Board Report for February 4, 2025
The Board of Education met on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. You can watch the whole meeting on our YouTube channel, or click on each heading to jump straight to that section of the recording.
The board recognized Holley McIntosh, Math Supervisor, for receiving the Don Clark Lifetime Achievement Award from the Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics. This award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to mathematics education in Utah over many years. The board also honored Laleh Ghotbi, a 4th grade teacher at Mountain View Elementary, who has been named the 2025 Utah Coalition for Educational Technology Salt Lake City School District Teacher of the Year. We are so fortunate to have the state’s absolute best educators in our schools!
Each year, the district assigns millions of dollars in discretionary funds to our schools. Schools can then decide how to best use these resources to support their students’ unique needs. The board discussed school fees and recent changes in state law that have eliminated certain curricular fees. Our district would prefer to eliminate all curricular AND co-curricular fees; our Business Administrator and his team will work to find other ways to make up those funds at each school. More budget updates will be shared later this spring.
Strategic Plan for Student Achievement – Pillar 2 Update
The second pillar of the district’s Strategic Plan for Student Achievement focuses on student achievement and transitions from Pre-K to high school graduation. This report reviewed the target outcomes for students at all levels and the goals and objectives needed to make sure our students reach those outcomes. The end goal is for our students to become thoughtful, well-rounded, and civic-ready members of society equipped with the knowledge and skills to be successful after graduation.
Updates on the remaining three pillars will be presented in the coming months, with potential revisions to the plan discussed this summer.
You can find our strategic plan on the district website.
Policy G-5 and Administrative Procedures
The board reviewed proposed updates to Board Policy G-5, which guides the process for school closures and boundary changes. The revision process included:
- a survey of our families about key concerns from the last closure and boundary adjustment process,
- reviewing recent changes in state law, and
- extensive work by the board’s policy subcommittee.
The proposed policy and administrative procedures are available on the district website.
The board reviewed requests for three new positions:
- a Business Development Coordinator, who would work to strengthen business partnerships, with the goal of creating more internship, apprenticeship, and career development opportunities for our students; and
- a Project Manager and a Building Code Inspector to oversee daily operations and long-term planning for the West High School and Highland High School rebuilds. These two roles would be funded through the Capital Fund until the projects are completed and are similar to positions that were hired the last time we constructed schools.
Legislative Audit Recommendations
The board discussed legislative audit recommendations from the November 2024 follow-up audit. They directed the district negotiations team to work with the Salt Lake Education Association to implement these recommendations.
At the board’s request, Superintendent Grant presented a second time on a proposed plan to reorganize the district office. The superintendent made this proposal after reviewing twenty years’ worth of district organizational charts and observing district operations for 18 months. The plan aims to provide more direct school support and to integrate equity into all offices and classrooms. Flowcharts of the proposed changes are available on the district website.
The board approved the district’s participation in E-sports, which is now sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association. Official competitions will start in the spring of 2026, but interested students can get involved now by contacting the E-sports coach at their school.