SLCSD Board Meeting, May 7 2024, 5:30 PM

001all right thank you um everybody for joining us uh today is May 7th 2024 uh we are here for the purposes of a school board meeting of the Salt Lake City School District Board of Education uh we do have the need for a closed session and I will entertain a motion from the board uh to enter a closed executive session I can do that okay I move that on May 7th 2024 the board go into a closed executive session to discuss the character and professional competence or physical or mental health of an individual deployment of security Personnel devices or systems pending or reasonably iment imminent L litigation and collective bargaining is there a second to the motion a second all right we got a motion in a second is there any discussion to the motion

002seeing none we'll start with a roll call Vote with vice president Williams Bryce Williams yes Jenny Sika yes Nate Salazar yes yes Brian Jensen yes Christy sweat yes all right that motion passes we'll go ahead and prepare the room uh thank you board members and there she is perfect are you okay did you get pummeled oh you [Music] didn Hill yeah what are you doing your landard it does [Music] ask child okay is all right thank you ladies and gentlemen we're going to go ahead and call our meeting to order thank you for your patience and uh and um letting us finish our Clos executive session and thank you for your engagement this evening and showing up in full force we really appreciate your participation in that as well today is May 7th 2024 uh

003we have uh just left to close executive session and are ready to convene um the open meeting of our public meeting tonight um the first opening item obviously is our welcome and then our Pledge of Allegiance who will be led by Christy sweat thank you Christie please stand I pledge aliance 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 christe for leading Us in that and I also want to take just a couple of moments to recognize our association presidents this evening uh for our classified assoc Association we have buildings and grounds um president Aaliyah compo uh Child Nutrition is President Tanya Slaughter transportation is President Chris krog uh for the Salt Lake Education

004Association we have President James tobler I know I saw Mike Harmon he might be in the back um and then the executive committee members from selia and of course membership from selia tonight thank you for being here again and then for our Salt Lake Association of school administrators we have President Bri de Leon who um is uh represented tonight by D Miller D thank you for joining us and representing SLA this evening um our first um or our third item on the opening items is a recognition um I'd like to invite uh Dr Tiffany Hall up to introduce um our first recognition which is our uset Innovative Teacher of the Year s are you here I'm [Laughter] here yeah crowd crowd surfing let's goor um I would actually like to introduce Sally wari Sally wariki

005is our supervisor of digital learning digital teaching and learning she has brought a lot of innovative opportunities and ideas to our district and I would love for her to introduce this recognition it is my pleasure to introduce to you our uset Innovative teacher of the year for Salt Lake City School District uh this is Keenan Brown Keenan's educational journey spanning across the US has ignited his passion for technology-driven learning his commitment started with a thorough exploration of the Microsoft Office Suite enabling him to craft interactive lessons this passion continued as he moved to Salt Lake City where he has consistently expanded his digital classroom year after year a Cornerstone of kenan's approach is the complete digitization of assignments in canvas this ensures uninterrupted learning even for absent students he not only provides downloadable materials but

006he also embeds files to prevent lost work while features like student annotations allow direct document editing Innovation extends Beyond with Keenan utilizing video platforms like loom for modeling lessons and incorporating various applications like near pod and new Zella to enrich The Learning Experience the positive impact is evident digitizing lessons prevent students from falling behind due to absences potentially saving them from significant grade drops moreover technology aided reading tools within canvas and and other platforms have cont contributed to a rise in students reading scores kenan's dedication to digital learning empowers his students and enhances their academic success and it is my pleasure again to introduce to you Keenan Brown say a words please oh Keen will you pull mic uh to you so that folks on YouTube can hear you I'm just grateful for the opportunity

007to be able to teach in Salt Lake City and to have the support of uh such a wonderful team of teachers and to be in the district that values shared governance and just to have these opportunities [Applause] here thank you and what photo oh sorry usually people never tell me to come back to a mic thank you ex Keenan Keenan thank you for all you do and congratulations on the recognition tonight um our next recognition I'm going to invite James yapias up to introduce and congratulate our 2025 teacher of the [Applause] year you're all right first of all I want to take this opportunity to thank you board members for this wonderful uh recognition into to the previous teacher that was here um on behalf of the Salt Lake Education Foundation and its board of

008directors I want to recognize uh Miss SAR posy who is the the teacher of the year for uh Salt Lake City School District let's give her a big Round of Applause Just a Little Bit of background information um our process this year we had over 200 nominations and um out of the 200 nominations we you know we had four finalists and Miss posy was one of them and just to highlight some of the things that she has done uh she has been able to teach three year long history classes and three year long ELP history classes at a title one Middle School which we have our principal at Miss seminario here uh provided differentiated instruction for students enroll enrolled in her classes in multiple language learn uh in her ESL classes participated at National History

009Day program with ELP US History students attending both the 24 Salt Lake Regional contest and 24 Utah State contest created a scaffold research folded for students and hosted weekly after school work sessions fundraised ,000 in supplies for students to complete exhibits achieved 91% pass rate on 24 Utah Civics exam a State graduation requirement so let's give a big round of applause for that I could go on and on and on about her and I have a list of accomplishments she has done but I can tell you that this you know miss posie you are an example of what we provide for our students in Salt Lake City School District and so I would like to see if you could please say a couple words and once again congratulations thank [Applause] you y'all I'm sorry I

010forgot to wear r i look like a Christmas tree um thank you guys so much for this opportunity I'm like honored to be here um and I told all my students that it's not me that's awesome it's my students that make me awesome um and if I didn't have the amazing students at Northwest to inspire me every single day and be excited to come to work um I wouldn't be here right now so I'm really grateful for this opportunity and thank you to all of you for every single day coming to school and inspiring kids who make school awesome because of you so thank you so much thank you Miss posie and congratulations and thank you for being a representative of not only Northwest and all of your students but for all of the teachers

011in this room and throughout our district we have awesome teachers and I'm I'm really happy that you're representing us this year thank you so much thank you all right moving on through our agenda the next item is our consent agenda um I'll entertain a motion from the board I move to approve the consent agenda as posted second all right we have a motion in a second second it oh we forgot the picture hold on one second board member one to say a comment okay thank you all right thank you and congratulations again miss posie um so we have a motion on the table in a second um any discussion I know board member Anderson had something and I would too I just had one item of discussion on consent which is the school Financial reports

012I just wanted to point out that you'll see um the virtual Elementary it shows all their money was expended and thus transferred to schools where those pupils are which means that as other schools close we should see in the next year those School Financial reports will show that money following pupils I've had questions about that so I just wanted to point people to where they can find it and appreciate Alan for helping me understand thank you Christie um first I want to recognize that um this week is Teacher Appreciation Week thank you to our teachers that are in the room tonight I know that many of you you know touch our kids lives every single day so I think that we should give them a round of applause for teacher appreciation a um former PTA

013president and school community council member and also now a board member I think it's important that we recognize that these school and trust funds even though they're on our consent agenda that the work and the amount of time that goes into it from the community from the sic's from the sec's is important it's important to me it's important for me to read those plans to attend those meetings and to understand what's happening at our schools just because it's on our consent agenda doesn't mean that it that each of us have not taken the time to look through those listen to the discussions at our schools it's important to know that those plans are um they've been protected for so long and as the money Rises you know through the great administration of those land trusts

014that it benefits our kids every single day and I just want to appreciate how much time and energy goes into those into those plans and I recognize that and I know the rest of my colleagues do too thank you board member sweat any other discussion points um I just board member B um um as you as I always say you know um words are not enough to express um what the teachers go through um to make sure that our kids are learning well you guys are the U the key that ignites the future leadership without you you know this country will not be moving forward and without you schools will not be operating it is a reality you know schools are like a big bus and you guys are the motor and you know the

015principles are the wheels I have no idea where we are we are on top of the who knows you know but but I want to say again you know thank you so much because I appreciate teachers so much because as a child you know I'll never forget the effect of one teacher that opened her heart to welcome me in and comfort me at times of hard time and that teacher will never be forgotten she may not be here in us she's in Morocco but she has left an effect in me and so I want to say thank you thank you thank you board member bade with no other comments we'll start with a roll call Vote with board member saika Jenny Sika yes Ashley Anderson yes Nate Salazar yes moham yes Brian Jensen yes Christy

016sweat yes Bryce Williams yes excellent that motion passes thank you board moving on to a request to speak we do have a few speakers who have signed up for this evening uh but first the board has asked me to read some guidelines um for our public comment so I'll go ahead and start that now 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 remind you of are board rules governing your comments number one the total time reserved for public comment is not to exceed 15 minutes with all speakers or groups limited to 3 minutes two the board will not allow public comments during board meetings that are slanderous obscene or otherwise violate state or federal law three

017employees and or their representatives may not use the public comment period to address issues that should be raised through existing formal communication channels or established grievance or negotiations procedures I'd also like to explain that unless the speaker's topic is already on the agenda state law prohibits the board from taking action on items raised during the public comment period however if it seems appropriate to the circumstances I may direct District staff to follow up with a speaker on the topic discussed our first Speaker this evening is Julia Lon Julia good evening my name is Julia lion and I am the wasach Elementary PTA secretary and and former SEC chair um I'm happy to be back under different circumstances um we want to first of all we want to say how grateful we are for the opportunity

018to continue to grow wasach ele the wasach elementary Community more than 90 people volunteered at our annual Arts showcase last Friday and hundreds of community members attended on display was a collaborative art project done by wasach and benan students that will be permanently installed at wasach each student got to decorate their own star their own ceramic star the project was inspired by the children's book are your stars like my stars and here are some photos of that beautiful art I don't if you guys want to look at that um there are many of these panels um so why are we here despite our optimism we know that in a matter of years our school will likely be back on the list of schools up for closure we are the oldest Elementary School in the Salt

019Lake City School District in fact our area of the city has several of the oldest schools including the oldest Middle School Bryant middle school but we believe the district has an opportunity ahead the bond we realize it's early in the bond process however we know you have Consultants studying the issue are they also studying the possibility of renovating or rebuilding schools other than the two high schools what would the different Bond rates be by including other schools such as wasach and if this is not being considered why not one more thought has the district ever talked with the city about tapping Federal Ada dollar to improve the wasach tunnel as you all know we have an unusual campus if that ADA money is not being discussed why not buildings can be transformational bonds can be

020transformational I hope the district's new administration building will inspire District leaders to do great things as you move ahead please think big and broadly and remember your oldest building such as wasach Elementary which will soon be 50 years old we believe the time to think about how how to keep an award-winning Elementary School serving the Central City un university area and lower Avenues is now we know the decisions that are made this fall will affect generations to come thanks thank you [Applause] Julia our next speaker this evening is Laura Lincoln hi Laura thanks hi I'm Laura Lincoln I'm the vice chair of the wasach element SEC um just wanted to add my voice to Julia's to speak briefly about um the school uh investment in the school physical buildings physical plant so as Julia mentioned

021we recently had our Arts showcase 90 volunteers um we put a ton of volunteer hours and and dollars into the programs that we love at wasach elementary but all of those volunteer hours and dollars don't change the fact that the building is quite old and in need of repair and renovation um I haven't been to a board meeting in a little bit so I took a spin through the minutes and the agendas from the last few months of meetings that I've missed um and I saw that there have been discussions about the capital projects list um there was a mention of how projects are developed and added to the list although I couldn't actually find any information about that process itself um and then the list of capital projects for the 2425 school year um

022which I took a look at and I think what was striking to me was that there's uh substantial money hundreds of thousands of dollars allocated to schools which are closing um and not very much money allocated to schools which are remaining open so you know there may be some context that I missed because I wasn't present at that board meeting um but regardless I think it just sort of underscored for me that the district needs to continue to invest in the buildings which it has committed to keeping open and um and to allocate funds in an appropriate way that means those buildings can be um really reasonable for for students and teachers and and administration in the years to come thank you Laura thank you appreciate your [Applause] time our third and final speaker this

023evening is President James tobler don't worry James the Applause won't count towards your three minutes right thank you for the warm welcome um yes I'm James tobler I'm president of the Salt Lake Education Association and teach social studies at Highland High School and wanted to speak to you this evening um we have lots of teachers here and we want to recognize and celebrate the 50-year anniversary of shared governance in our [Applause] district sh governance was implemented in Salt Lake City School District in 1974 and we have this a proud tra tradition of collaboration and working together and we want to strengthen shared governance into the future teachers are passionate about our students and Student Success and we're passionate about collaboration and we don't want less collaboration we want more collaboration we want more effective collaboration

024we want to work with our administrators we want to work with each other other to improve sh to improve student outcomes to imp improve collaboration in our schools plc's and we want to have a voice and so we want to come here today and acknowledge shared governance in our district on this 50y year anniversary and that we're passionate and and motivated to work with District leadership and School administration to improve collaboration for Student Success thank you very much thank you James for your remarks and thank you again to all of your representation here tonight it is awesome to see you all here and congratulations to you and to all of us on on that big huge milestone and anniversary thank you so much for being here tonight um moving into our reports agenda the first

025item is the general thund budget executive summary ba kirley uh thank you so there's there's two attachments to the agenda first of all I'm super glad everyone's here to watch my budget presentation maybe we'll take a minute to we'll give it a minute yeah simmer Alan I'm here for it thank you really so in in previous meetings as we've we've done various different budget pieces throughout the the last several months uh we've talked about different funds um as we're getting near the end of the budget process we're going to talk about you know the granddaddy of all the funds the general fund as you can see in that slide the purpose of the general fund is to account for revenues which are not uh required to be accounted for in any other fund so this

026is kind of the catch all everything else uh next slide Sam uh a couple uh budget highlights uh for revenues um so we're estimate we the the general fund budget has the uh certified tax rate as far as budgeted Revenue if you remember certified tax rate is a tax rate that um that generates the same amount of Revenue as in previous years um [Music] we're also um song I just want to point out all the Precinct Three teachers have stayed so hey they know where the action is it's in the budget [Laughter] discussion just go with me it's budget it's all about you I love that I love the honesty in this room so the the legislature as far as the property tax goes they determine what the basic rate is and the basic rate

027is what funds the the weight of people unit um so as the amount of re as that rate goes up or down then the state portion which is funded by um income tax goes up or down to generate that wpu so for next year we're we're uh budgeting for an increase in the basic rate which is offset by a decrease in state wpu funds um and you'll you'll see that in the budget uh in addition there's a 5% increase in the weight of P unit um we're budgeting an increase in interest Revenue as you know interest rates are up from what they've been in the previous years but interest rates are also volatile so interest is not uh a reliable ongoing source for things but um we are showing an increase for that for next

028year uh we're also showing the end of Esser funds uh we can all have a moment of silence for that on September 30th 2024 um so you see kind of some significant decreases for next year in our federal revenue spending uh next slide Sam uh a couple expenditure highlights uh we're budgeting for step Blan and cola salary increases uh we're budgeting for a 10% increase in the health insurance premiums covered fully by the district uh in addition we're adding uh $1 million to the special education budget uh from the minimum school program to help cover the increased cost of providing those services for our special ed students uh next slide uh fund balance so fund balance is kind of what we have left over you know it's our accumulation over the years of what's left

029over of uh what we received and what we didn't spend uh on the budget sheet there's an unassigned fund balance as as zero that's required by law we we have to budget that to zero um however it's highly anticipated that we we will have um an unassigned fund balance at the end year due to conservative budgeting practices you might ask what's a conservative budgeting practices well when we a lot of the stuff we're budgeting for we're making estimates so so for Revenue sources we we may estimate low for expenditures where we may estimate a little high um so we know we're not going to get caught in a situation where we don't have enough money to um meet our bills uh that second point the so the reading achievement Levy was a levy that was

030uh specifically for um K through3 reading uh during the last legislative session um that requirement to have that separate Levy uh went away um last year you probably don't remember but but we re restricted those funds in the fund balance because it was a separate Levy specifically for that purpose well now that that restriction has gone away so those that reading Levy um um restriction will go away and it just falls down to regular fund balance uh we also have a fund balance Reserve that's committed for economic stabilization it set at 5% of the general fund budget and that is the maximum uh Allowed by law so that 5% that we set aside for kind of emergencies um can only then be used in the future through board action next slide um so in the

031general fund we we hear a lot of things called function we kind of report things by function this is just the definition of the functions uh instruction function that's going to be our biggest uh function where we uh put the most money uh so that includes student classroom cost teachers substitutes textbooks Supply so things that are directly involved with the education of students then we have our Support Services instruction so we have support services for students which includes nurses psychologists counselors student services and planning uh then our um instructional staff so curriculum teacher professional development academic coaches media centers and and testing we have District administration so that's Board of Education superintendent business administrator uh we have school administration including principals assistant principal office staff uh registrars their office supplies um Central services so that's

032finance budget Human Resources legal services and purchasing so kind of the central business functions we have as a district uh operations and maintenance function uh is including utilities custodial maintenance insurance and Property Management student transportation is pretty self-explanatory that's our buses bus drivers and field trips Child Nutrition uh those that provide uh school lunch to our students uh in the general fund you're going to see that and you might ask well wait don't we have a child fund so if you remember we have two Charter Schools those two Charter District dependent charter schools are rolled into the general fund as Charter Schools they also serve lunch so the piece the function you see in the general fund of Child Nutrition is solely the pieces for those two Charter Schools open classroom and sxie uh Community

033Services is our development office uh our prek adult education um those are community services and not instruction because instruction is really K through 12 prek is obviously before K and adult education is obviously after 12 so that's why they're listed as a community service function and then we have Debt Service so Debt Service you might say wait again we have a Debt Service fund why is there Debt Service in the general fund well thanks to people back in Washington who think they need to tell us how to do accounting to make it uh easier to understand uh there's a new gasby requirement uh which so when we buy a software license often we're buying it for five years um so there's uh new requirement that we have to show that it's Debt Service it's kind

034of like we're paying on a loan even though really what it is is prepaid software licensing for the next three five years whatever the term of the agreement is so that's that's kind of new in the general fund and unique for that uh next slide Sam now I want you to all read these numbers this is your eye test of the day so this is and I I have handouts on this for you so you can actually see them uh the first one is our uh general fund budget by functions so those functions we just went through so this shows both actuals for 2021 through 2223 uh shows the 2324 or that's current year budget and it also shows the next year budget um there you see I mean in the 2425 line if you

035look at the very bottom you see that unassigned is zero that's when I talked about the unassigned fund balance by law has to go to zero uh as you can see our actual at the end of 230 4 un signed was $18.9 Million do I anticipate that we're going to blow through $18.9 million more than we have actually brought in as Revenue no I do not but um sometimes you got to follow the law right so just know we we we're not going to spend that much money um you also have your operating transfers in and out there about the middle of the page uh so that is our sustainability so the sustainability projects were paid for in a capital fund but the savings for sustainability uh utilities are in the general fund so this

036transfer is those savings from the general fund over to the capital fund to pay that um Tel loan that we uh incurred for uh phase one of sustainability the next slide Sam so we've talked about functions and then this next one is kind of the same information but now we're grouped by object so an object code is kind of what are we paying for at this point so you see in the expenditure section objects are salaries benefits uh professional and Technical Services Property Services other purchase Services supplies equipment uh Debt Service and miscellaneous so it's the same information it's just grouped differently to you know add more insight to um to what we're doing um Sam go to next slide so this is a bar chart of our actual and then our budget uh the

037I'm going to have to turn to this one because I can't see that far over there so the blue line is our Revenue uh orange line is our expenditures and transfers out and then the bottom line is our fund balance uh you can see in our actual columns our revenues have usually been slightly uh greater than our expenditures and that's what builds a fund balance um as we go into the budget for this year next year uh our budget is showing that we'll spend more than we actually bring in so we'll be decreasing that fund balance some of that is planned some of the expenditures we do when you hear me say well we're going to pay for that with onetime fund balance because it's it's kind of a one-time expense and then it's done

038we're not committed to it you know like a salary we're committed as long as we have that employee so I mean that's why fund balance is great for some of these onetime issues that we need to address because it's one and done and then because once that money is gone out of the fund balance it it doesn't come back unless we you know have more money the next year Sam next slide this is a buy chart which uh breaks down the functions as you can see 58.4% of our expenditures are in the instruction function uh and then all the other pieces I mean the next biggest piece is operations and maintenance of school uh buildings so again our custodial utilities and so forth my computer so you can stay on the mic thank you you're

039just on the wrong chart sorry uh the the third biggest is support services for instruction so that's going to be our academic Cod coaches our curriculum people um kind of really helping the teachers uh with their supports um next slide Sam so again this is the the chart representing that second uh set of data so expenditures by object code as you can see 89.2% of our general fund budget is used up by salaries and benefits so when we hit areas where oh we need to cut budget well the vast majority of our budget is in people so it's always important to note that uh Second supplies and materials and then some of the other stuff you know those are pretty small slices out of the out of the pie chart next slide Sam so uh

040some of our next steps small group meetings I know I've scheduled some small group meetings with some of you already um the rest of you please look at your schedules uh I've got Christy scheduled for tomorrow at 9: and I sent Brian an invite if you can come that time that'd be great I got um Bryce scheduled on Friday afternoon if Friday afternoon or that I mean I I can only have three at a time so chrisy is almost full uh if anyi of those times work just reach out to me and I'm happy to meet with you on an individual basis and we can either do that in person or uh online if that works best uh on our next board meeting we will review the entire budget uh we won't go into Super

041detail because we've already gone through uh a lot of the fund options but kind of get the overall picture and discuss any further questions board members may have because on June 4th it's anticipated that uh the board will approve uh both the revised current year budget the proposed next year budget and the um proposed tax rates for next year uh we'll also have a budget hearing on June 4th where the public is invited to come and um give comments on the budget is there any questions on the general fund budget Christie and Ashley thank you so much for this presentation Alan it's so appreciated by me I think that sometimes budget's so big you don't know exactly where to hone in on you know and and to look at and ask questions I think that

042it's important that if you wouldn't mind going back Sam to the expenditure budget highlights to that slide one more there right there so I think that Alan you know you always do a really great job on the delivery but I think it's important for us to go back to this slide because there are two pieces here I mean obviously three pieces the step Lane and cola salary increases are very important but that 10% increase in the health insurance premiums that we are absorbing as a district is huge when we look at recruiting and retaining our teachers and so I always appreciate that because the increases just keep going up in health insurance and so I think it's important for us to recognize that and acknowledge that you know that that's something that the district you

043know purposefully does you know for our employees but the last bullet point to me is also something we need to highlight when we talk about maintenance of effort and that we are taking $1 million and adding that into the special education budget that's huge and I think that we don't do that enough to talk about the amount of money that our district supplements into our education budget because our special educ ation budget because of the cuts that have happened at the federal and state level and so I just I just want to recognize that we've never shied away from maintenance of effort and here specifically in this bullet point I appreciate that you're showing that because a lot of times we don't we don't highlight that we're doing that but a million dollars is an

044ex is is a lot of money that we've decided to do that um specifically this year along with the other times that we've put money into the special ed so again I want to acknowledge that with all of you I think it's important that we recognize that and that we talk about that as we go forward in our budget so just wanted to say thank you and I appreciate um the effort and the information that you have provided and look forward to that small group meeting tomorrow thank you Christie Ashley yes I have two questions the first is that when we look at the budget we can see the pass through that goes to charter schools in the area not on this table but just in general as you're making this is there a place

045as the city council tonight is discussing for their tax increment finan projects that this budget all reflects the amount that's passing through our district to go to tax increment financing for those new to the tax increment financing discussion it means the city is capturing increment for development areas some of which we agreed to be part of and some of which we did not agree to be part of and so the question I'm asking is where could a citizen as we craft this budget see that that $26 million in property tax is actually going somewhere else right so that is not included in the general fund that's in a a special Revenue fund reported separately we will cover that next board meeting uh it's one of the funds we haven't covered yet um but yes and

046and you'll see that you know it was 20 million last year it's gone up to about $26 million Uh current year so that money keeps increasing the amount of money that gets diverted that would otherwise come to the school district is in the matter of property tax growth instead it gets diverted out to um fund these projects uh of development now in the city we'll we'll cover it in more detail next next board meeting okay perfect I wanted to lay the groundwork because I knew it's being discussed tonight at the city council tax increment Finance projects um but additionally I'm hoping you can answer one more question which is we approved on consent the land trust plans and again I've seen all but one of the plans I reviewed are for academic intervention and one

047of our asks as a board and statute is to look at if schools are funding the same thing year-over-year or that if schools are all consistently funding the same thing that we talk about how to include it in the general budget so obviously staff is represented here right like we are funding academic intervention to some degree but as we see schools requesting higher and higher amounts and using their land trust money for that purpose is there anything that we can do as a board to consider how to better fund intervention in the general budget in the next cycle I think uh first we as District leadership should work with with our schools and figure out why is it they feel the need you know to use their land trust in that particular way and then

048have a a districtwide discussion of you know what can we do to provide that and they can use their land trust funds for for other enhancements uh and then uh what we would do is come to the board through discussions of um we would need whatever amount of Revenue to bring this into the the regular um general fund you know not not the special Land Trust money but the whether it's property tax or wpu to um address the needs that all of our schools are are looking at so that's something that we uh will continue to review throughout the next year and um have discussions with the board in future board meetings thank you any other questions from the board then there's a second attachment also to the agenda and that is the um the

049executive summary now not not every uh page of the executive summary is updated we um because we're still working on it and those areas are noted um and I don't want to really cover too much in the executive summary I want you to take it home and read it and and and feel free to read it before you go to bed so you can um but what you're going to see in the executive summary a lot is it talks about governmental funds so it's taking all these funds we've discussed from like February March up till the general fund and it rolls them all in together and kind of gives them total numbers and again next board meeting we'll discuss those numbers a little bit more in depth um but largely the executive summary um both

050goes through all the governmental funds and then um I believe it also has general fund in it information to just give a very high level review of what the budget is proposing um so please read through that uh we can discuss it when you come in for some small group detailed discussions and we'll also be able to uh respond to any questions you may have um both the May 21st meeting uh and also on the June 4th meeting if there's additional questions prior to an anticipated vote on the budget thank you Alan all right if there aren't any other discussion points for Allen on this report uh we can move on to our next report which is our school closure and Boundary adjustment transition activities update Dr I'll give that if you'll explain to April

051a piece that we need from your email there um just a couple of things to note and Jenny do you mind handing those pictures from wasach um we're at the end of the school year as Dr Taylor said there's only three Fridays left um so it is the end of um it's all the end of school activities that are in line now the art show nights the the school field days and things um I just want to give a shout out and I'm going to use wasat as the example because they brought these pictures of how they've brought two schools together into one activity I have um continued to hear over and over again about the work that teachers uh and administrators and family members and PTA presidents and SEC chairs are doing to bring

052these communities together and um really welcome people it is not always easy to put two different cultures in the same room again together to create a third kind of different one and um I just have all kinds of respect for our teams that are out there doing that right now and and want to say thank you that's a lot of what is happening just in these next three weeks is giving information to families about what's next letting them know they need to register they may have been assigned to a school they need still need to register and things and we'll work on that communication through the summer um as well the other piece of this is they are finishing their safe walking routes we've talked about this a few times but those are almost done

053more than half are completed and ready to be input um into the Salt Lake City system so then they can help provide crossing guards and things so um again hats off off to the teams that are doing it and it's not just I mean it's the schools that are closing that um have to manage the difficulty of ending that um but it's all the other schools whose boundaries have changed there were 14 total there who have been welcoming new students in so wanted to highlight that piece otherwise what we're working on is getting teachers moved and getting the the material in school moved and box up teachers have boxes um Isaac AEL and his team have put together a moving plan for everybody that they label and number their boxes and they'll be moved around

054to the new schools and um so all that is in the works for um the coming weeks after school closes of course uh and we're covering teacher costs for those in the close schools a day at the end of the year and a day at the beginning of the year to cover some extra moving eort that they have to put in to uh reassemble their classroom somewhere else uh in addition to that we are um planning on those four schools that are closing we are going to put into those schools after they have closed small um offices from the district who will be housed in those schools so that they are in use uh and we have people coming and going in them during the day so that people know that those buildings are in

055use we're going to have custodians of course in them as well but that way they won't be empty buildings they won't be dark they won't lack activity so um a couple of the offices that are in Beardsley will be moved into those buildings as uh temporary office office space into the next year uh and perhaps Beyond as we work as a board to make determinations about the property but the goal again has been not to have an empty space uh so that it's safe and well-kept and the neighborhood can feel okay about those buildings too in their neighborhood so any questions on any of that that yeah as you rais the buildings I think the follow-up question from the community would be what is the timeline on that so there's sort of this interim use

056that you're saying is going to Happ so what would be the timeline on discussing longer use strategies for those buildings would it relate to when the district office is complete for instance uh no I think we can get started right away we've had some few discussions about immediate District needs um I've expressed to you an interest in um a Career and Technical education center perhaps um and there are other things we can use we're going to create I our first step right now that I hope to complete in the next six weeks is the plan for stakeholder Outreach around the use of those buildings so um we want to take in community input and ideas about how to use those buildings what serves the community because our interests again are in serving the district needs

057and in serving the community needs so I hope in the next month and a half to have a plan for you to look at about what that what that information gathering and decision making would look like and what the pros and cons are of what we can do with the buildings um there's a lot of work right now in the world around public Asset Management this idea that government's own property that can be used in ways that bring in greater value to The Entity and so there are a lot of um new ideas around the country about how governments are using parking lot um maybe getting rid of a parking lot or putting it underground and putting something on top of it that can generate Revenue there's there's lots of different ideas so we want

058to be able to gather that menu of options for you as a board to see and to understand what those implications are particularly financially and all but also in terms of a use perspective and what best serves the district so um Dr I appreciate you mentioning that because I know in some of our previous discussions um like with the old rosin Heights property um I think we were collectively you know really passionate about is this a you know a benefit use to our students and to our community um will that also be something that carries on as we move into discussions and planning and stakeholder Outreach about these four sites as well it is I mean the in the policy it talks about serving a district need as really the primary piece and then serving

059a community need so um I think it's looking around at what our district needs are for space um because we'll have that space and then working with the communities on on what would best serve them thank you Brian thank you Dr Grant for that update as I was looking at um the end of the school year and knowing that you were going to be giving us an update one of the things that came came to my mind was teachers as they are ending the year and figuring out how they're going to take care of their classroom as they end the year and then anticipating what they're going to be doing at the beginning of the next school year I just wanted to make sure and I think I'm understanding correctly that you're providing two days

060for those teachers that are being being moved because of closures or boundary changes or um specific programs that are being moved all of those teachers will um that are affected will be provided a day as they're closing their rooms I mean it's challenging to it's a lot of work and then there will be one as they yes as they open their classroom yes that's right a lot of that work so the bookshelves and desks and and things will all be placed in there by the facilities team and moved out by the facilities team so teachers need to pack up their own materials right then we've been working on cataloging curriculum to make sure it gets to the right place um as students move around and and things so okay that was my next question because

061that ends up being problematic as well that oh this didn't come with and I had anticip so we're taking care of all of that yep thank you I think the transition plan Tiffany is multiple Pages yes of instructions on how to pack up and move and we have inventory sheets that list everything that should be together for each of the different curriculums and so that we can go through those inventory sheets make sure everything's in the box box is lab board member s thank you so much for that update I had the same kind of questions that um Brian did and I appreciate knowing that there is you know a packet that you've got put together I'm also wondering superintendent within that plan that we have do you think that there's any additional resources um

062or money that we'd be able to provide to those teachers as they start to set up a new classroom because I think that that is also a challenge you know in a new school new purchase new things or or to purchase new things buying their time right I mean just I'm just wondering you know if um obviously taking your classroom moving it to a new to a new space presents some challenges and I think that one of the things I've always been appreciative of um our district when we hired new teachers is we really pay attention to that you know how you set up your new classroom what do you get what what do you need you know resources and I'm just wondering if that's also a conversation that's being taken place because it is

063you know it's a change and so it's nice to know that there's a plan but are is there also you know resources that are built in to help them you know as they set up that new classroom space uh not specifically set aside for that each school does receive a a healthy allocation of Supply money um so hopefully these uh teachers will work with their principles to address their needs uh within the budget which we've allocated to the schools thank you for saying that and then also I guess that would also include you know like how DLI is moving and ELP you know as you set up those areas that I think that that same consideration is probably taken into into into it okay thank you Brian I had Muhammad and then you um also

064uh the art within the school so I'm talking more like about students art uh what's going to happen with that is there any plan that it's going to move to the majority of students are going because that's like you know belongs to that school that's going to be you mean more permanent Student Art or yes the regular one every year Student Art more permanent art Student Art you know I don't know that some of that is cataloged as District yeah no no student Arts really catalog unless the at times the district will have purchased some Student Art and then it becomes cataloged and part of the art collection uh but I I'd be curious to see what um quote permanent Student Art is at those buildings so we can we can look at that and

065determine um what we want to do with it yeah because I think that would be great to you know talk with the uh current principles of those schools um and they'll be able to help identify them and also you know give some directions of where you might be you know best fit uh and you guys know how many students are going to what school and I think some kids are very attached to see in certain art that they feel so comfortable uh seeing it so anything that can be done to have some familiarity when they move into new school it would be fantastic thank you m BR uh chrisy I think um was getting to what my next question was going to be and that as a teacher um when you're planning and you're doing

066your supplies you have a certain amount that you receive for your classroom and I'm wondering will that money because teachers try to use that wisely and use it for what they think is going to be the most beneficial in their classroom will that money follow them yes so I think you're talking about the legislative um teacher supply money yes yes so um that will follow them and not only will it follow them due to legislation there's a bump to that at least a one a oneyear bump for next year um so that's a good thing so that that's totally allocated to the classroom teacher so wherever they go that money goes with them thank you Brian any other questions for Dr Grant on this discussion topic all right thank you for the discussion uh we'll

067move on to um our discussion agenda um the first topic there is the 2425 weapon detection system Staffing contract be kirley will you please introduce this so just to introduce the topic um so if you remember back in October we be we began Contracting with a company to provide the Staffing for the weapons detector Staffing means they stand there at the mornings and you know when kids are coming in and if if it alerts they um go through the protocol to figure out why it alerted um because it was determined that um we didn't have enough internal staff to actually do that uh it took a uh quite a quite a force uh that was a one-year contract so that expires the end of this year so um as we look forward to next year

068and what we want to do we want to have the discussion of you know what does that look like next year for Staffing those weapons detectors uh at it it's at our both our three comprehensive and horizont are the schools which we have them at yeah and be us I know in our summary that is attached to the agenda um that we'll also touch on points from HB um 84 that was passed as well yeah so just so HB 84 um it's sometimes called the school safety Bill uh one thing that we we will discuss that it requires is that there is uh an an armed security Personnel at every school all the time um so one of the options you can do is contract with the company to provide that service so it kind

069of goes hand inand with this discussion you know if we're if we're Contracting with a company to provide uh the security service at the um weapons detectors do we also contract with company to provide these uh soon to be required armed guards now the timing of of the armed guards so what the bill says is first we have to do a safety assessment for every school that safety assessment has to be completed by December 31st of 2024 depending on the safety assessment and then in conjunction with the state safety Chief will determine on the next steps on on when those next steps of the safety Bill have to roll out for each individual school um and I'll start with my question about that element of the safety assessment so that is run through the state

070and not through a local jurisdiction is that correct so the school district will run those safety assessments well I'm sure we'll get guidance on exactly what we need to be looking at but we'll run those um but it gets general counsel has something to say General counil I was just going to say that it's um those would be our a school safety specialist working in conjunction with the county sheriff or their designate to do that safety assessment so there is a there is a component of an entity an individual outside of us so it would be the county sheriff's department conjunction with the L personel at each school who be doing that safety assessment that's good to know CU I know um our City's police department has trained um officers on how to run assessments

071like this for public spaces and I just thought maybe that could be a suggestion since this is something that it sounds like we have to do yeah we have to do it with the count sh okay thank you any other questions member bade um so this is for all the schools across the district now for high schools we do have SRO do they still require to have someone right so if if we could um guarantee that there was an SRO in that school the entire school day then that would meet the requirements but as part of that safety assessment which we'll do that will help us determine what how how we can comply with this part of the law at our at our high schools that already have sros generally stationed there but sometimes they

072get called out for for other police business okay thank you bman randerson I don't really have a question I just have a comment which is I'm just concerned about the absence of data about the efficacy of the detectors like we have a lot of information about what schools have done we have a lot of information about how people feel but we haven't been presented with a lot of information about whether or not these tools work and because we have a commitment to the B1 policy which is to guard the public trust by spending funds to benefit all children I'm worried that we're presented with a sunk cost fallacy where we're throwing good money after bad because the lease for the systems is ongoing and so we feel compelled to staff them and as you pointed

073out at the same time we're being asked to continue a sunk cost and potentially a dangerous cost the state legislature has asked us to spend Millions more on bulletproof glass Panic buttons and armed Guardians in every school building in the district and we're being asked to do this pretty much because state and federal lawmakers would rather We sync those costs than pass meaningful gun reform so absent the willingness of state and federal policy makers I really only want to support datadriven Solutions which in the school space are the threat assessment efforts we begun with seag so in this case regardless of how we all choose to proceed in the future I also want to suggest that our staff continue to work with the city to increase the number number of allocated SRO that we can

074hire which has always been under the total in our and with District teams to double down on those SE stag training efforts which are the only evidence-based way that schools can reduce violence I really think that as we move forward I want to propose that we shouldn't make decisions based on what we believe about weapons detectors we should make decisions based on evidence about weapons detectors and I think a lot of school districts are phasing out their use and we should really be presented with information about why school districts are phasing out their use use and considering you know its application to us even though uh We've made this investment in the systems themselves thank you member Anderson and let me just add to help the conversation so we estimate you know a Year's contract

075uh is going to be you know somewhere between 1.5 1.1 and 3/4 million for the weapons detector Staffing um currently we're using onetime fund balance remember go back back to my gen see how it all ties in my general fund discussion how we have those fund balances so we have fund balances to to address this issue uh we don't have ongoing resources so at some point we'll if if we choose to keep this you know long term we'll have to discuss ongoing resources uh currently both current year and next year we would be using onetime resources for uh this contract um and just throwing out a current estimate for the the armed guards um again if we were to contract that service out uh I estimate that'll be just under $2 million to have an

076armed guard at every one of our schools now that that includes as if they were one at at the high schools as well which we may or may not need depending on the SRO situation so but that's just um on on an estimated price for an armed guard from from a company that we'd hire uh for 8 hours a day at all of our schools just under $2 million I just follow up on that quickly that I just want to point out I mean as we're talking about this investment in special education of $1 million and this ends up being double that amount for a thing that none of us want to do but we have to do uh because it's a state policy now I just think that should enter the conversation that it

077this amount is much more than we're able to invest in these programs that we really care about and it gives me pause about simply because the lease is longer for these systems if we know these other growing costs are coming and they are costs that are forced upon us that we wouldn't necessarily choose to enact as a board I do think we need to think about the savings of this Staffing in relationship to the big ask of what we have to do whether we think it's evidence-based or we like it or not and that is frustrating but I think it's real board members what I appreciate you asking about the efficacy I really do Ashley I think that it's important that no matter where we spend our money that we always have some accountability back

078I think that's important no matter what we do Alan I know that just from the conversations that we're having and superintendent I would love for you maybe to touch on this a little bit this um if you could I was asked at a at a um School community council meeting this morning about you know what's the school district doing and my answer was is you know we're still waiting for the rules we're looking for you know some guidance from the state office um how much money is going to be spent and then um one of the great teachers that at Beacon height said this morning um that there's a training that we have set up for information that we're going to be providing to the schools is that I mean a beginning training are we

079doing that something happening tomorrow I'm not familiar with the training yeah I wasn't really sure exactly what they were talking about but there was does that sound familiar is there something that's going on with teaching and learning or anything okay well H so I'm not really sure um maybe that we are awaiting the state to create training for Guardians in schools right so the the questions that came up and I don't even know if we can answer this at this point superintendent or Allen is that when we say guardian or armed guard who does that include and who does it exclude at the school site yeah let me answer that one and general counsel can correct me when I get off base so the term Guardian offer uh is more reflective on a volunteer I

080mean one one of the options is you get a Community member who volunteers to come into the school an employee who volunteers to carry a gun uh in the school and and provide these Safety Services so that that's called The Guardian um we can also uh complete uh comply with the law by hiring uh a contract uh security guard now back to the employee the employee can't be someone who interacts with who whose job is to instruct students uh and interact with students so teachers principles parapros um they don't qualify for being a guardian so really that leaves custodial staff and front office staff You Got Your Child Nutrition staff but they're not there I mean they come in early to get breakfast ready and then they leave before the end of the day so

081um they're really not an option so you're looking at those two pools of your staff uh there is some worry that you know you might get some schools where you have someone in one of those two pools who's happy to do it uh but other schools that I mean they they don't have an employee in those two categories that's willing to be the designated person to to carry a gun in the school so these are kind of the discussions we're having on you know how do we implement this a couple different ways but um we're still trying to decide the best way to go about that I think that what would be helpful is a fact sheet so first thing I me to do is correct myself is that it wasn't a teacher that said

082this this morning it was the vice principal Brian um low Kashmir who said that he thought that there were some training that was going to be happening and information that was going to be provided to administrators um over this so I think that I will just say yes we'll give some guidance and some support to administrators through um the leadership team as we figure out more and more what the bill means right everybody's still trying to interpret that and we're waiting a lot on that State security Chief who just started a few months ago to lay out some of the pieces that we have to adhere to so as we know more we will provide that support but from looking at the team here it doesn't sound like I think I think I may know

083what this training is so every school right now currently has to have a designated uh security person it was a designated security person that's exactly what it was the state office is doing some training that was exactly what it was yep thank you I knew we'd get to it that was good I don't know if that training is directly related to this bill other than just training they're supposed to have um there's a there's a stiping for those that were that took on that role and is part of that St and they have to attend so I think that what's really good about what you've just said is that although um there was this thought that it might be connected you know to actually say well it's it's training but it's not actually directly connected

084to this and so part of that because the bill changed who could serve in that role because it used to be able to be an administrator and now it's a different person so that that changes in that bill and so then that so it is tied to this bill so it is tied to it okay it's tied but probably not the sole purpose of the sole purpose of it but it's but it's not tied to the guardian the guardian piece which I think is also really confusing because that was also a conversation that came up this morning of you know who can be a who who's the designated Guardian you know what does that look like so superintendent I would just say that as we move through this at a at a cold tar rate

085you know if feels like you know that um if we could get a frequently asked questions you know put together in FAQ I think that would be really helpful I think whatever resources we're going to provide and then definitions I think you know what does a guardian mean who can actually be a guardian what does you know because that's where the um individual safes at the schools also came up there was this idea that that had to also be you know each of the schools so I think that that would just be helpful you know for us especially we're heading into the summer we're thinking that this all has to be put in place by August is that right no you know staggered timin there's staggered timelines and as as business administrator CLE cley indicated

086you know the the needs assessment needs to be done by the end of December and then that will drive the the school uh safety personnel discussion in terms of how many personnel we need to have at each school um and as superintendent Grant indicated the State security Chief is um coming up with rules to establish a timeline for when the film or bulletproof glass needs to be in place I mean we do have some timelines associated with those Panic buttons um and training that needs to occur for that piece but um there's so much that's going to depend on the rules that the State security Chief makes so we don't we aren't even clear on necessarily the timelines yet in terms of I mean we know we have to do a safety assessment and have

087that done by the end of this calendar year but a l driven by I think that's rules I think that's so helpful to know even the timeline that you can put out to the schools because right now everyone's thinking oh this is all going to happen over the summer and that it's all going to go in place you know in August so that's you know I think that's excellent you know to know what that timeline looks at and then those pieces that have to come into play so thank you remember Anderson I just wanted to add as I see the in credulous faces about some of these asks that just to reiterate this is a state ask it is so the question I'm raising as a district board member is can we in good conscience

088continue spending money on what I find to be an unproven system when we have all these other asks coming I'm not weighing the reasonability of the asks and I think that it's important as community members are listening and thinking we have to what you know because not everyone is following the legislative session with their ear to the ground like very aggressively that this is a legislative issue and it's helpful if you reach out additionally to Representatives who did govern this Choice our state senators and Our House of Representatives so it's important to kind of note that we're not talking about the reasonability of having an armed Guardian we're talking about the reality that we are asked to have one and to add a little more color to that situation the reason why the guardian kind

089of policy portion was added was this idea that maybe rural schools couldn't have these contracts with Police Department like an urban District could have and so there's all these kind of interesting facets of that that people could explore about why what portions of the policy are intended for what kind of districts and why thank you for the discussion I think to kind of put some things into our perspective um we don't need to make a decision on this tonight but I know timing is important for you Allan by the end of the school year um so we'll definitely continue to have this topic on our agenda um I thought we had a good discussion tonight um but we will as a board um have a have a decision that needs to be made um in

090the next meeting or two um so thank you please keep thinking about these elements community members please continue to reach out to us um as as you're kind of observing and hearing things and kind of hearing elements of the legislation and and how we're trying to to couple these these two elements right um that of our decision that we have to make in the coming weeks so any other final points that folks would like to raise or discussion topics yeah I just want to clarify something so the public actually will uh be able to hear this so the state is not giving us the money for these new asks we are required to is that what it is so U no so the bill allocated $100 million one time Statewide for security so as as

091we do these security assessments um will be able to apply to get part of that $100 million I'll just say $100 million Statewide doesn't go very far and then once it's gone it's gone and everything else uh is not funded and it be up to individual leas to fund those yeah thank you unless something changes next legislative session good luck thank you board thank you Allan um we'll move on to our next topic um on the discussion agenda which is the draft board retreat topics um I'm going to hand those out I think Bryce handed them around the other direction um board members what you have in front of you is um an updated version of board retreat topics um that includes uh what was posted on the agenda publicly and then some additional topics

092that were provided to to Bryce and I um um between uh when the meeting was was or the agenda was posted publicly and and tonight um so really this is just uh Bryce's in mind's um you know suggestion and and work with you all um to think about some of the topics so these these are topics that we generated um between ourselves um and we appreciate folks weighing in on on some additional topics as well that we could be talking about the retreat is ours it's it's our meeting it's our Retreat um it's also our agenda um as well so um none of these topics um that Bryce and I presented are are set in stone there are some that as I've thought about it we could we could consider moving off obviously um but

093then we also wanted to hear from you all about if any of these topics resonate with um with what your board experience is like um or if there's other elements that you would like to bring into um to retreat like that to this agenda um we're scheduled to have this Retreat on Monday the 24th starting at 5: um it'll be a a long night of June excuse me of June 24th um from 5: to 10 is what it's scheduled at um but we're anticipating um you know about 4 hours for us to sit and and have a have a little Retreat um with ourselves that'll be open to the public of course um so here's the possible topics and then some suggested topics um one thing I do want to correct is that 3A um

094is actually a separate topic and that was just a typo so I apologize for that um and then um item number six um was really something that um the administration um had talked about with Bryce and I as well that we wanted to present to you um just how we're we're utilizing um our allocation our resources and where those those resources could be going um relative to the work that we do to benefit um schools and students so these are our topics are there any elements of discussion and questions ideas things that work things that don't work that you'd like to talk about Brian one of the things that we talked about in our last board meeting was we went to that um National School Board Association meeting and there were lots of opportuni ities

095for us to um participate in different um presentations and uh lectures I think after we've made that effort and after we've expended those funds that while this is something that's still on our minds that we should be able to bring those things that we felt would be beneficial to um consider in the operation of our district um I think that that would be really valuable excellent thank you Brian we we did we do remember that I'm sorry we didn't put it on this list board member B um it would one thing you know uh addressing the elephant in the room and that is uh school closures and the uh you know uh what the space usage basically and possibly ALS so you know uh it's never too late to think about when are we going

096to be thinking about you know next round of schools you know that's going to be in list what is the process going to be like things like that so this is like a big topic but it'll be like around school closures and the process and you know how are we going to go about it I appreciate that baate and I know um item number three um under the suggested topics um suggested by board member sweat um kind of covers that but I think what I'm hearing you say is um let's kind of evaluate and assess how our initial I guess first round in 20 years of school closure went um what changes could or should be made right how we do this and then of course the element of building utilization that we kind of

097touched on tonight Absol go a little more in depth in that that's great yep make that note um any other thoughts okay so we can't fit all of these things into a 4-Hour Retreat um so if you trust uh Bryce and I to you know based on this short conversation and we can do some some followup individually with folks too um between now and when we finalize this agenda what I'd like to do is to be able to present um a final draft agenda to the board at our next meeting um and hopefully finalize that in anticipation of our retreat in June um so if there are other things on this agenda list of topics suggested topics um please reach out to Bryce and I and we want to hear what you're you're thinking and

098what works for you um I will say that there the one thing that I had mentioned about you know utilizing in in in a a different space or different time as our evaluation process is for the superintendent and ba um you know we we've kind of ironed out some of those elements um in our close sessions and and I think maybe that until we have a finalized process and criteria um that might be where it needs to stay but um but nonetheless um you know we're open to your guys' feedback about where we go good thank you we'll be in oh Brian so in order to determine what we actually come up with are you going to send out like a ranking or like a survey or how are we going to come up with

099yeah um I mean I think we got to have a plan on yeah I how we're going to decide yeah the ranking topics definitely works I think hearing your feedback as you get a chance to sit with these for a little bit longer um and then our thought was the individual conversations with each of you about what works and what doesn't offline and then I think that would help us determine but we could certainly look into a ranking system as well if that works for the board yeah ranking okay that's okay cool Bryce and I will develop that process for us and still reach out individually okay thank you so much for that and we'll make sure that um the the sheet that you have in front of you with the additional topics is also

100presented in our minutes um so the public can have a chance to see what we're talking about there as well all right um moving to the action agenda we don't have any items there um superintendent report yep I have a couple of items housekeeping items just to um let people know when we last were in board meeting the board board voted not to approve the Washington ELP pilot going forward and I I'm saying this just to make sure this is on the public record in terms of our next steps as superintendent um I put forth a proposal to grandfather that program out so that we wouldn't be bringing in any new students but we would not end it abruptly so um the plan was to have fifth and sixth graders continue and then in the

101next year the fifth graders will be sixth graders and then then the program will end I wanted that on the public record that I um had wanted that as the grandfathering out plan for the program and then in individual conversations with the board had your Ascent to move in that direction so I appreciate I appreciate that um so we can serve the students who are there now and not move them out of the program um the other thing there is there's a lot of conversation going around about um stting end times for schools and recess time recesses and such and I just want to clarify that the district is not limiting recesses in the district um there is some confusion about that because the state office actually limits the number of minutes within a recess

102that can be counted toward instructional time um but there is no attempt to limit recesses in schools so I want to make that clear just having heard a number of comments like that also I want to add something tonight um having just read an editorial um the uh HB 257 sorry I KN I um otherwise known as the bathroom bill um I want to apologize for any pain or discomfort that were created in our attempts to follow the law and to serve our students um it is a law um that I am brokenhearted about um I said early on in this District that I am proud to lead a district that is inclusive and welcoming and um I think that is the nature of who we are as Salt Lake City and um I believe

103this through my bones that that's what we should be it matters a great deal to me and um I really am quite saddened that our attempts um both to comply with the law which we've had to do but also to serve students and to care for students who are put in um really fairly untenable positions with this um that in Rolling that out um in a way that we thought was actually providing really important information to students who we haven't identified would be impacted by the law there are a number of students that we wouldn't that we know would be impacted by the law but there are a number that we don't and um I'm grateful that Salt Lake is a district that welcomes people uh and so they choose to come here to be

104uh in a district that has this stance toward difference so my apologies that that didn't go better um I think what it says to us is that there are there may be even more complicated bills coming out next year from the legislature I have heard that this is not ending um anytime soon that um it is worth opening up the conversation about implementation and how we best roll out Communications to a broader community so that's my effort going going forward and um I just wanted to share that thank you superintendent we appreciate that the heartfelt um report um that you mentioned to us tonight and uh I can speak individually and probably for collectively um that I think we're all here and love our district because of that element of inclusivity um that we have

105and so I I appreciate you taking that stand publicly and your apologies for that too um you know it's a tough spot to be in that we're in but nonetheless I I appreciate your advocacy thank you thanks um we do have a need for a business administrator report Allan as if you haven't heard enough from me yet uh two things first I want to give you an update on uh Spa so the Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts Charter School uh if you remember um the district is their current Charter authorizer and we informed them over a year ago that we would um not be authorizing them uh beyond the end of this year um so they have developed a plan where they're are going to request from the uh State Charter board that

106their Charter be taken over by um Canyon Grove Academy which is a charter school out of Pleasant Grove um they're going to present that to the state Charter board this Thursday in their meeting and um barring any board um uh disagreement uh General counts and I will write a letter to the the state office and state Charter board saying that we um we support this move um so if anyone speak now forever hold your peace perfect uh next thing I want to update you on so uh last month in April uh the spring uaso Conference was held uaso Utah Association of school business officials I just want to give you an update of some of the things we talked there uh it was a two-day Conference held in Provo uh I want to highlight you

107know we had is a chance for the State Board people to come they've now digested the legislative session and and be able to kind of give us some Financial um happenings of you know what what it all meant at the end of the day so I just want to highlight some of the things they talked about uh So currently there's a program called teacher salary supplement program where the legislature provides additional funds for teachers who have a specific degree like a math degree or a science degree I believe special education and they apply to the state and the state funds that for beginning fiscal year 26 so not next year but the year after that program will be changing and uh it will be called let's see let me find it here uh it'll be

108called the salary supplement for highly needed educators those funds will then be allocated to leas based on a per student allocation so during the next year the the district needs to determine which positions are those highly needed positions and how and how will we disperse those funds uh to those positions so you'll probably be hearing discussions of that over the next year so we can be ready to implement that in uh 2526 uh also note beginning in uh fiscal year 26 so 25 26 is a big year uh leas can no longer charge uh a secondary student a fee for curricular activity or co-curricular activity that is required for the instruction of established course standards with some exceptions so again we're going to be discussing over the next year with the the ability for a

109high school to charge a fee for curricular and co-curricular activities um how do we replace those fundings there is some one-time funding allocated by the legislature to help the alas kind of Grandfather off that but there one time so at a certain point we need to determine how are we going to create a funding source to permanently replace those fees um also of note the the legislature had allocated this is actually last year but I think some people forget in the flexible allocation there is an additional 2% uh wpu increase that's been set aside in the event that the Constitutional Amendment passes in November um they will release that 2% % so just keep that in mind not that we're supporting the Constitutional Amendment but I just wanted to keep that on your radar uh

110we talked about the safety Bill uh so funding for Beverly Taylor sson the funding model for that has changed um the legislation required the state office to generate a level even dollar amount for every Lea to receive right now it's a percentage of the the bever Taylor C and teacher salary it'll be a flat amount across the state and that amount for next year is 71,7 4203 that includes both salary and benefits so what that means for the solake school district is we're going to be kicking in quite a bit more money into the BTS program our budget that I showed you up there includes 300,000 additional money to keep the same BTS teachers that we currently have uh just so you note I volunteered to be on a committee that's starting up the end

111of this month to look at that uh calculation and and give suggestions to the State Board on what that amount should be uh so I'll keep you posted on that also for um board member Anderson just so you know so we had Kirsten sard she spoke to the business administrators about uh um how housing and Transit reinvestment zones hz's um because there are relatively new um way to divert property tax growth from school school districts to development and so she's very well versed in it and um we invited her to come talk to the baas throughout the state just so they're aware of of this new new method of funding um development through property tax Inc for through property tax increments and then last but not least um John Larsson did a presentation on on

112just to help baas and I just want to quote his great words it's actually joke what happens when you lock a wild hyena and accountant in a room the hyena stops laughing right thank you Alan appreciate that all right um moving on I don't know how we're going to top that joke there um but board member reports we'll start with uh board member if you have anything to report on sure I do um I'm just reporting this cuz I see James Yus in the corner of the room and he hasn't left so I need to get it out there before he does leave um just a heads up I attended a a track and field event that was at the Ron McBride um new Ron McBride uh uh field at Glendale Middle School where all

113these middle schools came and competed against each other the energy was great the vibe was great the support was great but one one thing that was a downfall is there's no restrooms there for people to utilize you know these kids have to go into the schools and there's actually been a few episodes where people are not using those restrooms so I have been persuaded persuaded from glendell middle school to uh you know get the district on board to get them restrooms and snack bars at this track and field place cuz that would be a huge benefit um a huge resource for the community because it's being utilized well and uh thanks yapias for listening he was he was nodding but um also I also attended my daughter's um they do this every year Ballet West

114performance for fifth graders who are moving on and it was held up at Highland High School and um this is my second child who's actually been through that and remember we we dance but we dance a different kind of way and seeing her in this light of this type of performance I didn't think that she was you know going to hang with it cuz it's alternative dancing you know we do hip-hop or Polynesian culture dancing but this kind of dance was she was actually pretty good and the kids there were pretty great and so I just wanted to give kudos and a shout out I don't know who necessarily runs this but it's such a great program for these um kids especially on the West Side to have an opportunity to participate in um in

115a culture culture such as that that we don't usually get an opportunity to do so so I just wanted to share that um great um event and um thank you for those people who spend their time and teaching these uh young kids that um different kinds of forms of dancing and creative art and and the need for us to have more of that that's it thank you well um first of all um uh thank you to um SLA leadership and having the teachers be here today um it really speaks um I'm a firm believer in representation because you know without it uh rights um will be stumped on and and I really appreciate that um and so but throughout the week I've been receiving you know texts uh also from parents and U uh and

116some people from our district who are like is it true that our district is going to take away the authority from SEC schools sic and school's ability to uh uh make change of plans make change of schedules and so and to that I say it is rumor there is nothing in there I just want to let everyone know in our district if there is anything you're going to hear us talk about it here and if I do not know I beg of you that you contact me you have my cell phone number contact me directly and if I do not know the answer I will make sure to get an answer you know because I am a firm believer in the importance of a community this is why this is called Public Schools this is

117not a private school everyone in the community and in the district and in the school is involved in the process of moving this machine forward and I look forward to continue to learn from the community as well um one more thing is um I've been also receiving a lot of complaints uh from students uh um you know from parents actually uh of students at elementary school they heard so many times N word flying around I want to urge the parents who are listening to please talk to your kids and let them know what is a derogatory term let them know what is not proper to say to others let them know what is really you know why we should not say that basically it is just so sad it is heartbreaking to see that and

118I want to also you know superintendent I want to urge you that you go ahead and ask those superintendent uh the principls and teachers if they hear anything of such being reported you has to go directly and taken care of IM immediately it should not be floating around in any way whatsoever we got enough hatred in this world we got enough uh yeah the I'm going to start swearing I'm not allowed to yeah so there is a lot already in our plate and I beg of you that those little kiddos they are the future they are the ones we are relying on to be able to you know make this country really wonderful as it is okay I beg of you that you pass that on uh um and I just want to say thank

119you also to all the parents of those schools who are closing for your patients I know we are not perfect in doing the process but nevertheless I have a full trust in our superintendent and her and her Administration in making sure that things are coming along slowly this is our first time after 20 years of closing a certain number of schools so give us a benefit of the doubt as we move along we are here to learn so we can better next process and I just want to say thank you again thank you vice president I have a couple of things um first like many of my colleagues I wanted to recognize that teacher appreciation week and thank the teachers that are still here in the room um if it wasn't for the teachers that

120I had in my life I wouldn't be where I am today so genuine thanks for that um also with that um seeing the the group was here one of my former student leaders is now a teacher in our district and um in the area that I work in we teach a lot about advocacy and Community organizing so I was proud to see her out here um tonight um along with teachers um we did recognize Sarah posy as teacher of the year um did want to mention that Sarah is from Precinct one so I have to give a a highlight to that two other things um one uh kind of talk about this every time I give an update but um tomorrow morning is the last Raptor ride with Rose Park Elementary and I'm excited to

121be out there in the cold with them tomorrow morning to to bik to school be fun it's going to be great um and then the other thing I wanted to highlight is uh this weekend uh Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the third annual uh Native American Youth day at Rose Park Elementary um I've been able to attend all three that um have been in existence and it's a highlight I look forward to every year um but wanted to give special uh recognition to Suzanne Arthur Gail do Nicole Palmer and all the staff at Rose Park Elementary it was a I wasn't able to stay the entire time but the hour and a half that I was there was really great so thank you student board member Evans sorry okay I also just wanted

122to say happy Teacher Appreciation Week and especially to my mother she's the best teacher I know I'm very biased and then also as well to my grandma um Miss fryson she's also the best and then other than that my favorite holiday is this month which is the last day of school so congrats we made it last month Anderson um yes we have not had a finance committee meeting since our last open meeting so I don't have updates but I did want to mention that I had spoken with Brian about his concerns from the last meeting and we'll work on addressing with all of you the way you can more clearly know what items on the agenda have passed through our committee it's really clear when a policy has passed through the policy committee but not

123as clear when an item's been discussed in finance so that's something I hope to address um the RDA subcommittee discussed the implications of potential tax increment financing called Tiff as part of the proposed sports and entertainment districts in the city which are being discussed tonight so I wanted to add that Christy Hart um left the meeting early because it's my understanding she was delivering the concerns of that subcommittee in tonight's meeting and I'm happy to discuss with anyone the conversations we've had in our subcommittee about our concerns with the growing popularity of Tiff for the city's development needs um we had our last human sexuality committee meeting and reviewed curriculum on healthy relationships from a group at Utah State and our final report as you know was on the consent agenda and the report was

124factual and complete but I did want to address that parent member attendance was generally low and so I would strongly encourage us to look at what about the meeting times or modalities are not working for parents um as we really need their ongoing engagement for that committee and next I would typically offer this bring pleasantries that everyone has about our fabulous art nights winning athletic Seasons um and important club events but to me it feels really wrong to celebrate when our queer Community is facing so much harm from the state legislature but also as a superintendent mentioned some of the actions in our district um I want to say that since joining the board last winter I've tried to speak My Views and the views of my constituents but never undermine necessary if controversial actions

125taken by the district and when hard decisions have been made I have tried to be Di atic reasoned and really supportive um but our implementation of HB 257 really has left me disappointed and unsettled to the point that I want to make a comment for the board and staff to consider moving forward and I make this comment with appreciation for the note of apology from our superintendent and I could accept that apology move on but I do feel the need to record my sincerely held concerns so we can learn from this experience moving forward we're the only District in the state of Utah that required students to hear presentations on the bill despite State statutes ongoing conflict with Federal guidance in Title 9 and I hope that decision did not set an precedent to present

126on any hateful whim of the legislature I'm concerned that instead of being Forward Thinking and expanding the number of all gender restrooms in our buildings we reacted to the bill and I worry this was to the detriment primarily of our District's queer Community the queer community and allies asked District leaders to reconsider our decision- making about how to implement this bill and that did not happen I'm concerned about the responses I've continued to hear from children who now feel emboldened to police one another's gender in my children's schools and the schools of their friends I'm concerned that the current approach put administrators in a position without tools to follow up on the presented content without risking missteps in existing human sexuality and health education statute and Rule where they would have to further instruct on

127what sex and gender mean in relationship to your birth certificate and bathroom access because my ask to have this discussed in a subcommittee was not possible my board report is the only way I can share my disappointment on behalf of impacted students and the staff in our care so I implore all of us to reflect on the impacts of these decisions and in the future consider letting queer leaders lead out on the issues which impact them I think we should learn from our mistakes and move forward with growing affirmation and care for those who were [Applause] harmed Jensen um yes well first of all um Ashley reported that there hasn't been any any activity on the finance committee there hasn't been any activity with the policy committee that I would report on as well I

128also wanted to as a teacher recognize you teachers and express my gratitude for all you do and I I speak from personal experience I thank you for taking care of the children in the Salt Lake City School District I do need to report on one of my assignments and that is um your representative to usba I was at a jlc meeting today and one of the things that I just want you to understand because there have been several controversial um pieces of legislation that have been presented this last session it has created some challenges in the joint legislative committee and those um individuals are trying to work to make sure that we um can work together and um work through our differences and respect one another and treat each other with dignity um having said

129that um we have a pre- delegate I told you about that in our previous um board meeting in April we have a pre- delegate um well the delegate assembly is on June 8th and there's a pre- delegate meeting on June 7th on June 7th it's from 6: to 8:00 pm as um your elected representative to jlc I will be there but I also know that we have two other delegates and that would be Ashley and Bryce or not Bryce Nate excuse me um I saw you nodding Nate and then it made me say or I saw Bryce nodding and it made me you're not the only one that gets us mixed up okay well anyway um I'm asking that all three of us are there because we are going to be representing this um board

130in light of that I think that it's um really important that in our next meeting that we have as a part of our agenda an opportunity to talk about um the priorities that the um jlc is bringing to the delegate assembly so that the board can tell us how they want us to represent them in that meeting it seems to me that we need to have that conversation and the EXP boort meeting is the only opportunity we'll have before so I would suggest that we um have some time allocated for that on our next agenda um I will also be attending the executive committee meeting this Friday I think that I told you that I was asked to participate on that so I am now meeting with the leadership of the Utah School Board Association

131and representing the large school districts in that committee um after that report I I do want to celebrate um all of the wonderful things that are happening in our schools I this is I'm reflecting on my time as a teacher but also my time as a parent this is a wonderful time to celebrate um the successes and the accomplishments of students um this year I know that there have been numerous art nights I think that Bonville and enta and Beacon Heights have already had theirs um Indian Hills has theirs Thursday night um I think Dilworth has theirs Thursday night as well but then there's also opportunities and maybe christe is going to talk about this but I think it's really wonderful that Highland High they are hosting the state Orchestra Festival I I think that's

132really great that um our district is the one that will be um hosting all of those orchestras from around the state it's a great way to end the year thank you Christie I think that um the celebrations that go on at the end of the year are just so much fun aren't they and it's fun to be able to go to the different things and see um our committed parents and our students to our district I think that one of the things that has resonated with me over this past year is you know as I've moved through um my nsba obligations one of the things I'm very grateful for are the state associations that continue to support nsba and I think it behooves us to always be conscious conscientious and thoughtful about the parents who

133have stayed with us that they believe in Salt Lake District they haven't you know chosen a different school to take their kids to that they continue to populate our school buildings and I think that it also is our responsibility as a board to be looking at our relationship with our city and you know we talked a little bit about this Ashley touched on it you know with the Tiff but I think that um as we have concerns r that we need to talk to our counterparts on our city council um I appreciate that Sarah Young reached out to me tonight you know both Ashley and I sent a message you know to our city council people about some of our concerns and that we're hoping that we'll be able to meet with them as we

134move through this I think that there's a correlation between our city and our schools I mean there just is and I think that that partnership needs to continue to be built upon instead of us doing our business and them doing their business and thinking that never in between you know we'll meet so I I wanted to thank Alan and Ashley and Muhammad you know for the great work that's going on in the in the um finance committee around this subject and appreciated Christy Hart taking the time to go down and speak for us tonight I think that that was really important um I think that you know Brian mentioned that it it's important as we move through the legislative process um with usba and uaso and with the superintendent Association that we really do understand

135what those legislative priorities are I think that taking time in our next meeting you know to do a orientation or basically um the legislative priorities will be out for this next year you know um in the next probably in this next week but to prep our delegates you know for the delegate assem L I think that um one of the things that is allowed in the bylaws of usba is for a local board to present a letter to um the officers and to usba if we feel like there's a an agenda item that we'd like to have on there and as Brian and I have talked about this and Ashley's been at those meetings as many of you have also been as long along with our superintendent and um our um Mr kirley that there's

136a growing unrest about sjr101 feel as though that it's beyond the jlc's view at this point because it's changed so much and because the conditional pieces have not been met that we would like it to go towards the delegate assembly and be discussed there and then the delegates would make a decision on what the stance would be of support no support oppose of sjr101 a paragraph you know one paragraph just saying that we'd like to see this on the agenda for the delegate assembly and that at that point at our next meeting knowing what the priorities are we'd be able to prep everybody who's going to be going who actually is you know voting um our voting delegates for that assembly and then at that point once the delegate assembly makes a decision then that's

137what the decision is you know and hopefully Sr um s jr10 at that point will know where we're headed with it instead of this as as Brian has described there's a division you know that's happened within um within the um the joint legislative committee so if you if you feel really like nope we don't want to do that but if you feel okay about that then Ashley would draft something sent it out so that um all of us could see it but it just would need to be sent in by tomorrow if that's something that we'd like to see on the agenda at the delegate assembly which I feel like I've heard that a little bit but that would be something that if everyone feels okay about all right then we'll go ahead and get

138that sent out to um all of us superintendent and um obviously put you and Allen on that so that we could see that and then get that sent out to leadership at usba tomorrow so it could be on I think there's other districts that are doing that also you know so it won't just be Salt Lake District that's asking for the agenda item to be on there lastly I would just like to say that um you know when when we have um issues that come up in our schools and there's like at Beacon Heights this morning when there's questions I actually really appreciate my community reaching out to me I would much rather them send an email or a text or even call me um instead of just letting it germinate you know Vester that's

139a really good um and you know as and superintendent I appreciate you um saying right headon you know about the recess piece because that certainly has been something that we've all been hearing about I don't know where it started how it started but it was districtwide and it was a muck and I think that um but sometimes I think our our constituents especially as an elected official are hesitant you know to call because they they're upset they don't really know what the situation is but I um have really appreciated those calls that I've gotten not only from my parents in my own Precinct but across the district and and also um from teachers in the in the district that have been asking questions so I hope you continue to do that that's what we're here

140for you know we're that conduit at times between um the superintendent or the district you know that's why we're an elected official from our precincts it's not um something that everybody likes to do but it's something that all of us are doing and so we need to continue to do that so I just want to thank my community for reaching out to me as soon as they heard that and started asking questions and allowed the superintendent to then Circle back and provide some information to me which then I was able to send out to my parents that were asking questions so thank you I appreciate that that's really all I have thanks thank you Christie um I have a just a really brief um report but before I get to that um you know one

141thank you Brian and christe for making the suggestion um for that kind of orientation that type of training and preparation for the jlc meeting um that's something Bryce and I have agreed to and we'll be working with Alan and or ba kley and superintendent Grant um we have some time set aside um early next week to kind of relook at our agenda that we um that we've we developed an agenda setting a couple weeks ago and so we'll get that out to everybody as well um so thank you for that suggestion I know it's something we wanted to do last year and and I'm glad that we were able to do it this year um I think just the other piece with that letter like I'm really glad that you brought that up to Chris

142and um you know if you can get that to to us we can make sure that it's on District letterhead and and all those things and I'll have Ashley do that she agreed to drop something for us and then she'll send that out and Bry and I will make sure to send that out um to everybody when we get that and get it um on our letter I will report that in the executive committee meeting as well that would great so I will report that on Friday out by close of day tomorrow okay perfect um so thank you for both of those things um those are both really important especially with the significance of something like s jr10 and what that can mean for funding for our students um in schools and teachers and and

143everybody that's involved in our schools um my is an appreciation to teachers as well so thank you teachers who stuck it out James and Mike I know you always do thank you for being here um and um I I can't say enough about Educators in my life as well um you know there's Educators in my family um my Tia Trini and her husband my Uncle Bob were uh both in the r School District system for their whole careers and I got to give a shout out to I think the teacher that had the biggest impact in my life Dr Terry rzon um who's actually the special ed teacher and I was one of her peer tutors and she advocated for me to be in that program as a peer tutor probably longer than um I

144should have been but nonetheless it was really the the the glue that kept me attached to East um as I was certainly not a traditional student and um thank the Stars thank you stars that Terry was also the Credit Recovery um teacher who helped me get through graduation in 2004 uh 20 years ago um I don't think that I would have the opportunities um that I have now in my life if it weren't for uh for Terry um looking after me um and all the other teachers um in our district that that shephered me along the way in in other districts that I participated in in school in um here in Utah so thank you teachers for all that you do um and thank you for letting me uh be honest that I uh was

145a struggling student and I think it's a big deal uh for folks to know that um and I'm not shy from from letting that that be known so thank you teachers for all that you do um that concludes our board member reports um we do have a need to re-enter close session and I'll entertain a motion I move that the board reenter closed executive session to discuss the character professional competence or physical mental health of an individual and collective bargaining those are the only two right yes okay can we have a motion oh no I said the wrong thing I'm going to say it again okay scratch that I move that on I'm I'm just going to yes I move that on May 7th 2024 the board re-enter closed executive session to discuss the character

146professional competence or physical or mental health of an individual pending or reasonably imminent litigation and collective bargaining and that we adjourn the meeting following the conclusion of closed session second all right any discussion to the motion seeing none we'll start with a roll call Vote with board member Anderson Ashley Anderson yes thank Salazar yes mam Mohamad you have to vote Yes Brian Jensen yes Christy sweat yes Bryce Williams yes Jenny sea yes excellent thank you community and public for for joining us this evening and we'll prepare the room for Clos session yes he's like waving to his fans Say by come on you guys while I have a minute I don't [Music]