SLCSD Board Meeting, February 3, 2026 5:30 PM

001All right. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us this evening. Uh we're here for the purposes of a Salt Lake City School District Board of Education meeting. uh before we start uh the public meeting and convene that uh we do have a need for a closed executive session with the board and I'll entertain a motion for that now. >> On February 3rd, 2026, I move that the board enter close session to discuss the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual. >> I second. >> All right, we got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay, seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote starting with board member Romano. >> Annie Romano, yes. Brian Jensen, yes. >> Amanda Longwell, yes. >> Bryce Williams, yes. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Nate Salazar,

002yes. Uh, thank you. We'll go ahead and reconvene at 5:30. >> How am I turning this? >> I need you to break. All right. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are going to go ahead and reconvene for the public portion of our meeting today. Uh, thank you for the time that we needed to to enter and and leave a closed executive session. Today is February 3rd, 2026. Uh we're here for the purposes of a Salt Lake City School District Board of Education business meeting. Um I do want to take a few moments to recognize our association presidents and welcome all of you here this evening. For our classified association groups, uh I want to recognize our buildings and grounds um Sam Gilchrist. And then for child nutrition is President Tanya Slaughter. For SLEA, the Salt

003Lake Education Association, we have President Mike Harmon and Vice President Chelsea A Costa. Thank you for being here. And then for the Salt Lake Association of School Administrators, uh they're represented by Tom Luthie. Um next we will move into our pledge of allegiance. I've asked a student, Noah Davis from East High School to lead us in the pledge this evening. Thank you, Noah. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thanks again, Noah. Uh, now we'll move on to our consent agenda and I'll entertain a motion. >> I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as posted. >> Second. >> All right, we've got a motion in a second. Is there any

004discussion to the motion? Uh we have board member Anderson and then board member Longwell. >> I um had requested to pull one of the policies but I feel like I can just you know say what my questions are now and then approve. Um one is the G when we discussed um the policy regarding attendance. There are changes made here and we talked about the relationship to the nutrition policy. Is the subcommittee intending to have more discussion about incentives? >> Yes. the policy committee is um we will be having further conversations on that and I can follow up with that in my board member report if that's all right. >> Yeah, I think that's great. Thank you so much. And the second thing I had um questions about were that G29, which is the one I

005was hoping we could discuss, refers to social media, and it wasn't totally clear to me if it was an intending to govern personal social media use or only approved district social media use. And I think the APS make that more clear. But if the subcommittee had more discussion about that that they would like to share at a future date, that would be welcome, I think. >> Okay. >> Thank you, board member Anderson. Board member LMA. >> Um mine, I apologize. I did not um give you heads up on this. I'm just looking at it, but on the um VBFA, Inc. Van Beer and Frank Associates is asking for um about $195,000 for an update on HVAC controllers and sensors. When I look back at um a document from March of 2025 when we were building

006the budget book for um I guess this year um it had presented the idea that um one of the items that was intended to be done was HVAC controls upgrade on the Highland Park Elementary um and I believe it was Northstar as well. So and those were a lot larger dollar amount. So, I'm curious um where those were going to be through the sustainability presumed funds bonds maybe. Um but then this um at a lot lower dollar rate, which is great for three schools. Um is it extra work on top of the original proposed? Is it the same thing but just at a at a better rate? How's that for being blindsided there, Alan? Right. Um, so Isaac, do you want to address this? So it's the again the VBFA uh, Vanbor. So it's the

007HVAC automation controllers. Uh, not knowing not seeing in front of me what the other reference you were talking about is. Um, >> yeah. And it was the 2526 capital projects list given to us March 4 of 2025. Um um and it did have sustainability projects and such, but that actually listed like HVAC controls upgrade for Highland Park and um Northstar, but then this item is doing automation controls and sensors for the HVAC. So I guess what's the difference in what we're landing on different prices, too. So is it accomplishing the same thing? We're just getting it at a better price point or is it on top of? >> So, I ap I apologize. I'm gonna have to go back and pull the reports and see what was done before and then come back. I can

008send an update on what the difference is, but my my recollection is that it was the next step of the project, not what was planned in March of last year. >> Okay. Yeah. And I apologize for kind of I know that you deal with a lot of different things, so I didn't intend a blind side. I just kind of caught that little bit. So yeah, follow up would be great, but I totally support you know you know what you're doing. So >> okay. >> Yeah, I'll I'll uh forward it to the board. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, Amanda. Any other questions or comments regarding the the motion and the consent agenda this evening? >> All right, seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote. Uh starting with board member Williams. >> Bryce

009Williams, yes. >> Charlotte Fe Jefferson, yes. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Nate Salazar, yes. >> Annie Romano, yes. Brian Jensen. Yes. >> Amanda Longwell. Yes. >> That motion passes. Thank you, board. Uh we will now move on to our next portion of the agenda, which is our request to speak. Um the board has asked me to read this statement uh before every request to speak period. Uh the board enjoys the opportunity to hear from the public during the comment portion of its meetings. Before we begin, I would like to take a moment to remind you of our board rules governing your comments. One, the total time reserved for public comment is not to exceed 15 minutes with all speakers or groups limited to three. Two, the board will not allow public comments during board meetings

010that are slanderous, obscene, or otherwise violate state or federal law. Three, employees and or their representatives may not use the public comment period to address issues that should be raised through existing formal communication channels or established grievance or 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, if it seems appropriate to the circumstances, I may direct district staff to follow up with a speaker on the topic discussed. Our first speaker this evening, and Judith, I'm sorry if I pronounced your name wrong, but Judith Newower. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, okay. My name is Dr. Judith Nobower and I am a science teacher at Northwest Middle School. I'm joined

011by the rest of my science team. Um, I'm speaking today not just as an educator, but as someone who works daily with students whose needs, talents, and potential are too often constrained by the structural inequities of our own Salt Lake City School District. I want to speak today about one particular inequity which is deeply felt by students and teachers on the west side. This is the mismatch in the elective offerings between the east and westside middle schools. I ask that you increase teacher staffing for electives on the west side schools. Middle schools like Hillside and Clayton serve student populations with relatively few minority students and far fewer students with low reading scores. As a result, they're able to dedicate more of their staffing to electives courses that spark spark curiosity, build identity, and keep students

012engaged in school. Northwest, Bryant, and Glendale serve a very different population. We have significantly more students who need English language development classes and reading intervention. These are not optional supports. They're essential for students to access core content, graduate, and fully participate in school. Yet, despite these very different needs, we're allocated the same number of teachers based entirely on enrollment. At Northwest Middle Schools, we currently have two full-time teacher equivalents on e English language development intervention, one teacher for reading intervention, even though we need at least one more and can only serve about half the students who qualify and half teacher equivalent on math lab. These staffing decisions are not luxuries. They are necessities driven by student need. By comparison, Clayton and Hillside together only have five periods of e English language development. Hillside offers no

013reading intervention at all and Clayton offers six periods of reading. That difference matters because the remaining teacher allocations at those schools can and does go directly towards electives. The result is predictable. Kilside and Clayton can offer more electives and more varied electives. Northwest and the other Westside schools must use the majority of our staffing to meet intervention needs, leaving our students with fewer choices and fewer opportunities to explore interests, talents, and career pathways. This year, the lack of elective options has led to an especially troubling outcome. Some teachers at Northwest have been forced to take more 15 or more student TAs, not because it's instructionally sound, but because there's literally nowhere else to place those students. This is not equity. That is equal allocation in the face of unequal need. And that disadvantages the very

014students who need access to engaging, enriching coursework. Our district motto is excellence and equity. Every student, every classroom, every day. If we're serious about educational equity, staffing must reflect student need, not just headcount. Our students, Westside Schools, should not have to choose between literacy and opportunity. Our students deserve both. These students deserve elective opportunities comparable to Clayton and Hillside. Please allow an increase in teacher staffing to correct this elective mismatch. Thank you. >> Thank you for joining us, Dr. Dauer, and for your team for being here as well to to emphasize the the impact that you're trying to make tonight. Thank you. Our next speaker this evening, I'm not sure if it's Charlie Spencer one the first or Charlie Spencer II, but nonetheless, Charlie Spencer. Perfect. Thank you. My name is Charlie Spencer. I'm a

015senior at High School and I'm one of the boys soccer captains for our program this year. I'm here to advocate for the creation of a freshman sophomore boys soccer team at East High for this spring season. I'm here speaking to you in the district on behalf of myself and many students and families because until this morning, the district had not given a an answer to our request. We did hear from Miss Emily Sutherland this morning that there may be some progress made on this issue. However, she said that they are seeking information in order to make a decision. So, we thought it best with time running out to bring some information to you. Firstly, I'd like to describe the situation regarding our program. As you may know, our program only has a JV and a

016varsity team. We had only four players graduate last year, and as and as existing players move up, this leaves technically four spots available for freshman, aspiring players, and transfers. Open fields this year have seen over 60 new players that are trying out for these four spots, only a fraction of which are here today. Last year, we had a similar situation with many more boys trying out than these two teams had room for. I, along with a lot of other people, have felt strongly for the past few years the need for a frosting for the benefit of these boys and families that support them. There are a couple reasons that we feel this way. First, keeping kids coming to East. Due to our success in the past couple of years, East has become a place where

017students come to take part in a fun and successful soccer program. However, we are losing potential students as kids who know they won't get an opportunity to play high school soccer at East decide just to go to Skyline or Olympus. Countless more from Glendel and Rose Park just affect the fact that they aren't good enough for a team here at East. Number two, providing a place for kids of all socioeconomic levels to play. At open fields, I've come to know so many kids of diverse backgrounds who have skill and great potential, but haven't had the resources to play at a club level. This makes it close to impossible to compete for any of the minimal spots available. Club soccer is important for development, but costs thousands of dollars. Soccer in essence is a sport where

018all nationalities can play and find commonality. Soccer unites people, and that is what our school needs. If you look at East programs and their athletes, no other team looks more like East students and embodies the culture and diversity of our school than the boys soccer team. Players attending a public school deserve a chance to play the sport that they love. Number three, team development. More than just developing a successful team, our program also has an incredible culture. As a young player, I instant I instantly met brothers on the team. And high school sports creates a unique bond between students that no other organization is able to create, school program or not. If these kids had a frost team to develop on, these young players would have amazing players to look up to, a community and

019brotherhood that motivates them, and the chance to do something that they love, a place to belong. Additionally, as we know, participation in high school sports has a high correlation to better performance in school. Therefore, I strongly believe that we are letting down our students by not allowing them a deserved opportunity to engage in the one school sport that interests them. We appreciate that some progress has been made in considering this problem, but in conclusion, I would like to emphasize that timing is of the essence. I know that change takes time, but we've been pursuing this change since the fall when we reached out to Dr. Grant. It's now February and we haven't received any concrete response. I'm here to tell you that this matters and it matters now. Frankly, next year is too late. I

020have seen too many stories the past two years of excited players who have prepared physically and academically each year to participate on our team just to get turned away. And I struggle to think about how many identical stories there will be this year. If we succeed in adding at least one other team with 25 to 30 spots, it will still be difficult for students to make the East boys team. But giving up and saying that it isn't worth it is not an option in my mind because I strongly believe that these students that giving these students the academic and athletic chances that they deserve is 100% putting up a fight for. Thank you. >> Thank you, Charlie. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Charlie Spencer Senior. Unless uh that was a typo. Okay. Thank

021you, Charlie's Charlie Spencer. Um Amanda Sutton. I would like to speak about required testing. I teach the third grade, so my numbers will be based on that, but all grades have similar requirements. I've got a copy of the third grade assessment schedule for you guys. All third graders in our district are required to test for 14 hours and 15 minutes every year. This does not include the time required to pass out materials, log into testing platforms, and troubleshoot tech issues. This adds more time the younger the kids are. It also does not include testing required for MLS and students below grade level. If you add the recommended district assessments for all students, that would add an additional six hours every year per student. Of the 14 hours and 15 minutes, 4 hours and 45 minutes

022are required tests by the district. The rest are state or federal requirements. The 4 hours and 45 minutes are made up of the IBPA, which tests math, the SBA for ELA, and a writing test. This is time that is taken away from instruction and for kids who are absent on the day of the test, they miss additional time when they return to make it up. These district required tests assess fidelity to the pacing map and district specific instructional materials. They do not always reflect the end ofear summit of assessment both in content such as vocabulary and program specific math models and the testing platform. RISE has formative benchmarks which would reflect the end ofear RISE test in both content as well as platform, but there is just not enough time to utilize those benchmarks while

023also completing the IBPA SBA requirements and actually instructing. Furthermore, the IBPA specifically is widely regarded by teachers of all grades to be flawed and frustrating. I encourage you to reach out to any teachers you know personally and ask their opinion on the IBPA. I am not opposed to all testing. The state and federally required assessments are reliable, valid, and reflect what we see from students in the classroom. For example, Aadian has highquality weekly progress monitoring materials to support instruction. The unit assessments in our programs are wonderful resources that allow us to gather data and inform instruction. The required writing samples and their rubrics were recently updated and most teachers agree that they are valuable benchmarks. The IBPA and SBA, however, test fidelity to district pacing and are frustrating for both teachers and students while not

024familiarizing students with the RISE platform which is required at the end of the year. Please reach out to teachers and ask their opinion on our testing requirements and consider how we should be using our precious minutes with our kids. Thank you. Thank you, Amanda, for joining us tonight. Our next speaker this evening is Andrew Cooper. Thank you, Andrew. Good evening. Um, good evening to the board. Thanks for uh the opportunity to address you. My name is Andrew Cooper. I'm a fifth grade teacher at Edison Elementary School. Um, I would like to ask the board for guidance on federal immigration agents in our communities. Um, at the beginning of the school year, the district issued a memo instructing schools to follow a protocol should agents come to the door. But things have changed um given events

025nationally and especially in Minneapolis in the past weeks and the growing um kind of like collective realization that um federal immigration agents operating at and around schools in Salt Lake District is not a matter of if but when. As a teacher charged with the care and protection of our district's children, what do I do? Imagine federal agents pulling up at dismissal. Hundreds of kids outside, families, teachers everywhere. Chaos. You know what should teachers, administrators, staff of the school district do? Look the other way. Stand by. These are not acceptable. Call the police. As a teacher, I ask the board for an update to the federal agent on campus memo. Please guide us. Some campuses are organizing, others are not. Tell us what direct actions Salt Lake District employees should take. Help us prepare so that

026all across the district, we are ready to show up at the moment that we are needed. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, that concludes our request to speak. Uh we will now move on to our reports agenda. Uh the first item of business that we have is the construction update. Um Alan, did you want to introduce this this evening? Thank you, East High folks, for coming this evening. We really appreciate you. Um, so as is our custom in our first meeting of each month, uh, we have a a construction update largely focused on our two high school rebuilds and progress on there. So like to invite executive director over auxiliary services, Isaac Ael, up to the microphone to uh, just kind of summarize the memo that's attached to the agenda. >> Thanks, Alan. Thanks,

027Isaac. Thank you again. Um, West High, uh, the East High, the east side of 300 West is basically demolished. Um, the wall, uh, along the property easement is still there. and and I mentioned in the report that uh gener normally uh in permitting um there's a process with the city but because the school district's exempt from a big portion of that certain steps weren't transferred over to other departments. So we've had a few hiccups along the way so we've been meeting with urban forestry public uh lands and uh a division within engineering to discuss uh the rightway areas. Um but other than that things are moving ahead. Uh urban forestry gave us a immediate um permit to remove two trees because we have a time sensitive uh transformer that has to be placed before any

028of the other work can happen for lowering the transmission lines under underground on the east side of the road. Um it is out to bid. Um the initial bids were due back uh on the 6th this week. Um there's been two addendums that have had to be sent out and uh we've notified them that we'll be sending out another addendum on the 6th. So we're probably 10 days out from there from getting bids back. Uh but it is progressing and looking very promising for um the bids. uh the Highland High School. Um we're working with Salt Lake City and the county right now to get an easement or at least a permanent agreement for a sewer connection uh through the sewer system from there from the park rather than pumping it uphill and over to

02921st South and then back down. Uh that's one of the big challenges you guys have heard about the last couple years of those pumps, lift stations going down or uh something getting clogged in them that have caused the flooding issues. Um so we're uh nearly complete with that and I want to thank both the county and the city's uh participation in in those efforts. Uh Glendale track and field is progressing quite well. The the field and uh track are in uh we actually met over there with coach McBride last week and showed him the field. The building for the team rooms is under construction. Uh we had a few hiccups with that uh with public utilities in an easement. Um but we are it's the foundations in and they're starting to uh frame the end

030of this week. Uh we will have a temporary tent and restrooms for the teams to utilize uh during the spring weather when practices start on the 23rd. Um and we'll get them into that building as quickly as possible after that. Um Rosewood Park, uh it's all but done other than the landscaping and luckily we've had 50°ree weather, but uh we still have to place some sod and things around to clean that up. Uh but again, we'll be ready for the tryyouts on the 23rd of February. And then lastly, uh Rosland Heights, uh we've uh obviously heard a lot of comments and we're doing our best to mitigate those. Um we did bring the engineers back out and we were out there late on a Friday night redirecting the lights and we were able to reduce

031the light onto the uh westside properties by more than seven and a half candles. um which is significant. Um I I have some photos that I'm happy to pass along for you to see what that represents at this point. >> That's it. >> Thank you, Isaac. Are there questions for Isaac? We'll go board member Longwell first. Um, you just answered one of my questions because I was I did see that um you had identified that they had reduced the um and I'll use their terminology that 8 foot candles to approximately 6 which according to my research it's a 92% reduction in the light on the boundary of the property which is sounds like it was quite significant. So, um, yes, I received one of those emails about a resident that was frustrated about the light.

032I don't know if and that email that he forwarded me was Friday night. So, it would be interesting to find out if that was sent before or after that light reduction effort >> that so the light reduction was done two two Fridays ago. So, it was actually >> Okay. >> So, apparently they're still Okay. Um, and then the other question I had was with the Highland High School um pieces going into play. Um what has been announced to the Highland High School um parents and students is that the construction is expected to start um beginning of March. Is that the case or is there are there delays? >> So the construction will start in March, but what that looks like isn't I mean you're not going to see demolition, right? Um there's going to be

033temporary fencing going up. uh some uh utility site location activities. Um but the major construction won't start until end of April, 1 of May. >> Right. And I'm just curious. So there's the announcement that says reminder construction starts the first week of March. So if that's not the case, then it might be good to let them know if they need to adjust that messaging a little bit, but so that people aren't like, "What's going on? There's nothing happening." And then um potentially doubting the information that they're receiving in the future. >> Um but that's it. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions for for Isaac? Ashley? >> Yeah, I don't have a question for Isaac, per se. So, as customary, you know, I send my questions in advance when we read all of

034these materials. And um one of those questions was deferred by our business administrator to board leadership. So, I'm wondering the West and Highland High Rebuilds continue to impact the surrounding neighborhoods, although we have heard some, you know, relatively fewer concerns about the construction lately. And so I was wondering what steps have been taken to initiate another meeting with city council leadership. Um I originally understood that that was anticipated to be quarterly and it seems helpful to clarify when we'll convene to discuss those updates directly with our county parts and city government to ensure we're all able to respond con to constituents evenly and with the same information like Isaac has shared. Do we have a plan for that? Uh we do not have a date set yet I think with the turnover and the new

035makeup of the council but we can certainly reach out and get that scheduled. >> I think that would be great and and then I do think I have one question for Isaac which is I'll talk about this more in my board member report because only a portion is germanine to this but with the anticipated reopening of the temple downtown do we anticipate any disruption to construction access? >> No. Uh we have met with the church representatives and talked about their challenges and the city and talked about how that impact will have you know will be between the two. Um the impact we will see specifically is their activities will have parking to the southwest corner of our of our property but it's church-owned property. >> Right. So we would hear updates from you if that

036changed in this type of regular report. Is that right? >> Yes. I'll do my best. and community members if they did have questions about that because that's just you know entering the news and so people have more questions about it >> if that was happening the bond construction page would also be updated. >> Yes. >> If there were things about like routes or access or serious changes to construction. Um, the last thing that I just wanted to share with my discussion time is that I do look forward to being able to connect with our foundation director who was working with me to follow up on my concerns from past meetings about making sure we're leveraging funding um for the temporary athletic fields. And I I understand it's typical that when a board member connects with

037a staff member directly, they loop everybody in. So that I'm happy to use this time to share that that work is happening. >> Thanks. Thank you, Isaac. >> Thank you. Um I I am aware of the the progress that's being made at Glendel >> and um that's exciting that that that's being done and I think it will be a great asset to Glendel Middle School after the temporary use is done. So because of that, I would like to I I would just like to um convey um a request by um staff at Glendel that they be included in, you know, coaches meetings and that they're that we think about how it could scheduling and all of these things can affect Glendel. I mean, I know it's going to be primarily for the high school for

038West, but we we need to share since it is an operating school and if we can um include um Coach Tucker there and andor admin um that would be really great just just to be inclusive and respectful that of that school. So we h we have been including the principal um coach Tucker has been added since our previous conversation on additional conversations. Uh there was actually a meeting over there today and another one tomorrow. We gave them two dates and times for the coaches from West and Glendale to come talk about things. Uh West athletic director provided us their schedules for all of their sports today. Uh my administrative assistant is working on a calendar to share with both schools so it's published. Everybody knows what what's planned, where it's at, who's doing what. Um

039we're doing our best. We're we're going to we're going to run into a few things here and there, but and that's not just Glendel. That's also Rosewood Park because we have to communicate with the city what what our needs are. Um they provided me their practice times and the game times and all of that today. Uh we also shared that with transportation to make sure that they can start planning for those special routes to make sure we get the students to where they need to be. Um and crossing our fingers we're going to have enough drivers. So if you know anybody that wants to come drive, especially athletic events, please tell them to reach out. >> Okay. Thanks, Isaac. Um real quick, Ashley. >> Thanks, Isaac. >> Brian can go before me because I already

040went. I just realized I have one more. >> Yes. I just had a couple of questions on the additional playing fields. I don't know if um you're prepared to speak about those. You spoke specifically about Glendale, of course, but then you also referred to Rosson Heights, but we have and I think a reference was made to this also by board member Anderson. Um, do we have some updates on where we are with like the Dworth field, the um, East High baseball field? I mean, all of these sports are now going to I mean, we're going to be getting to the spring season. I'm also thinking about with um your mention of Rosland Heights. We just had a large contingent of um men's soccer players that are anxious for an opportunity to be able to participate

041and that's going to require probably additional field space. And I would imagine that some of that would probably um kind of be routed to Rosland Heights. I don't know, but um I'm supposing. So, it would just be nice to know where we are on some of those others like the Clayton. I mean, there were several others. Yeah. So, uh Dworth and Clayton are both under design. Um, we've also uh working with Sugar House Park on a potential opportunity to offset some impact to the schools, but that's not done and it's not I'm not prepared to bring that back to you guys yet. Um, but uh it's promising and we are prepared. We have engineers that have done their their due diligence to provide some options and we're just waiting on the um powers to be

042to give us a yes or no or a thumbs up or thumbs down to to uh discuss more. But um that we are prepared to do that. We're prepared to put those out to bid that they would be um built by the end of this next fall and be ready for next spring. >> Okay. Yeah. Isaac, I think clarify that the fields at Highland are still for this coming season are still available, the ones that are there. Let's >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. The first the first phase of Highland is everything north of the existing building. So the the north parking lot and the east corner, that's the first phase of Highland. So that the school won't be impacted at all other than some parking slows. So, what I'm getting out of this is we're

043going to be able to accommodate all of the sports that are going to be coming up. >> Yes. >> In this coming season. >> Yes. In fact, uh the one I haven't mentioned is uh the one sport that was outstanding at West was tennis. And the coach and athletic director have met with an organization and they've uh found where they want to be um which is the >> I forget the new name of it. Was >> the Wasatch tennis or the Wasatch tennis facility um up behind Hogazoo used to be Coach Mike's tennis. >> Okay. >> Um but there uh it was supported by both the coaches and the athletic director. They met with Spencer who's the manager of that and he actually coaches quite a few of the West High team members already. Um

044Liberty Park was another option and then there was a city park but they have their adult leagues there. Um, so we've that was the last support that I have not mentioned or ensured you were aware of. >> That's good to hear. Thank you. >> Thank you, Brian. Is there anybody in this first round, Annie? And then we'll come back for the second action. >> Um, yeah, I would just like to um highlight I think sometimes it gets a little bit lost, but um the efforts that have been made in terms of communications with neighborhoods. I would just like to commend the facilities team and district communications team for improving that process. I know there were a lot of people who went out and did flyers and were at meetings talking to Glendale and I think

045um that's a great thing and that every time we continue to work hard on these new sports fields or construction projects um I think it's great to model that collaboration with the community. So I would like to thank you for that. Um, the other question I just had was for the Glendale track and field. Um, so it sounds like it will be ready for tryyouts, but do you know when the team building will be completed? >> Uh, it'll be in April. The the actual building will be complete. Um, but the the temporary facilities will be there with appropriate restrooms and everything for them to utilize at the end of this month. Okay. So, what um so by the time the actual season starts, there should be more permanent facilities. >> No, the the season actually

046so triyouts are February 23rd and 26th. >> Um and then the the season starts in March. >> Um so the first they they don't have any actual home meets this year. So it's all practice time. >> Um thank luckfully. Um but that was one of the the challenges we've run into is we had so many setbacks between um design and then implementation and permitting. Uh it it put us about 90 days behind on the building portion of it. >> Okay. That's what I was wondering because I was wondering if they were going to be hosting meets without the facilities, but it sounds like that's been worked out. Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anybody in this first rounds? I'd just like to echo board member Romano's remarks on the value of continuing those conversations with

047students um the administration and the coaches. I previously voiced some of the concerns from West High faculty and I appreciate that improvement. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, we'll move into the second round, Ashley. >> Well, my two things were taken because I was going to ask about West High Tennis because we hadn't had an update on that location in a long time and there was no new update, right? because they're not building, right? >> And my second thing was to see if Foss had anything to add from the student perspective of people who are using the fields at Glendale now. So, >> my two items were taken. Thank you so much, >> Amanda. >> Um, circling back to Rosland Heights, I did uh you weren't on the email, but I had since

048we're kind of talking around that. I'm sure the community is watching, but I had um forwarded an email that was sent to me by a community member and just kind of did the like what can we do to um ensure that utilization of the large field is limited while we still have our existing fields available. Um because some of the properties do not have a deep yard. Um so they're right up on that field. um and are right next to everything that's happening. So, if we can look at what can be done to um minimize that until we absolutely need to use it to its full capacity when construction actually starts on these different existing properties, that would be um appreciated by the community. So, whatever can be communicated out. >> I've got a lot

049of looks. >> Yeah. I don't know the season schedule or what we've got that way or what it >> all plans for. >> All of the spring sports seasons begin around February 23rd. Um the the coaches and the teams have obviously I mean because of the weather normally you wouldn't have people out practicing right now. Um I can assure you that all of the events that have been there that the lights have been on have been planned and and co coach approved requested by the coaches. Um there's only two people that can turn those lights on and off and that's me and somebody else in my office. Um so it's it's not willy-nilly those are turning on. Uh we've done our best to push back saying look they need to be off by as you

050know as early as possible. So as soon as the events get done um we can remotely turn those off uh as soon as we get we get word from them. >> Right. which that part's good, but I know like >> the biggest challenge is the equipment to try and move goalposts and things back and forth from one location to another um for uh I'm not saying we can't do it, but it's that's a big ask for the teams to do because we don't have the resources to we don't have pickups and trailers to be moving that stuff back and forth all the time. if we happen to have extra or others that might be worth looking at because like I know tennis has to happen at Res Rosen Heights because tennis does not exist at

051Highland High anymore. The soccer field, the football field, the baseball field still exists at um Highland High obviously the soccer area will probably go away whenever that construction starts because that's on the north side that you guys talked about. Um so anyway, you get my point. No, whatever can be done to utilize the existing fields as a primary option um would help because we obviously have a few years to go through this process. So, if we can >> kind of soften it on the front end where we do have fields to use outside of that, that would be I think it would probably help. >> Okay. I um yeah, I >> as best as possible. >> I can talk to ours to see what we can do. >> Fabulous. Thank you. >> Thank you, Amanda.

052Any other questions or comments for Isaac? >> No, thank you for your work. >> Thanks, Isaac. >> All right, our next item is the strategic plan pillar one review. Um, Vice President Jensen and I have heard from a majority of the board uh that you would like to pull and reschedule this topic for this evening. Um, just looking at our schedule, um, the 17th, our next board meeting is pretty full and so I'm wondering if the board would be immunable to rescheduling this for the 3. Um, it kind of creates a good sequence uh, with the 18th um, where we have the pillar 2 review, but again, that's the decision of the board. I just wanted to throw that out there before we jump into it. >> The first part, what was it that were

053scheduling? >> Um, item number two, the strategic plan pillar one review. >> Okay, gotcha. So moving it to which meeting? >> Um I suggested the third. Um it kind of follows a good sequence in March to go through pillar one at the first board meeting and then pillar two on the 18th and the second meeting >> and as long as you guys feel it can be fit in and doable then I completely support it. >> Dr. Grant, >> that works on our end. >> Okay, >> cool. Um and if you could please um I know there was a lot of different points of feedback. If you could filter those through board leadership and to Dr. grant and be a Kersley um to our leadership team. That would be awesome. So we can make sure to

054have the best information available at that time. >> Thank you. >> Um our next item is budget development school allocations. I'll turn the time over to the The moment you've all been waiting for. Spreadsheets. >> Switch chairs. >> Drum roll. >> So, uh, on your at your space, you have some printed spreadsheets. Um, I also emailed the actual Excel version if that makes it easier to see. >> Yes. um because sometimes when you're dealing with big spreadsheets, numbers get really small. So this here up on the screen and this is your first page. Your first page is current year school allocations. It's largely here for reference. So, we're actually just going to move on to the second page, which if you're following your spreadsheet, if you scroll across till you get to the 2627 fiscal

055year spreadsheet, um it's got a list of all the schools and then we've got our projected enrollments. Um I just want to check some real quick here. So these allocations are largely um by student enrollment. So we get projections from Sam Quants. He does a lot of calculations and and develops an estimate for enrollment for next year. Um and we use those enrollments to allocate. This is done one of two ways and depending on the column. Sometimes we have a fixed dollar amount and then we allocate that per student and other columns we have a amount we're allocating per student. So in those cases as the student counts either go up or down then the total amount allocated would adjust. Um, and the difference largely is is it district property tax funds or is it

056a state allocation that we're getting that's that's a set amount. So here we can see um we're going to go look at this uh board distributed student achievement funds enrollment. So that indicates this is this money is allocated purely by enrollment. So estimated enrollment times a dollar amount that's going to be down at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Actually, I think if you look on the spreadsheet, there's lots of tabs. We're not going to go into every tab because there's a lot of calculations. So, it's taking that estimated enrollment times dollar amount, and it generates like for backman $41,000. And then we allocate uh funds based on uh English language learners uh and then other at risk, which is usually free and reduced lunch. Um so, I do want to address that. So if you

057have a higher um English language learner population or at risk population, there are additional funds that are allocated to those schools to address the needs that those um subopuls bring. Um we jump over here to student achievement funds. It says school lunch. That's some additional funds that are allocated to schools because the secretarial function at the school collects lunch payments. You see some that don't have any allocation. Those are those schools where everybody eats free. So there is no collection of the lunch payments. We also allocate some extra secretarial work that's usually overtime, you know, help cover overtime, summer work. Um, library books, etc. Substitute teachers. So again, I want to note the allocation for substitute teachers. So schools get an allocation. This kind of for the short-term absences. If an absence exceeds Logan, I

058believe it's 10 days, >> 30, >> three days, 30 days then those expenses move to a different district-based account. Um so I just want to note that >> for substitutes >> for sub to cover the cost of the substitute uh supplies and textbooks again allocated based on um enrollment uh school land trust. So, we actually have this is the one number that probably won't change for next year because we already have the number from the state and they've been pretty good at the in the past several years of giving us a number and they stick with it. Um, I do want to scroll to the bottom of this and note that for the district as a whole, we're getting an increase of $463,000 in land trust money. Uh that's largely due to legislation last year

059that was passed that uh increased the percentage of the fund that could be distributed to schools. So just that that's good. But then we jump over the next column you see TSSA which stands for teacher student success act. Uh that again is state money that's allocated. um we we're showing a decrease in there because that is a student enrollment count from the state. Uh and then that gets adjusted uh when we get final counts from the state. So we're maybe being a little conservative there knowing that if if numbers come in higher with October one and when we calculate our final ADM, we might get some more money, but we we would rather allocate slightly under and then give more money than allocate more money than we have. Um so you see that decrease in

060the teacher and student success act. Um teacher legislative supply money. We haven't populated that yet because that is one-time funding by the legislature each year and the legislature has not finalized that funding for this year yet. So we're just that's why it says TBD because we have to wait and see what the legislature does with that money. Uh and then for those schools that are uh title one or also receive title three, they get an allocation. And we'll cover a different spreadsheet for title one. Kind of shows historical what those numbers have been. So I just want to show you here on our proposed uh and our current year per student allocation. You see there are some vast differences. Um I just want to address something that was said earlier. We do have a base

061staffing formula that's just based on number of students and that gets that gets pushed out there. But as noted, these allocations to schools for their discretionary money uh does have some adjustments to address the needs of individual schools based on their um atrisisk populations and they can use those funds to you know whether it's hire additional parapros, hire additional teachers. Um so those You you'll see why why does school A get much more per student than school B? It's because of those at risk factors that we're calculating and allocating those funds. >> I'm sorry. That's per student. >> It's a per student. Then you have a total >> vary. Oh no, sorry. The total. Okay. >> Because one if one student has um you know if one school doesn't have very many English language learners,

062then they don't get much if any of that at risk money. Um, and I do want to note on the at risk money, uh, you see we have a decrease between the two columns that are at risk of $600,000. We received current year. So that gets adjusted based on October one. If you remember when Sam did the October one presentation, I mean, not only our overall students are down, but our poverty rate was down, which directly affected the amount of money we received from the at risk from the state at risk money. Um, so we're trying to avoid a situation again where we allocate more money than we will actually receive. This money will actually get adjusted next November based on the October one counts from October of 2026. So, we're trying to if if

063we happen to get more because our October one count is higher than we anticipated, then these allocations will be adjusted and that money will be distributed to the schools. Um, but you'll see a decrease in there. Um, we're having to reflect not only current year decrease in that money, um, but an anticipated continued decline in our enrollment. Before I move off this sheet, again, this is sheet number two. Are there any questions about this particular sheet? >> Amanda and then >> um I don't have a question per se, just clarification. Um whenever you're or just an affirmation. So you're you've got your 2526 revised and then the 2627 proposed and you have two signi significant numbers that you're um underestimating conservatively um just in case. But that combined could potentially be an extra million. Um

064so we potentially could have an equivalent uh per student that we had um in the 2526 allocation if we get the monies that we're hoping. >> Well, I so the at risk money goes into a couple of different categories. So, I'll say that one is because we're making up for the current year reduction that we've already received, but we didn't pull back allocations from the schools when we got that reduction in November. So, um I wouldn't want to get the school's hopes up that they there might be another million dollars out there to allocate once we finalize both the ADM and the October one. Um so I think these numbers are any increase will be pretty minor I believe. Okay >> based on our estimates. >> Okay. Um so just a question. Um so for

065those per student funds those are the additional atrisisk ELLL type of funds. Um so for example earlier a teacher from Northwest came and said we don't have enough electives at Northwest. Are those funds able to be allocated to staffing to have more teachers at the discretion of either the SEC or the you know for the land trust or the administration? >> Yes, they're they're discretionary to the school and they decide how to best use them. >> I mean I don't want to paint the picture that these funds would solve the issue that was addressed >> but they are one way we are addressing the the inequities that were brought up. >> Okay. Okay. So um the per student number should be proportional not maybe proportionate but should reflect a general higher need in that area

066in that school that they will therefore have more funds to address. >> Yep. They're at risk populations are higher. Therefore they get more money to help address those special needs. you getting? >> Are you still thinking? >> Oh, no. I'm done. Okay. Sorry. >> Actually, >> well, I don't really want to use my time yet. My question is, how many sheets are you going to go through? And is it better if we ask our questions all at the end or is it germanine to the sheets? >> If if you have a particular question on this sheet, um you we can come back to the sheets as well. I'm going to cover all the sheets that are in front of you that are printed out. Um this is the this is the sheet we're spending the

067most time on because it is the current year allocation. Everything else is based on, you know, historical information um and just analytical information. >> Okay. I'll wait till the end. Okay. >> Thank you. >> So, we will release this to the the schools tomorrow. We like to show it to the board first if you wanted to blow up the whole process and start over. Um it it's a good process. It works. I think it it addresses needs. There's never enough money, but with the limited resources we have, it's a it's a process that that works and and and helps those schools with additional needs. Um, and then I just so overall the allocation is down about $1.5 million and the bulk of that is in those at risk funds. Um, I also want to encourage

068anyone listening that if you qualify for free and reduced lunch and you've not filled out the form, please fill it out as those at risk factors are often related to how many people are on free and reduced lunch. >> Um, just one more question. I don't know if you or Sam followed up on the previous reporting of at risk. Was there any reason that you found or anecdotally we were discussing perhaps people were under reporting for fear of being watched by ICE or the government. >> Yeah, anecdotally, but I mean we don't have any real way to prove that. Um I don't believe the economy in Salt Lake improved so much that we have that many more families that are lifted out of poverty. That would be great if it were the case. Um I

069would suspect that our our poverty rates are very similar to where where they were the year before. Um the other challenge we have is these schools where um they're called the community feeding program where everybody everybody's free because they're free and reduced percentage is so high. So there's no incentive for those families to fill one out because they're eating for free anyway. And another thing we've discussed is as we've eliminated the curricular and co-curricular fees, that might also be a factor in why someone might not fill out a free and reduced form because we're not charging those curricular and co-curricular fees anymore. >> Is there any solution to that? cuz I I it's like as a parent I wouldn't know about at risks funds that you know we'd be losing a million dollars across the

070district because I didn't fill out a form. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Well, since the October one presentation, uh, Yandere's group has done um kind of some outreach, some push out of, hey, free and reduced um both social media web page and kind of encouraging people, making them aware of it because they can fill the form out. There's not a particular deadline to fill the form out. They can fill it out whenever. Um, so we have been pushing the instructional or the educational piece on that. Hopefully, um, maybe it's being effective. I we haven't reviewed the data again to we've had more people apply. >> Thanks, Andy. >> But again, since it's it's at a time point in time, it won't take a you know, it'll be next October one when we do those

071counts again that we'll see if there's an effect plus or minus on our funding. All right, this next sheet I'm just is the carryover. So, these are funds that were carried over from the 2425 year to the 2526 year. There's the carryover per category. We're just going to scroll to the last column. So, in total, schools carried over a little over $5 million. Um, because it's discretionary money, it carries over uh to this year. So, on top of their So, we'll see what they carry over this year. Um, I'll just say they are using that that carryover is decreasing each year. You know, we were concerned that maybe that carryover was getting too big. I think now you saw some influx of ESSER funds going into the schools so they didn't need to use their

072allocations and now we're seeing as those ESSER funds is flushed out of the system we're seeing that carryover go down. Um you know we always encourage schools to use as I quote this year's allocation on this year's students and not build up a big uh carryover unless there's a specific reason why. So we keep an eye on those carryovers and um make sure that they're not growing too big. But we also don't want them to spend because once the carryover money is gone, it's gone. Um, so if you're using that uh to hire staff, then you need to know at some point you're going to have to reduce staff because that money is going to run out. Also printed out is a an allocation of title one funds. Um, it's got a fiveyear history. Um,

073again, we use free lunch. Uh, free lunch and enrollment are the categories that we use to allocate title one funds to the title one schools. I want to scroll over to the title one allocation. And I'm just going to scroll to the bottom here. You can see historically, so we have back to 1516 data. At that point, we were receiving 5.2 million to allocate to schools. Um, and for current year 2526, there's 2.4 4 million. Uh we anticipate a very similar amount for next year. Um so that's also an issue we've been seeing at our title one schools is as that federal money decreases. Um you know we don't have a replacement money for it. Um and it's decreasing for a couple of reasons. Number one just decreases from the federal government. Number two these

074are also allocated to the district based on student enrollment. So again, as our enrollment continues to decline, we will continue to see decrease in funding. This uh FTE sheet um simply kind of shows how we staff schools that are this is not teacher staff. This is kind of the front office admin. Just shows what our ratios are that we use. Um there have been no changes in this since um last year. I did note there on the assistant principal for west it shows 4.5 that if you remember that's actually that 0.5 is one we changed to that intern so we do need to update that somehow identify that that's a 1.0 0, but it's an an administrative intern. So, that's a change that needs to be made on this sheet. >> And then the last

075tab we'll cover is if you see these um dollar amounts per student, those from those all these tabs that we're seeing, they they're generated from this is how those allocations are generated. we take that number times the amount of students or sometimes they're not a student count like you see the the the school lunch is a flat $3,000. Um so it's just kind of summarizing what you saw and the dollar per student that we send out. So that is the last sheet that I'm going to cover and open for any more questions. >> Ashley, I'm looking at you first because I know you wanted to save your time. >> Yes, thank you. Um let me scroll back to the right question. Okay. So, as you know, we regularly hear opposing perspectives on funding because on

076the one hand, we hear about how schools have needs that go unmet and, you know, especially in our public comment period and especially concerns that when we round FTE down, we limit available staffing. But we also see in here that the math shows our schools are staffed above the state minimum school program and property tax supplements a large amount of our basic staffing and that that strategy is unsustainable as we're looking you know at state and federal budget cuts. So acknowledging those conflicting interpretations frames some of my questions. And the first question I have is when we're looking at these formulas, how much is property tax supplementing the WPU, you know, or the weighted people unit in the given formulas that we're looking at. >> So everything you've seen on this sheet is not covered

077by the the weighted people unit. That state revenue is not included in these allocations. So, it's either a all property tax or state money that is um the teacher and student success act funds or the land trust funds or the title one the federal title one money the WPU is not not included in there that goes to help offset. So, we talked a little bit about that flat staffing allocation that we do. Um WPU largely goes to fund those staff. >> Got it. And when we're looking at the enrollment predictions that generate this and the other allocations you were talking about, do we anticipate that this applied economics refresher that we're, you know, anxiously anticipating that it will give a lot of evidence we need to adjust these allocations? Do we expect that it will

078mostly corroborate the allocations? Like what are we doing to make these estimates? >> Right. I would suspect that it will corroborate what we're doing. Um again, SAMP's projections on a year on a year-by-year basis, projections have been pretty pretty good. The further you look out, that's where uh applied economics kind of helps us say what what are we expecting in five and maybe even 10 years. Even though the further they always say once you get beyond five years, the reliability becomes less, but at least it shows us trends. But from one year to another year, Sam's numbers have always been pretty close to what what accurate. We had a higher drop this last October one than anticipated. I think there's a lot of um other things that are going on that affects those numbers. But

079um I think for for these it will coop corroborate. >> Very good. Um the third question I have is you know in finance committee we talked about and presented to the full board that our school collaboration teams SCTs were engaged in a zerobased budgeting activity. Did any of those decisions factor into this? Is this the amount that they would be using as a zerobased budget as discretionary money? >> Yes. So these when we gave them the exercise, we gave them kind of the 20 the current year total dollar amount. So it' be as we're showing here in this column that the total they're getting. So we use had them use that as the exercise. So in essence, the answer is yes. Um these are the funds they're using in that zerobased budgeting exercise. >> Great.

080Um when will we have the report back on that? Did you say later in February? >> Right. So um we asked the schools to complete those by the end of January. Um we were working on compiling to see if there's any schools that are missing. We'll have an update that we'll have a we have a board finance committee meeting scheduled for next Tuesday the 10th. Uh we'll at least have a preliminary discussion or update on that exercise. >> Um and we talked a little bit about how you were doing this in relationship to the October one count and ADM or average daily membership. um when will we get that next ADM report and how will that fall in terms of when these allocations are you know announced to schools? >> Yes. So the final ADM

081report doesn't come out until um is it January Sam? >> July one >> July 1. It starts with a J. >> Um so that's the final one. Everything else is just projections. Um, normally we haven't really had a board presentation about the projections and how Sam does that. Um, thanks for the reminder. Board member Longwell had asked kind of a discussion because she had asked really about staffing, but staffing and projections really go hand in hand. Um, and an email went out from board leadership to say if there's people that are interested in maybe some small group meetings to really uh bring Sam in and kind of go over in depth how that whole process works. um if if there's interest in that over the next couple weeks, uh please reach out to me and

082we'll coordinate um those those small group meetings to kind of do a deep dive in that in the again projections which then lead to a staffing calculation. >> Thank you. And I have one more question. I realize we can't act on public comment, but I'm curious if you have an idea how this relates to what the teacher from Northwest was sharing with us, which is that these are board distributive funds that are meant to sort of supplement, like you said, the WPU, right? That your school is staffed, but these are things that help you meet additional needs. And the feedback we're hearing is that the amount given is insufficient when compared with the actual need and so it ends up trading off with other academic experiences. Do you have any feedback on how we might

083consider addressing that even if these numbers are relatively fixed? >> Yeah. Uh there's a couple things. First up, I mean some of the issue is there's only so much time in the day in the school day as well. And if you do have a population that needs their language learning classes, I mean we can't add periods to the day. Uh the other thing is you know we're allocating the resources that we do have. So any discussion on that's going to cost a significant sum of money will have we we have to wait and see what the legislature does if they give us extra funding or or you know determine other ways that we can um you know generate additional funding or if we want to stop doing a certain thing and repurpose those funds to

084this middle school issue or you know so those are further discussions to have these numbers numbers are pretty well fixed because the schools need these to start determining you know the staffing. So we again we have our allocated staffing then what are they going to supplement their staffing with. So they're always anxious to get these numbers so they can start that planning and know you know how many parapros they can afford next year how many additional teachers they can afford. So these numbers again they'll adjust with the October one count but we won't adjust them with you know unless directed by the board from what you see here. So that's sort of what I'm wondering. If I have, you know, schools in precinct 3 who see these numbers when you release them now that we've

085heard them as a report and they have concerns about, you know, the estimate or the total, what is the best way to pass on those concerns and is that useful or is this in fact static? >> There's a couple things. Um, if it's for projections, I mean Sam Sam knows more about projections than probably >> area director. >> Yeah. I'm just Yeah, I'll get there. Yeah. So, Sam knows more about projections than probably any of other any other employee in the district. Um, so when people question his projections, we're we're all willing to look at them, but there's I mean there's not too much to question, but if they and the other thing is like I said, we're having reduced funding. So sometimes it's like, I'm sorry, this isn't enough. you're going to have to

086prioritize, which is why we did the zerobased budgeting, the funds that we do have because there aren't any more funds available. But yes, as superintendent said, if they have these concerns when they see this, please work with their area director to funnel that information and then eventually we'll get that to the right person. >> Okay, that's helpful. And as we look at these numbers, it just also has to be expressed that clearly we're living through a cultural moment where fewer people are willing to fill out forms and do the things they need to do to show actually the needs our school has, you know, our schools have. And I think it's imperative that people also reach out to their federal and state representatives because as long as we have, you know, secret police terrorizing community

087members, we're not going to get accurate information about who should be attending our schools and what they need. >> Thank you, Ashley Fost. Um, related to that subject and the free and reduced lunch, um, it's my understanding that most of our schools send out an e-news to their community and I just think that they would likely be open to running a small district um, blurb on the importance of free and reduced lunch for all district funding. um while also addressing perhaps the new initiative that the district could put out uh in relation to mitigating risks of ICE around our schools. So if those were to happen, information could be sent out at the same time through those avenues so that not only teachers are aware of new policies, but parents feel a little bit more

088secure in knowing that their students are safe, that the district is taking care of them, and also they can weigh the cost and benefit of perhaps omitting their status. >> Thanks. Um yeah, I just wanted to ask a little bit about um kind of the mismatched incentive for the free school fees. Um I I think that was kind of a surprise to me, the unintended consequence of of not filling out those forms. Um how does how would they only get those forms at registration time? Because unlike free and reduced lunch, they can't fill them out at any time or I'm just wondering. >> I mean, again, they can fill out a free and reduced application at any time during the school year. It's usually emphasized during registration because that's usually when they're signing up for

089their courses and those fees would be attached to those courses. So, that's the natural time to fill those out. But again, they can be filled out. And what it is is if you if you qualify for free and reduced lunch, you qualify for fee waver. >> So, it's like the same form. I don't know if it I don't know if there's a different form, but it's kind of a blanket qualification. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Annie. Any other questions for Alan? Amanda, >> um on that note, uh I guess if it hasn't already been done, but what can be done to help give principles the language to push out that uh I guess request to their community members, parents, etc. to fill that out because I don't think I've really seen any of that happening

090at my kids school. So, if the if the principles could join in on that initiative to spread the word, I think that would be beneficial. Um, and then I so I know how WPU works. There's been conversation about the ADM educate myself community members that are interested. What's the relevancy of ADM versus the WPU? >> All right. So, ADM is average daily membership. So, as we go through the school year, uh, students enter, students exit, then at the end of the year, um, Sam runs reports that says, "How many what was the average daily membership for all of our schools for the whole year?" Then you take that number and the WPU is the weighted pupil unit. So, the legislature sets the value of the weighted pupil unit. Basically the funding is what is that

091value that the legislature sets times how many of those weighted pupil units or WPU do we have and that is our minimum school program calculation. >> So that is so that's the way when you say weighted is based off of that ADM calculation or that ADM is mixed in with it. So instead, when you're talking about the October one enrollment numbers where that's a a black and white number, you're actually looking at basically the average number of our daily membership and that's what's driving what we're actually getting, right? >> So if we could have a higher ADM, then we would be um receiving more money. Now, there is proposed legislation that might tweak how that formula works, but as of right now, yes, it's that ADM times the value of the weighted pupil unit is

092our minimum school funding. >> So, to educate everyone listening and maybe the another spread the word thing, what what things drive a higher ADM? >> Yeah. So, ADM is not based on attendance. I mean, sometimes I think there's that confusion because you can be enrolled and count as enrolled if you're not attending. So attendance doesn't drive funding um but it's actual kids in the seats um throughout the year. So it's you know letting people know how wonderful our schools are and you know the choices that we offer um the different career paths the different study paths um just knowing that our schools are wonderful schools that their children will get a great education and please come to our schools. So using kind of a consistent language, it's the uh average daily um enrollment um is

093what's driving what our enrollment number is that we get um funded on the WPU. Um that's the ADM is the average daily enrollment number. Not necessarily I would I would suggest not saying like kids like seats bums on the chair because that goes back to an attendance thing. But thank you. That's a lot clearer. >> We do want them there. So >> yeah, but what >> but we do want them there. >> We do want whole other separate issue. Yes, we want the kids there. >> Thank you, Annie. Brian. Um, so Alan, this would um go back to our consent agenda a little bit, but on that I think it was on the third page that you showed us, you were talking about the land trust allocation and that has increased. >> I believe it

094was around 430,000 or something like that. Um, so help me understand When it comes to those allocations that is what goes to the school and is that what is reflected when we get that school financial report? >> No. >> The school financial report that's on the consent we is called the student activities fund. >> Okay. >> So these this everything on this spreadsheet that I've showed you goes into the general fund. >> Okay. Student activities fund is where the if if there's fee money, extracurricular fee, um tickets, fundraisers, donations, that that's that school um school funding report that you see on the consent agenda each month. >> Okay, >> this is in the general fun. >> Okay, that helps me understand. So >> yeah, >> I'm going to follow up with a question about that

095consent agenda item because as I look at those and I have raised this before, some of those are very high like one was close to $200,000. And I'm looking at those and I'm thinking, is that something that should be used for the school for the students that are there now because it seems to me like it's related to the students that were there now instead of and I mean there are other schools there are some that are 115,000 and >> can you help me understand that >> so sometimes when I'm looking at those reports I'm looking at the change in their beginning balance and their ending balance particularly at the end of the year did you grow that fund balance. Did you grow that carryover or did it stay kind of the same? Because if

096it stayed the same, that means every dollar you brought in this year actually went out this year. And then there's that savings account that you have. >> Um, and then we ask the question, if it's really big, what's your plan with that savings account? You know, sometimes they build up a savings because they have a plan every three or five years. I want to do I need to replace a copier or, you know, whatever the reason is. Um, but I'll just tell you when we do because we get, it's surprising. We get schools telling us they don't have enough money. Um, but we go look at their carryover. We look at their fund 21. We look at all the areas that they do have money before we, you know, it's like spend the money you

097have first and then we can have a discussion. >> I'm glad to hear that you're having that conversation because it seems to me like there are some that are continuing to increase, but maybe I'm >> and it's hard to tell midyear because they might do their fundraiser at the beginning of the year and then they spend it down through the year. So really looking at >> the end of year reports is the most beneficial for those. Um but we do give you those reports monthly just to kind of track progress. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions in this first round? Okay, we'll move into the second. Any follow-up questions in the second round? Seeing none, >> Charlotte. >> Well, I just have a comment. I mean, a thought. I mean, maybe one way we

098can increase our funding for schools that that have extra needs and students aren't getting the electives. So, there's an there's an equity problem. there is private, you know, donations. I mean, corporate donations. I don't know really going after that. I know we have a foundation, but I wonder if um PTAs or I don't know. I mean, they used to do bake sales, right? But we need more than that. And I'm just just brainstorming here. Um >> well if to be honest to kind of address that the schools that have the needs don't I mean they can have a bake sale and they're not going to get the kind of revenue coming in from a bake sale that you might get in another >> right >> school on on another side of the city. Um, so

099>> we can't even do B. >> And we also kind of discourage hiring staff, at least contract staff on on soft money because if the soft money dries up, then that position has to end. >> Well, couldn't we allocate that somewhere else and then reallocate? I don't know. >> I mean, it's it's a it's a discussion to have. It's really a long-term funding discussion. Yes. >> Um, there are no short easy answers. >> Um, so that we we continue to have those. We have them in board finance committee. We've we like quadrupled the amount of board finance committee meetings we're going to have this year just because these are these are big heavy discussions and we'll continue to review this data and and report back to the full board when we when we have stuff.

100>> I had more one more question. Um, I know we're some of this um I mean it it's not a very good outlook, is it financially for our district right now? >> I mean, I don't want to, you know, make everybody think, oh, the world's falling apart. We're not having any money. But um over after several years of actually you know good investment from the legislature on education uh things are getting a lot tighter this year. Um and it'll be interesting to see how it all pans out at the end. I mean there is that there'll be the 4.2% increase in the weight of pupil unit value um which is the inflationary value that they're required to fund but there's also discussions of cuts in other areas. So it the question is going to be

101what's our net increase or potentially loss from state funds. So keep an eye on the legislature. >> Okay. >> And um we're actually scheduled to have a kind of a mid legislative update on our next board meeting and really kind of focusing on the bills that are financial related and might affect our budget. >> All right. um is another way to address a shortage of funds is closing schools. Closing schools is because if you have um you it in the business world the kind of economies of scale. So a school has to have a principal secretary. There's certain fixed things a school has. And if a school has a capacity of 600 kids and there's 300 kids in it, well, you're still cost there's still the cost of the print. There's still those fixed cost,

102heating, the air conditioning, and so forth. And so if you do a per student analysis, you're going as a school with fewer kids has a higher per student cost. So if you bring those kids all together, um, then your per student cost goes down because maybe you don't have as, you know, you you don't have a principal. You're not and cooling and and etc. >> So, I know we're not considering that until >> Yeah. So, that doesn't that doesn't generate more money. It just kind of consolidates where you're spending it. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Thanks, Kenny. >> Uh, yeah, I just had just a clarifying question based on board member Jensen. Um, so he was discussing the student activities budget that we often see and the consent agenda, but that remaining that goes

103year-to-year is different than these other carryovers that we're looking at in the general fund. Is that correct? >> That is correct. >> Okay. So, those are different. So, the carryovers in the general fund are still considered soft money and still would not be advised to use for staff allocation. Unless they had if they had a plan of we we have a a sixth grade cohort that has extra people in and we need NFTT for one year. That's that's a great plan because they're looking ahead. I mean I think they need to look ahead and say but what are my staffing needs going to be the year after? So, it's not like you can't and they often can use those. Hey, we we have this cohort of third graders that are, you know, a little difficult,

104shall we say? They can use that. We we need some extra parapro help to to address this class. >> Great idea. Okay. So, >> so it's really about strategically using that money, knowing that once you spend it, it's gone. >> Yeah. But don't be afraid to spend it to address the needs that you have. >> Yeah. Because as we've seen in the federal reduction, I mean from 10 years ago, we're receiving half the amount of title one funds that we used to or more than half. Correct. Less. So just stating it's very difficult to navigate in the long run including even this soft money and this discretionary money because it is fluctuating. But I I I do to Charlotte's point about schools that have a much more robust fundraising efforts or robust activities funds, those

105are allocated by the PTO, which is not technically part of the district. Is that correct? >> There's multiple different sources. PTO's PTAs are one source, but schools themselves do fundraisers. Maybe they I mean sometimes they're supported. So there there's a mix of money because often the PTA keeps their money outside in their own PTA accounts. >> Um but they might make a donation to the school and then that's when it enters the fund 21. >> Okay. Thank you Amanda and then Ashley. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but like to your question, Charlotte, if the community if there could be private funding going to these higher risk school or higher need schools, um that my understanding is donations can go into SLF and they can be allocated or earmarked or whatever towards a specific school.

106So, that can be a way that a private donor can specifically contribute towards a school's needs. >> Um so, spread the word. Um, and then a question that I have is I've brought this question up um roughly. Anyway, um, we've identified that the school collaboration specialist positions, that's roughly $210,000 that's designated towards those positions because they are they haven't been formally dissolved. So, and they aren't also um being filled. So, what do we need to do to formally dissolve the positions to free those monies? We would bring that to the board. Um because I just want to give you a warning that you you free up $200,000 and it might just help. We might not be able to do anything new with it because we might just be filling trying to fill in the hole

107that we're currently faced with. >> Well, and that's fine, but why will be sitting on $200,000 that's not being used? >> So, I think, you know, we're going to review this this zerobased budget, kind of see where schools prioritize the funds and and continue to have that discussion. But you're right, at some point it's like quit holding it there if we're not going to use it. >> Yeah. because then we go back to the >> um fund balance and figuring out what an appropriate fund balance is. So that would go into that conversation as well. >> Y >> that was your time too. So thank you Ashley. >> Yeah, I just was hoping to clarify um the point that Charlotte was raising as we go into the finance committee discussion. What I was hearing, and

108I just would like to make sure that I was correct, is it was her perspective that the finance committee should be focusing on direct studentf facing roles and how to support those things like an elective teacher, right? And when we're faced with these choices to be looking at what directly serves students in a school building, is that accurate? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> You there's no other questions, Alan. Thank you so much for the presentation and and for sharing your answers to the questions that we had tonight. >> You're welcome. >> Uh we'll move on to our discussion agenda. Uh we have one item there which is update on school closure, grade reconfiguration, and program transition process. Dr. Grant, >> we have our G5 administrator Brian Connelly and our associate superintendent Anelise Ruiz coming

109up. Um, there was a full memo to the board. So, this is a very short slideshow for you. Good evening, board members. We're here to continue the conversation about the transition plan for the innovation early college high school students and to respond to the board motion made on December 2nd, 2025. So, thank uh thank you board members for having us here tonight. Um couple weeks ago when I was here, uh the document that you had addressed um innovations transition and nibbly park transition, nibbly park transition uh information. I think uh we we came to a good spot of where that was. I missed the mark on innovations trans uh the transition. So before we get into what Dr. Ree is going to go with next, I just wanted to uh first say I apologize for

110that and we're going to um go ahead and move with the innovations uh transition with the document that you have in front of you now I believe. >> Thank you. Okay, next slide. Okay, as mentioned, we're continuing the conversation and since then we have been able to identify a project manager who's going to be um Stacy Lindsay. She is our secondary counselor lead here at the district level. Uh we've also identified a high school a comprehensive high school which is east high school and we're als we also have identified um an administrator and a counselor for each of the high schools and each of them will be working closely can you hear me? uh each of them will be uh working closely with Nicole who's our counselor at innovations as well as our project manager

111Stacy Lindsay. Next slide. Okay, we're looking at this transition plan from a twoprong approach. In our last meeting, we share half of that approach uh which is supporting students to go through our open enrollment process to any of our high schools. Also, we have supported them to apply to Slicky, our charter school. um and to explore all of other options that we have in our district. Not only our comprehensive high schools, but also um our horizonte instruction and training center and as well as uh possible online or hybrid models that they may be interested in. And again, whichever um option of schooling they um choose on, they they will have an assign administrator as well as a counselor um that will um support them with this transition. And we hope that having that team at

112a school of choice as well as the district level will facilitate that transition and will be the warm handoff that we were referring to in our last conversation. We now added um in response to the board motion a program a transitional program within one of our comprehensive high schools and that's East High School. And in this transitional program, we will assign um an innovations teacher to be the home room teacher for these students as well as the teacher during flex time that um could meet their needs whether it's on Tuesdays or Wednesdays depending on um what they need for that teacher and they will have um a period um to be able to work with that teacher throughout the week. So, they'll have multiple touch points um with that teacher to meet their individual needs

113as well as I mentioned before an assigned they already will have an assigned counselor as well as an administrator. Um so, once again, we're looking at this transition meetings to the needs from a twoprong approach. Next slide. Here's our data as of 300 p.m. this afternoon. Now this data has been evolving uh for the last six weeks and let me share with you what's behind these numbers. So um a lot of the students and all of the information has been reported to us from Nicole and the innovations administration team who have been conducting the conversations having these conversations back and forth not only once but twice. They've had two rounds of conversations with these students and um prior to the board motion made on December 2nd when students and families started hearing about the possible

114closure of innovations. They had already made a lot of plans um with families. They were already planning on what they wanted to do on what they want to do next year. Many of the juniors were already planning to go back to their neighborhood schools because they wanted to have a full senior experience. Many of them have attended uh were attending innovations because their siblings went there, but it was already a stretch for them. So, they were planning to go back again to their neighboring schools. Um, you could see that um it's pretty equably distributed. um not only for our in district options but also for those that are going back outside um our district. There are some that um have applied to Slickie and are hoping to get into Slickie uh as well as um

115some that are wanting to pursue opportunities in similar charter schools outside uh our district. It was really really interesting to see that um a lot of the preferences um following the December 2nd board meeting and then on the second round of conversations following the January 20th board meeting that their choices did not change much. Um there were four that were undecided, four or five that were undecided and then since this afternoon they want to go to West High School. So that was the number that shifted um the most uh between the two conversations. And so given the data that we have and um and kind of those decisions that were made by students and families, we at this point staff is wondering what other alternatives would you like us to look into and we're happy

116to have that discuss discussion with you. Um next slide. >> Okay. Anything you want to add, Brian? Uh just the reminder that uh until August hits, we know numbers are students students in discussions with families, students who uh become very strong willed about what they want. We don't think that these numbers are going to stay exactly this. I do think it gives a really good idea, >> but we know there's still going to be a little movement with our students because there's 15, 16, 17 year olds as well. Yeah, it was interesting with some families that um they were quite interested in the about three or four they were interested in participating in this transitional program at ease but then after talking to their students they're like no I want to go to ease but

117not into this program. So they're really looking ahead for a full senior year experience outside of this type of program. >> Thank you Dr. Ruiz and thank you Brian. questions. Annie? >> Yeah. Um, quick question. It from my Could you go back a slide? >> There we go. Yeah. So, my concern is those who are going outside of the district. >> Um, clearly. And um I'm I'm wondering if you know are these their neighborhood schools and they were traveling >> Yes. >> out of their >> especially those out in Magna. it was already a stretch and they were already considering going back. >> Okay. >> They were only attending innovations because their siblings had gone there. >> Okay. >> Um and then just a another followup. I'm pleased that we've offered them that option and

118thank you for um making that available. I do think it's a little, you know, late in the process. Maybe in the future if we're going through a G5 process if from the outset there was an option of consolidation of programs. I mean even Allan just mentioned like um sometime you know closures are actually kind of consolidations within districts of putting student populations together. And so I do think the idea um of having a transition program is a something that we may want to consider. Um and based on these numbers, I don't know if it will happen. Um I don't know if in the future instead of calling it like a transition program if we just say like innovations is combining with east, you know, or you know what I'm saying? So that it's it's a

119little bit more like you're maintaining your school, we're just moving you to another place. Uh obviously the staffing and everything would be different. I know that's a little tricky, but I do think um feeling like it's a transition plan and that it's just uh a little stepping stone. I don't know. I don't know how the language or or the communication could be better in terms of future um closures and possible consolidations just because I I would like that to be kind of in our rhetoric of how we're approaching this that we're caring for every student in our district and we're trying to keep their experience to be personalized and successful but because of costs we may need to shift where they are. I don't know. >> Yeah, it's great feedback. >> Thank you, Annie. Any

120other questions, Ashley? >> Um, so it's my understanding from you all that East was chosen among all the available sites that could have been chosen because it wasn't impacted by construction and it had available space. Um, but then I also notice here we've distinguished between people who want to go to East and who want to be in a transition program. So acknowledging that East is the location that you felt was best. Are there any barriers to those five students who you know say that they'll attend East to accessing like that flex time or support from their former counselor like they may not be formerly in formally enrolled in a transition program as you've called it but they can still access those supports. It's simply that they are housed at East. Is that right? >> Yeah.

121Yeah. For sure. If that's um if we continue with having the program at east then the supports will be available. I don't see any barriers to that. >> It just depends next steps and direction from the board. >> Thank you. And the longer memo we received talked about all the different options that we have in the district and one of them was IB. And I just wanted to clarify that we're working with counselors to make sure students know what is an option for them based on their, you know, progress in high school. That there are certain students who would not be eligible to enter IB because they wouldn't have enough time to complete career or diploma course work. But there are sophomores who realistically may be able to go on that progression, but counselors are

122working on that. >> Yes. >> Um and then it's a mutual understanding I think so I just want to clarify that the youngest grade right now at innovations that would be served is the rising sophomore class so at the conclusion of that classes graduation the program would dissolve unless you had found there was this real appetite for ongoing you know college and career support at east but it wouldn't have to be part of a formal program >> right we will bring that to the board and then have some direction at that point So it my question then for board leadership is at what point would we receive an update on you know how this is going and if we need it to continue all three years. We saw this a little bit with um magnet

123pilot programs over time that when enrollment was you know at a certain level do we need to maintain that in perpetuity or how how do we make sure we're serving those students? So what would be the next checkpoints for how this is working or not working? Um, well, I think just naturally we got to kind of look at what the beginning of the school year looks like and see where folks and the students end up. Um, knowing that a majority of these students are juniors and seniors, uh, we're going to be phasing those students will be phasing out of the district. Um, so I'm thinking that maybe at the beginning of next school year or towards the beginning of the next school year might be a good time to bring that more formally back to

124us. But again, also Dr. Grant, if you have any thoughts that you'd want to weigh in on. I think that's right. And in the motion, you also asked for an update in January of 2027. >> So, >> can I clarify? >> Perfect. So, we would wait until the school year started and here in only January because we have a couple of months under our belt, right? Is that what you're >> Yeah, we could give an early enrollment report of what we know of how many students have actually returned to enroll showed up at district schools that way because Stacy Lindsay will be overseeing all of that. So, see the data on that >> that's really helpful and um when we have that report just one more thing I wanted to say is we focused rightly

125on the student experience and the student transition but part of our discussion that we had as a board was out about capacity building because when innovations was founded a lot of these options were not available at a traditional high school and now many of these options should be available at all of our traditional high schools and there's maybe just miscommunication from counseling department to counseling department or individual counselor to individual student that prevents some of this access. So when we have that report, it would be great to know, you know, how students may or may not want to attend east or participate with their same counselor or innovations teacher. But it could be really helpful to learn whether or not the innovations counselor and teacher are able to help build some capacity at East in

126identifying these pathways for students. So that would just be great to include as well. >> Can I make one clarification? Yeah, of course. >> Um, so the next the next update is to see if we have more interests of students to participate in this program. Are we moving forward with the program? Like what's what are we updating you on specifically? I was referring to the January 2027 update that students as you've planned will do what they are doing in the progress that you have outlined and that in January we would find out you know how many students did in fact participate and you hear about the students but I'm suggesting that in January 2027 we also hear about that counseling team you know and did we have we made any progress in making sure we're

127offering the right supports and information to all students. So, sorry, not necessarily about the programming and of itself, but how we're following up with the students and keeping our supports. Perfect. >> Okay. >> Um, let's go with Charlotte and then the second round. >> Okay. Um, when I saw that there were 12 students who chose who are thinking of going to West High School, had we considered doing this um transition there since that's the bulk of the students or was there not space? I know we chose East High School. I just wondered what the thinking was behind that. >> Charlotte, I think that would be up to us to change our motion. Oh, okay. Because we had designated >> you designated that the program go to a comprehensive high school. >> These numbers at West

128High are higher than they were last time we looked. >> So, it was hard to >> shift offer program to parents and students and then >> look at not know the outcomes of that to know where it would go. So, you know, they're they're highly sensitive to the placement of the program in which school Yeah. >> But I think what we're seeing here is that the students have chosen where they want to go. I mean, I think they chose West knowing that it wouldn't come with this extra classroom experience, but it would have the counselor and assistant principal connection >> already set up there. >> Yeah. So, >> yeah. And Nicole also wondered that we may have the same effect that we had at East where um maybe a couple would choose to be in

129a program but everybody else would not. Yeah, that wasn't very popular among students. Um but something to think about. >> Yes. Any other questions or comments in this first round before we move to the second? Oh, Foss, excuse me. This maybe should have been in the second round anyways, but um I had a question that sort of connects to how innovations will be leaving an empty site and also what we were talking about previously with finances. Um it's my understanding that the district wants to keep any land even if it's no longer being used as an educational facility um just in case or to not downsize uh unnecessarily. But are we or how are we strategizing to um profit or not lose money uh when we're not selling property? Or maybe that's not true. >>

130Yeah, I'd say that's an overgeneralization. We're still going through the process of what to to to determine. There's no set we we never sell property. >> So the board is still going I mean we're we're just for an update. for finalizing the RFP for the company that will come and help us uh look at the possibilities of our current vacant properties. So, um yeah, the the board hasn't made a decision of we won't sell properties. Um we're still working on that. And I just want to note that the innovation building is actually a very unique situation because the the land and building are actually owned by Solid Community College and we're in I don't know however many years into a very long lease. So we wouldn't be able to sell that property anyway. Um, we

131have to work with Slickixie on on how that whole or not Slicky, sorry, >> Slick to on on what that property ends up being look, you know, what what it ends up being used for. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Point of information, the building is not empty, correct? Because the career and technical center is housed there still. >> That is correct. >> Okay, >> that's true. But eventually would not be. >> Thank you, Ashley. Amanda in the first round still. I was going to make that clarification, too, but um Ashley got it. I I just want to say thank you for bringing this back and um providing all this extra clarity to the innovations program. We needed it. The community needed it. Um so, um just thank you. >> Thanks, Amanda. >> Just >>

132Yeah, I just wanted to follow up. Um certainly based on kind of how this has unfolded um and based on the student information if there's little to no interest in the program like are you waiting for an approval like because from your question earlier it sounded kind of like you were saying like what do you want us to do? It looks like two kids are interested. Well, those other five kids who potentially go to East, you know, that's seven, maybe once they're there, they will want to engage in the flex support class or something. Um, but they aren't interested in the transition program itself. So, maybe those numbers will change. We're not sure. But you're just going back to what you're saying. You're wanting to know, should you go forward with this as you proposed?

133Okay. Maybe we're not there yet. >> One of the things if I can follow up on that that we were thinking just seeing these low numbers which actually have dropped during the last couple of days. um if the board would be okay if we focused counselor attention on this rather than an FTE of a teacher so that we aren't dedicating a teacher to two students in this flex time but rather um a counselor would be there and it would you know we can still do the flex time and have the counselor position but it would we would be lowering lowering our original aspirations a little bit by not having a special class because we really don't have students for a class but still have that selected and set aside time and support that's built around

134the students who have chosen that that sort of arrangement is what we'd like to perhaps consider. Um, let's go with Ashley and Amanda, we can focus on your continued time. The second, >> um, I would just say it's very difficult to suggest making a decision about something like that when it is only posed immediately >> without actual process time. The other thing I think about assigning the FTE is that that FTE has to be assigned someplace >> and it would be my best guess that one period of flex time is not the full course load of that FTE. So it would not be impossible or improbable that the the FTE assigned for this purpose that is only a part of their course load the same way that teaching you know one section of financial literacy

135might be part of a larger course load. So my impulse would be that we are past the point to reconsider our decision per our procedures and our decision unfortunately was delayed through some miscommunication. Um but additionally we recognize that the FTE we were told we were retaining those faculty and that FTE has to be placed someplace. So, barring any kind of, you know, evidence that East needs the FTE substantively less than another school, if I had to be asked today, I would say no. But I would also say it's better when we make decisions over a period of time with additional information. Like you pointed out, all of this changed overnight, >> right? And so, it will conceivably change many times between now and then. So I think it's most prudent to follow our directive

136given that we're past the point of reconsidering and that to take new action. It would be very unusual to take a brand new action just hearing something for the first time right now. Amanda, >> I concur with everything Ashley said. Additionally, um, not knowing how all of the structure would be, uh, like if I'm looking at the experience that I've had with my kids over at Highland High School where they had a like I don't remember what they used to call it, basically a study period is with a teacher, a licensed teacher, and now they have the Plex time where they can go around to their different teachers and basically specifically work with those different teachers on what they need. But those are licensed teachers. So if these students are needing um extra supports as

137they're working through their academics, I really struggle with a counselor being an appropriate person to be um heading up that classroom environment for these students um because I presume the counselors are not licensed teachers. Um so yes, everything Ashley said in addition, that's my additional concern. having that what you had proposed. I see the why behind it, but um it does not it doesn't settle well with myself. >> Yeah, I do. Um, I understand what you're asking because it's like the whole point is fiscal responsibility, you know, and so it makes sense, but I do think that we need more time and I do think, um, based on the final numbers of where students go, um, it makes sense to have an FTE teacher and if there already are flex time possibilities that that would

138be part of this program. I do generally um feel a little frustrated by this process and I do hope that we can um improve communication and maybe program design in the future both as a board and as a district level so that we can have a clear vision. Um because I think you know kind of what I was envisioning might have been different than what you were envisioning for for this kind of transitional program and you know that's probably you know on me to communicate but I do think um I just want to thank the innovations families and students for their patience with us as we try to help them find the best fit for their future and our intent has always then for them to feel like they belong and create a space of

139belonging for them. And that was the intent of the transition program. And if if it doesn't work in the way that we intended, then maybe we'll re-evaluate at a future date. But >> thank you. Other comments, question, points of feedback. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Ruiz. Thank you, Brian. appreciate the time and all the efforts put into this. >> Uh we'll now move on. Uh we don't have anything on the action agenda. So the superintendent report, Dr. G. >> Yeah. I want to start with a shout out to teachers because again I'm going to continue to make this claim that we have the best teachers in the state. Jason Wild, sixth grade teacher at Bonavville Elementary, received the February mathematics teacher spotlight recognition from USB math department. So he was um recognized for his

140use of questioning to elicit student thinking and um supports to increase studentto student discourse. This is something we're working on academic discourse um in the district across every classroom. So cheers to Mr. Wild, sixth grade teacher at Bonavville. Um we have a STEM fair celebration if you'd like to attend Friday night at Slickie. Um there's an open house that starts at 5 and awards for high school projects start at 7. So if you're interested in attending the STEM fair celebration at Slicky, you can write that down. Um, also this week is National School Counselors Week. So shout out to our terrific counselors and um their work in our schools and what they're doing to support students and um just a real thank you for their work across the board. This is also National CTE month

141in case you wanted to give a shout out to your local CTE teacher and um I've you know we spent some time lauding our CTE program and and what we're doing that way and what we're growing and excited about that and CTE month. The last thing um and this is kind of fun. The Olympics start Friday with the opening ceremony. There's a watch party downtown if people want to go. um to the city center and all meet together and watch on TV out in the cold, then you can do that down at the watch party. But I raised that because there is an East High School senior who was elected to train with our national women's Olympic rugby team, the sevens team. >> East High senior uh Fawn Talinga. Um, so she is um on

142a pathway to future Olympics competitions. Our very own Jenny Zika is one of her coaches. Um, she travels to California to train. She trains there three weeks or so each month and then comes back and continues her schooling because you can't be on the Olympic team if you haven't graduated from high school. but she's so talented that they pulled her into this elite training and the school is working with her to help her this way. She's a product of our district. She attended Emerson and Clayton and East High School. So, congratulations to her and you'll be seeing her two years hence, right? Perhaps um in Los Angeles, I think for the summer Olympics. So, exciting to see that um kind of uh remarkable accomplishment from students here. Salt Lake District. >> Thanks, Dr. >> You're

143welcome. >> We'll go ahead and start with Charlotte for board member reports. >> Okay. Um I I will be attending um Slicky Bryant's PTA and school community council meetings tomorrow night. I think it's still called that until it the official name change. Um and I'm looking forward to that. Um because so many of my of my neighbors um you know and my comm community my community members go are bust up to Bryant for for middle school. Um, and I also just want to express my concern for students and families and teachers who are nervous and scared right now about potential um, oh, just looming. Oh well, about the state of the world right now, I guess. And um so I I want to make sure that we are supporting them as much as we can

144and that teachers feel prepared to handle situations that are going on at their schools. Um so I'll be following up on that. And then I am also um watching closely our negotiations or communication with um our relationship with the urban Indian center and the Salt Lake City School District to really support our our native students. So, those are the three things that I'm doing. And I just want to thank all of our teachers. It was great to see the teachers here today. Um, and students, you know, that's it. To have the room filled here today helps remind us who we're working for. So, I really um appreciated seeing teachers and students today. >> Thank you, SH Andy. Um yeah, I would also like to give a shout out to school counselors. Um when I was

145a part of this school district as a student, I benefited a lot from my school counselors and as a parent, I see a lot of value in what um my children's school counselors do. So I would just like to reiterate um that appreciation. I will I keep talking about this and I know some other people don't like me talking about High School Musical all the time, but we have had some national attention for the 20-y year anniversary of High School Musical, which has been really fun. And um as an East High Leopard Wildcat myself, I just have to um shout out and remind everyone to go to the East High production of High School Musical. They actually had um some of the actors and staff from the High School Musical come in and give them

146tips and help them improve their performance. So, that should be fun. Also, uh the career day at East High School is February 27th. Um there will be uh students coming in in three different groups rotating throughout and they're trying to get about 65 or 70 professionals to talk for about 20 minutes about their career. And so I would encourage um anyone in the district or in the community um who would be willing to share to sign up for that. Um, I was able to attend the Innovations SEC meeting, um, and plan to attend further SEC, you know, upcoming SEC meetings at Liberty Elementary and Glendale Middle School and hoping to kind of get around and, um, hear what's going on. Um, also was able to attend the public education day on the hill, um, which

147was great to see our CTE students up there, uh, who are working on EMS. um and other uh certifications who were able to share with um legislators and other uh district leaders across the state. Um I we also have um had legislative committees and and discussions with legislators and we'll continue to advocate for our students, for their funding, for our staff, for their funding, and for um a continued support for public education. Um, and lastly, I just want to um reiterate what Charlotte said in terms of um letting every person in the Salt Lake City School District know that we value them. You matter no matter where you're from. We are all immigrants here and you belong in the Salt Lake City School District and we are happy to have you here. We are doing

148our best to keep you safe and provide an excellent education. So, I just um would like to send that message to let everyone know that we are prioritizing your well-being and that you matter. Thanks. >> Thank you, Ann Brian. >> All right. >> Okay. I will give a report on the policy subcommittee, but I'll do that after I share some of the other um experiences that I've had. Um first of all I wanted to report on I attended a SLF um subcommittee meeting on the health clinics at West and Highland High. In that um committee meeting it was really I guess exciting to see the support from the University of Utah and Dr. Robinson who was instrumental in the past clinic but then also there's support from the dental school as well. Um and the

149reason that I wanted to talk about this a little bit is um a couple of days after that I attended the SLF board meeting. So there were two select meetings that I was at and in that meeting um the chair Rick Davis was focusing quite a bit on the CTE um task that they have. And what I wanted to relay here because I think board member Anderson, you have raised some concern about, okay, how do we fund all of these things and are we crossing over into other areas to fund? And I was in that subcommittee meeting, I expressed my concern that as we are working with donors that we're not like hitting them up three or four times with different um projects. I shared that same concern in the board meeting with um board

150uh president or chair Rick Davis. And I think that um Bryson they would recognize that they really are conscientious in how they're doing this and I am now because we're all going to be tasked with this. Um Bryce with his committee assignment and Nate with his I'm really trying to focus on as I work on these things staying within that project and ensuring that we're doing this in a conscious conscientious manner. So um that would be my report on those two meetings that I attended. Then I also um was asked by the Bonavville PTO to come and speak to them and they had um a list of questions and I think that we were able to cover the questions um fairly well but the one question that has um remained with them is let's see

151their concern concern about the scheduling and how we were trying to well what they argue is that they're a walking school and that their schedule could be adjusted a little bit. I was trying to explain to them that with that scheduling that you were trying to standardize that as a district for its start and end times. um they still asked and I said I would report this to you that um you would get back to them because they um feel like they're meeting their hours and they could still have um earlier release time on Friday. So I'm sharing that with you um because asked me to. So, >> and you promised we'd get back to it. >> Well, I said that I would relay that to you. >> Okay. Um then, um I really appreciated

152um having all of those um men's soccer members here uh this afternoon. I have received many emails concerning this and I think that um Charlie Spencer spoke very eloquently on trying to create opportunities for freshmen to have a sports experience. And the challenge is how do you accomplish this with all of the logistics that come into it, scheduling fields and title n requirements and all of those things. And I've tried to respond to those emails um um encouraging them to work with Brian Oaks, their principal, and also with um the school administrators. And it was really um I was happy to hear him explain that they had heard from Emily Sutherland today. And I think that that is really beneficial that they feel like they are being heard and that the district is trying to

153respond to their questions. And I want to thank Emily. I had a conversation with her probably about 10 days ago um with this just trying to see that we were responsive to you know the questions that were coming. So thank you there. I also have to say that um while I'm now talking about our public comment time. I know that we don't take action on comments that are made, but I do have to say the um comments that were shared by Amanda, and I can't remember her last name. Maybe it was >> Sutton. Sutton. >> Um >> there she is. She's still here. Um that rang true with me. I remember being a third grade teacher and trying to figure out how to accommodate all of the testing time constraints and still get in the

154construction or the instruction um time that we're also asked to observe. So, I think that that might be something that we could look at in the future. Just how is all of that testing um handled? Just a thought. Um then following up I also um participated in the public education day at the capital and I agree with board me with Annie board me board member Romero um >> Romano excuse me you said in earlier that you're called Romero a lot so I thought I can't say that you said it >> um but anyway that was exciting to see them um represent our district so well um with those legislators. I thought that it was valuable that following Friday to be able to participate in the day on the hill and I'm going to let um

155board member Williams speak more to that. But for me, it was really beneficial to be able to speak to Well, when I was there, we spoke to Representative Ryan Wilcox, and Representative Wilcox is very passionate about school safety, and I appreciated hearing his passion, but I was also at least a little heartened to hear that he was responsive to our requests on House Bill um was it 343 the ongoing appropriations for school safety. I hope that you know he will be aware of that as he continues to pursue all of the school safety that we'll see some adequate funding for all of these requirements. And then I also thought it was really it just made me happy to be able to visit with Ryan Wilcox. Here we have a legislator who's one of the teachers

156in our school district and I think that it's just so wonderful. >> I mean John Arthur. Oh, I just >> what? >> I repeated Ryan's name. Excuse me. John Arthur. Let me correct myself. Um, >> thank you all for keeping me >> Brad. It's not even that late. >> I know. Um, but I have a lot here that I'm trying to remember. Okay. So, anyway, I thought it was really exciting to see um John Arthur and he's written down right here. Ashley talks about my notebooks. And so, I went up one line too far back to Representative Wilcox. Thank you, Representative John Arthur. It was really I think it's wonderful that you're there. Um, and then we were also able to meet with Representative Romero and Senator Esamia and I appreciate that the support that

157they do give us >> in the legislature. Um I will now turn to that policy subcommittee report. And in that um policy subcommittee meeting, we started by looking at S4 attendance because that's what I understood we were tasked with as the policy subcommittee. and we had I felt a healthy conversation about attendance and we looked at the policy. One of the things that came up as we were looking at that was all of the different terms when it comes to absences. um medical excuses, parent excusals, um checking in late. I mean, there it's really a very long list of all of the different ways that attendance is coded. And board member Romero Ramo I was trying to be so boy I'm going to go home and you know people are going to be emailing me

158going get your act together board member Jensen board member Romano and board member F Jefferson chime in. >> Okay. Um, as we were talking about that, um, Christina Kendall, who is our district, um, liaison for the policy committee, explained that she had spoken to Brie Connelly about, um, this review of that policy and that Brie Connelly had stated that they were working on this and that there was going to be a committee meeting that would be coming up and that it would be beneficial to wait to see what had been determined by that um committee before we made further um revisions to the attend dependence policy. And we also talked about that wellness piece that you're referring to. And part of that ties into um incentivizing and figuring out how to do that in a

159healthy way. So all of that was discussed and we will be bringing that back. Okay. Um, I also want to say we talked um, board member Anderson because you had raised your concern with making sure that students aren't coming to school when they're sick and how do we ensure that we have that in the um, attendance policy. So, all of those things were outlined. Have I reflected that accurately? >> Yes. >> Board member Romano. >> Yes. you know >> um now I guess the thing that I would want to make sure that I had understood was I have been just trying to make notes as we've gone through um the meeting today to make sure that I have the checklist that's reflecting what we have talked about. So, I've explained to you the policy subcommittee.

160That was one question that was raised. Then the direction for board leadership to follow up with the city council on when we can meet there. and I was hoping, but then we did get an email, I believe it was yesterday, from Jennifer Newell, the education liaison, saying that she wasn't going to be here this evening. But I was hoping that we could enlist her help in scheduling that because there have been times just so that the board knows where we have scheduled, but then it gets rescheduled and then it gets rescheduled. So, I mean, that's a challenge, Board Member Anderson, and I'm aware that we're working on that. Um, then we talked about moving the strategic pillar one to March 3rd. I'm just trying to recount everything to make sure that I've got in my

161mind where we were >> in our meeting tonight. And then um there was the request toward leadership on innovations and we talked about how we would have a report on that at the beginning of the year and then a followup next January 2027 and that would also include like a counseling team report. I hope that I have noted what we have um raised in this meeting. Um, so I think that with all of that I can be given some grace for some failures in names. >> Thank you. Brad, >> um, I would like to comment on the power of electives given that comment we had at the beginning. I think um it can really help students love going to school, being at school when they feel like the school sees their interests. And so um

162I I'd say as the student representative, I recognize what was being said and I agree that that's very important. Um I also think that it helps to build creativity with a lot of those electives, which is a skill that's very important in unprecedented times. These are an example, but we're always in some. And so that's a continuing um thing that we should definitely be fostering in our schools. And then um I will say that electives during my time in high school definitely helped me broaden my academic view. Um which is helpful as an incoming college freshman. Um, and I will actually be attending um, my college with a West High School student who spent a gap year with the USA schema team, which segus to the power of athletic accessibility. Um, although her athletic um,

163engagement to my understanding was not particularly connected to the school. um you can go so far when you are supported in uh anything athletic that you're interested in and it can also empower you in other areas. So again, I agree it's very important that we are making sure that every student has access to that type of experience if they so desire it. And then um again, thank you to East Soccer. Um you showed the community strength that you were talking about um by bringing out some numbers to the audience. Um, and I appreciate you making your voices known. Um, and also, uh, thank you to the district for amending their policies on, uh, political activity, um, among our consent agenda, I think, which, uh, shows the dedication to ensuring that, uh, student voices are being

164watched closely. Um, again, uh, thank you. Yeah, >> thank you, F. Ashley. Um, so as I mentioned earlier in the meeting, the Temple reopening traffic adjustments as they've been shared appear as though they will currently inhibit all routes to west from the avenues and many of the routes impacting precinct 3 um on the north side of Temple Square, including students coming to and from Washington and students leaving the Washington boundary or west boundary to go to any other magnet or DLI program. And so, as I shared earlier in the meeting, I think it would be really helpful if board leadership inquired about this next city council meeting. But I'd also like to ask if the transportation committee that we assigned board members to last January plans to convene because this will be a really large

165change for multiple years to crucial routes in precinct 3 and I'd like to make sure we're offering community input if I'm understanding the configuration correctly. Um, and I want to understand what board members and staff are convening to discuss transportation issues so we can get ahead of some of that communication. Um the finance committee update, we continue to have really full agendas. As our business administrator shared, we've added many meetings so that we can sufficiently address all of our business. Um I'll give my updates so that if I forget something, my the rest of the committee members down the row can finish, but we received internal audit reports on fleet services and data security. And it's my understanding those reports will be supplied to the full board in anformational memo. Um any recommendations for efficiency

166and security are being implemented by Christy Hart and other team members. The committee had no novel questions about the findings. Um we discussed reset transportation as the board asked us to do and discussed that it was not an optional program. It was required and so we wanted more information and uh a future committee meeting will have the results of a study of writership for program routes that we can include in a budget cycle. Um the committee acknowledged the tax burden that our historic bond has placed on our community members and discuss the parameters of truth and taxation and what year we may need to undergo that pro process while acknowledging again the burden that the bond places on our communities. We are waiting to hear back on the cost of choose gang free as you

167directed us to learn about. We discussed child nutrition fee increases and the impacts when fees are not paid because as we discussed earlier our district offers free lunch to all free and reduced qualifying students. The more children who enroll, the more sustainable the child nutrition offerings are. But we acknowledge this is a difficult time with many families hesitant to sign up for free and reduced price meals. Um like many entities, the district is looking at reasonable cuts to expenditures giving re reduced revenue from the state and federal government. Um including reduction of FTE at the district office level to respond to the declining FTE in our school buildings based on enrollment. That's something we just began to discuss and would continue. Um, in the pleasantry department this morning, I was fortunate to have one of

168my students participating in the district science fair and I was able to at the same time judge students from other schools and I look forward especially to hearing how our high schoolers do advancing to the regional fair where they often excel. Um, it is college and career week at West High and as others have shared, it's National School Counselors Week. as we look at many athletes signing with colleges this week, including um one student at West was offered multiple dual uh offers for track and field as well as women's basketball. And so, it's really important we remember that our athletics and our activities are a huge part of college acceptance, time to completion when students are in college, and their achievement and graduation when they're in college. I think we need to make sure all

169of our student athletes are being counseledled into the science courses and other coursework they need to help them with college acceptance. And I want to celebrate what I think is a future career which um West High student who regularly attends our meetings, Ella Franen, I think has attended more legislative committee meetings than any of us combined in the room. I see her giving public comments constantly and I think she has a really positive career ahead as a policy maker. >> Um that's my pleasant business. That's my committee business. But it is really challenging to offer these traditional pleasantries in the moment that we're in and the impact of ICE on our communities. We are living through a historical and frightening moment where we are being asked, you know, in our public comment and day-to-day how

170we're keeping students safe and struggling to understand what we can do. Um, I would urge staff to follow up on the the question the teacher had in public comment and see if any additional clarifying direction can alleviate some of the concerns the teacher expressed from Edison. But ultimately, it is only agitation to federal and state leaders which can change some of the more deeply reprehensible aspects of what's happening in the United States. >> Thank you, Ashley. Right. >> Yeah, I'll try to be brief. Um, but there's a number of things. Um, as we know, it's the Utah legislative session and as our regional rep for the Utah School Board Association, I've been spending a lot of time up at the capital between uh joint legislative committee, USBA day on the hill, and the celebration of

171public education. Um, just wanted to thank everyone who's participated in that and then remind all board members that you can participate in the JLC meetings as well, either attending in person or electronically. I've sent all of that information over to you in my weekly updates. So, um, if you'd like to join me in that, that'd be great. Also, if you have feedback, um, please send that to me. And then there is also the, uh, preJLC meetings Thursday nights where we kind of go over what we're going to talk about the next day. So, there's multiple ways for you to participate in that. Um, I wanted to give an update that my first uh Utah School Board Association board meeting will be on February 12th. So, I'll continue to give updates um on the Utah School

172Board Association from there. Um, in terms of things that I've been busy with as well, um, I also attended the um, education foundation board meeting with board leadership. I believe it was last week or the week before. Um, and coming up a number of SEC meetings next week including Slicky and West. Um I will be part of judging the middle school science fair tomorrow. So I am looking forward to that. And then um wanted to give just one final uh update that I was given my USBA committee assignment for the year and so I will be part of the new board member workshop committee as uh a number of new board members will be uh taking office next January. Um there's usually a workshop a kind of dayong uh seminar for new board members that

173takes place in December. So I will I will be instrumental in u making sure board members are trained as they take their oath of office in January and step into this work. Thank you. >> Thanks Brett Amanda. Um just a reiteration of the gratitude to the public uh comment period all the speakers um each one brought out some very important uh information and I urge Dr. Grant to follow up on all the items that the speakers each speaker brought up. Um, and then I wanted to do a shout out um to all the students, teachers and staff, general education as well as special education who show up for our students with extra needs on a daily basis. Um there are friends of my daughter uh who are going up to Hillside, planning on do going

174to Hillside yesterday and they were yesterday next year and the other day they were talking about how they hope that they'll be selected for peer tutor for their elective. Um and that uh opportunity to be so supportive in their uh elementary years really has fed into that uh interest in that opportunity and is another reason that um and meaningful inclusion is beneficial for all. Um and also um gened teachers who even despite being lean on support who jump in to supporting complex students with an I can do this mentality is priceless. I've experienced this. Um, and when I I try to jump in and go, what can I do to support you as you're helping support um my child? Um, and the times when it's like it's a nah, I got it. We can figure

175this out. Um, it just I mean it brings tears to me. I it's it's amazing. So, thank you for all the teachers that show up for our kids on a regular basis. um especially at those that are more complex and take a lot more of your time. Um and then I will pass on a request that my high schooler has has shot out to me. Um I'll public comment for her. She said that she would like to see that English 1010 and 2010 um be worth a year's credit of language arts in high school. it. FYI, whether or not that's a valid request, you know, you do with it what it is, but I'm respectfully passing on. >> We might have to share some state rules. >> That's totally fine. We can educate all her

176all day long. I'm sure Tiffany can give me all sorts of advice tomorrow, >> but thank you. >> Um, I just have a couple of quick announcements. Um, so I I wasn't able to be at the the school board today on the hill. I was pretty sick uh towards the tail end of last week, but I know that those of you that were there wanted to thank Representative Wyn for meeting with everybody um sharing her perspective on the work that we do and our collaborations moving forward together. Um, I also wanted to just highlight um, both what Bryce and Brian had mentioned about attending the SLF board meeting. Um, and also kind of cues up where we're at right now with CTE month. Um, the one unique element to that meeting is that the SLF

177board voted uh, unanimously to um, put $1 million towards the CTE center um, that uh, that we made a decision on last year. I think that's a really strong testament to SLF's commitment um as they're also going out and pursuing the additional funds necessary to complete the project um as it's been presented to us so far. So, thank you SF U, President Davis, um all the other board members and James for your coordination um in that work that you're doing. Um, lastly, I do want to just emphasize and um, dovetail on what uh, many including Annie and Ashley have raised about our current state of the world, especially when it comes to ICE um, in our community and in our country and the impact that that's having on our students and families. Um, we're seeing

178it and loosely talking about that and how it impacts um, the work that we do, our budgets, our enrollments and so on. Um, I applaud our district and our board and previous boards um for being honest and open about our feelings and our advocacy for our students and our families and our community. Um, last year we um reaffirmed the safe school resolution. Um, I think it'd be really important for us to look at that with this team. Um, potentially reaffirm that again with our current board. Also taking a look at a resolution that I proposed years ago. Um, it was passed in 2019. in the resolution for the protection of children um which was in response to a very similar but less intense um experience that a lot of families in our country and in

179our state and city uh were facing back then. I think that um it would need to be um updated for our current world and what we're experiencing here. But um I don't normally propose things as the board president, but I do find um that this is a sense and a time of urgency uh where we should be um taking um clear steps to make sure that our community and our families know that we do support them, that we're here, um that they're loved and that they're appreciated in and all that they're doing in their pursuits through education um K through 12 and beyond. Um, I just want to reiterate that um, all of our families and students are viewed and seen with dignity and with love and that in my opinion uh, that nobody is

180illegal in our world and in our state and in our country. Um, that dignity is where it's at for me and um, I stand with our communities as we move forward and through um, some very challenging times right now. And with that, I will call our meeting adjourned. Thank you. Come on. Extra papers.