ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY

School boards have to prove they are good stewards of our property tax (70%).  They need to gain the trust of the community and taxpayers by assuring decisions are made with full transparency, and are easily accessible to the public. When the board sent out a survey with only 2 options to choose from for accommodating the population growth of the high school/, they should also include a disclosure of the cost of the two options. Taxpayers need to be fully informed when difficult decisions need to be made.

COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS

School boards need to work collaboratively with all stakeholders prior to making decisions.  The School Bond on last year’s ballot was disapproved by the voters.  A lesson learned. Solutions made by the board without first addressing the concerns of the community and local governments will probably fail.  We still have to address the problem of rapid growth of our school population, but we need to solve the problem with a bottom up model that includes open discussions from the very beginning.

COVID 19

There is no part of life that has not been affected by this pandemic. Education struggled to adapt rapidly to the necessity of online teaching. Our teachers and parents did an exceptional job with all the additional stress of working from home plus attending to our children’s education. COVID has forced us to look at options for education, analyze what resources we need in an emergency, and develop a budget to provide an equitable education for all children.

 
 

SCHOOLS OPENING

I would like to thank the Board, educators and school staff for all the hours they have put in this summer to be able to open schools by August. Offering choices to families was important as well as following strict guidelines set by health experts to make sure schools can stay open. Thank you also to our county government for giving additional Federal CARES money to our schools for the resources needed for a safe opening. Because this virus is unpredictable, our school board needs to set criteria to monitor school safety and quickly act to adapt our schools if undetermined consequences of COVID become apparent.  Information that may impact the safety of our school community must be easily available without interfering with individuals’ rights to privacy. 

FUNDING

The decision by our State Utah lawmakers to honor the salary negotiated with teachers last December shows appreciation for their dedication and quick adaptation to continue teaching in an emergency school closure.   Wasatch benefited by that decision by being able offer competitive salaries to attract well-qualified teachers.  Utah still ranks the lowest in the nation in spending for education.  We need to elect State Legislators that can help growing communities balance the cost of education.