choose gang-free as an alternative to promising youth, which the district uses because necessary staff were out on leave. We do not want to or we don't have the update on this, but I don't want to

244miss the chance to potentially fund choose gangree in this budget cycle. So, I really want to prioritize that request at our next meeting because it was made in January of the finance committee. Um, we did have a zerobased budgeting report from Allen where we discussed a critical need to decrease district office staffing in relation to the decreases that are imposed upon schools. One challenge that Allan expressed is that schools have an FTE allocation based on clear mathematical ratios and those standards are not universally applied across offices. We did direct Alan to follow up on zerobased budgeting conversations and on some potential feasibility of examples as I shared before such as reallocating um certain line items like family school collaboration and community education coordinators to utilize on gaps including the potential gap in social workers. We

245acknowledged as three committee members that the greatest need to find reductions in the district office budgets is to reflect that schools and families do value student facing providers and see the roles in our schools as the most critical to fund. We also acknowledge that a majority of the land trust funds that we improved um include intervention which makes it a global budget need and this adds to a need to evaluate our current coaching model. Um while individual board members on the committee don't always have consensus on exactly how to address the alarming deficits, we do agree that um roles which directly serve students are our most critical obligation. And Allan was directed with a few additional action items that he can report on at a later time in the interest of time and also because

246he is stepped out of the meeting. Um next Wednesday I will attend the parks and recck advisory board committee meeting and I'll share that discussion in my next board member report. Outside of committee service, I have had the great fortune to be in the audience for the seal of civic readiness and signs Earth Day Expo, including the sixth grade interpretive hike on the trail to their school, the West High Dance Company spring concert, the Wasatch Arts Showcase, the Washington PTO yard sale, and Native American Youth Day at Rose Park Elementary. Um, as Bryce mentioned, I also want to say that um Gail, Grandma Gail, who works at West High, often writes to the board, and it is her grandson who won the t-shirt competition. So that's why we're wearing his t-shirt design. Um these events

247are above all celebrations of the great work in the district and the efforts of parents, community partners, and teachers to provide positive experiences. Um they do raise two things that I do want to highlight. The first is there is some negative impact on um CTE allocations to the fine arts at West High, but I'm going to defer that to our student board member who I understand shares the same concern. The second is just appreciation of our science coaching model. At the NSIN Earth Day Expo, it's clear that our science coaches work directly with students on specific projects and place-based experiential learning. I do want to highlight that science coaches are an example of a position that does rotate between schools that is still student facing and helps to support teachers by taking some of the

248instruction off their plate. The work that they're doing is incredible. Um, not all of our models are the same. So, I just want to give a chance to highlight that this is a model that I think balances a lot of needs and is very successful. Thank you. Thanks, Ashley. Buzz. >> As Ashley said, I have a couple concerns surrounding uh the reductions to the visual arts department at West High School. Um, previously this week, I've interviewed several of the teachers [clears throat] in the department to get um their perspectives and experiences with the cuts that are being made. And before this meeting, I talked with Dr. Ruiz about some of my concerns and rain [clears throat] her over the two-page document that I put together. I'll forward that to everyone on the board, but um

249she said that if there was a time that it felt relevant to your discussion, Dr. Grant, she might go over it with you as well. Um one of the key concerns is that the district has prioritized CTE education, which is wonderful in many cases, but in this particular case, the only way that West has been able to find to fund its arts department without significant cuts to staffing, as they were required to cut one FTE from each core subject, was to provide in excess of CTE courses to the point where um the number of students in each CTE course who select it themselves is only around 10 students while the uh nonvocational um arts courses are expected to fill completely and then the CTE courses will be back filled by students who are more interested

250in the traditional fine arts courses. So in that situation, I think um many of my fellow students and the teachers are simply concerned about um the way that the district's choice to emphasize CTE education is actually negatively affecting student outcomes in this instance. And it's also led to one of our arts teachers who's been teaching for 20 years um choosing to retire because for him he felt like if he was to stay, he would need a certain schedule that um allows him to teach the courses that he loves. and the department was willing to go ahead and provide him with those courses while taking more CTE courses that they were less interested and less qualified to teach um to allow him to stay. He felt that was morally wrong to retire instead. So there's just

251a number of negative impacts on students both in terms of their choice and the teaching staff of the department. Um that was obviously unintentional by the district by prioritizing giving more funding to my understanding to CTE courses. Um I just wanted to highlight that and I'll send along some of the to see if anything can be done or just in the future as teachers felt like it worked hard. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, boss. Right. >> Well, several of you have already referred to teacher appreciation, but I wanted to recognize that as a teacher. I there's no way I could start to um name the teachers that I have watched make incredible um impacts in the lives of thousands of students and I just want to continue to thank you for all that you do.

252Um, next [clears throat] I had the honor of being able to participate in the groundbreaking of the Highland Rebuild. And I thought that that was a wonderful event and it was fun as an alumni of Highland High to be able to um acknowledge this new building. Um anyway, in that um in my comments there, I had walked through Highland and I have so many incredible memories of experiences that I had there and I'm excited for what this new building will provide for those students that walk its halls. Um, next, there have been several wonderful art and science nights in my precinct, and I just want to thank um the students that worked hard to create that art or science projects and then the parents that supported them. and then for the community that in so

253many ways makes this an event not only recognizing excellence but also helping to raise funds to support um continuing programs in those schools. Uh Beacon Heights has had theirs. You went to have theirs. It's fun to Bonavville have theirs. It's incredible the work that they do. Um, Indian Hills has theirs on the 14th. Excited for that one. And Dworth's this Thursday. Um, I'm also planning on attending the teacher apprenticeship program um tomorrow. And I'm also hoping that I'll be able to see the USBA policy um seminar that'll be tomorrow as well. Um then just a report on the policy subcommittee. We will be meeting on May 26th, but we have also had well we're now in the process of figuring out how to schedule some additional times because there's a number of policies that we've

254been um directed to look at. So that report won't come in the next meeting because we won't have had our meeting, but it will come in the June meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you, Brian. >> Yeah. Um, shout out to all the teachers. Thank you so much for all the hard work you do. Um I was able to attend thank you Thursday at Horizonte um where we highlighted a teacher and um think it's a great initiative by SLET in order to do that. Um and I'm also so appreciative of the PTO's and all of the parents who work hard to try to treat teachers this week. Um I was with parents working really hard with that paper on the doors and it's a long it's a long process. Anyway, um also East High School um

255foundation, thank you so much to the engaged parents. Um Charlotte, Brian, and I were able to meet with them briefly, and they also put on an amazing high school musical bash. Um the new drum line was featured, which is exciting for East. Um and it was very well done and put together. I was able to attend the Highland Hike groundbreaking, which was awesome. Um the Elco Community Council, East of Liberty Park Community Council. um um and engage with community members on on their questions and needs regarding the school district. Um happy Earth Day, which was a couple weeks ago, but I just wanted to um shout out all of the teachers, particularly science teachers, who did meaningful activities on those days. and also um just acknowledge that the district is trying to be very careful

256stewards of our natural resources and has a pretty aggressive sustainability um plan which has been led by students and so I I think that's great to highlight on Earth Day. Um I was able to complete a state auditor's training since I was appointed to the board on an off kind of cycle. I finally did some of that stuff and it prepared me for budgeting. Um, and just want to shout out to all of the social workers who are also um, doing such meaningful work with the students. I plan on doing a couple more community councils. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll be able to sit in on the Brian portrait of a graduate discussion with um, Assistant Superintendent Ruiz. And um, maybe I can also swing by with the teacher apprenticeships if I can squeeze everything in.

257Um but yes, generally thank you so much teachers. >> Thank you Charlotte. >> Oh, I was also able to do a few of the go to a few of the events that were already mentioned. Um the moon mission and symposium that was incredible and I just thought, "Wow." Yeah. Made me want to actually go to middle school. I I skipped that. I went to a high school, but uh very cool for those students. Just really high quality. Um, and uh, I was able to go see over a dozen fire cadetses um, do training at the Salt Lake City Fire Training Tower and they put out car fires and they were wrestling with hoses and trying to get up ladders and Oh, it was they worked hard. I was like, "Whoa, whoa, they're really working these

258guys hard." It's actually called Hell Week. So, they they put them through a lot and they get to really feel what it's like to be a firefighter. And there were girls and and boys and um and I think some of them are going to be wildland firefighters, right? They've signed up for it. Uh and I went to a thank you Thursday. um event. It was at at I'm sorry, Franklin, Edison, and Park View. And they were we we surprised three second grade teachers. And I wish I had their names, but I they're amazing. teachers are heroes and it's amazing to see how much the kids love their teachers and how much the the teachers really felt appreciated. So I with all the incredible things going on in our district, I don't know why anybody would

259ever choose to homeschool, you know, it just doesn't make any sense. Okay, >> thank you, Charlotte. Um, I'll go ahead and finish this up. I'll also be pretty brief. Um, as board member Anderson uh noted, uh, we did have a quarterly meeting with the city council and their leadership. Um, so they are represented by um, Chair Puy and Vice Chair Erica Carlson and then Dan Dugan also joined us as the CRA um, chair. Um, and then we were uh represented by myself and Vice President Jensen and board member Anderson as our TIFF expert as we've already established over a numbers of meetings over the last few years, which is awesome. We had a really really good discussion. Um some of the topics that we we covered um were like kind of West and Highland construction

260updates, but specifically in the realm with West um talking about like parking and transportation issues that we might be running up against or will run up against with big events that are happening in the city specifically with the Salt Lake Temple [clears throat] reopening and open houses that are going to be taking place this year. Um and then anticipating how we might learn to better engage with our community, with our neighborhoods, and our schools when the Olympics come. So, those are some really, really big things that have had impacts in the past and uh we just want to make sure that we're doing right to make sure that students are getting to school on time and getting home when they need to. Uh we also talked about topics like um school resource officers, um tax

261increases and budgets. Uh, ebike safety was a really big one that I think the community can anticipate some outreach um about um specifically safety, how fast these ebikes go and um helmets that you know regular old bike helmet isn't going to cover um the safety needs um because of the speed um that these ebikes go. So, we just want to put some awareness out there um jointly and collectively with the city um to make sure that our students and families um know what resources and options are available to them. Uh we are planning our next meeting to be in September. Um and then we also discussed the potential and possibility which everybody in the room really seemed to like of having a joint Salt Lake City Council meeting, Salt Lake City School District Board of

262Education meeting to talk about some of our shared interests. Um it's been a topic that like Bryce and I have talked about over the years. Brian and I have talked about it as well. I think previous boards have talked about it. just scheduling and all the other elements that um that we're up against um over the past few years have kind of gotten in the way of that. But uh we would like to get that that going and scheduled soon. Uh Brian and I are working on an update with more details on these topics and some of the ones that I missed um to the board um as soon as we can. Um we Oh, and then thank you Bryce for acknowledging teachers. Everybody for acknowledging teachers. I I can't not um during this month

263acknowledge um a teacher who I would say saved my life in so many ways and that's Dr. Terry Rison. I don't know Mike if you ever knew Dr. Terry Rison. She was the special ed teacher at at East. I was a peer tutor and I tell the story a lot. I'll tell it again but I think you're only supposed to do that for two terms and they let me do it for like three and a half years because it kept me in school. So [laughter] So I got a shout out to to Dr. Rison. Um she's amazing. Um thank you Dr. Terry. Um, we do have a need for a close session. Um, I will entertain a motion. >> I I move that on May 5th, 2026, the board enter close session to discuss collective

264bargaining and the character, professional competence or physical or mental health of an individual and that the board adjourn immediately upon the conclusion of close session. >> Second. >> We have a motion to second. Is there any discussion? All right, seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with um board member Longwell. >> Amanda Longwell, yes. >> Bryce Horns, yes. >> Charlotte Fe, Jefferson, yes. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Nate Salazar, yes. >> Manny Romano, yes. >> Ryan Jensen, yes. >> All right. Thank you everybody for joining us virtually and in person today. Appreciate you. See you later.