SLCSD Board Meeting, September 2, 2025 4:00 PM

001Okay. Those are All right. Thank you everybody for joining us this evening. Uh today is September 2nd, 2025. We are here for the purposes of a Salt Lake City Board of Education business meeting. We really appreciate everybody joining us this evening. Uh we have a couple of agenda items that we need to get through tonight. Um but we also are here for um a really exciting opportunity um to fill a vacancy on our school board. Um, so we have some candidates who are here with us this evening and I will touch base on this relative to process and how we got here to that section. Um, but I certainly want to welcome everybody. Um, I also want to take the time to um, acknowledge our classified association groups. Um, from buildings and grounds we have

002President Aaliyah Okmpo. For child nutrition we have President Tanya Slaughter. For transportation we have Audrea Benali. For SLEA, the Salt Lake Education Association, we have President Mike Harmon, who's with us this evening. And for SLAsa, we have President Tom Luthie, who is going to be here with us this evening as well. Um, up next, we have the pledge of allegiance. and I'll go ahead and lead us in the >> pledgece to the flag >> of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you everybody for joining me in that. The next item of business we have is our consent agenda and I would a motion um to either approve or um have some discussion about our consent

003agenda this evening. >> I make a motion to approve the consent consent agenda as posted. >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion to second on the table. Is there any discussion? Ashley >> on the board meeting minutes for August 2nd and August 5th. Um I assume it's because of the change over in website, but when you click the link on the physical document to find the attachments, it takes you to an error page. So I think everything documented seems accurate and correct and we should approve them but that link should be fixed before the final minutes are posted to the website. >> Okay, >> we'll get that done. >> Thank you, Dr. Any other discussion? Amanda, >> um I just wanted to uh make a point to point out that the Utah State

004Auditor's fraud risk assessment assessment determined we are low risk for fraud. So, um that was phenomenal and should be recognized. Um and then I want to emphas that where HR is working really hard to fill positions. Um, we still are, according to the website that I just looked at yesterday, we still are down special education teachers and special education pair pros and we're a couple weeks into school. So, we really need to um up the ante on that. That's everyone. >> Thank you, Amanda. >> Seeing no further discussion, we'll start with a roll call vote with board member Williams. Bryce Williams, yes. >> Charlotte Fe Jefferson, yes. >> Ashley Henderson, yes. >> Salazar, yes. >> Jensen, yes. >> Amanda Longwell, yes. >> That motion passes. Thank you, board. Moving along, um, we have our request

005to speak portion of our agenda. The board is asking me to read some guidelines that govern your your comments this evening. Uh, the board enjoys the opportunity to hear from the public during the comment portion of its meetings. Before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to of our board rules governing your comments. The total time reserved for public comment is not to exceed 15 minutes with all speakers or groups limited to three minutes. The board will not allow public comments during board meetings that are slanderous, obscene, or otherwise violate state or federal law. Employees and/or their representatives may not use the public comment period to address issues that should be raised through existing formal communication channels or establish grievance or negotiation procedures. I'd also like to explain that unless the topic is already

006on the agenda. State law prohibits the board from taking action on raised 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. Uh before we get started with our public comment portion, I do need to acknowledge um an update with the board regarding um one of our speakers this evening. Um Drake, who is a student in our district, um requested a reasonable accommodation um for his speaking time this evening. Uh we have extended that to six minutes with the potential of eight minutes if needed. Um so that is something that Drake formally raised with um board leadership with Brian and I and we discussed that um with our legal counsel and worked with

007previous presidents that's been set for folks requesting reasonable accommodations and for folks who have translators. So um just a heads up that something that uh that we negotiated with our speaker ahead of time and thank you Amanda for advocating for Jake throughout this process as well. Our first speaker this evening is Matt Tui. >> Hi again. Um I spoke at the last board meeting uh expressing concerns about a canceled bus stop. I followed up with each board member via email to elaborate on those concerns. I heard back only from member Anderson who directed me to a dispute resolution policy that basically says that these things should be resolved to the lowest possible level. So I uh continued to discuss the issue with director Ael. Um I learned that I was I misunderstood. I suppose last

008meeting I said that there were other bus stops that were canceled. It turns out our bus stop was the only one that was canceled. Instead there were other bus stops that were requested in different parts of the city. Those requests were denied. Um, in any event, it's been told to me now very clearly that they're not that that the district is not going to reconsider this. The bus stop will remain canceled and that there's no interest in pursuing uh additional funding under the administrative regulation that I pointed out last time, which is fine. Um, and I don't I don't want to be too critical here. In fact, I want to use one of my three minutes. Uh, first to thank Director Ael, who I see is back here. I've never met him in person, but

009he has been very patient with me and asking answering my questions um ultimately in great detail. I'd also thank member Anderson uh for being incredibly responsive um and and pointing me in the right direction at the very least. Um and I appreciate really all of you. I know this is basically the board members, this is a volunteer job. Um you're not basically right and you take a lot of heat from a lot of people, but I do I still want to express, you know, with with those bright spots in mind, I want to express that I'm I'm disappointed by how this process has worked out. Um I saw the updated public relations campaign, which also presumably costs money. um that says that the district is interested in working with parents and everybody to to deliver

010good education results. My impression is that that's kind of window dressing. Uh at least in my experience, I don't believe that to be true. Um and part of that's probably my fault. I know I come across as pretty combative and get people defensive and I'm willing to take responsibility for that. Um but also I think a big part of it is a communication issue, right? We I've had to fight my wife started it. We've had to fight kind of tooth and nail to get basic answers to basic questions. And it seems like this is not a unique experience. I've had people come out of the woodwork to tell me their experiences with at least previous versions of this organization. Uh and it's kind of similar. People are kind of sent in circles through a bureaucracy.

011They don't get answers and they don't feel like they're really part of the decision-making process. Most recently, some people emailed me last night um who are attempting, I guess, to organize in opposition to the Rosland Heights Sports Complex. um they're upset about the effort that was made to get public input before making decisions there. And so I guess I just want to, you know, point that out. I mean, I've been incredibly frustrated here. Some of you know, I've I pro I feel like a crazy person. I've started a website. I've got stupid shirts that I've made. Uh I've written an op-ed. Uh and I'm not typically crazy, but uh this has driven me crazy. And I think it's a general sentiment that's not unique to me. So I suppose I would just at this point,

012I'm not sure how I'm going to proceed. I would encourage everybody in the district to think a little bit harder about the procedure and how these decisions are communicated. With that, I will take my leave. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Thank you. >> All right. Our next speaker this evening, Drake, the the floor is yours. So, we'll just take a minute for you to get set up and we'll get started when you're ready. Okay. >> You're welcome. Hello everyone. Before before I begin, I would like to ask you to remember the district's vision statement as we're going through this tonight. Every student, every classroom, every day. Thank you. Hi. Hi. I'm Frank. I'm Frank. I'm a senior at East High School representing the special ed department. I'm also a member of the student council representing

013the special ed department. My my goal my goal is to install RFI. My my goal is to install RFID readers on the elevator to to make the elevator more accessible at East High School. And my goal is to hopefully um ask you to have this accessibility project done by 2026 or 2027. Because because currently right now the elevator the elevator is only accessible by a key which is not accessible for people with disabilities like myself. It can take me it can take me anywhere from 50 50 seconds to open to or more to open the elevator and call the elevator. I already have an RF an RFID key fob that I use every day to open to open the the the school to access the school. research research. I contacted I contacted the Salt Lake

014City School District about this about this accessibility improvement and they put me in touch with Stone Security who who's in charge of installing the RFID readers the RFID readers that are already at each high school. They they said this accessibility improvement would cost six $6,000 for students for students with disabilities that don't have that don't have key fobs. I was thinking they would be they they would be distributed for those with disabilities that don't have key fobs and and And for for those with temporary disabilities, the office the office would hold that hold extra key fob key fobs. Please remember that anyone anyone can f any student at my school can face a temporary disability. So this will not only this will not only affect people with permanent disabilities like myself, but it will affect

015it will positively affect affect people with with temporary disabilities as well as as well. When when the public when the public comes to a school, they will see to East High School, they will see that East High School has gone above and beyond with their with our accessibility. This will again to reiterate this will not this will not only this will positively affect everyone with with disabilities. Th this is my my this is my vision. You can't see it but I I'll send you a picture of it. But it's basically a a a key reader next to the next to the key hole on on the elevator. Maybe East High maybe maybe East High School could be the most mother the mother school for for new accessibility standards around our district. Thank you. >> Thank

016you, Drake. [Applause] Craig, really appreciate you coming in. We always love to hear from students in the district and we will work to figure out some kind of a solution for what you're requesting of us this evening. So, we'll make sure that Dr. Grant and Isaac Ael get together and discuss what might be able to be done. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you, Drake. And board members, you do have a copy of um Drake's presentation and it will be emailed out to us as well. >> Right. Moving on to our next item of business. Um the reason why we're all here tonight for a lot of reasons is the appointment of a new precinct 5 board member. Um I wanted to just take a moment to kind of go through our process and

017how we got to where we are today. And so I'll just kind of read some bulleted points that um that um I think describe where we're at. Um so the Salt Lake School Board announced the precinct 5 vacancy on August 5th, 2025. Applications uh for the vacancy were open from August 6th through August 26. Um at 5:00 PM was the deadline. We had a total of 16 applications that were received by the deadline. Of those 13 um 13 of those 16, 13 met the county residency requirement for precinct 5. Eight applicants completed all required county forms by the August 27th, 2025 5:00 p.m. deadline. And then this morning on September 2nd, 2025, three candidates withdrew from the interview process. So this evening, we will only be hearing from five of the eight candidates that are

018listed on our agenda this evening. Of those five, we have Russell Asprin, Elizabeth Bunker, David Jones, Carlos H. Martins, and an Elizabeth Romano. Um during the meeting this evening, each candidate uh that is listed on our agenda um in alphabetical order. That is how we will interview and the order in which we will interview everybody this evening. We'll be asking four questions of each candidate that the candidates receive in advance. We are allotting 25 minutes per candidate, 20 minutes for each interview and a five minute transition time so that board members can note um any finalizing notes between interviews. all interviews. Um after all the interviews are concluded, most of the board members will complete an anonymous ranking sheet ranking candidates numerically one through five with one being the c the board member's top choice

019and two um and so on and five being the least preferred choice. Completed ranking sheets will be submitted to our business administrator Alan Kersley prior to a 10-minute recess during which um BA Ksley will tabulate the rankings. Um during the recess um our board legal council has reminded us um that this is for a break and that board members are not to confer or discuss the candidates or their rankings. After the recess, BA Kley will report the highest ranked candidates to the board. At any time, board members could ask for the full summary of the ranking. Alan will also share whether there are natural breaks in the scoring that may help board members distinguish among candidates. Please note this ranking does not determine the successful candidate this evening. It is meant to initiate the board's

020public discussion of the candidates. A successful candidate must be appointed through a formal motion, second, and a roll call vote of the full board. In prior experiences, the board has not always appointed the top ranking candidate. Once appointed by a formal vote, the successful candidate will be sworn in uh this evening by County Clerk Lanny Chapman. So, those are kind of the the guidelines that are governing our interview process and course appointment process this evening. And I think with that, we can go ahead and get started with our first candidate. Uh, first up we have Russell Aspr. Russell, please join us at the table. And then as far as the interview questions go, I thought we could just kind of start one with Bryce or with Amanda, two Bryce, and then so on. And we'll

021just kind of stagger so that each board member has a chance to ask a question. And board members, you do have a packet in your folders um that have the interview sheets for each candidate. >> We're asking if they answer Are you ready? >> 20 minutes. >> All right, Russell, are you ready? >> Yep. >> All right. All school boards face minor and major challenges and board members get involved because they care about addressing those challenges for the community. What is a challenge in precinct 5 that you feel the board will need to address during the term of your vacancy? >> Okay, you know what I mean. That weird. What are the ways that you could envision the board responding? Thank you for an interesting set of questions tonight. The problem I want to address

022tonight exists at East High School, but I also know that some elements of the problem exist at other high schools in the district. So, it's a district problem rather than just a precinct 5 problem. The special ed program at East High is a mess. My son's in the fourth year of enrollment in a self-contained program. The program for our son has looked different each year, having been reconfigured by administration over the summer. Teachers leave in June expecting one thing, return in August to something different. Personnel reductions, changes in class offerings that often affect a student's path to graduation. Loss of para educators who leave to find full-time employment, changed policies, misunderstood policies. When my son started, we were told there was lots of flexibility in how classes could be allocated for his graduation requirements. No,

023there isn't really any flexibility. It took six months last year to figure out how to a class my son took in 10th grade should apply to his graduation requirements. Nobody knew. My son, who was initially in a self-contained environment for autistics kids, is now assigned to a self-contained behavioral program, but spends about 85% of his time in general population classes. We're making it work, but not without significant time and effort from my wife and me as parents and from his primary sped teacher. My son's Para, who's been a key element in his success, left this year. She transferred to a district office job that gave her a full-time salary and benefits. In the midst of working through these issues, my emails to both school and district administrators went unanswered. These issues are compounded by his

024enrollment in general population classes, which creates a need for credit recovery. Last year, it took five months to resolve a minor technical problem with online credit recovery course because no one knew who to talk to. Working through other credit recovery packets, we received notice that last fall that all credit recovery packets needed to be completed in 10 days or work would be lost. Nobody really knew why. It just came down from the district. When my son received the ne next batch of credit recovery courses, I asked if they had a deadline. No one knew. My son's frustration with nine years of inadequate and inappropriate services led to him dropping out of school in ninth grade. The district unenrolled him without telling us that they were actually going to do this. When my son returned for

02510th grade, the district treated him like nth grade was successful. He was enrolled in secondary math 2 without having completed secondary math 1. Then without completing even the first term of secondary math 2, he was moved to applied mathematics, completely ignoring the manner in which math courses build on prior courses. I tell these stories to illustrate how existing policies can create profound challenges for students and school staff. Most of our students aren't in this situation and won't be negatively affected by these policies. And certainly my son contributed to his challenges by some of the decisions he made. But getting him an appropriate education shouldn't be so hard to do. Even though it affects a small number of students, this problem is significant. It violates our commitment to educate all of the students in our district,

026every student, every classroom, every day. It creates a legal legal risk for the district because these are statutory obligations. As a board member, I would ask the superintendent to present to the board a thorough overview of the district's special education programs at all levels with special attention to how we determine which services to provide, the processes by which we determine that students are eligible for services, and how we ensure that students receive the services to which they are entitled. This would provide the information necessary for the board to determine what action it needs to take to resolve these problems. All right, I have the next question. One duty of the board is to craft policies around a wide ranging number of topics. Can you provide an example of a policy that you think think works

027well in district? Can you provide an example of a new policy you'd suggest adding based on your experiences in precinct 5? So, my family's been well served by the bound boundary transfer policy whereby a student can go to a student outside of or a school outside of their district um outside of their boundaries. The guidelines and deadlines are clear. The policy and time frame are well publicized by the district in advance. The decisions are communicated in a timely manner with clear instructions on how to proceed. The schools know what to do with the paperwork when I turn it in. It works well. Rather than proposing a new policy. I want to suggest that the district reconsider its policies related to chronic absenteeism. The problem of high absentee rates is not unique to Salt Lake City.

028It's a national problem. And I don't know if Salt Lake City's approach to reducing absenteeism is unique, but it is, I think, fundamentally flawed. Policy's primary assumption is that absenteeism is a problem of parents. The policy assumes that parents don't know about their legal obligations to have their children in school. So the district appeals to parents via Instagram videos and messages from schools. Sometimes the district threatens via letters with green, yellow, and red highlighting. The district used to make sterile computerized phone calls, then transition to s sherpa, the district's genderneutral plural pronoun using bot who wanted to be my friend. Sherpa once told me, "I'm all ears." when the dis what the district never does in my experience and unfortunately I have a lot of it is reach out personto person to parents to the

029student to understand the situation and try to resolve the issue. Last year my daughter's vice principal called me to report that my daughter was sloughing the last two periods of the last day before winter break. He called within 10 minutes of her leaving school. I asked him if he cared about the 50% absentee rate my daughter had to that point in the school year. He said he would check into it. I never heard back. Emails to the principal went unanswered. Although about two months later, a counselor reached out, set up weekly meetings with my daughter after I approved the possible use of some large number of tests. I mean, shouldn't absenteeism be a core educational issue that doesn't require special parental approval to address? But when my daughter missed 95% of the last two months

030of school last year, the counselor never reached out to me to check on her. The impression I get is that attending school isn't what is really important. What matters is that I excuse my children's absences regardless of the reason. Education is fundamentally based on relationships. We must reach out as people to our students and parents as people. We must establish relationships and understand the circumstances contributing to the absenteeism in this particular case. Then we can address those issues, however complex they might be, to help the student be successful. This is the resource inensive approach and it won't always be successful, but sterile datadriven policies will remain unsuccessful with high rates of absenteeism continuing to prevail. but creative relational policies such as those reported in the media for Northwest Middle School in 2024 and recently posted

031to the district's Instagram account can be successful. There's no one-sizefits-all in reducing chronic absenteeism. Our absenteeism policy needs to reflect that. >> Thank you. A key role of the board is to steward federal, state, and local taxpayer dollars. What do you three pri fiscal priorities of the board in the coming year and can you provide an example that supports one of those priorities? >> So I believe the highest fiscal priority should to be to move as many funds as possible into the classroom. All levels of education have seen tremendous growth in non-classroom expenditures over the last two decades. This is the inevitable result of schools needing to step in and provide important social safety nets. But the result is inadequate resources in the classroom. The second fiscal priority is to protect district operations against the

032loss of federal funds. The current administration has shown that it's willing to freeze or eliminate funds without warning, without cause, and without regard to effect. The district must protect itself against the unexpected loss of these funds and the interruption of services based on those funds. Third fiscal priority is the management of the bond and the rebuilding of West and Highland High Schools. The bond is a large and and the task complex. Large building projects such as these are difficult to compete on schedule and on budget as recent building projects in the district and in neighboring districts have demonstrated only through diligent oversight can these projects be successful. Now, let me return to the first priority, moving more resources to the classroom. There really only two approaches to this. Allocate our existing resources differently or bring

033in new revenues. I would propose a hiring freeze in the district office until we can meet specified classroom support levels to be determined by the board. Among those I would propose are to set strict LA limits on class size, make all education support staff full-time with benefits, and provide intense resource support to all elementary students not testing on grade level in reading and math. I think we could make better use of the Salt Lake Education Foundation to rate raise funds for one-time and infrequent expenditures such as new music instruments, CTE equipment, sound and lighting equipment for drama programs. I think Sleft could also raise funds to support innovative pedigogy techniques such as looping that could help improve educational outcomes. The district could also seek support from the many generous family foundations in Utah and the

034country to and additional resources. Hopefully, when we achieve better educational outcomes, we can then persuade the legislature to increase school funds via increases in the weighted pupil unit, which can then enable us to further improve educational outcomes. Supporting the classroom must be our first priority. >> Thank you. Can you Describe a time when you strongly disagreed with a colleague on a major decision or policy. How did you handle the disagreement and what was the outcome for your working relationship and the decision itself? There's a common misunderstanding about teams. The idea is that teams and I'm thinking of the board as a team must always be in unanimous agreement. That disagreement is never good. But the best teams have people of diverse experience and viewpoints where respectful disagreement leads to better ideas, better policies, and better

035outcomes. It isn't about implementing one person's vision. It's about working together to create better schools. I'm reaching the point where my career is nearly equally split between the private sector, where I was in the software industry, and education, where I teach at the university level. Allow me two stories, one from related to each environment. My computer experience is on large complex computer systems generally for military applications. One of the projects I worked on was severely overbudget and behind schedule. Company was continually changing project managers to solve the problem. The last project manager was this somewhat gruff retired Navy officer who had ended his career as a submarine captain. There's no messing around on submarines. Sam could be tough to deal with. He didn't understand software development or our application. He was there to crack the

036whip and get the job done. One day, we had an all hands meeting to discuss technical issues. Sam made his proposal. I responded that I thought his proposal was a mistake. I was the software manager at the time. I listed the reasons and offered an alternative, an alternative. Not to my surprise, Sam decided on his proposal. The meeting ended and I went back to my office. Two of my staff showed up and asked, "How can you do that? Disagree with Sam in public. Aren't you afraid of being fired?" And my answer was, "No. Sam wants my best technical advice. I can give it to him in public because Sam knows when the decision is made, I will do my best to make it happen. Whether I agree with it or not, and if it goes

037bad, I won't say, "Told you so." I'll just try to solve the new problem. I don't remember what the technical outcome of this situation was, but Sam and I, despite our frequent disagreements, learned to work really well together. We did get that project sold off to our customer, and I would gladly work for Sam again. I have a somewhat similar situation with the board. I opposed the school rebuild bonds. I made comments before the bomb board. I wrote the con statement in the voter information pamphlet. Everywhere I went during last year's campaign, I asked people to vote no. But the election day vote was yes. I lost. I actually lost twice that day. I still have concerns about the bond. That's why managing the bond is one of my top fiscal priorities. But the job

038now as a board member is to ensure that the bond is executed responsibly in order to achieve the goals of the bond. Teams disagree during discussion and decision-making. But after the decision is made, it's all hands- on deck to make that decision successful. And I make that commitment to you that as a board member, whatever disagreements we have during decision making, I will seek to make our final decisions successful. And that includes the bond. Thank you for your time. Let us know. We have two vehicles that need to be moved if they happen to be anyone in here. A blue Subaru cross track and a white Subaru Cross Trek. Um we need electrician that needs access to an area that those are blocking. So, if anyone here happens to have those vehicles, if you can

039move them quickly. Thank you. One minute remaining. That's time. Thank you board for your patience there. Uh we'll move on to our next candidate. Up next we have Elizabeth Bunker. Elizabeth, if you'll join us at the table and we'll get started. >> You ready? >> I'm ready. >> Okay. I'll start with the first question. All school boards face minor and major challenges and board members get involved because they care about addressing those challenges for the community. What is a challenge in precinct 5 that you feel the board will need to address during the term of the service uh for the precinct 5 vacancy? What are the ways you can envision the board responding? >> First, I'd just like to say um it's a great honor to um interview for this position and to see all

040of you today. So, thank you so much for your service and for this opportunity. So, um, precinct 5 is long and skinny and it goes from east and west, which means that there's a broad pretty diverse range of needs within that, um, precinct. Um so one of the issues that I think we'll be facing as one of the most diverse precincts in the state um or in the um district is definitely making sure that students with the most need are multil- language learners um our students that are facing economic um uncertainties have equal resources. So just making sure that that distribution of resources is um meeting the needs of the students um some of which have higher needs. Um so creating intentional strategies um my previous teaching experience was working with multil- language learners um

041and I know that there are a lot of intentional strategies that can be utilized to ensure that those um students have the resource that they need to be successful because they do need additional supports. Um, also with the federal funding issue that has been already addressed, um, we don't know what the future holds always for some of the funding that some of our most v vulnerable students rely on. Also, some of our students don't feel safe in their school right now. They don't feel safe to come to school. They're not sure what could happen. So, I think addressing some of those needs and protecting our most vulnerable students will be very imperative as we move forward as a district. Right. The second question is one duty of the board is to craft policies around a

042wide ranging number of topics. Can you provide an example of a policy that you think works well in the district? Can you also provide is this correct? Yeah. Can you also provide an example of a new policy you'd suggest adding based on your experiences in precinct 5? >> Absolutely. So, Salt Lake City School District is the best district in the state in my opinion. Um, you are a welloiled machine. Um, so I think there are a lot of great policies. Um, I specifically like how you treat your teachers. um Salt Lake City School District pays very well and um you have the highest retention rate in the state of all districts of your educators. So I would definitely highlight that as a policy. Um what you have done to support your educators um has been

043working and I think that that shows in the outcomes with students. Um so well done board um and superintendent. Um yeah, I think that answer the question. You have the highest retention rate. So, bravo. >> Okay. And the second part of the question, >> oh yeah, will you repeat it? Sorry. >> Um, can you also provide an example of a new policy you'd suggest adding suggest adding based on your experiences in precinct 5? >> Absolutely. So, working with multil- language learners the majority of my career, I know that family engagement for all students is incredibly important and for some families are more barriers to engaging in their students education. And so, um, you do have board policy C1, which is about your family engagement policy. Rather than creating a new policy, I would expand further

044on that policy and ensure that the board is setting the tone that the schools in Salt Lake City School District are ensuring that they are providing materials that are all translated for the languages spoken in their school, that there are home visits, that there are some of these strategies incorporated um into that policy so that all schools are reaching out to their students in a way that can be equitable for students that can be more difficult to reach and their amilies. >> Um, a key role of the board is to steward federal, state, and local taxpayer dollars. What do you think should be the top three fiscal priorities of the board in the coming year? Can you provide an example that supports one of these priorities? >> Absolutely. So for the first priority, I would

045say continue the good work that you're doing with your educators, paying them a very competitive wage and in um doing the strategies that have gotten that retention rate. So I would say definitely prioritizing those competitive salaries and benefits. Um the second would be um equity and resource allocation, directing funds to the schools with the highest needs, making sure that the resources match the need um priorities. Um specifically with some of those ground services and partnerships, the community partnerships um especially in my neighborhood of Glendale that we see working really well. And the third fiscal priority I would say safe and sustainable facilities. There's also some empty school buildings that um I'm assuming there's a great plan for moving those forward um and making sure that those funds are being utilized. So um definitely investing in

046and updating those older buildings in a way that's sustainable for the long run. I think those investments into um you know more environmental methods can definitely help save money in the long run as well. So really prioritizing the um yeah safe and sustainable facilities. And then priority um teacher turn turnover is very expensive. It's thousands and thousands of dollars to recruit and onboard a new educator. So, um I would say continue to provide mentoring programs, burnout support, um competitive salaries and save on those recruitment costs. Also, we know that teachers who are happy and well- paid and have, you know, the credentials and experience that they need to serve the students in their classroom is what's best for students. That's what's going to provide the best long-term outcomes for students and um where we're going

047to see the most success and happiness with our our kiddos. All right, I have the fourth question. Can you describe a time when you strongly disagreed with a colleague on a minor major decision or policy? How did you handle this disagreement and what was the outcome for your working relationship and the decision itself? >> Absolutely. In my current role, I work um I oversee several boards and um also oversee a set of academic standards. So, um, a few legislative sessions ago, um, some legislation was presented that in my analysis would have impacted my standards in a way that we weren't sure that that would be the best thing for our um, content. So, I brought forth my concerns and those concerns weren't necessarily agreed upon. The interpretation wasn't the same. So, um, I didn't have

048the positionality at that time to be able to, um, advocate the way that I would have wanted to. So, instead, I did research. I was able to go and get some support, um, from different departments and really kind of get to the bottom with our policy team of what what that actual legislation could impact on our standards. and um was really able to understand why the department who did not have the concerns why they were interpreting it that way. So I think when it comes to these disagreements it's really about understanding people's intent. People often have good intent. Always assume best intent even when you're disagreeing and really go in with facts and the information and data and make those decisions driven on, you know, the best possible information. And when it it's, you know,

049a an opinion or something that cannot be brought to an easy conclusion, even using facts or um data, just really assuming the best intent and trying to understand where that person's coming from, because I really genuinely believe that people who are involved in education here in Utah all want the best for Utah students. They just don't always have the same approach or way of going about it. Can you tell I work at the Utah State Board of Education? So yes, it's definitely um something that I think we all need to practice is assuming good intent, seeking to understand that difference of opinion and trying to find that commonality. Also, facts and data are very helpful when making decisions. >> Thank you everyone. How you doing? One minute. That's >> all right. Thank you board members

050and folks in our who are in attendance this evening. We'll move on to our next interview this evening. We have David Jones. David, if you'll please join us at the table and and Ashley, you're starting us off with first question. Am I to wait for your time to appear? Okay. Um, hello. All school boards face minor and major challenges and board members get involved because they care about addressing those challenges for the community. What is a challenge in precinct 5 that you feel the board will need to address during the term of this vacancy? And what are the ways that you can envision the board responding? Um I believe one of the the challenges uh in district five is uh declining enrollments and uh even though there's I don't think the u uh enrollment figures

051are out for another month or so I believe that it's uh so you won't know for sure uh on district 5 what those will be. I believe that uh the the district uh knows and has told the board already through the budget documents that it got back in June that the enrollment is going to be anywhere from 500 to $600 five00 to 600 students less than it was the year before. And the trend is there. We've got basically 18,500 students in 36 schools in the district and over a period of years that's going to go down now uh to about 17,000. There's a number of reasons for that. Uh housing costs. Uh a lot of the reasons the board has no control over whatsoever. Um but the response that the board has would be important

052to how to address those uh de declining enrollments. Uh one thing you could do is fully embrace the declining enrollments um and revise your budgets accordingly. Uh and just accept the fact that over a period of years, you're going to have fewer and fewer students, figure out what other schools you might want to close. I see that as more of a spiral uh downward than anything uh that I would not uh hope the board would would do. Uh rather, I think the board needs to try to figure out how to address the client enrollments by uh by um in by a couple things. Marketing what they have uh would be way to do it. And honestly, uh over the weekend, I looked at the district's website and it has improved tremendously from the last time

053I saw it. It looks like they are marketing. Uh you have great teachers. I would dwell on that and let everyone know uh what the school district has. Um you have a diverse student population. You have parents from all over the world. I was told you have 80 some odd languages being spoken in the district. Uh all of these things are excellent to point out to people to try to encourage them to to come here. Uh our this district is the seat of the Utah government is here. Uh I noticed that the they were advertising that this is the flagship school district in the state. The flagship institution of higher institution of higher education is uh just down the road. And you need to wrap all of that into a really good um marketing campaign

054to highlight just exactly what the district has to encourage people to come here because you have uh uh to address the declined enrollments. You can get students and uh from school age students from other districts to come here if they're encouraged to come here. And you also have school age students that actually live here right now that are either that are not going to the the district public schools here. They're either going to charter schools or going to another district or their home school going to private schools. And I understand all you know everyone's different and you have very good reasons uh for going to those places. But if the district wants to address declining enrollments, I do feel like one of the best ways that it could do so is to pump up what

055it has so that when parents are looking to see where they're uh where the best place for their child to go to that this would be a really a really attractive um place for them to go. And then I think you have if you want to think big picture which I think is good. I mean, what if what if Salt Lake when I moved here four years ago, Salt Lake City did not have a top 10 public school in the United States here, it still doesn't. And I think it's a good time to start. Um uh I I because I think that if if uh you were to Google one of the top 10 schools in the United States and that popped the one in Salt Lake City, that would be a really positive benefit

056to increasing the uh the enrollment in in the school in the school system. Uh there's other things you can do. You work with the charter schools. Uh you can have interlocal agreements with other other districts. And so there are a number of ways I think you can get creative with addressing the declining enrollment. Thank you. This is the second question. One duty of the board is to craft policies around a wide ranging number of topics. Can you provide an example of a policy that you think works well in the district? Can you also provide an example of a new policy you'd suggest adding based on your experience in precinct 5? >> Um, thank you. Yes, I think one uh policy that works well is the community use of facilities. I think it's uh excellent that

057the school facilities uh uh when they're not being used for school purposes are available to the general public. Uh it it is it is accommodation that the uh schools provide but it's also really brings in the community to to to those schools and makes them uh makes the relationship between the community and the schools even even more powerful. Um and I was uh last February I was on the uh well I was on I'm with the East Liberty Park Community Organization. We put on a presentation about know your rights with regards to immigration enforcement. We needed a place to have that happen. We thought East High would be a great place for it. It was. And that's when I became familiar with this policy. It uh it worked well. Uh you've got, you know, when

058you when you open up your buildings and things, it's not free, but the rental rates were great, especially for nonprofits. Uh it's an easy online system to uh rent some space and that we had a facility use agreement that was was very reasonable. I have one constructive criticism. You have a a rental my understanding is you have a someone in the district office that is in charge of renting out space in elementary and junior high schools. But the athletic director is the one in charge in high schools and athletic directors are very very busy directing athletics and not so much in figuring out how to rent space. So maybe if you could have your rental district representative I don't know what the reason for that was but you know we we did work with both.

059Um and then I will point out a policy that I think would be beneficial. Uh but first the caveat is um less is more and I'm not even sure additional policies are necessary unless required by law. I was looking at all the policies that the district has and there's 80 some odd policies. they all have in joining uh administrative rules that talk about processes on how to implement the policy and I'm well aware of the um uh in education law of the number of laws that the state legislature uh introduces and then passes and then the state board of education has to put together a policy for that and they have administrative rule for that and some of those policies flow back to the local boards and it is quite the cottage industry of policym.

060So I'm not necessarily in favor of adding any more policies like I said unless it's required by law unless the district u provides the board with really good reasons why it's necessary. U given that caveat uh and this is not so much adding a policy as it is just revising a policy. uh the school resource officer now is is an integral part of the school community system but yet they are limited in in investigating and enforcing violations of school rules. I don't know why that is u but I think it would be something to at least consider because I think that that might be helpful in cutting down um incidences of school violations. Uh and also at least in district five, I know we have a kind of a very small but very consistent uh

061group of students that seem to want to engage in verbal abuse and vandalism. And I just would hope that maybe if that small policy change allowed the SRO's to further investigate and further enforce school rules that maybe that would reduce. And then if you want a really If you want a brand new policy, um, uh, I would have a policy to encourage every elementary school to have a school garden. I don't think you need one, but >> you want one. That'd be my suggestion. >> Thank you. Um, the next question, um, a key role of the board is to steward federal, state, and local taxpayer dollars. What do you think should be the top three fiscal priorities of the board in the coming year? Can you provide an example that supports one of these priorities?

062>> Uh yes. You know, stewardship of of taxpayer dollars is not sexy. It is one of the most important uh roles though of a of a of a local school board. Um because you are spending taxpayers monies. You need to pay attention uh to how those are are used. uh the three things that uh priorities I think the board should look at. One is kind of ongoing will probably be there every year is just that you monitor the budget accounts and make sure that those budget accounts are are uh spent as budgeted. Um and then the other ones really deal with the $730 million uh general obligation bond. And uh my understanding is that it's in the design stage now and it's going to be bid out in the next coming year for Highland High

063and for West High. Um and I think that's really important for uh the board to focus on on that. And then also I need I think the board needs to keep an eye on the bond market and make sure that the um when these bonds are author when they are authorized and sold that we get the best available interest rate for them for those bonds. Um, with regards to monitoring budget accounts, I think if this and I think this is done anyway, but we it's still should be a priority for the board to monitor those budget accounts so you know if there's going to be a mistake being made or something is not if you need more money into that account or less money in that account. I think it helps for future uh budgets.

064Uh, you need to look at projected revenue. I know the legislature meets every spring and that's going to give you some better in March, April as to what that's going to be for the coming year. But you need to pay attention to that. You also need to pay attention to uh what is being spent and make sure that's not being overspent with the whole idea that you don't have to come back in in June and revise the budget upwards just to cover what was was spent. U the the bond I think really is maybe the the you know hopefully it won't be on ongoing uh fiscal priority but it certainly is this year and it's $730 million. Um and it's not just for uh rebuilding Highland High and West High. It's also for an athletic

065facility at East and and importantly for sustainability projects. And I think uh the one of the things I heard when that was being uh when the voters were asked to pass the bond was well we don't know what how much money this is going to be used for sustainability projects. I think it would be really good for the board to identify or start a process by which you would identify what is a sustainability project. You probably need to start with figuring out what what what it means to be a sustainability project and get be transparent and get everyone involved in that process. And then with the uh paying attention to the bond market, uh you definitely need to work with I'm not a bond attorney, but you definitely need to work with the bond attorney.

066Let them know that you don't want to miss I mean uh any great opportunities. Uh I'm not sure the terms of the general obl But it is important for our constituents that ones we have now and the ones that are going to hear in 20 and 30 years when the bonds still being paid back that we have a lowest interest rate possible on those bonds. Um, and then an example I think was that supports one of these positions uh would be I love talking about this but I think school gardens are great sustainability projects. They basically check off all the boxes. And if some of that money could be used to uh encourage or provide every elementary school to have their own school garden, you will see students and teachers that love the ability. It's

067first of all, it teaches sustainability. It teaches stewardship. It's a alternative classroom space. Uh the one that I volunteer at has desks outside. We have an overhead that is uh wonderful. Every time students come out there, they stay. Um, every time teachers come out there, I see them looking around thinking, I wonder how this would work to teach math out here, reading or whatever. I mean, it's just a it's a great alternative space. It encourages innovation uh amongst children and creativity. Um, it's um it's a w it's a warm and welcoming environment. I don't know. I I'm just a strong advocate of school gardens. And if you've got some money and that's considered to be a sustainability project, I think that's a great example of how we could be fiscally responsible with that the pot

068money. >> Okay. The last question is uh can you describe a time when you strongly disagreed with a colleague on a major decision or policy? How did you handle the disagreement and what was the outcome for your working relationship and the decision itself? >> Thank you. Um, one year during the time I was with the um as a education direct division director at the attorney general's office. We had a university president that was interested in hiring their own attorneys, their own general counsel and kind of disting themselves from the attorney general's office. And this happened in a U the uh in a context that um once the board of regents uh approved a university president to hire the general counsel, the attorney general's office still had three main obligations. One, it it was the only

069one that could litigate. It could only settle uh disputed claims and could it was the only one that could provide formal uh legal opinions. And I was kind of determined to lean into those uh statutory uh responsibil and the general counsel were just as determined to maintain total control over all the attorneys that were on the campus. And so you had a um we strongly disagreed on what that would look like and u being that we were all attorneys there was like more than one way to interpret the statute and there was much argument about the whole thing but basically it's like who's responsible for what and so I remembered in the background some podcast I had heard about how to resolve uh really hide dispute differences and I put that into play And basically

070it's like let's put down our must-have list and you're and a want to have list and have the other side do that too. that it really encourages some discussion. Uh a lot of times uh uh it's eye openening because you realize that uh while you claim to both want the same thing that there are slight differences uh in that and it leads to a collaborative effort to try to resolve those differences because ultimately in this particular case the best thing to do was to find a way to provide the best legal services possible to the to the university. The way they worked out for me was that I I set up a face-to-face meeting with the attorney. We talked. We set forth our positions. I suggested we write down our must have and and want

071to have list. We didn't write anything down, but we talked about it. And uh that led to a a great working relationship. Uh uh the basically the outcome with that attorney was uh probably six months later uh I would regularly receive a call usually on a Friday afternoon just to talk about various legal issues and so we ended up really respecting one another's strengths and uh it ended up well. Come to find out about a year or two ago, the state legislature changed that law a little bit, but kept in the same things about litigation, settling claims, and former legal opinions, but it made it much more along the lines of what we ended up doing ourselves. So, I felt I feel good about that. Make sure the website does green. This is I don't

072know. That's time >> later on. All >> right, board members, we're going to regroup, please. We >> got our next candidate who's with us this evening. Uh we have Carlos H. Martins. if you want to join us up front at the table for being here this evening. >> You're welcome. And so just to recap um our process this evening, Carlos, we've got 20 minutes for you to answer the phone questions that you received ahead. >> All right. And we're gonna go ahead and start with board member Longwell as the first. >> Can you pause for just a minute? I'm having a technical difficulty. >> Totally. And we'll take this moment to also acknowledge that our student board member has joined us this evening, Foss Goodwin from West High School. Thank you, Foss, for being here.

073And sorry about the miscommunication. Thank you. All right. Um, all school boards face minor and major challenges and board members get involved because they care about addressing those challenges for the community. What is a challenge in precinct 5 that you feel the board will need to address during the term of the vacancy? What are the ways you can envision the board responding? >> Yeah, I think uh precinct 5 has a lot of challenges um like the district as a whole and mentioned earlier were a lot of those. Um I wrote down this whole thing, but I'm just going to scrap it and be myself because if you choose me, you're going to be working with me. So, you probably want to hear how I would respond. Um, I'm not a person that has all the

074answers and I don't have an a background in education at all, but I know where to find the answers because I am a product of precinct 5. I went to Emerson Elementary. I went to East High School and um I contacted um my wife's cousin who is a teacher at East and I got a hold of an administrator at Horizonte and I called Emerson Elementary but the principal it's her first year so there was not much said there. Um but a lot of the people had agreed on some logistical stuff like um road safety and um um retaining teachers and retaining students and enrollment and absentes and busing. Um, but I thought personally from what I know, one of the big problems in precinct 5 was the loss of trust. There was a loss of

075trust in the community that I'm a part of when three of the seven schools proposed to be closed were there. And um I know that a lot of people didn't understand exactly where this was coming from or couldn't understand the process. Although y'all had so many meetings and explained it to us in so many different ways, it still was hard for the people to like what do you mean the school you just put solar panels on the school and yada yada yada. But um yeah, I think um to rebuild the trust in the community is um a thing that uh would take volunteering, showing up and um uh yeah, I think I yield my time for that question. So, I'm ready for the next one. Okay, second question. One duty of the board is to

076craft policies around a wide range of number of topics. Can you provide an example of a policy that you think works well in in the district and can you provide an example of a new policy suggest adding based on your experiences in precinct 5? Okay. So, um, one policy that I really liked was the the letters, uh, the literacy program. Um, I thought that that worked well and it helped retain the teachers because it paid for their continuing education and, uh, making them stronger for whatever they choose to do in the future. Um, uh, let's see. One thing that I would do is what I mentioned, some of these kind of bleed into each other, but what I would do is that I would propose that maybe people on the board volunteer at schools more.

077I know that um it's hard to find the time to go in and there's so many kids and so many teachers, but I think that if there was a policy in place where we could engage the schools more, a common thing that was said to me was, "Well, I haven't seen her. she hasn't been to this school or something like towards those ends. Um I don't know because I don't follow y'all so I don't have any clue if that's true or not or you probably were there but they didn't see you. Um so that is a policy that I would enact. And then also I heard um that there's busing to east but not busing to horizonte and those are already at risk kids. So, if there could be some sort of system to help

078them, and I know that every kid gets a UTA pass because of what Mayor Minhal did, but um there's got to be maybe a way we could get a van or something that we could pick them up and it could be like a a mentor. So, it's you know, a lot of the times you'll hear a kid's problems on the car ride from and to school and so maybe we could like have something like that. Uh and that is the answer to that question. Thank you. Uh, a key role of the board is to steward federal, state, and local taxpayer dollars. What do you think should be the top three fiscal priorities of the board in the coming year? And can you provide an example that supports one of those priorities? >> Yeah, so I

079looked this up online and I saw that the priorities were addressing declining enrollment by implementing strategies to attract and retain students. um upgrading two would be upgrading district infrastructure through the passage and management of major bond um which was I think close to 700 million um and um and that would like I I think that when we spend money in our schools we we we we demonstrate that we intend to be here. We're gonna we just put all this money in the school. It's going to be here. It's not just going to go away. uh regardless of federal money getting cut or not, we can we can outlast this storm. Um and third is providing equitable resources across all schools so that every campus regardless of neighborhood or enrollment size has access to high quality

080instructional materials, technology, and um support services. Um, how I started this road to wherever I'm going is I I started to coach the refugee uh kids at the international charter school. And um by by hanging out with the kids, I really have to treat them holistically. We have to there's so much more than just what's happening in class. There's for me what what helped me come out of my shell was I played hockey for East High School and the sports kind of helped me evolve and I have to say this because Tom Green's here so it's you know we got to put more money into sports and uh yeah that's the answer to that question. >> Okay, thank you. The fourth question is, can you describe a time when you strongly disagreed with a colleague

081on a major decision or policy? How did you handle the disagreement and what was the outcome for your working relationship and the decision itself? Well, I'm glad you asked me that question because it's very personal to me and to you guys because I disagreed with closing the schools and um you know, we we printed out shirts and we came and talked to you and um I think the outcome was super positive because I'm here right now and I'm talking to you guys again and trying to join you and um it was a bittersweet I mean we were able to save Emerson and that's great but it was bittersweet you know Hawthorne I also went to Hawthorne I went to Emerson 1 through five. That's where I learned how to speak English. And then I went

082to Hawthorne because we moved to the other side of 1700 South. Um and yeah, I mean it we knew that it was a long time coming because there was so much data that said, you know, our en families are moving out of Salt Lake, the enrollment's getting smaller. But I think that like we have the Olympics coming up. you know, I might have confirmation bias because I'm in my 40s and I just had my first kid. So, I'm and I know a lot of people like me who are waiting until they're older to have kids. And this couple from California moved across the street from us and they brought two kids with them. And they're not at elementary level yet, but I see just like all around me kids. But it's probably because I have

083a kid now, so I see kids everywhere now. And uh yeah. Um, so yeah, I mean I think it was all in all it was positive. Um, raise your hand if you remember me from talking to you guys the first time. Oh, you do? That's great because I had show and tell type of stuff. I'm a showand tell kind of guy. I brought some articles I printed up, but like I said, I kind of scrapped the whole idea because, you know, I want I want to be authentic in myself. So, there you go. That's it. >> Thank you, Carlos. We appreciate the time. >> Okay. How much time was that? >> Oh, wow. He's a great One minute. That's time. All right, everybody. Thank you. We're gonna regroup for our final interview this evening. Our

084next um individual that we'll be interviewing is Ann Elizabeth Romano. And Ann, I believe you go by Annie as well, at least in your resume. Annie. Okay, Annie, thank you for joining us this evening. >> Thank you. >> All right. And I have the first question. So I'll go ahead and get started when Alan's ready. Ready? Okay. The first question for you, Annie. All school boards face minor and major challenges and board members get involved because they care about addressing those challenges for the community. What is a challenge in precinct 5 that you feel the board will need to address during the term of service? What are the ways you can envision the board responding? >> Um, thank you for this opportunity. It's so great to be here and to listen to all the candidates.

085I'm very impressed with all of their backgrounds and um all their responses as well. Um I just want to give a brief intro to give context to some of my responses. So I am also a product of the Salt Lake City School District. I went to Bonavville Elementary School, uh Clayton Middle School and East High School. Um, and I, you know, love Salt Lake, but took several years outside, um, exploring and doing different things. Um, I returned after my bachelor's degree in art, and I was an art teacher at Legacy Legacy Preparatory Academy, which is a charter school in North Salt Lake, um, under Karen Holman, who's the current Bonavville, uh, principal. Um, and then I was also a substitute in the district. Um, and quickly found out that I was not cut from the

086same cloth as other teachers. That was not my calling in life. Um, it's a tough gig. Um, I kind of switched gears and um, got a masters of public administration and have worked in education field ever since doing different um, type of administrative roles including in higher ed. um also at the American International School of Utah, which is a former charter school in Murray. Um and I spent some time in Italy working in education as well as in Florida for the Hillsboro County School District. Um so I also lived in New York and worked with Cornell University. Um so I bring a lot of different ideas from different places. Um but again this is home for me. I moved back in 2022 with my family and I have a two children in the district in

087grades one and three. Um so with that context in mind, um I think uh a challenge for precinct 5 is regaining trust. Um, as Carlos said, I think um with the the circumstances surrounding the board vacancy as well as the um closure of two schools in the precinct um Hawthorne and Riley that left um uh possibly some upset community members, maybe some parents feeling abandoned or uh like the district withdrew from the community in a way. Um so I think there are many opportunities to regain trust in in precinct 5. Um and I would love to be a part of that. I think that um re-engaging with parents through communication and um with the community who has there's been a shift obviously of the student population um some of whom go to Mountain View Elementary

088School. I have um friends and family members who have students at Mountain View and there are several issues that I've talked to them about um about overcrowding and traffic issues and those sorts of things. I think listening, communicating, and having that open dialogue would be really important to reestablishing that rapport um and moving forward. All right. Um, the second question is, one duty of the board is to craft policies around a wide ranging number of topics. Can you provide an example of a policy that you think think works well in the district? Can you also provide an example of a new policy you'd suggest adding based on your experiences in precinct 5? >> Yeah, I love the kind of the slogan of the Salt Lake City School District of um excellence and equity and I

089I as a student and as a parent have felt that throughout the district that in spite of imperfections, in spite of you know maybe imperfectly implemented policies that there is a general um desire to include all students to educate all students and I think that's a huge win that that is the message of the district um and that value has is throughout many policies I was looking through you know I can cite G3 G11 G19 all these policies have that through line which I think is crucial to say, "Every student is welcome here and we are working hard for you." Now, we're not perfect at it and there are some things that we can maybe do to improve the implementation of policies, but I would commend the the board for all of their work in

090creating an environment that is welcoming and inclusive. Um, so I one specific um thing, it's not quite a policy, but is the safe schools resolution that was adopted in 2017. Um, I was really pleased to see that um that that was adopted by the board and then renewed this past year. Um, and as a parent, I found um Dr. Grant's responsiveness and timely communication to uh the district regarding that policy to be quite um pertinent and um I think it makes a difference if that's the messaging um going forward that every student is welcome regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Um, in terms of new policies, I I kind of echo what previous candidates have said that there is no need for new policies. Um, in fact, I think you have quite a comprehensive list

091of policies. And I think that, um, it is more about amending and updating some policies. Uh, one that I would like to point out that I think has room and is a new newer policy um is the district-wide device policy, which is um personal devices such as smartphones. And as this is the first school year with this being implemented from the state legislature, I think there's a lot of um different techniques and maybe different sites and schools are implementing this in a different way. I agree with the um school board's general approach of sight specific um you know policies and allowing sites and schools and administrators to work within their own context and school populations and demographics. I think that's great. I do think there is some room for centralized policies in some cases. And

092I think that um a more specific district-wide policy would allow um administrators and teachers to take off a mental load off their shoulders in terms of constructing and implementing a way to keep students off of their devices and let allow the school board um and administrators to be the bad guys in that sense. Um I know we all agree and have seen research about devices being um a barrier for the social and emotional and academic performance of the younger generations and I think that's a common concern among parents. So communicating that and getting buyin from parents is crucial I think in this stage. So in this coming year, I would love to help work on um further detailing that policy and helping to implement it. Okay. A key role of the board is to steward

093federal, state, and local taxpayer dollars. What do you think should be the top three fiscal priorities of the board of the up on the up and the upcoming year? Can you provide an example that supports one of these priorities? >> Yeah. Um I think you know there are so many priorities to be had but I I would agree with Russ the first candidate who had mentioned attendance as being a crucial priority and we know that obviously that's a nationwide concern. Um, we were just in New York and I have friends who are teachers there and we were discussing what they were doing and I've talked to my friends in Florida from when I worked at in Hillsboro County what they're doing. And so I know it's not specific to us but we can try to

094work with our populations and with each student and family in order to increase attendance. Um so I think that would be the hugest concern because we as we know attendance is the bedrock of the learning environment and also the opportunity to increase academic performance which I think in terms of um enrollment rates which many people have mentioned one of the best ways to counter that um especially with voucher systems coming is to have a welcoming inclusive and high performing school and we can't get high performing schools if the kids aren't there, right? So, I think this this is a um a really important first step that I would prioritize and financially like in a fiscal terms I would use the money to have hire family liaison. Uh so that would be a role that would

095be at um schools that are identified as high needs schools because of high chronic absenteeism. those family liaison would work directly par you know to with a parent having a a rapport and a conversation instead of getting an automated call that your student was gone you'd get a phone call from Mr. Smith or who whomever your um liaison is at your school um talking about oh you have a transportation issue let's talk about bus routes oh you know what is it because of a nutritional issue or how can we help um resolve this so in a way it would be a case uh manager in a way prioritizing attendance and then from there using a multi-ter system of support to integrate teachers, counselors or whatever um needs to happen based on that. And in in

096addition to that um I think having positive recognition and rewards goes a long way. So rather than emphasis on truency officers and guards having a family liaison who's from the community who's building that relationship and also who is solving problems and listening to the community uh is huge and they could do things for example if a student attends 10 days in a row give a certificate just small reward systems that um could be implemented at these specific sites who need additional support for attendance. Um so that's one. Secondly, I think um early childhood education is a passion of mine. I've always felt that the research is so robust in recommending um expansive and inclusive early childhood education programs. um as a dual working household with young children. When we lived in New York, we were

097so excited to get my son into prek and we had the most positive experience there. He had an IEP and needed extra support and that um I will forever be grateful for that as a parent and I would love to extend that to parents in this district. Um, there currently is a great program that the district has worked on for over 20 years to build the foundations for early childhood education. I would just put more funding towards that to hire more staff and build capacity at the schools, particularly with preK4 full-time spots. Um, I think those spots are coveted and very necessary in many of the schools where they are Bachman Edison, Liberty, Franklin, Mountain View, Park View. if you could double those spots, I think we could fill them and long term, we'd see

098a huge benefit and a great return on investment as you would say. And lastly, I would just say um the AVID curriculum. So, when I worked in Hillsboro uh education foundation, I worked at the education foundation with the Hillsboro County School District, which is one of the largest school districts in the country. I worked on the Take Stock and Children program. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it. It's a great program. Um, at risk students are paired with mentors and are given scholarships to state institutions, technical colleges or four-year colleges depending on the student. Um, and they have seen huge benefits, 99% uh high school graduation rates because they have an incentive to graduate. They know they have a path in the future. And this all started with AVID. Um, the district decided to

099roll that out mandatory in grades six and seven. And I think the Salt Lake City School District should do mandatory five and six throughout the district because it teaches executive functioning. It teaches time management, planning for your future, college readiness, all of these things. But I think having that incentive and vision is really highly motivating for students of all backgrounds and income levels. And I think that that would be a great use of funds to expand that. I know it's in certain areas of the district or certain schools, but having that expanded and a robust part of grades five and six to prepare them to know how to be a student, to know how to have a career. Um, and it can actually also layer in um helping with attendance and homework and performance and

100mental health concerns. you know, it's part of a multi-tered system. Um, yeah. >> All right, I have the last question. Can you describe a time when you strongly disagreed with a colleague on a major decision or policy? How did you handle the disagreement? And what was the outcome for your working relationship and the decision itself? >> Yeah. So, this is always a vulnerable question, but um I'm happy to share one experience. I think um I so in 2015 I moved um back to Utah and got hired um to be the assistant director of the international program at the American International School of Utah um which was a very unique school if you're familiar. It was a public charter private hybrid um with private tuition from international students and the public charter from the Murray School

101District. So it was really an interesting dynamic. Um I entered pretty young, pretty enthusiastic and was promoted to be the international director pretty early on. I recruited and enrolled um hundreds of students from over 20 countries working with foreign exchange students through CIS and also with private F1 visa students. And um one thing that I ca after a year or two in the job I realized there was some fina financial mismanagement happening. um within the leadership of the school. Um so this was my boss and um I openly disagreed with uh the superintendent on some important financial issues, but that was not my role, nor was it within my scope of control. Um so I, you know, discussed it with other leaders. Um and then happened to go on maternity leave um for my first

102child. And while I was gone, uh, he was dismissed, um, and they reworked leadership. Um, and I came back and tried to work within what happened and ended up, um, event, you know, leaving the school and moving to New York. But um it was a really important professional development experience for me and personal experience for my growth in terms of understanding power dynamics, understanding my role within the politics of an organization. also kind of um maybe upping my desire to be informed and to uh understand all aspects of whatever organization or institution I'm a part of so that I can clearly and transparently communicate with people. Um so in that way I feel like it was a positive. Um I've grown a lot from that and I learned how to communicate my disagreement. Um but

103generally, you know, was a difficult situation. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, Annie. We appreciate your time. >> Thanks. >> Board members, we still have um our five minutes that we need to acknowledge. Um we do have scheduled a 10-minute recess, but uh we're still trying to get in touch with our county clerk. I don't know if we've been successful in that or not. I think that'd be fine. Um, so we'll still conduct our five minute note takingaking um finalizing that along with a 15 minute break. Um, so we will be back um just after 6 o' Thank you. >> 6:15. Thank you. Don't worry. Good morning. Oh my god. That's it. [Music] So quiet. That's So what are those I feel organized. And I Anyway, I'm surprised That's It's always I knew it. It's not

104All right, everybody. Thank you for um allowing us the time to have that break and a little extra time. Um we are here for um the next two portions of our agenda. Um one is the discussion of candidates for precinct 5. Um and then also our action agenda where we appoint and swear in a new board member. Um and then anything moved for consent which is moved because we didn't have anything move over. So um as I discussed at the beginning of this process this evening um board members handed most of the board members handed Allen um an anonymous scoring sheet which will will a ranking um of most of the board members. Again, this doesn't determine who the successful candidate is. It only um is taking place to initiate the conversation. Um and as

105I mentioned earlier um in previous uh vacancy appointments. Um the highest ranking candidate from this portion hasn't always been the number one or successful appointed candidate. Um, so I would now turn the time over to business administrator Ksley to kind of give us a sense of where we're at based on those anonymous ranking sheets. >> Thank you. So again, they were ranked. So this is kind of like golf. The lower score, the higher the rank. Um, so I accumulated the ranking sheets I received and uh the top three um the top three candidates are separated with by one point. So there's there's that grouping and then there's a significant break before we um go to the uh the final two. So I'll just name those top three candidates um for for discussion. Uh they are

106Elizabeth Bunker and David Jones and an Elizabeth Romano. Romano is that thank you for letting know that Alan um again board this is um hopefully was an exercise that helps us generate the beginning of our conversation. Um I noted that not everybody participated in this element of it. So uh we would certainly ask board members to weigh in on on where they might be if they didn't participate. Um but also if folks have other experiences that they'd like to bring into the conversation. And I know Bryce, this is an experience that you had gone through in previous years and so maybe we would start the conversation off with you if you're comfortable with that. >> Yeah, absolutely. And I I more or less wanted to make a comment about the five. Um I personally want

107to thank all five of you for participating. Uh I went through this process a little over four years ago. I know how nerve-wracking how much time and energy you've put into this. So, I just wanted to express my uh gratitude and appreciation for the participation um for the uh precinct 5 community. I know this is not an ideal way to um select your board member. Um but I think um you are in good hands no matter who emerges as the um the candidate or the person that we ultimately appoint to this position. But just again, thank you for participating. I I really um admire the the guts and the ambition and just the general that you all expressed tonight. So, thank you. Thank you. Any other board members wishing to make a comment? >> Yeah,

108I would just talk about um how I feel about some of these top candidates. I think that one of the things that's really important to many board members and is reflected a little bit in the questions is the different involvement people have in precinct 5. And I think of all the top three candidates that were named, you know, we have state board members who invol are involved in many of our schools. We have community volunteers who've been through the school system and now they're participating in other ways and also a parent who has children in the precinct who are a part of the community and who is a parent there. And I think one thing that rises to the top for me is um our board has had a diminishing um voice of parents over

109time. And I think it's very important that whoever we have is a strong representative of the community who's involved in schools. And to me, uh, one thing that brings Ann Elizabeth Romano sort of to the top is just wanting to keep that parent voice in, you know, in this precinct, especially. >> Thank you, Ashley. >> Any other discussion? Amanda? Um the thing that all five of you presented really well and it was like I um had to spend a lot of time figuring flushing out um the positives versus the things that could I guess for lack of better words um go against a person. But it was really hard because everybody was well spoken, well thought out, really you care about your precinct, the district, the kids um which is commendable. Um, so knowing um

110that you've all kind of put yourself on the line, just know that uh every one of you are respected for what you're bringing to the table. I'm very grateful for you making this effort to commit to this position because we need passionate individuals that want to do right for our students and our teachers in our district. So, thank you for that. I just wanted to express thanks to all of you for what what you've done this evening for the time that you've taken not just this evening but the time that you have taken to go through this application process and to follow up with the Salt Lake County clerk or the county clerk. And I mean this is an undertaking and I want to acknowledge the the that you expend it. But I'm also really

111grateful to see that there are individuals that are so highly qualified um that really want to ensure that precinct six, precinct 5 um is well represented. Um thank you. Yet to me when we received our packets and we just received them a little less than a week ago. As I looked through them, I thought it's remarkable to have that caliber of individuals. Um I I appreciate the perspectives that each of you bring and I wish that we could like squeeze you all together into one, but I don't think that works. So, I I appreciated your comment um board member Anderson about parent voices. That is something that I have thought a lot about. Um I'm not a voice for current students. I All of my children were in the Salt Lake City School District, but

112as you can tell looking at me, that was a while ago. Um so I appreciate um having that parent perspective. I also think that the teacher perspective is an important one and I think people have heard me um say that in the past and I think that there are individuals that are candidates this evening that bring the teachers perspective. But I appreciate um Annie Romano. I mean you have parent perspective as well. So, thanks to all of you. >> Well, I too was impressed with all of the um slate of candidates and uh I in addition to the questions that we asked, I I had some values that I really looked at just personally. First and foremost, I wanted to if they really cared about public education and for all kids and all of you

113passed that test. Um, I also wanted to know how familiar you were with the Salt Lake City School District and you've all either taught um or volunteered in in the district and so some of you have some varying um you know, levels of experience. Um, you're all very um we we have some candidates who are very highly educated and um talked about critical thinking and using facts and data. I wanted to know if you understood your role as a school board member. So, I was really looking at that in your answers. Um, I also looked at your why. Why are you running? You know, what's that singular thing that really um was the spark for you to run for office? And um you know, it's all about um students, I think, student focus. So, I

114you all passed that test as well. Um, and then I just looked for things that stood out. Um, so I just wanted you to know that it was a really difficult decision, a very difficult decision that we all took very seriously and uh, thank you for for stepping up and being willing to serve this district. >> Thank you, Charlotte. >> I don't have anything to add that's already been said. Um, I think of us up here know the difficulties of running for office, whether that's Lyn Bryce's, you know, experience of filling an appointment from a vacancy or getting your name on the ballot. Um, it's a lot of work not only to do that, but then it's also a lot of work um to make sure that you're fulfilling your commitments um on a on

115a day-to-day basis. And it's not always easy to do so um with the other demands that we might have in our personal lives. So, um I thank each and every one of you for stepping up and um putting your in the ring. Um, it takes a lot of courage to do that, to represent, um, to put yourself in a position to make decisions that not everybody is going to agree with. Um, it's, uh, it it takes a lot of effort. So, I that isn't lost on any of us. I appreciate all of you for for doing that and taking the time um, not only to submit your materials, but to do it in such a thoughtful and meaningful way that describes your commitment to education, to students, to our district. Um, like was said, I

116know I said I wouldn't do it, but you know, whether you attended our district, whether you're a parent, whether you've worked in education, um, or it's just something that you're really passionate about. So again, uh, we just thank you for for being a part of this process. Uh, we'll move on into the second round of our discussion. Um, and I would entertain a motion to move forward. Um, I saw Bryce's hand first and then Ashley. >> Yeah, I wanted to make some additional comments just really quick. Um first one um I wanted to recognize two candidates um that stood out to me for a particular reason and that is uh Annie and Elizabeth. Um both of them recognized that the precinct extends over into the west side and as a westside board member that is

117something that's very important to me. So I wanted to express uh gratitude for acknowledging that portion of the precinct that I feel often um gets ignored. So thank you for that. Um the second piece I believe we said that we could ask this question. I know Alan mentioned the top three. I would be curious to know uh those three for my own like the ranking one two three um for my consideration. >> Uh so the top rank with a total of 10 is Elizabeth Bunker and then we have both David Jones and Elizabeth Romano with 11. Thank you. Ashley, >> yeah, I was listening to everybody's um comments and there was only one thing that I felt was sort of left unsaid, which is just that we decide this vacancy for a very short term

118based on a limited amount of information. And so in addition to thanking everyone for attending, I also just wanted to remind all of the candidates and their community that regardless of the outcome of this vacancy, obviously there will continue to be free and fair public elections for this precinct. And I think whether or not you're selected for the vacancy, I think it's important to remember that you can continue to put your name into this process and speak more to the residents of precinct 5 because really none of us are residents of pre precinct 5 by the nature of this. So we're doing our best to balance what we have heard from your communities with in what we've heard from candidates in a very limited time frame. So I would say to the people listening who

119are eager to learn who's representing them and also to whichever candidates you know may not be chosen tonight for a temporary vacancy I would remind everyone you can continue to engage in this process and continue to engage the public which is a really important thing. Thank you Ashley. >> Any other comments? Is there a motion on the table? Yeah. And um this I asked the the question about rankings for a reason. So I'd like to move that we appoint Elizabeth Bunker to the precinct five vacancy. Is there a second motion? >> I second that. Have a motion and a second on the table. Um this opens up another round of discussion if needed. Amanda, >> given this is the first time I've done this whole thing, I'm kind of like running and blind here. >>

120Sure. >> Um I believe that um and maybe I should have thrown it out there before. I'm still trying to Everybody has such great qualities. Um I am on the same page with Ashley in that having individuals with children currently in the district is extremely important. Living it on a daily basis and understanding what is going on actually in these buildings in a daily basis is huge. Um so it's hard for me to say this, but I actually I I do not support um Elizabeth Bunker for that reason, but I do support Elizabeth Romano for that reason. So, I know we're not a vote yet, but I don't need to discuss this. >> Um, I am certainly not opposed to um Elizabeth Bunker serving and I like I stated those three top candidates are three

121who rose to the top for me. I would be happy actually supporting any of those three candidates as our board member. But I too mentioned that for specific reasons that Ann Elizabeth Romano is the candidate that personally rose to the top for me. So as this vote proceeds, I would um vote no. Not because I'm opposed. Certainly. I'm fine with any of these three candidates advancing, but because I have specifically a different preference at this time. >> Thank you. >> Any further discussion? I think that I expressed a similar sentiment along that um vein. But what I would also want to convey again is what the others have said is all three of you are certainly wellqualified and would do a great job. I mean, I'm I'm thinking of Mr. Jones as well. all of

122that experience, that legal experience. And I mean, we had a question on there about policy. And for me, with the experience that I've had on the policy subcommittee of this school board and then with USBA and with JLC, many of you have participated in that. I certainly have an appreciation for people who come with background because so much of our policy is statutoily driven and it's really difficult when you choose one then there's another person that brought and miss Bunker you bring all of that experience from the Utah State Board of Education um all three of you would um provide like I a wonderful perspective. If it came down to it, I think that that parent voice is really helpful for me. Thank you. Any further discussion? We do have a motion on the table

123that we do need a vote on. Did you have anything that you wanted to say? >> I was going to echo that. Um, Elizabeth Bunker is familiar not only with our district and with teaching um students who um who who struggle, you know, I mean um youth incarcer youth incarceration um students with disab abilities. Um, she's familiar with charter school and also all of the fine arts curriculum for for our school. I mean, she comes with a lot of strengths there. Um, yeah, I I know it's important. I I do I do think it's important to have had student or had kids in the schools because you really do experience that firsthand. I couldn't have really focused all of my attention if I still had young kids in school. Like that would have been hard

124for me on the board. And that's different for everybody. I'm just saying that that would have been me. That's why I chose to do it now. That my youngest I have three boys and my youngest is 22 now you know um I mean but if you have volunteered if you have taught that's a lot of experience as well because we have to it's all the stakeholders that make our schools excellent I'll just amend what I said before which is I said I would vote no and based on our procedures, you're just supposed to document sort of preferably the reason you abstained. I would abstain from this particular motion to see if there is a subsequent motion, but again, not because I dispute any of these candidates serving. I think all of them would serve us

125really well and and I support them, but I would only abstain from voting on this motion with the idea that there may be an additional motion. That's all. >> Any further discussion? I'm gonna go ahead and call for a roll call vote. Uh starting with Charlotte. >> Yes. Charlotte Fe Jefferson. Yes. >> Ashley Anderson abstain. >> Nazer. Yes. >> Brian Jensen. I'm abstaining for the same reason that was mentioned by board member Henderson. >> Amanda Long. >> Rice Williams. Yes. >> Right. So that motion is at a tie the vote there. So parliamentarian I believe when we have a tie the motion fails. Is that correct? Great. Um thank you Elizabeth. I will entertain another motion. >> I move that we appoint uh Annie Elizabeth Romano to the precinct by vacancy. >> Second. >> All

126right. We have a motion and a second on the table. Is there any discussion to the motion? I think we've talked about it quite a bit already. So, seeing none, we'll go ahead and start with a roll call vote with board member Anderson. >> Ashley Anderson, yes. >> Salazar, yes. >> Brian Jensen, yes. >> Amanda Longwell, yes. >> Bryce Williams, yes. >> Charlotte Fe Jefferson, no. Okay, that motion does pass. Annie Romano, congratulations. You are the new precinct foundation. [Applause] Right. There are a couple things we got to do until that's official. Uh we do have our Salt Lake County Clerk, Lanny Chapman, here as well. Lanny, if you would come up to this podium along with Annie. >> I think they're printing something. >> Oh, they're printing something out real quick. Okay. Let's take

127a a fivem minute recess and we'll come back for the swearing in ceremony. Thank you. So I have my fancy I can't keep up. [Music] So I Good job. I didn't I have Are we on? [Music] Thank you. [Applause] I'm so sorry. [Music] All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to call the recess to end. Board members, if you could please join us back on the DAS, that would be much appreciated. Thank you again to all the candidates who put their name in the ring for this opportunity this evening. >> Your efforts aren't unnoticed. Always one kid in the hallway. >> Hey, Brian. That was me when I was a kid. >> Some days it still is me. >> All right, Sam, are we back online? Okay, perfect. Um, Annie, would you please join our

128Salt Lake County Clerk, Lanny Chapman, at the podium, please? >> And please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I do solemnly swear that my full name is >> I do solemnly swear that my full name is Elizabeth. I swear to support, obey, and defend >> I swear to support, obey, and defend >> the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of Utah >> and the Constitution of the State of Utah >> and perform the duties of my office >> as Salt Lake School Board District 5 member >> as Salt Lake School Board District 5 member >> with fidelity. >> Let me be the first to congratulate you. [Applause] I have a copy for you and one is for me to file. So, uh, Salt Lake School Board, thank

129you for all that you do. Um, this is one of my favorite things to be able to get in the community uh and serve uh by swearing the oath of office with our newly appointed member and Elizabeth Romano. And I look forward to great things from you. >> Thank you. >> Annie, how about you join us and you can give a few remarks before we >> Oh, did real quick. >> Sorry. >> It's okay, Andre. I understand. [Laughter] Thank you, Lanny. We appreciate all that you do as well. Thank you. [Applause] >> All right, Annie Romano. >> Um, if you'd like to >> We'll get you situated in the chair. >> There you go. >> The floor is yours if you'd like to make any remarks. >> Um, thank you for this opportunity. I look

130forward to learning and growing and representing District 5. um the students, teachers as well as the parents. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, let's give one more round of applause. Um before we adjourn, I want to thank the board. Thank you so much for participating in this process. I know it wasn't easy, it's stressful, it's hard, there's always differences of opinion. Um thank you for your engagement with everything that we do. I want to thank superintendent and for for your advice for your um helping coordinate things to leave Brian and I as neutral as possible in this process as well. And that mostly goes to Helen as well. Helen Buts, our administrative assistant. [Applause] Thank you Helen for um helping us arrange all of this and helping with all the little fine details. Um

131taking calls from Brian, myself, our board legal counsel, from board members. um your work isn't unnoticed and we really appreciate all that you do. And thank you to all of our candidates this evening for all of our representatives who are representing teachers and administrators um and classified groups in our community. And with that, I will call this meeting adjourned. And congratulations, >> Ann. [Applause] Don't let your family