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

Strategic Plan

Canyons Superintendent Dr. Rick Robins called the public presentation of the newly crafted strategic plan “historic” for the District. Robins said the plan, which was created with the assistance of education consultants Education Elements, will be Canyons’  “north star and will guide our direction for many years to come.” Throughout the year-long development process, great effort was made to incorporate CSD teaching and learning strategies while also reflecting the vision of the CSD community. To inform the direction of the strategic plan, students, educators, parents, and local government officials participated in surveys, planning meetings, focus groups, and other forums. Under the growth blueprint, the District will align its strategies to focus on high-quality learning, access and opportunity, human-centered supports, and operating systems. This is the first comprehensive strategic plan in Canyons’ 13-year history. “This is crucial time for this plan to be coming out,” said Board member Steve Wrigley. “I am hoping that, as this document comes out,  that people feel assured Canyons District is going in the right direction and we do represent the public.” The Board of Education will vote April 19 on formal approval of the document.

Bell Schedule

A 9 a.m. -to- 3:35 p.m. school schedule is proposed for the still-under-construction Glacier Hills Elementary, built to house the consolidated Bell View and Edgemont school communities. This is the same schedule under which Bell View is currently operating, said Business Administrator Leon Wilcox. Thirty-four schools would remain on the same bell schedule under the new bell-schedule proposal, which was created by Edulog, CSD’s routing contractor. In response to some community requests, Wilcox said, changes could be made at the bell schedules at Draper Park and Mount Jordan middle schools to push back the starting times from 7:30 a.m. to at least 7:50 a.m. However, later start-times at those two schools would necessitate alterations of the bell schedule at several nearby elementary schools and Diamond Ridge High because of the demands it would place on CSD’s school-bus fleet. Basically, Wilcox said, the schools’ start and end times would need to be pushed back if DPMS and Mount Jordan started later than 7:30 a.m. Wilcox suggested the Board consider a districtwide bell-schedule study. The Board of Education will continue to discuss the proposal, and asked the Administration to communicate the proposal and gather community input through a survey from the communities that would be affected.

Common Planning Time Proposal

An “early-out” or “late-start” is being proposed to establish a districtwide common block of planning time for teachers in the District. According to an survey of Building Leadership Teams and School Community Councils, the majority of school communities would prefer an early-out schedule on Fridays. Currently, Canyons elementary schools release early on Fridays; middle schools start late on Fridays. Only one high school in CSD, Alta, has a late start on Tuesdays. The Board will continue to review public input and additional data.

Draper Park Middle Schedule

Academic data from all Canyons District middle schools since 2016, as well as an overview of the costs and pros and cons of various class schedules, were presented to the Board of Education. Albion, Butler, Midvale, Union and Draper Park operate on six-period schedules. Mount Jordan, Eastmont, and Indian Hills middle schools have seven-period days. The Board signaled that the Administration should work with Draper Park to re-examine the schedule and find opportunities for before- or after-school electives, especially those in the Dual Language Immersion program.

Boundary Update for Midvale-area Schools

The Administration recommends adoption of new boundaries to equalize enrollment at Midvale-area schools. The Board of Education continues to review the boundary-change proposal, which if approved would go into effect in 2023-2024. Business Administrator Leon Wilcox reported on the communication and outreach efforts that were made to inform the public about the boundary proposals. The maps of the proposed boundary changes can be found at BoardDocs.

Digital Citizenship Update

Information gathered through planned focus groups, surveys, and informal meetings will inform Canyons’ Digital Citizenship aims in the coming year, according to an update on CSD’s Digital Citizenship efforts. Each year, School Community Councils are required to submit a report indicating that their school communities have conducted Digital Citizenship training. The District plans to bolster parent, employee, and SCC training, and further partner with Utah PTA on training, outreach, and projects, including a video contest with the theme “Don’t Be Mean Behind the Screen.” Parent Information Nights will continued to be held, as well.

Policy Change Proposals

Changes are proposed to Board of Education-approved policies governing student travel and home and hospital instruction. If approved, the student-travel policy would be adjusted so the gross cap fee expense for student overnight travel from $1,250 to $1,500, consistent with the proposed 2022-2023 fee schedule. The proposed policy also addresses travel approval for out-of-area region competitions. The suggested home and hospital instruction policy would clarify that out-of-boundary students qualify for home and hospital instruction services through CSD, among other changes. The Board of Education will continue to review the proposed updated policies.

Consent Agenda

The Board of Education approved the Consent Agenda, including the minutes for the March 15, 2022 meeting of the Board; hire and termination reports; purchasing bids; student-overnight travel requests; the Board-meeting schedule for 2023-2024; and Utah State Board of Education Rule 277-328 compliance training.

Student Advisory Council

Canyons’ Student Advisory Council, empaneled every year to provide input to the Board of Education on issues that impact students, was recognized. Twenty-two students from Canyons’ six high schools — Alta, Brighton, Corner Canyon, Diamond Ridge, Hillcrest and Jordan — were chosen to serve on the group, which met monthly. This is the ninth year of CSD’s Student Advisory Council. The students on the 2021-2022 council are:

Alta:  Autumn Engstrom, Luke Bjerregaard, Alisha Ruiz, Mallory Goodfellow
Brighton: Hayley Wilson, Xander Nelson, Taylor Navarro, Bryce Mayer
Corner Canyon: Kimberly Montoya-Garcia, Lance Andrewsen, Creed Gardinerm, Bella Nibley
Diamond Ridge: Ava Bolen, Gabe Gutierrez
Hillcrest: Emy Arredondo, Jason Mun, Humzah Khan, Selena Yu
Jordan: Cameryn Coffey, Shelby Hadley, Emma Moreno, Isaac Brockbank

The Board of Education also presented a letter of appreciation to the members of the student council.

School Fee Schedule

In adherence to Utah law, fee schedules for all CSD schools, including the Career and Technical Education program and Canyons Technical Education Center, were approved for the 2022-2023 school year.

Patron Comment

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

• Angela Meredith
• Julie Beane
• Nicole Woodmansee
• Sally Scott
• Sara Lee
• Jenna Landward
• Lindsay Christensen
• Andrea Luker
• Katie Redd

School Highlights

The Midvale-area Copperview Elementary, one of CSD’s Title I schools, provides much-needed academic and wellness services to the school community through its Family Learning Center, before- and after-school programs, and a Wellness Team made up of a school psychologist, social worker, counselor, school nurse and the Community School Coordinator. Community Schools Coordinator Jenna Landward said the school faculty and staff strive to build positive relationships while leading students to higher levels of learning. She added that the cultural and linguistic backgrounds contribute to the special environment at Copperview. In the past year, Landward said, students hailing from the Congo, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Brazil have enrolled at Copperview.

Recognitions

The following were recognized for the achievements:

• Cody Hagen, Corner Canyon High, Utah Male High School Athlete of the Year, Governor’s State of Sport Awards
• Thirty Canyons students who earned 2022 Academic All-State Awards in Theater, Forensics and Music.
• Sterling Scholar English category winner Hillcrest student Danja Zoe Liu; and runners-up Merrin Maughan, from Alta High, in the Speech, Theater and Forensics category; and Kellen Hullinger, from Corner Canyon, in World Languages.

Superintendent, Business Administrator Reports

Dr. Robins reported on touring The Road Home homeless shelter and thanked the support staff for providing services to our homeless students.

Wilcox thanked the Board for approving $300 employee bonus on the March 31 paychecks.

Board of Education Member Reports

Mrs. Holly Neibaur thanked the presenters at Board of Education meeting and the work of Draper Park Middle School Community Council.

Mrs. Amanda Oaks reported on attending SCC meetings, school events, and activities.

Mrs. Clareen Arnold reported on attending SCC meetings, and heard reports on LAND Trust and TSSA plans.

Mr. Mont Millerberg reported on attending SCC meetings and thanked Midvale Principal Lori Reynolds for encouraging the participation of multi-language families in the operations of the school.

President Tingey thanked the Administration for its work on LAND Trust and TSSA plans, and expressed appreciation for being able to attend school events again after the hiatus on gatherings as a result of COVID-19 wellness protocols.