Note: Recordings and documents for agenda items can be accessed via BoardDocs by clicking on the corresponding agenda items.

Board Choses Name for New Technical-Training Center

Innovation Point at Canyons is the new name of Canyons District’s new technical-training center to be housed at the former regional headquarters of eBay. The name was chosen by the Canyons Board of Education after evaluating the feedback from students, business partners, and industry leaders on several proposed names. The Board also had considered Nexus, Confluence, Synergy and The Wave as potential names for the center. In addition, the Board of Education accepted a $6.3 million offer from The Boyer Company to purchase the 7.15-acres where CTEC now stands at 825 E. 9000 South. The closing date on the sale of the CTEC land is expected to be in January 2026. The District will lease back the property until June 2027 when the campus will officially move to the remodeled Innovation Point facility.  The agreement also gives the District the option to purchase up to three single family lots in the development for the home-construction program. 

Elementary Technology Proposal

The Administration is proposing to start an Internet-safety initiative that would lead to the temporary deactivation of a student online account if it’s repeatedly used after-hours to search for terms that violate CSD’s acceptable-use guidelines. The so-called “three-strikes” rule is an outgrowth of the ongoing community conversation about Chromebook usage in Canyons schools. The first inappropriate search would result in a warning. The second would push the account into a “highly restrictive” filtering option. After the third, the account would then be disabled until parents of the student associated with the account meet with the school principal. This is just one of the ideas that has been developed since March when the Board asked the Administration to start a review of Internet-filtering protections, particularly at the elementary level. As part of the process to gather data, the Administration earlier this year collected input from principals, Building Leadership Teams, and School Community Councils. Input also was welcomed from all families, who were invited to send their thoughts through a portal on the CSD website. In addition, the Board directed the Board to create an Elementary Tech Advisory Committee, which studied additional topics regarding technology in elementary schools for kindergarten through fifth grades. The subcommittee recommended that parents receive more communications about technology use in schools and Internet-filtering options. Other recommendations included improvements to filtering, monitoring, and content-access protocols; a balanced approach to using technology in the classroom; and reinforcements of digital citizenship lessons and student accountability. As a guiding philosophy, the Board discussed how technology is part of the educational ecosystem in CSD. Board members noted that Utah law allows parents to opt their children out of instruction delivered on Chromebooks. However, they also agreed that teachers should not be required to create an alternative and equal educational activity for children whose parents have opted out of Chromebook use. The Board indicated that it would be burdensome and unfair to require teachers to lead both online and hard-copy learning activities at the same time. 

Elementary Planning Time Report

A report on the year-old elementary school schedule, which added 10 minutes to each school day to make time for additional teacher planning time, was presented to the Board of Education. The extra 280 minutes of weekly planning has been warmly met by teachers and principals, School Performance Directors Sally Sansom and Alice Meridith told the Board. According to feedback on the schedule, educators, and administrators say the additional planning time has led to increased lesson quality, increased effectiveness of Professional Learning Communities, and boosts in teacher morale. To address the concerns of Instructional Technicians, also known as “Brain Boosters,” who lead the classes that students attend while teachers are planning, the Administration will continue to streamline and improve the schedule. For the Instructional Technicians, the recommendation is to add more planning and prep time, paid collaboration time, and behavioral supports of the personnel who lead the STEM, Playworks, library, and arts classes. Instructional Technicians who focus on arts integration — the Beverley Taylor Sorenson teachers — say they need not only increased time with students but more time to collaborate and plan. In a survey, teachers asked for fewer interruptions during planning time. They also would prefer to not have recess adjacent to Brain Booster time. Administrators also may be able to focus more on integration, communication and collaboration with their new assistant principals.  The Administration was asked to recommend ways to add time for all Instructional Technicians. 

School Highlights

Albion Middle’s strong community support, student engagement, and teacher quality are major reasons for the success of the Knights, said Principal Eric Gardner. Albion parents are invested, he said, and do not hesitate to attend “Bring Your Parent to School Day.”  Last year, Albion parents joined their students in an all-community Book Club, which culminated with a visit by the author. Gardner remarked that Albion students work as peer tutors, meet with the principal monthly to talk about school rules, and record the school’s Friday school-news segments. Teachers, Gardner said, are “the backbone of everything we do.” Faculty members send home positive notes, attend conferences to stay cutting-edge, and participate in peer observations to learn from their colleagues. Gardner also noted that Albion Middle is one of the top-ranked middle schools in Utah. 

Policy Update

The Board of Education approved a new student-overnight travel policy that creates a District Travel Committee. According to the new policy, committee members will include the Business Administrator or a designee; the Assistant Superintendent; the Director of High Schools; and all high school principals. The criteria for a travel appeal also were narrowed. 

Canyons Strong Recognitions

The following were mentioned: 

• Canyons District students, faculty, staff and Board members who appeared in news segments to inform the community about the start of the school year.
• Money Inc.’s list of Utah’s top high schools. CSD has four of the top 15 spots.
• The rankings of CSD high schools on the newest U.S. News and World Report.
• Hillcrest’s theater program for winning Best of State Awards for “Best Theatrical Instruction” and “Best of Education.” 
• CSD school communities for planning exciting red-carpet welcomes and back-to-school celebrations to cheer the start of school.

Consent Agenda

The Board of Education approved the Consent Agenda, including the minutes of the Aug. 5, 2025 meeting of the Canyons Board of Education; minutes of the Truth-in-Taxation hearing for Aug. 5, 2025; hire and termination reports; student-overnight travel requests; purchasing bids; July financial reports; sale of property; and approval of 2025-2026 Early Learning Plan.

Patron Comment

The following patrons addressed the Board during Patron Comment. Recordings of the remarks can be accessed on BoardDocs.

• Krista Pippin
• Milenko Novakovich

Staff Reports

Business Administrator Leon Wilcox updated the Board on the construction and renovation projects being completed across the District. 

Board of Education Member Reports

Ms. Karen Pedersen complimented Eastmont Middle’s administration, faculty, and staff for successfully pivoting to a remote-learning schedule while renovation work continues at their building. She also thanked District and school administrations for the back-to-school preparations and professional-development sessions. She also urged school communities to take a broader, systemic view of issues faced by the District.

Ms. Katie Dahle thanked CSD and school administrations for the back-to-school events and expressed appreciation teachers for attending training sessions and working hard to prepare for the school. She also thanked the community for being invested in CSD schools.

Ms. Amanda Oaks reported on attending Sprucewood Elementary’s first-day event with new principal, Dr. Ashley Lennox. She also attended the Draper Park Middle opening, which was marked by the community effort to wear pink in honor of a student who died over the summer in a mountain biking accident. 

Mr. Andrew Edtl congratulated all CSD personnel for a successful start to the school year and said he’s excited about the contributions that the field of assistant principals will make. He expressed appreciation for the consistent dedication of the entire Canyons community to CSD schools.

Mr. Jackson Lewis reported on attending Hillcrest’s Back-to-School Night and meetings of the East Midvale School Logo Committee.

Ms. Holly Neibaur commented on the well-attended Back-to-School Nights and the quality of recent training sessions for personnel.

President Shill commented on the tradition of having red-carpet welcomes at CSD schools on the first day and thanked personnel for working the weekend before the start of school to repair the HVAC at Butler Middle.  She also noted the quality of the training sessions planned by Instructional Supports Director Dr. Amber Roderick-Landward and her staff.