Afterschool Program Coming To Bell View, Edgemont Elementaries

The Board approved an interlocal agreement with Sandy City and Salt Lake County to provide an afterschool program for students at Edgemont Elementary and Bell View Elementary, to start later this month. The program will be hosted at Edgemont, provide 125 students with organized afterschool activities, including reading tutoring offered by teachers. Supervision will be provided by the Boys & Girls Clubs staff. The program is patterned after those offered in Canyons’ four Title I schools: Copperview, East Midvale, Midvale, and Sandy elementaries. An orientation is scheduled for Thursday for parents and students. The program already has a waiting list of interested parents. The enrollment was determined on a first-come, first-served basis. Board Vice President Steve Wrigley said he was excited about the program, which he believes will help students academically. Canyons Director of Student Advocacy and Access Karen Sterling said most of the 600 students participating in Canyons’ Title I afterschool programs have achieved or nearly achieved testing benchmarks. Evidence-Based Learning Specialist Amber Roderick-Landward said parents have given many compliments to the principals for offering the program.

To listen to the discussion, please visit BoardDocs and click Agenda Item 7D.

Secondary Health Text Adoption Process Proposed

Interim Superintendent Dr. Ginger Rhode introduced to the Board a proposal to update health education curriculum materials for middle and high schools. She also talked about the adoption process set forth in state regulations governing human sexuality text adoption. She noted District policy is more restrictive than state law, requiring an abstinence-only approach to the content and greater community membership on the District committee that vets content. State law requires the Board to approve materials, and provide public review opportunities to the public as part of the content adoption process. The District is looking at updating health curriculum materials, as the materials have been used for the past 10 years, and are identical for middle and high school students. The Board will begin discussions in the coming weeks.

To listen to the discussion, please visit BoardDocs and click Agenda Item 2A.

Board Action

The Board approved the Secondary Text, the JEEC Timeline, and the Calendar Policy Update. The Board approved the Consent Agenda. Wrigley asked why the active bond projects item changed from $36 million to $41.5 million. Interim CFO Leon Wilcox said construction costs have risen 10 percent per square foot, and that the total includes costs of equipping and furnishing the building. Wilcox said the District has four additional projects to fund under the bond, and said funding is in place through bond and capital fund budgeting. Wrigley and Board Member Tracy Cowdell said the Board might look at expediting projects as a contingency plan to rising construction costs.

For more information on the items or to listen to the discussion, please visit BoardDocs and click Agenda Item 6.

Patron Comments

Patron Steve Van Maren asked for clarification on a purchasing memo format regarding contracts that were let in December. Wilcox said he got good year-end deals on needed copy machines, and one of the stipulations was to issue a purchase order in December. The memo was before the Board for ratification purposes.

Interim Superintendent’s Report

Dr. Rhode congratulated Union Middle School’s Doug Hallenbeck, to be named Utah Assistant Principal of the Year 2014 in a Wednesday morning conference. She noted that last year, Union Principal Mary Anderson was named the 2013 Utah Principal of the Year. She congratulated the school and its leaders for the honors.

Interim CFO’s Report

Leon Wilcox said he had a productive meeting with the fiscal accountability committee meeting this afternoon, chaired by Board Member Kim Horiuchi. The discussion included booster club members and high school principals, who offered good suggestions on the proposed fiscal accountability policy. He said the Canyons and Jordan schools boards Friday will hear a presentation by their financial advisors about retiring Old Jordan Debt prior to the Utah School Boards Association’s conference. He said the meeting will be posted as a public meeting on the District Web site and that the information gleaned from the presentation would be brought to a future Board meeting for discussion.

Board Reports

Robert Green congratulated Hallenbeck on his award, which he said is evidence that Union is an excellent school. He volunteered at the Lego League competition at Copperview as a robot design judge. Mount Jordan, Eastmont middle schools and East Midvale Elementary attended the competition. He said he learned a lot from the experience, including that good coaching helped student progress, and that volunteers from the community with engineering expertise could be of great help to the students’ development. He said he wants to reach out to businesses the community for potential volunteers for Lego League and Title I schools in general. He said volunteers can change lives for the better for generations to come.

Kim Horiuchi thanked the fiscal responsibility committee members, including business leaders, community members, parents and educators, for taking the time to participate in the meeting. She said their suggestions and service will help create a better policy.

Second Vice President Nancy Tingey thanked Green for his voluntarism invitation. She said she attended the Alta High production of “Peter Pan,” which she said was wonderful. She attended the inauguration of Sandy City Mayor Dolan and Sandy City Council members, and thanked the city for the excellent relationship it has formed with Canyons. She also noted the USBA conference is this week.

Wrigley said he visited Union and Eastmont middle schools during faculty collaboration time, and praised the Canyons Evidence-Based Learning staff for training and mentoring teachers. He also visited Peruvian Park, Willow Canyon and Alta View elementaries. He said he had the opportunity to lead music at Willow Canyon, and tell them what a Board member does. He said he was impressed with the IB graduation at Hillcrest High.

Chad Iverson said he attended the bimonthly Foundation Board meeting and enjoyed working with the members. He said he wants to continue supporting the Foundation Board in the future. He also attended by phone conference the fiscal accountability meeting and enjoyed the feedback received there. He praised the group engagement, and said he and Horiuchi will share more information from the meeting with the Board in the future.

President Sherril Taylor welcomed everyone back from the holidays, and said 2014 is going to be a great year in CSD. He also thanked the Student Advisory Council for their attendance.